Civil society groups gathering in the down town of Cancun on Saturday strongly opposed the efforts of the industrialised nations to give the World Bank a central role in the global climate financial architecture.

They also condemned the role of the bank in increasing debt burden of the developing countries and demanded the donor agency out of the climate financing.
The demand came at a rally organised by Jubilee South.

In the rally, the activists, carrying banners and placards, chanted slogans in Spanish and English that “World Bank Out of Climate Fund”, “No al Banco Mundial en el Clima”, “ World Bank Killing Planet”, “Banco Mundial – Asesinos del planeta.”, according to a message received here from Cancun where the UNFCCC CoP 16 is going on.

Bangladeshi activists Abdul Awal from SUPRO and Rezaul Karim Chowdhury from EquityBD participated in the rally.

They condemned the developed countries’ efforts in the negotiation process to bring the World Bank in the climate adaptation finance management, while officials of Bangladesh delegation and other developing nations opposed the World Bank role as well as any loan in the name of climate financing.

The activists said the World Bank has no good track record in developing countries in respect of poverty alleviation. Rather it has created debt burden in those countries, they said, adding that financing agency is favouring privatisation and commercialisation of essential services in health, education, water and power sectors.

“Climate finance must not be given in the form of loan or other debt creating instrument. It is already a grave injustice that the peoples of the South bear the brunt of the impacts of a crisis they had no part in creating. It is even a grave injustice that they are made to pay for the cost of dealing with these impacts,” said Lidy Nacpil of the Freedom from Debt Coalition-Philippines, a member of Jubilee South.

Miguel Borba de Sa of Jubilee South Americas said, “The World Bank has been promoting a ‘development’ paradigm that has led to the problem of global warming and climate change. It has also been promoting false solution to the climate crisis which only paves the way for generating more profits for global elites and transnational corporations.”

source: http://www.daily-sun.com/?view=details&type=daily_sun_news&pub_no=58&cat_id=1&menu_id=9&news_type_id=1&index=0&archiev=yes&arch_date=05-12-2010

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