- ADB warned of Asia’s risks without strong Safeguards

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ADB warned of Asia’s risks without strong Safeguards

May 6 2008 -- Madrid – Asia’s vulnerable communities and environment will continue to be at risk if the Asian Development Bank fails to improve its existing Safeguards that are currently being revised...

NGO Members ...Further, the ADB Safeguard policies on the environment, involuntary resettlement and indigenous peoples should protect the poor and not corporate interests.

Thus warned civil society organizations from Asia, Europe and the United States during a panel discussion on the Safeguards that was attended by representatives from ADB management and Board.

Ted Downing, President of the International Network on Displacement and Resettlement, said communities that were displaced because of Bank-financed projects would be impoverished without rigorous provisions on resettlement thereby undermining the ADB’s goal of poverty reduction. “We need to be aware of what will happen to the unknown and unborn who will be displaced by ADB projects without adequate safeguard policies in place,” he said.

NGO Members Sitting at Table The Safeguards panel comes at a critical point in the ongoing Safeguards review process that the Bank initiated in 2005. CSOs have criticized the draft safeguard policy statement (SPS), released in 2007 which became the basis for a series of multi-stakeholder regional consultations, as generally weak and regressive. Recently, the Bank announced that a second draft of the SPS will be released for public comment and consultation.

Titi Soentoro from the Indonesian watchdog organization Nadi explained that development meant different things depending on different perspectives. She said, “The ADB and donor countries might think they are doing a service to developing countries. However, development goes beyond economic indicators and includes protection of livelihoods and an intact environment. These could not be achieved without strong Safeguard policies in place.”

Stephanie Fried from the Environmental Defense Fund called for the Bank to disclose and consult on the TOR for the next steps in the Safeguard review process. The second policy statement should be accompanied by a draft Operations Manual and its resource implications. Fried challenged the Bank to pursue “upward harmonization with best international practices, not a “race to the bottom.”

Referring to the current food crisis, Joanna Levitt of the International Accountability Project observed that in many cases, ADB projects which promote industrial development have resulted in the destruction of livelihood sources, undermining the food sovereignty of affected communities.

Convention Attendee On the other hand, Nessim Ahmad, head of ADB’s Environmental and Social Safeguard Department, rejected civil society’s contention that the existing Safeguard policies have been weakened by the current consultation draft. He said the many submissions made during the regional consultations included areas of agreement between the Bank and NGOs. However, he mentioned that there are still areas where the policy statement would need more work and key policy challenges, such as “free prior informed consent”, on which the Bank must seek more dialogue.

Last Updated ( Saturday, 08 November 2008 )

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The Economics of Involuntary Resettlement: International Conference in India

An important International Conference on Population Displacement and Resettlement by development projects will take place on April 10-12, 2012 at the Xavier Institute of Management in Bhubaneswar (XIMB), Odisha, India. The conference is jointly organized by the Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar, the XLRI School of Business and Human Resources, Jamshedpur, and the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai.

XIMB, the lead organizing institution and the conference’s host, is one of India’s most eminent high education institutions in the area of management sciences. Private sector industries and the public sector recruit many managers and civil servants from among XIMB graduates. The Conference is prepared by a group of XIMB faculty, led by Professor Latha Ravindran, who was the first to introduce a training course on development-caused population resettlement in XIMB, one of few Universities in India that offer graduate training in this domain.

The Conference seeks to examine the theoretical, legal, financial and policy issues intrinsic to development-caused displacement. Its Keynote Address will be given by Professor Michael M. Cernea, NR Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution, Washington DC, and former Senior Adviser of the World Bank on Social Policies and Sociology. Among participants are both Indian and international scholars, researchers, students, and practitioners.

The risks and actual adverse impacts of development-induced resettlement on local people have been widely researched, but the capacity to deal with these issues is still largely lacking. Though there have been recent trends in training programs and university courses focusing on these issues, the need for effective and knowledgeable experts to assist in the resettlement process more crucial now than ever.

The conference will be an opportunity for researchers, project proponents, managers of R&R projects, professionals from civil society organizations and policy makers to deliberate, debate and identify possible solutions for critical unsolved issues pertaining to involuntary displacement, resettlement and rehabilitation on account of development projects.

Towards this goal, the organizers selected the following main topics for the sessions of the conference on Theoretical Perspectives, Legal & Policy Issues on Development-Induced Displacement and Rehabilitation, 2. Critical issues in Land Acquisition and Forced Displacement,3. The Economics, Financing, and Planning for R&R,4. Management of Impoverishment Risks under Urban Displacement

Odisha is one of India’s richest states in underground resources (iron, coal, rare metals etc.), but also one of its least developed, and has a high percentage of tribal groups amongst its population. Many big private sector corporations, national and transnational, are currently developing large scale projects in Odisha in the extractive and processing industries in order to bring these resources into the industrial and economic circuit. Such developments, however, entail the need of large aggregate population displacements and relocations. This has vastly increased the interest of the State Government and population in the issues of Development-caused Forced Displacement and Resettlement (DFDR). Odisha is one of India's states which has adopted its own State Policy for DFDR processes.

Researchers from India and abroad interested in attending this Conference may contact:

Ms. Reena Ravichander

Xavier Institute of Management, Xavier Square, Bhubaneswar-751013, Odisha, India

Phone: +91-674-3983811 (D), 3012345 (30 lines); Mobile: +91-9437010686

Fax: +91-674- 2300995; Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Submitted by Joanna London

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