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MADRID,
Spain—The
Asian Development Bank (ADB) has once again reiterated
its commitment to keep its safeguard policies strong and
responsive particularly to the needs of developing
countries.
ADB
president Haruhiko Kuroda said in his last press
briefing at the conclusion of the 41st Annual Governors’
Meeting here that the bank has no intention of diluting
its safeguard policies on environment, involuntary
resettlement and indigenous peoples.
“We
intend to combine all these policies into one policy to
make operations more efficient and effective. Management
has decided to conduct a second round of consultations
with the second draft of the safeguards update,” said
Kuroda. “The second draft will be uploaded on the site
and consultations in Manila will ensue.”
The
issue on the ADB’s safeguard policies have re-escalated
mainly due to the plans of the bank to increase its
private-sector lending to 50 percent of the bank’s
portfolio.
Civil-society organizations (CSO) warned that if the
safeguards are weakened, many Asians will be exposed to
social and economic risks due to flawed projects and the
lack of accountability on the part of the ADB and the
private sector.
“Asia’s
vulnerable communities and environment will continue to
be at risk if the ADB fails to improve its existing
safeguards that are currently being revised,” stated the
“NGO Forum on ADB” in a statement.
“Further, the ADB’s safeguard policies on the
environment, involuntary resettlement, and indigenous
peoples should protect the poor and not any kind of
business interests,” added the group.
The
safeguards panel comes at a critical point in the
ongoing safeguards review process that the ADB initiated
in 2005. The civil society groups have criticized the
draft safeguard policies statements released in 2007,
which became the basis for a series of multistakeholder
regional consultations that concluded the safeguard
policies statements are weak and regressive.
Criticisms included those that said the policy review
process lacked terms of reference and absence of an
operations manual for the safeguards.
“The ADB
and donor countries might think they are doing a service
to developing countries. However, development went
beyond economic indicators and included protection of
livelihoods and an intact environment. These could not
be achieved without strong safeguard policies in place,”
said Titi Soentoro from the Indonesian civil
organization Nadi. |
