Help Stop World Bank's Loan to Exxon
9/15/98
*******************************
RELAYED TEXT STARTS HERE:
Title: Help Stop World Bank's Loan to Exxon
Source: Environmental Defense Fund
Status: Distribute and reprint freely
Date: 9/15/98
FOR CHAD-CAMEROON PIPELINE
NO FREEDOM - NO PIPELINE!
Should international development assistance from the World Bank
for two of the poorest countries in Africa be used to support the
world's richest oil companies? An international consortium
consisting of Exxon, Shell and ELF is planning a multi-billion
dollar oil exploitation project with serious environmental and
social risks that many fear may create another Ogoniland,
Nigeria's oil-producing region marked by environmental
devastation and brutal human rights violations. The oil project
is in Chad and Cameroon, two countries that have few democratic
freedoms for its people.
The project consists of the development of oil-fields in southern
Chad, and building a 600 mile pipeline through Cameroon for
export. But there is a hitch. The project won't go forward
unless it is supported by public funding from the World Bank
Exxon, the leader of the consortium, refers to the World Bank as
the foundation of the financing structure for the entire project.
World Bank officials confirm that the project hinges on their
participation because the companies need the World Bank involved
to reduce the financial risk of investing in the politically
volatile region and to solicit other investors.
The World Bank, whose stated mission is to alleviate poverty and
to promote sustainable development, is right now seriously
considering financing this project, even though its environmental
staff have unanimously rejected the Environmental Assessment and
have expressed strong reservations about supporting it. The
World Bank's Board of Directors is expected to make a final
decision about this project later this year, but the Bank is
likely to give an informal go ahead in the next few weeks. Exxon
is sending a small army of lobbyists to Washington, DC to put
pressure on the World Bank to give its commitment to the project.
The World Bank claims that the project will alleviate poverty
because revenue from the oil development can be spent on poverty
programs. But since both Governments have problems with
corruption, the local communities have little faith that they
will see any of the money from oil development.
These countries also suffer from human rights problems. The
international press reports that Chadian government forces have
resorted to indiscriminate killings and repression of the
civilian population in the project area. A parlimentarian who
spoke out against the project was recently jailed for three years
in Chad.
The 600-mile underground pipeline through Cameroon will pass
through ecologically fragile rainforest areas, including an area
that is the home of a Pygmy minority of traditional hunters and
gatherers. An uncontrollable influx of people in search of work
will gather at the construction sites. As a result,
deforestation, wildlife poaching, and the loss of farmland will
be replaced by construction activities that will create a
destructive environmental legacy. The pipeline itself, even with
state-of-the art equipment, poses a danger of groundwater
contamination and pollution of important regional river systems
as crude oil containing heavy metals leaks into the environment.
The project also promotes the development of fossil fuels and the
release of greenhouse gas emissions, the leading cause of global
climate change. The World Bank should not be financing the
exacerbation of climate change, but should be financing projects
that reduce carbon emissions and lead to more sustainable forms
of energy development.
People in Chad and in Cameroon are poor and in need of assistance
that will improve their livelihoods and chances for future
development; not aid that will enrichen transnational oil
companies and an elite ruling class. The allocation of aid
dollars for each country is limited and World Bank support for
the oil project will divert scarce resources away from
investments in health, education, environmental protection, and
infra-structure that provides clean drinking water and
sanitation.
The World Bank should not finance this project at this time as it
cannot guarantee that human rights will be respected or that the
environment will be protected. Once the money is flowing, the
unholy trinity of oil, power and corruption will make corrective
action difficult. Instead, the World Bank's resources should be
used for projects which have direct, positive impacts on
nutrition, health, education, the environment and other
priorities of the people of Chad and Cameroon.
Take action today to stop this corporate welfare project. Write
the President of the World Bank, James Wolfensohn, and tell him
that the World Bank should support human needs, not corporate
wants!
World Bank President Wolfensohn has the power to say no to this
project. In early October, the World Bank has its annual
meeting. Mr. Wolfensohn should announce at that meeting that
the World Bank will not support this project because of its
serious environmental and social problems and the lack of
freedoms in chad and cameroon.
Send your letters, faxes, or email today to:
Mr. James Wolfensohn
President, The World Bank
1818 H. Street, NW
Washington, DC 20433
Fax: 202-522-1677
Email: cunit3@worldbank.org
Please send copies of your letters to one of the organizations
below. For more information, contact:
Korinna Horta Andrea Durbin
Environmental Defense Fund Friends of the Earth-US
Fax 202 - 234 6049, Fax: 202-783-0444
email: korinna@edf.org email: adurbin@foe.org
Thank you for your support!