CENN – DECEMBER 17, 2004 DAILY DIGEST
Table of Contents:
1. IFC Environmental, Social and Disclosure Policies and Performance
Standards
2. Letter writing campaign
3. Community Center Opens in Gyumri
4. Prosecutors Concerned Over Growing Number of Gas Leak Accidents
5. Armenian Plant Set to Produce Small Hydro Power Plant Equipment
1. IFC ENVIRONMENTAL, SOCIAL AND DISCLOSURE POLICIES AND PERFORMANCE
STANDARDS
Dear all,
As many of you are already aware, the International Finance Corporation
(IFC – the private lending arm of the World Bank) is in the process of
revising its social, environmental, and disclosure policies. While some
of the details of this process may seem arcane to some, it is important
to note that these policies are currently the de facto social and
environmental international standards, impacting nearly three quarters
of all international project finance – both public and private. The
results of this process will affect all of us, and the people and places
we care about, for a long time.
In my capacity as consultant to the Bank Information Center (BIC), I
wanted to take a moment to update you on how that process is proceeding,
and what is being done both within and outside the process by our
colleagues in civil society. I also want to urge you to get involved, in
one way or another, in this important effort.
The IFC is nearly finished with their initial round of global
consultations, and under the original plan they outlined, this would
have been the end of any chance for public input. However, due to
internal and external pressure, IFC has slightly revised their process
and the timeline. We now expect to see a revised draft of the new IFC
Environmental, Social and Disclosure Policies and Performance Standards,
as well as the “Interpretation Notes” that clarify them, sometime in
mid-January. At that point, we expect to have between 4-8 weeks to
provide comment on the draft before it is finalized and sent to a
subcommittee of the World Bank Group’s Board of Directors. This next
phase will be our critical window of opportunity.
Many civil society groups have offered comments on both the substance
and the process of the safeguard policy review. Some are attached,
(pleas see: ) others you can
access at a civil society sponsored website supporting this effort
() or at the IFC’s website which includes an official
record of comments at: I am also
happy to send you any information that you need, should you find it
difficult to locate or access.
The IFC’s consultation process has been seriously flawed from the
beginning, leading many organizations to decide to boycott the
consultation process. Overall, IFC’s process has been rushed, full
information is not available, and it has been extraordinarily
non-transparent. Many groups in civil society have been critical of the
process. In response, IFC claims that the concerns and criticisms are
largely limited to Northern-based organizations. We know this is not the
case, but it will be important in January and February to ensure that
Southern voices in particular are heard in relation to this vital issue.
BIC is ready and able to help organizations that may need or want
assistance to weigh in on this issue in any way. If you want to join
the international boycott of the process, we can help to ensure that
your support of the boycott and concerns are known. If you want to
comment on the substance or the process of the review, we can also help
by providing you with additional background information, and by putting
you in touch with other organizations that are working on similar
issues.
Whatever you do, please don’t stay silent on this issue. Whether it’s
simply to note that you consider the process illegitimate and rigged, or
to weigh in on more specific matters, please let your voice be heard.
Best regards,
Steve Kretzmann
Strategic Consultant
Bank Information Center
*******************************
Stephen Kretzmann
Strategic Consultant
Bank Information Center
&
Senior Campaign Advisor
Rainforest Action Network
Kretzmann@mindspring.com
1-202-497-1033
*******************************
2. LETTER WRITING CAMPAIGN
Dear aviation and climate activists,
Some weeks ago Friends of the Earth Netherlands and AEF/GreenSkies
organised a conference on airports, air travel and climate change. The
results will be published at
Our first action is a letter writing campaign, aimed at the European
Commission. We ask you to spend half an hour on writing a letter to the
commissioners yourselves. Please forward this initiative.
We wish you happy Christmas holidays
—–
Write a letter to the European Commission
Are you concerned about airport expansion, bothered by aircraft noise,
worried about the ever growing climate impact of aviation? NOW YOU can
do something about it! Write before 2005!
