Internal report slams World Bank for Congo deforestation
We've posted on this blog before about the World Bank and the Congo, last April we published an extensive report on how the World Bank is contributing to Congo deforestation, and Greenpeace activists have taken direct action to try and stem the flood of timber out of the country. Now, according to the Guardian, the World Bank's own internal report also accuses the bank of razing Congo forests:
The World Bank encouraged foreign companies to destructively log the world's second largest forest, endangering the lives of thousands of Congolese Pygmies, according to a report on an internal investigation by senior bank staff and outside experts. The report by the independent inspection panel, seen by the Guardian, also accuses the bank of misleading Congo's government about the value of its forests and of breaking its own rules.Congo's rainforests are the second largest in the world after the Amazon, locking nearly 8% of the planet's carbon and having some of its richest biodiversity. Nearly 40 million people depend on the forests for medicines, shelter, timber and food.
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Comments
Hey there Andrew...,
...and thanks so much for this compelling article, ...easy enough to see it is you and Greenpeace who are among the very few that really care. The video was just outstanding, and very well put together. Easy enough I suppose when you have heroes like yours giving it their all.
I see another of your friends, 'Hapsoro' in Indonsia is sharing some common perspective and concerns. "The environmental group (Greenpeace), said in May that Indonesia was losing its forests faster than any other country, with the equivalent of about 300 soccer fields destroyed every hour." - http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071005/ap_on_sc/indonesia_deforestation ...and as in the article, ...planting trees is fine, but if you just keep harvesting them, obviously there will be no more material to compost down into food to produce new trees.
Anyway, thanks Andrew for your always significant contributions, ...and mostly for keeping that Light burning so brightly inside you. You really shine bro...
Posted by: Grateful Child | October 6, 2007 1:07 AM
i aggre with grateful child :):):)
Posted by: Tolsa Burrell | November 15, 2007 6:59 AM