World Bank / Reports

International Rivers' February 2008 Nam Theun 2 report, based on a recent site visit by International Rivers’ staff, shows that shortcomings and delays in programs to compensate villagers and restore their incomes have not been addressed. Furthermore, it is unclear if resettlement infrastructure for more than 6,200 villagers on the Nakai Plateau will be completed on time for reservoir filling to begin in June 2008.

The Unresolved Legacy of the World Bank's National Drainage Program in Pakistan - an Eyewitness Account

The World Bank's Inspection Panel (IP) issued its investigation report for the Bank-funded Pakistan National Drainage Program in 2006. The IP report found that Bank management had violated six of the Bank's safeguard policies in the NDP project, contributing to the loss of lives and livelihoods in Pakistan's southern Sindh province. In response to the findings of the IP investigation, Bank management outlined measures they would take to address the policy violations and problems in the NDP.

With this comment, International Rivers wants to draw attention to the extraordinary findings of the Inspection Panel in relation to the National Drainage Program (NDP) Project and the attempts of the World Bank Management to cover up the violation of six of its own binding policies. The World Bank’s lack of environmental and social due diligence has inflicted considerable harm upon thousands of people, their livelihoods and crucial ecosystems in Southern Pakistan.

As the World Bank unveiled its new Investment Framework on Clean Energy and Development at its annual meeting in Singapore in September 2006, a coalition of environment and development organizations charge that the strategy will not be effective at combating climate change and expanding energy access for the poor.

A Critique of the World Bank’s Progress Report on Infrastructure

Introduction

In July 2003, the World Bank launched an Infrastructure Action Plan in order to massively increase its lending for the infrastructure sectors, and to middle–income countries more generally. In August 2005, the Bank prepared a progress report on the implementation of this plan.¹ The Development Committee will discuss this report at the World Bank’s Annual Meeting on September 25.

An analysis by IRN and Environmental Defense citing the Nam Theun 2 project's non-compliance with six World Bank policies and guidelines.

In the six months since our last CDM large hydro status note, the World Bank has continued to unveil new CDM large hydro projects of questionable additionality - including the largest hydro project in its carbon portfolio to date. None of these projects have demonstrated compliance with the recommendations of the World Commission on Dams. The World Bank continues to cling to the fiction that all of the projects are "small hydro".

A Critique of the World Bank’s Country Assistance Strategy for India
By Ann Kathrin Schneider, International Rivers

 

The World Bank is poised to resume lending for destructive large dams in India. Bank staff are currently scouring India for new dam projects to fund in the coming year. The last time the Bank supported a dam in India – the Sardar Sarovar project in the Narmada Valley – strong opposition and an independent review documenting numerous policy violations led to an embarrassing withdrawal of Bank support and the establishment of the Inspection Panel.