For this month’s Newsletter, ADA Secretariat shared observations from Finance in Common Summit, Abidjan, 2022

Jyotsna Mohan Singh

 
What a let-down the #FICS2022 has been. In last couple of days we have been hearing the accountability measures taken and adopted by these public Development Banks globally, where they talk about the billion and trillion dollars projects and how they have benefitted the people and created more development. The FICS summit failed to have mentioned the role of CSOs which play an active role in the development and remind the human right based approach by representing the voices of the communities.
 
The reality? Go to the outskirts of Adidjan, where you see the actual development, with hardly any basic infra-structural facilities , and somehow, I failed to see the large bridges and other infra-structure projects that these PDBs have been claiming to have created for the benefit of communities and the country. The people living in extreme poverty with their continued exploitation by the global north, and the new actors are the PDBs without applying any accountability measures including the UN principals of Business of Human Rights . The public has never been consulted before the launch of a new project and continued land grabbing and forcing the people out of their native lands is happening.
The PDBs are here but they have managed to influence the G20 and now eying COP 27, Egypt with the lucrative offer to the Governments and the United Nations.
 
Highlight from the ADB’s development project implementation
ADB-funded projects in Asia have largely caused displacement of peoples from their ancestral lands, homes and places of work. The Nam Ngiep I Hydropower in Laos, a 290-megawatt hydropower infrastructure project to provide electricity, was pursued by the bank in the provinces of Bolihamsai and Xaysombone. While ADB claims the dam is a part of its poverty-reduction strategy for Laos, 90% of the generated electricity will be exported to Thailand. Among those forcibly relocated from their ancestral lands are the Hmong and Khmu Indigenous Peoples. Military campaigns are also being used to drive out the Hmong in order to ensure the smooth implementation of foreign investment projects and other government-backed initiatives on their lands.
 
In the case of Sri Lanka, With the infrastructure project, the 524th division of the Sri Lankan army has been stationed in the area, establishing their base. Amid continuing tensions between Tamils and Sinhalese, land is being taken away from the indigenous population in Kilinochchi to expand a military town with houses for military personnel, the construction of new Buddhist temples, fields and an airstrip. Furthermore, indigenous Tamil lands have been used by the military to establish their own businesses. Leaders of Fishers’ Associations have accused the project as a “genocidal ‘development’ of fishery harbors.” Militarized ‘Development’ Projects
 
The ADB’s infrastructure projects disturb the traditional way of life and the environment of Indigenous Peoples. For instance, the ADB-funded SASEC Road Connectivity Investment Program (SRCIP) is a project under the South Asia Subregional Economic Cooperation (SASEC) that aims to improve about 500 kilometers of a priority road section in North Bengal and North Eastern Region (NB-NER) of India. The Indigenous Peoples in Manipur have argued that these road infrastructure would affect at least 400 hectares of agricultural land in the Western and Eastern regions of Imphal and displace hundreds of households. Furthermore, the bank’s negotiations for the SRCIP with the Indian government are taking place against a backdrop of indigenous struggles for self-determination. The aggressive promotion of the road project by the Indian government served to escalate tensions among the Indigenous Peoples in the area.
 
Meanwhile in Bangladesh, the ADB is supporting a number of infrastructure projects in the Chittagong Hills Tract (CHT), a province that historically experienced genocide and ethnic cleansing of the Jumma Indigenous Peoples in the 1960s and 1970s. During this time, Indigenous Peoples were expelled and their land was used to build reservoirs and hydroelectric power plants. Despite the ongoing aggression against the Jumma, the bank has continued to pursue projects in the Chittagong Hills Tract. Without addressing the ongoing conflict and violence against the Indigenous Peoples, it has continued to profit from infrastructure projects in the area. From the water reservoirs, the bank has pursued projects to profit from water supplies in Chittagong, which has also affected access to water by the Bangladeshi population. In addition, the bank has launched rural and community “development” projects in the area, funding institutional development, capacity building and rural access in the form of roads and markets, village infrastructure, and the development of micro-agribusinesses.
 
In the face of increasing violence and exploitation of Indigenous Peoples and women in the Chittagong Hills Tract, ADB remains unscathed and unaccountable. The Asian Development Bank has ensured that they would be given immunity by the Bangladesh government through the President’s Order No. 3 of 1973 or The Asian Development Bank Order, 1973. Citizens of Bangladesh are incapable of suing a case against the ADB, its management or employees for its projects and initiatives. The bank’s immunity has served to violate basic human rights and Indigenous Peoples’ rights and has shrunk civic spaces, leading to continued attacks on local communities, human rights activists and environmental defenders.
 
