We are so glad to be in a consultative statuse with your bank . After accepting your invitation through E – mail , we asked for more time inorder to prepare our formal view points about World Bank activities and policies . And now that your are receiving our response it would be necessary to notify some points about the process of preparing this text . It is just a short summary of a group work which has been done by our experts that includes 3 parts : introduction , view points and suggestions . The style of the second part ( viewpoints ) may be in a radical moode which is infact the reflection of the prevailing doctrine and it may not be necessarily the formal opinion of our organization . The third part is infact the organization's views and ideas which is in the form of some suggestions . We hope it could be usefull .
Introduction :
Once more let us pay attention to some parts of Henry Moore Genta's speech ( the incumbent U.S. Minister of treasury ) in June 1944 and at the persence of more than two deligations from all over the world : “ … the global economy will be prosperous and each nation will be able to fullfill its potentialities in peace … and will enjoy from its development in a world which has unlimited natural resources , let us face our future opportunities by believing in each other and common future … a future that these people had many wars for it to see it free . “
Today is 55 years after these idealistic speeches . Moore Genta's views are treated against the present realities . The regretful situation of global ecology has disclosed the fauls ideas of unlimited natural resources .The environmental problem is the first anxiety of human being . Today is 55 years after the beginning at the economic activities of WB and IMF . No one will belive the promisses of these two monetary organizations about the improvement of living standards , peace and development any more .
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ViewPoints :
Laydies and Gentelmen . the honoured board of directors of WB and IMF; today we are at the beginning of the third millenium . It is a precious opportunity for the world's monetary organizations to make some reforms through paying attention to the previous experiences and have a realistic regard about the future . As the first step and by respecting public viewpoints , they should listen to the views and ideas of the experts and billions of people in the third world countries who are accusing the bank :
1 – They know WB and IMF as the friends of unwise governments of the third world that by supporting the corrupted political – economic relations of ruling governments in these countries and through inspiration of unsuitable patterns of economic development are playing an important role in their unfortunatey .
2 – They are billions of people with enormous pure humanitarian affections , and feel ashmed because of billions of dollars of debts of their countries .
3 – They must pay back the loans which had no roles in taking or using them .
4 – They are those people who's lives are directly affected by WB'S decissions . The true owners whom have never been listend to , no one ever consult with them , and most of the times their shares are just the destruction of their native and local economies . the economy that within several years has reaches a relative stability with their environments on the basis of their cultures and traditions .
5 – The poor people of the third world consider the wrong circulation (poverty – environmental destruction – poverty ) which is based on the poverty – stricken masses as an insult to themselves and inorder to reject such a theory they refer to its main 5 deficiencies :
a – Such a viewpoint is some how deterministic which means that a poor man destructs the environment inevitably and vice versa .
b – This theory can not logicaly believe that poor people are able to have a sustainable livelihood .
c – This viewpoint consider the poor people responsible for the environmental destructions . Logicaly by such an idea any attempt inorder to find the true responsibles will be unfullfilled .
d – In this idea the relation between poverty and environmented is a global problem and its solution is depended on the global intermediation . Such a concerption introduces the third world as the main responsible for the environmental anihilation and on the other hand the first world has the role of solver of these problems , without any reference to the role of economic and political domination of the first world in the deepening of poverty in third world countries .
e – This theory considers the destruction of environment as a natural and inherent characteristic of poverty and therefore denys any relationship between poverty and its historical process .
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6 – People say : they ask us to cooperate in environmental protection programs and implementation of poverty adjustment projects without participating us in their policy makings .
7 – They believe that most of the projects , especially rural development ones , are designed without any consultation with them . Those projects which are planed only on the basis of researches which is done in big cities and without considering the ecology and anthropology of a region , are not only enable to help but also will cause irretrievable damages to the culture and livelihood in these regions .
8 – They are anxious about global economy and a unipolar world , and this anxiety is the source of this beautiful African proverb in the political literature which says “ when there is a fight between two elephents they only destroy the grasses under their feet , but when there is peace there will be no more grass for destruction . “
Suggestion :
1 – As the first step WB should submit the documents of its activities within last 55 years to the research – investigation centers inorder to clarify the weak points of its projects through the study of different phases of them . At the end this would be WB that benefits from such researches .
2 – the goals of WB to give loans and facilities to the countries are so unclear and the process of enjoying these loans as well as the priorities are so complicated and hard to understand . Apart from this reality that such a complication is because of the tendencies of the loaner and loanee countries and as the result af the bueraucracy in WB , the world bank must explain its goals from giving loans clearly once more and on the basis of world's status quo .
3 – Regarding the previous experriences and reports af different research committees in the field of bank's performance , such as Highsh committee , the rate of projects with unsuitable results has a high growth , for example this committee has reported in its research that the maximum number of projects with unsuitable results increased from 15% in 1981 to 38% in 1991 . Therefore WB must have more acceptable explenations about its tendency in giving loan . Because it seems that in this process the main goal which is improving the lives of billions of people is forgotten .
4 – WB must accept this painfull reality that a great amount of these funds is wasted and stolen in third world countries because of monetary corruptions , and at the end the people are those who must not only pay back these loans but also by exporting their natural resources as the only marketable goods must tolerate the effects of environmental disruption in their societies . For example cutting and exportation of trees in rain forests , that the unwise leaders of these countries usually explain it as a way to reach foregin exchanges for development and unfortunately according to the documents WB has a share in most of these projects . Therefore it is necessary for the bank to do its best in the ecology and anthropology researches before giving loan and taking part in such projects and also dose any necessary guarantees for the prevention of embezzlement of these funds .
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5 – Bank must be so carefull in giving large amount of loans which are usually known as national projects in the third world countries . Because most of these projects are implemented without carefull ecological researches and by ignoring the resources of the people who are usually suffered from these projects . For example the huge dam of India , that regarding to the Mors committee's report this project started in 1992 without any environmental assessment and although the bank discontinued its support in the middle of this project under the pressur of people and environmental activists , but it is obvious that initial support of the bank played a crucial role in the implementation of this project .
6 – WB must start to reorganize itself and this review must be proportianate to new situation of the world . For example between the bank employees , the experts of ecology and anthropology are so rare and most of them are economists , consequently their assessments about the projects are just from economical point of view , therefore bank must solve this fundamental weakness in two ways one is using people who are experts in different fields especially ecology and other humanities fields and the other is making use of the consultations of educated people and active nongovernmental specialists from all over the world .
7 – WB must be so carefull about taking part in large projects and on the other hand it should increase its aids to small and limited projects which are usually implemented by the coorporation of the local people especially in the field of edjucation and political development programs . Because it has been proved through different experiences that the social instruction at the rural societies that infact control most parts of the open spaces , is in a way that is only able to accept the projects which are harmonius with their cultural and ecological capacities , otherwise they will overstain such societies .
8 – WB must forget about the poverty – striccken masses theory – because it has essential problems and is not able to explain poverty – generally it must be known that it is not possible to analyze the ecological problems without considering after wrong social and political relationships .
9 – At the end , Green front of Iran ( GFI ) trys to continue its researches inorder to find suitable solutions for environmental problems and it will send the results to different organizations including the World Bank .
Dr.Jamal Moini
Head of the Board of Directors
GREEN FRONT OF IRAN
P.O.Box:14565-314/Tehran/IRAN
www.greenfront.org
E-mail: int@greenfront.org
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