FORWARD this e-mail (and attachment ‘Write to the EC’) to the people and
organisations you know
Read all details in the example.doc
to the EC.pdf
Make it your personal letter!
Evert Hassink
Milieudefensie / Friends of the Earth Netherlands
Tim Johnson
AEF/Greenskies
3. COMMUNITY CENTER OPENS IN GYUMRI
Source: Armenian NGO News in Brief, December 12, 2004
On November 2, 2004 a new Community Center opened its doors in Gyumri.
The building was renovated by the Norwegian Refugee Council and houses
Community Social-Healthcare and Pedo-Psychological Assistance Centers as
well as a Kindergarten. Services of the Community Social-Healthcare
Center will be provided by Mission Armenia Charitable NGO and are
designed to meet the needs of vulnerable, single, older and disabled
people and refugees residing in temporary dwellings. This integrated
center includes a soup kitchen, social services center, health post,
bath and laundry, hairdressing room, training resource center,
conference room and other more.
The soup kitchen will be operational on weekdays and provide hot
nutritious meals to about 200 beneficiaries. The social services center
will provide health, psychological, legal trainings and individual
consultations. The in-home services for almost 600 single older
residents of Gyumri are one of the most significant activities to be
carried out through the center: provision of individual care, personal
hygiene, medical assistance, psychological, gerontological and legal
assistance, home renovation, heating of homes, and more. It will also
serve as a good place for arranging cultural events, meetings and
round-table discussions. The health post will provide primary health
care and necessary medications to beneficiaries free of charge. The bath
and laundry will meet primary hygienic needs of older beneficiaries. The
hairdressing room will provide relevant services to the vulnerable.
Through the training resource center, computer, hairdressing and
tailoring skills will be transferred to the vulnerable refugee and local
population of the town, providing them an opportunity to acquire new job
skills. Mission Armenia Charitable NGO implements these activities
through funding support received from USAID.
Contact: Hripsime Kirakosyan
Mission Armenia Charitable NGO
42 G. Nzdeh St.
Tel.: (374-1) 44-47-92; 44-47-93
E-mail: ripsik@arminco.com
Website:
4. PROSECUTORS CONCERNED OVER GROWING NUMBER OF GAS LEAK ACCIDENTS
Source: Armenpress, December 15, 2004
Armenia’s chief prosecutor’s office has called in a statement today on
the population to avoid using makeshift stoves to warm their homes that
work on natural gas and urged it to observe all safety rules. The
warning came after a series of accidents from across the country
reporting death or poisoning from gas. The latest such accident occurred
in Etchmiadzin where a couple and three their little children were
poisoned by a gas leak out.
The incidents prompted the prosecutor’s office to make a probe and
reveal that virtually all accidents are due to people’s failure to
observe the most elementary safety rules and the carelessness of
authorized bodies that are supposed to supervise local gas networks’
safety.
The chief prosecutor’s office also urged the population to report
immediately about careless work of authorized bodies. It also required
that gas authorities carry out sweeping reforms within the system and
take measures to prevent such accidents in future.
5. ARMENIAN PLANT SET TO PRODUCE SMALL HYDRO POWER PLANT EQUIPMENT
Source: Armenpress, December 15, 2004
A Yerevan-based factory manufacturing electric machines said it plans to
start production of components of small hydro power stations with a
capacity ranging between 4 to 100 kilowatt/hour. The factory’s chief
engineer Felix Khachatrian told Armenpress turbines with 4-kilowatt/hour
capacities had been successfully tested, adding also that turbines with
30 kilowatt/hour capacity and higher had been designed.
According to Khachatrian, Armenian-made turbines may become more
attractive for foreigners as they are two times cheaper than others.
He said a go-between Dutch company is taking interest in Armenian
turbines, and has pledged to look for investors who are ready to assist
the Armenian plant.
—
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CENN INFO
Caucasus Environmental NGO Network (CENN)
Tel: ++995 32 92 39 46
Fax: ++995 32 92 39 47
E-mail: info@cenn.org
URL:
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