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14 December 1999 | Intag | By Carlos Zorrilla
This is a short update on our campaign to try to stop
the World Bank-financed prospecting project in the Cotacachi-Cayapas
Ecological Reserve and other protected areas in Western Ecuador.
I hope it satisfies the interests that some of you have expressed!
During the past six weeks or so, DECOIN has been busy working
with several organizations, here, and abroad, gathering enough
information and support to file a request for Inspection Panel
to the World Bank Inspection Panel regarding the Prodeminca
project, which all of you should be familiar with (if not,
please ask for info). The INSPECTION Panel is a World Bank
mechanism that makes it possible for organizations or a group
of individuals most directly affected by World Bank projects
to raise their concerns and demand an independent analysis
by the Panel of the Bank's role in the project. The request
for inspection, or claim, must allege that an act or commission
on the part of the bank has caused or could potentially cause
harm and that the bank has violated its policies and procedures.
The Panel first reviews the claim, and recommends, or not,
to the Bank's board of directors that the Panel conduct an
investigation. If and When the investigation is conducted,
the board then decides what course of action the Bank should
take.
It is important that the claim is filed on time. A claim
can only be accepted if no more than 95% of the funds have
been disbursed for a project. Luckily, we just found out that
our claim made in time.
Our claim seeks, among other things, to stop all publication
of mineralogical information gathered in protected areas,
and in particular, the Cotacachi-Cayapas Ecological Reserve.
We are claiming that if the information is made public (part
of the Prodeminca goal of fomenting the mining industry in
Ecuador) it is very likely that the protected areas will be
invaded by small miners, at first, and that pressure will
be put on the government to shift the boundaries, or change
the status of protected areas, in order to accommodate big
mining interests. We are also claiming this will "harm our
interests", as the Panel puts it (more likely will destroy
our environment and livelihood). In addition, we are providing
proof that there were many instances of Bank environmental
policy violations by the project - a key element required
in the Panel PROCESS.
This is, by the way, the first claim ever filed for an Inspection
Panel on a World Bank financed project in Ecuador.
DECOIN has, on 3 different occasions, met with World Bank
and Prodeminca representatives in Quito and Cotacachi to try
and work out a fair solution to our requests. However, though
the representatives have been punctual and courteous, the
results have been discouraging. For example, more than a month
ago we asked for the Environmental Impact Study for the project,
yet to date, we have not been given the most essential part
of the study, and were only given the part that dealt with
the southern part of the country, and which dealt with a totally
different ecosystem and theme (impacts of small mining)...
(update to the update: we have just been told that the missing
part of the document is on its way via courier from a World
Bank representative in Washington).
Besides these steps, we have tried unsuccessfully here in
Ecuador to get a guarantee from the Ministry of the Environment
not to disclose such information (the Ministry of the Environment
gave permission for the prospecting in the Ecological Reserve
in the first place). Yolanda Kakabadse, the Minister, has
publicly refused to withold such information from the public.
DECOIN's request has been fully backed by the country's umbrella
environmental NGO, CEDENMA (Comité Ecuatoriano para
la Defensa de la Naturaleza y el Medio Ambiente), representing
80 organizations, yet the Minister has not changed her mind.
Ms. Kakabadse, by the way, is also president of the IUCN.
Our next step here will likely be, together with two other
well known environmental organizations (Accion Ecológica
and Cordavi), to try and get a court injunction to stop the
release of the information. Given the total lack of independence
of Ecuador's judicial system, a snowflake in hell has a better
chance. However, our goal is to attract sufficient national
and international attention to the case to pressure the right
response.
Throughout all this process we have received amazing support
from the angels at CIEL, the Center for International Environmental
Law, in Washington DC .They have provided DECOIN with crucial
information, and have unconditionally supported us ever since
two other angel environmentalist told them about our work
(Ruth Rosenhek and Anja Light of Rain Forest Information Center,
Australia). CIEL, who in the past has successfully helped
other communities carry through the filing of Inspection Panel
requests, has also offered to keep an eye on the whole process
in Washington to make sure it goes smoothly. Here in Ecuador,
DECOIN has received more pro-bono assistance from E-Law representative
(Cordavi), Byron Real, an old friend and environmental lawyer
(had it not been pro bono, Decoin would probably now be in
the red!!). I think it's also important to mention the significant
financial support we just received from a group of Semester
Abroad students ( Vassar College, and others) who passed through
our Intag Cloud Forest Reserve. This should help pay what
should be a scary phone/Internet bill I will be getting next
month!
Isn't it good to know that there are still a lot of people
out there who work for love of this planet?
PLEASE NOTE: We will be soon be asking support for another
letter-writing campaign aimed at pressuring Ecuadorian officials
to withhold the information above described from the public
(and mining companies). We are counting on your help to write
and to spread the word, as you so wonderfully did with our
last request.
It's all for now. I am so sick of computers.
From all of us at DECOIN, in the Zona de Intag, a Merry
Christmas, and a Green New Years.
Carlos Zorrilla
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