Senior IDB officials have made it a practice to meet with civil society representatives in a special meeting once per year then again during the Bank’s Board of Governors meeting. Despite having direct access to the IDB president Moreno at these meetings, their quality and in turn civil society interest has declined precipitously.
For the eighth consecutive year, the IDB will invite civil society leaders to discuss topics of mutual interest. The 2007 encounter was limited to a one-day meeting in San José, Costa Rica on Feb. 7, 2007. Among those who listened to President Moreno discuss the significance of the Bank's relationship with civil society in Campinas in 2006, some of the 68 people that attended in 2007 qualified the San José meeting as a step backwards in this relationship. Many left with doubts about the gap between Moreno's rhetoric about the need for the Bank to deepen its engagement with civil society and the Bank’s actual practice. Profound questions exist about the value added of future meetings unless structural changes are considered. Since the IDB initiated these civil society meetings, attendance reached a peak of 188 participants in 2005, but has since dropped off. The ratio of bank staff to civil society representatives was 1:3 by 2007.
The next meeting between civil society and the IDB has been postponed until late October 2008, but the chances of rescuing this process from its apparent loss of momentum will depend in part on the response by the Bank to a proposal by a number of civil society organizations to change the format of the event. Seventeen civil society organizations from eight South American countries have proposed that the IDB share with civil society the planning and facilitation of a one day seminar at the meeting. In a July 1 letter to IDB President Moreno, the signatory organizations propose a day-long seminar be devoted to the issue of Strategic Environmental Assessments in the context of IIRSA. The letter lays out a series of arguments suggesting greater control by civil society organizations over the seminar in a change that would mark a dramatic shift in the Bank designed meetings of the past. The letter underscores the lack of a strategic environmental and social planning tool in IIRSA that has contributed to a number of high risk projects proceeding without adequate preparation or justification. The seminar focus on SEAs and IIRSA will involve presentations by IDB officials and civil society experts, followed by a debate about how to strengthen the use of SEAs in qualifying ongoing and future investment in vulnerable regions of Latin America.
The organizations recommending the IIRSA SEA seminar include:
AMIGOS DA TERRA-AMAZONIA BRASILEIRA
ASOCIACION CIVIL LABOR, PERU
ATLA - ASSOCIAÇÃO TERRA LARANJEIRAS, BRASIL
BANK INFORMATION CENTER, ESTADOS UNIDOS
CLAES, URUGUAY
CEDHA, ARGENTINA
DERECHO, AMBIENTE Y RECURSOS NATURALES, DAR, PERU
ECOA, BRASIL
FUNDACIÓN M´BIGUÁ, CIUDADANÍA Y JUSTICIA AMBIENTAL. ENTRE RÍOS, ARGENTINA
FARN, ARGENTINA
FUNDACIÓN PROTEGER, ARGENTINA
INESC, BRASIL
ILSA, COLOMBIA
ITEM, URUGUAY
PROBIOMA, BOLIVIA
SOBREVIVENCIA, PARAGUAY
SOCIEDAD PERUANO DE DERECHO AMBIENTAL