Policy Advocacy and Roles of Civil Society in Reform of JBIC’s Social Environmental Guidelines.ppt

Policy Advocacy and Roles of Civil Society in Reform of JBIC’s Social/Environmental Guidelines Beijing Red Wall Hotel, 3 December 2006 Satoru Matsumoto Representative Director of Mekong Watch Lecturer at Hitotsubashi University, Finance Ministry’s Council member (satoru-m@msi.biglobe.ne.jp) What is JBIC (Japan Bank for International Cooperation)? 100% government-subscribed financial institution Objectives: (1) promotion of Japanese exports, imports and economic activities overseas (2) economic and social development in the developing economies (3) stability of international financial order Budget: US$15.7 billion --- International Financial Operations (for Japanese companies) 1,060 billion yen (US$ 9.1 b); Overseas Economic Cooperation Operations (for developing countries) 770 billion yen (US$ 6.6 b) c.f. World Bank lending US$ 23.6 billion Staff: 869 c.f. World Bank staff 10,000 JBIC’s past projects accused of negative social / environmental impacts Kotopanjan Dam in Indonesia (loss of livelihoods by resettlement – water, forests) Lam Ta Khong Pump Storage Project in Thailand (health problems cased by 2.5 year blasting work) San Roque Dam in the Philippines (loss of livelihoods of ethnic minorities) Samut Prakarn Wastewater project in Thailand (lack of impacts studies on fisheries) Necessary factors to improve policies ◆In order to solve or avoid the problems from views of civil society, it is important to know/understand: NGOs’ observation: Institutional defects of Japanese financing in developing countries Unclear procedures and bench marks to review projects for decision-making No information disclosure policy Unclear mechanism to cancel problematic projects weak mechanism to monitor the on-going projects How have Japanese NGOs worked to improve the guidelines? Chronology Goal…JBIC agrees to establish environmental social guidelines of international standard with participation of civil society Chronology Goal…JBIC drafts environmental social guidelines in accor