Take Action: Help stop destructive lending practices!

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Help stop destructive lending practices!

The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the oldest and largest regional bank in the world, is supposed to finance "economic, social and institutional development in Latin America and the Caribbean."

The IDB is financing the expansion of agrofuels -- industrial biofuels -- and dirty energy projects all over Latin America in the name of renewable energy and development.

Your voice can help stop the development of destructive industrial infrastructure including roads, pipelines, and dams.

The IDB is holding its 49th annual meeting in Miami, Florida from April 4-8.

The bank needs to hear your voice now, before it approves a new round of financing.

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Subject:

Dear [Decision Maker],

(Edit Letter Below)

I'm writing to you today to ask you to stop financing socially and environmentally destructive projects in Latin America.

I am concerned that instead of reducing poverty in Latin America, the IDB's lending practices are exacerbating poverty, environmental destruction and global climate change.

As you meet in Miami, Florida over the next couple days, we ask you consider our concerns about the following:

* The IDB is financing the expansion of agrofuels --industrial biofuels-- and dirty energy projects all over Latin America in the name of renewable energy and development, even when it is proven that the mass production of agrofuels increases greenhouse gas emissions than fossil fuels because of land clearing and deforestation; the displacement of millions of small farmers and Indigenous people and increased hunger worldwide.  The IDB should stop funding false solutions to the climate change crisis and fund true renewable energy projects like solar and wind.

* The IDB is financing the Initiative for the Integration of South American Regional Infrastructure (IIRSA), an industrial infrastructure plan of mega-projects consisting of roads, pipelines, dams and waterways.  One of the most controversial IIRSA projects is the Madeira dam complex in Brazil.  The $10 billion scheme, involving two dams, is officially predicted to displace 3,000 local people and substantially impact ecosystems. Deforestation is reported to have risen 600 percent in the region since the preliminary license for the two dams was granted in July 2007. The IDB should reconsider funding for the Madiera dam and waterway project.

* The IDB continues to bankroll Peru's problematic Camisea gas project. Camisea is located in a highly-biodiverse and remote part of the Peruvian Amazon, home to numerous Indigenous communities including some of the last still living in isolation anywhere in the world. Impacts have included deforestation, erosion, gas spills and the loss of fish and game populations on which those communities depend. According to a recent economic study by a former Harvard professor, exporting Camisea's gas rather than using it to meet domestic energy needs, actually represents a drag rather than a boon to Peruvian development. Camisea has also helped spark an unsustainable and potentially devastating oil rush in the Peruvian Amazon; roughly 70 percent of the region, about twice the size of California, is now zoned into hydrocarbon concessions. Having agreed in January to a $400 million loan to construct a liquefaction plant on the Peruvian coast to export the Camisea reserves, the IDB continues its involvement in what it regards as a flagship project, but which has now become a model of how not to carry out extractive projects in environmentally sensitive areas and near vulnerable Indigenous communities. The IDB should stop additional funding for the Camisea gas project and invest in the protection of Peru's Amazon.

* The Camisea gas project is emblematic of the IDB's outdated and dismissive approach towards millions of Latin American citizens and their unique human rights enshrined in international legal documents such as ILO 169 and, from 2007, the UN's Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.  The IDB has an Indigenous Rights Policy.  Please implement it!

The IDB needs to enforce social and environmental safeguards to the highest standards before approving a loan for a particular project.

I hope you take my concerns into account as you meet to discuss the IDB's current and future lending policies and procedures.  The people and the natural environment of Latin America depend on you to be responsible and accountable to their needs.  Our global climate depends you to make the right decisions about funding dirty or renewable energy projects in Latin America.

[Your name]
[Your address]

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