107 safeguards are in practice.
108 European Investment Bank (EIB): Investing in destruction The European Investment Bank (EIB) was created in 1958. The EIB is the world’s biggest public lender, bigger than the World Bank or the IMF. 549 In 2006, the EIB approved €53 billion of loans. 550 “It is an EU institution, but is almost totally unknown to EU politicians <strong>and</strong> the public, <strong>and</strong> virtually unaccountable to other EU institutions,” notes a recent report by the NGO coalition Counter Balance. “It operates under an anachronistic ideology of ‘balance sheet growth’ <strong>and</strong> support for massive Western private corporations that is reminiscent of the worst aspects of the World Bank thirty years ago.” 551 The projects that the EIB funds are supposed to help development <strong>and</strong> cohesion of the European Union. Up to now, much of the Bank’s lending has been to infrastructure projects to the poorer regions of the European Union – perhaps explaining why the Bank has received so little attention from politicians, the public <strong>and</strong> development NGOs. But the Bank’s role is changing. In the 1960s, the Bank started to lend to fund projects in Africa. In 1993, the EIB started lending to Asia <strong>and</strong> Latin America. Today, approximately 10 per cent of EIB lending goes outside the EU. The EIB lends to the oil, gas, mining, hydro<strong>power</strong>, transport, communication <strong>and</strong> pulp <strong>and</strong> paper sectors as well as to financial intermediaries. 552 Counter Balance points out that “Essentially, the EIB is becoming a major EU development body, without any of the expertise, capacity or operating principles such a body must have.” 553 The EIB is a public institution established within the European Union cooperation framework. Its lending to the South is supposed to bring sustainable development <strong>and</strong> benefits for the people in the countries on the receiving end of the Bank’s loans. For example, the European Community Development Policy Statement says that “Community development policy is grounded on the principle of sustainable, equitable <strong>and</strong> participatory human <strong>and</strong> social development. . . The main objective of Community development policy must be to reduce <strong>and</strong> eventually to eradicate <strong>poverty</strong>.” 554 The Bank has spectacularly failed to meet this objective. It has been involved in some of the most destructive infrastructure projects on the planet: the Chad-Cameroon Pipeline, the Lesotho Highl<strong>and</strong>s Water Project, the Nam Theun II Dam, the West African Gas Pipeline <strong>and</strong> Veracel’s plantations <strong>and</strong> pulp mill in Brazil. 549 Heather Stewart (2008) “The shadowy bank that has loaned £150bn of your cash”, The Observer, 2 March 2008. http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/mar/02/europeanbanks.worldbank 550 “Citizen’s guide to the European Investment Bank”, Counter Balance, 2007. http://www.counterbalanceeib.org/component/option,com_datsogallery/Itemid,98/file,CounterBalance_en.pdf/func,download/ 551 “Citizen’s guide to the European Investment Bank”, Counter Balance, 2007, page 5. http://www.counterbalanceeib.org/component/option,com_datsogallery/Itemid,98/file,CounterBalance_en.pdf/func,download/ Counter Balance comprises members of CEE Bankwatch Network (Central <strong>and</strong> Eastern Europe), France: Les Amis de la Terre, Germany: urgewald <strong>and</strong> WEED (World, Economy, Ecology & Development), Italy: Campagna per la Riforma della Banca Mondiale (CRBM), Netherl<strong>and</strong>s: Both ENDS, United Kingdom: Bretton Woods Project. 552 Jaroslava Colajacomo (2006) “The EIB in the South: In whose interest”,Friends of the Earth International, Campagna per la Riforma Banca Mondiale, CEE Bankwatch Network, World Economy, Ecology <strong>and</strong> Development, January 2006. 553 “Citizen’s guide to the European Investment Bank”, Counter Balance, 2007, page 5. http://www.counterbalanceeib.org/component/option,com_datsogallery/Itemid,98/file,CounterBalance_en.pdf/func,download/ 554 “Citizen’s guide to the European Investment Bank”, Counter Balance, 2007, page 13. http://www.counterbalanceeib.org/component/option,com_datsogallery/Itemid,98/file,CounterBalance_en.pdf/func,download/
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1 Plantations, poverty and power: E
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3 CONTENTS Introduction 1. Plantati
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5 New investors have emerged recent
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7 1. Plantations do not plant thems
