[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]
dam-l Statement to the AAAS Committe on Freedom and Scientific Responsibility
A CALL FOR AN INDEPENDENT EVALUATION OF THE USE OF SCIENCE BY THE WORLD
BANK GROUP
THE PEHUENCHE-IFC-ENDESA TRAGEDY
By Theodore E. Downing, University of Arizona
The following report was made by Downing to the American Association
for the Advancement of Science Committee on Freedom and Scientific
Responsibility on September 9, 1998 and was published in the November
1998 issue of the Society for Applied Anthropology Newsletter:
The International Finance Corporation, an arm of World Bank Group,
and a major South American power company's failure to adhere to
international standards for transparency, accountability and
participation led to extensive damage to a small tribe of indigenous
peoples in Chile. The IFC and ENERSIS-ENDESA redacted scientific
evidence fundamental to the well-being, health and safety of innocent people
in the pathway of investment opportunities (the Downing and the Hair
reports).
Together, they broke their agreement to disseminate scientific results of
an independent evaluation of an indigenous development foundation
designed to mitigate the impact of the first of a series of dams. They
withheld the report from reaching the tribe, NGOs and the Chilean
government while the Company conducted critical negotiations for the
relocation of the Indians by their second dam in Indian Territory,
Ralco. Non-Indians on the foundation's governing board were provided
with this knowledge. Indians were not. I failed to convince the Bank
Group that it was violating its own policies. My internal complaints of
human and civil rights of the Pehuenche were investigated by the highest
level of the IFC and dismissed. As a result, the Pehuenche are
subsidizing the IFC and ENDESA while they are being further impoverished
and their culture is at risk.
On the global scale, what happens to the Pehuenche is insignificant -
except, of course, to them. But this is not an isolated incident.
Comparable incidences of "less-than-nothing-but-the-truth";
science and the misapplication of scientific procedures by Bank
management and staff are being reported. Most recently, misapplied
science yielded inaccurate assessments of Indonesia - directly harming
investors and yielding instability. Warning flags are fluttering.
To raise questions about the responsibilities of scientific consultants
working for multilateral agencies is, in the end, to raise questions
about how the management and staff of these institutions use scientific
inquiry to determine the realities they face in reaching decisions.
Misused science damages the economy and harms people. The integrity of
the institutions rests on its scientific credibility.
The Bank Group proposes to reinvent itself and assume a pivotal role in
supporting knowledge and information for development . This is the theme
of its 1998 World Development Report (WDR) to be released in early October.
The Bank's goal is worthy, but unobtainable without sound, verified
information. To assure the Bank Group, its borrowers and those affected
by its projects have reliable information, I call for an independent
evaluation of the use of science by the World Bank Group. This
evaluation should be undertaken by organizations such as the American
Association for the Advancement of Science, the National Research Council
and other leading scientific associations and national science
organizations in countries with membership in the Bank. The evaluation
should examine how research questions are selected, what scientific
methods are used to validate or justify research findings, how
consultants are selected to carry out Bank scientific work, how
priorities are set for scientific inquiries, what provisions are made for
external review, and what scientific responsibility does the Bank and its
consultants have if they have knowledge of potential or actual damages to
project affected peoples and the environment. Special attention would be
placed upon provisions for the public dissemination of findings to the
broader stakeholder communities.
Contact: Theodore Downing <downing@u.arizona.edu>
//\\//\\//\\//\\//\\//\\//\\//\\//\\//\\
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Aleta Brown
International Rivers Network
1847 Berkeley Way
Berkeley, CA 94703 USA
Phone: 1.510.848.1155
Fax: 1.510.848.1008
email: aleta@irn.org
http://www.irn.org