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9 plantations established on grassl
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11 Nations Food and Agriculture Org
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13 Another reason for the move to t
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15 In his book, “Khor Jor Kor, Fo
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17 Between 1991 and 2006, the numbe
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19 are asking for”, notes WWF. 60
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21 consume fewer goods. Less advert
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23 credit crunch, unstable oil pric
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25 Investment in plantations in the
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27 possible price. Subsidies, linke
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29 2. The anatomy of five pulp proj
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31 However, while the Bank confirme
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33 make way for its tree plantation
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35 In April 2004, about 2,000 famil
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37 Sappi, Swaziland: 50 years of in
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39 after an assessment by the Soil
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41 impact of the plantations on wat
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43 Advance Agro, Thailand: Deforest
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45 confiscation and liquidation of
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47 management was facing a bankrupt
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49 Indah Kiat, Asia Pulp and Paper,
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51 company owners want profits to b
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53 • US$4.5 billion owed by APP i
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55 explained that “association wi
- Page 58 and 59: 57 Indah Kiat faces a series of lan
- Page 60 and 61: 59 logging. While the investigation
- Page 62 and 63: 61 experimental areas and not from
- Page 64 and 65: 63 Staples and Office Depot in the
- Page 66 and 67: 65 “the exhaustive studies have c
- Page 68 and 69: 67 CEDHA has also filed complaints
- Page 70 and 71: 69 of converting grasslands to indu
- Page 72 and 73: 71 3. Pulp Inc. Profiles of seven p
- Page 74 and 75: 73 Thailand, a power plant for a Ne
- Page 76 and 77: 75 Management’s experts the possi
- Page 78 and 79: 77 A year after Aracruz’s third p
- Page 80 and 81: 79 In January 2003, Pöyry announce
- Page 82 and 83: 81 Bank in the early 1990s. Groome
- Page 84 and 85: 83 Pöyry’s role in the Baikal Pu
- Page 86 and 87: 85 Under carbon financing, Pöyry o
- Page 88 and 89: 87 Pöyry is working on second gene
- Page 90 and 91: 89 The Confederation of European Pa
- Page 92 and 93: 91 CEPI Eurokraft states that “it
- Page 94 and 95: 93 sectors need to reduce by 21% co
- Page 96 and 97: 95 The ADB’s report notes that th
- Page 98 and 99: 97 Nepal In Nepal, the target area
- Page 100 and 101: 99 loan for the second plantations
- Page 102 and 103: 101 International Finance Corporati
- Page 104 and 105: 103 •In December 2000, IFC approv
- Page 106 and 107: 105 firm’s activities. After his
- Page 110 and 111: 109 Bank projects are approved by a
- Page 112 and 113: 111 •€80 million to Portucel to
- Page 114 and 115: 113 The Food and Agriculture Organi
- Page 116 and 117: 115 Nevertheless, Poore and Fries n
- Page 118 and 119: 117 failure to define industrial tr
- Page 120 and 121: 119 FAO’s guidelines recommend th
- Page 122 and 123: 121 Rosengren did not reply to my e
- Page 124 and 125: 123 Forest Stewardship Council: Mis
- Page 126 and 127: 125 body that rubber stamps operati
- Page 128 and 129: 127 Criterion 1.6, for example, sta
- Page 130 and 131: 129 fast wood plantations have take
- Page 132 and 133: 131 Principle 10.8 should prevent t
- Page 134 and 135: 133 By April 2004, FSC had, at last
- Page 136 and 137: 135 plantations, because it creates
- Page 138 and 139: 137 integrated set of common Princi
- Page 140 and 141: 139 for clearing areas of Atlantic
- Page 142 and 143: 141 Colombia were certified by SGS.
- Page 144 and 145: 143 The dissociation became necessa
- Page 146 and 147: 145 4. Future planned pulp mills As
- Page 148 and 149: 147 Planned pulp projects: 698 Comp
- Page 150 and 151: 149 UPM and Sveza Group Vologda Rus
- Page 152: 151 paper industry along ecological