Our say?
 
The PDBs and other global financial institutions should have a normative core; they should start with the rights framework. This means grounding all safeguards into all the various rights frameworks that already exist. There are rights instruments for indigenous people, the elderly, women, youth, and people living with disability. They are part and parcel of a whole host of both global conventions and regional conventions. The ESS approach should be grounded in those rights, then it will be on a very firm footing.
The Asian governments need to support, implement, and apply strict environmental laws and regulations for all the development projects. The first step is to disseminate public information and conduct open and effective environmental impact assessments for all BRI projects, as well as strategic environmental assessments for infrastructure and cross-border projects.
 
Transparency and Mutual Accountability policies must be rigorously reviewed and audited with CSOs and people’s organizations to develop effective country accountability mechanisms for achieving truly inclusive and sustainable results. Information and records about the development projects must be made public, for further transparency and accountability. The bank must also support and engage with civil society mechanisms that undertake monitoring of its projects, such as the CSO Aid Observation
 
Please reach ADA Secretariat should you have any question/suggestions or want to post anything – info@ada2030.org

Finance In Common Summit (FICS)

On October 19th-20th 2022 over 450 Public Development Banks (PDBs) gathered  in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, for a third international summit, dubbed Finance in Common summit(FICS). Together with a coalition of civil society organisations, ADA and few CSO platforms from LAC , Africa and Europe regions, all members of Forus international had participated in the development of a common statement demanding public development banks to put people and planet first.

We believe that the Finance in Common Summit (FICS) should prioritize investing in human rights and sustainable solutions to go beyond a just recovery and move towards building a just, equitable, inclusive and sustainable world for all, present and future generations.

Follow the link for sign the civil society statement

C 20 Summit Indonesia, Bali-Indonesia 5-7 October, 2022.

 
The Civil Society 20 successfully convened the Summit in Bali, 5-7 November 2022. The event had successfully invited and delivered the policy pack and communique to the leaders of G20, Mr. Erlangga Hartanto, Coordinating Minister of Economy Affair, Republic of Indonesia, on behalf of President of Indonesia, Mr. Joko (Jokowi) Widodo.
 
The meeting  brought  three hundred participants representing C20 and CSOs from around the world and participate in several parallel side events organized by all C20 working groups and plenary sessions. Therefore, The C20 Summit 2022 became the key political event for all civil society organizations and grassroots communities worldwide. ADA Secretariate acted as the international co-ordinator for the humanitarian and SDG working group of C20summit.

The document was delivered on the opening day of the C20 Summit in Nusa Dua, Bali, on Thursday that goes on as following- “We call on all leaders of the G20 to end their own self-interests and work as a united front to solve the crises. It is time to collaborate in promoting world peace and humanity by enhancing recovery efforts to solve the current global situation," the C20 chair, Sugeng Bahagijo, said in a statement.

• ADA 9th Annual General Body MeetingOn 31st of this month, ADA organized 9th Annual General Body Meeting , chaired by Mr. Hideki Wakabayashi ( JANIC) ADA chair . We thank him wholeheartedly for his guidance and continued support past 4 years as ADA Steering Committee Member and Chair ! We also want to thank two more outgoing Steering Committee Members Arjun Bhattarai ( NFN) and Sun Putheary ( CCC) for their constant support !

We welcome three newly elected SC members
 
Denison Jayasooria ( CSO SDG Alliance, Malaysia)
Jay Hung ( Taiwan Aid)
Harsh Jaitli ( VANI , India)

ADA current Steering Committee Members ( 2022-24)

• Ms. Jamila Asanova ( ARGO, Kazakhstan)
• Ms. Urantsooj Gombosuren ( CHRD Mongolia)
• Ms. Linh Nguyen ( MSD Vietnam)
• Mr. Abdul Awal ( SUPRO Bangaldesh)
• Mr. Denison Jayasooria ( CSO SDG Alliance, Malaysia)
• Mr. Jay Hung ( Taiwan Aid)
• Mr. Harsh Jaitli ( VANI , India)

ADA New Advisors

• Mr. Hideki Wakabayashi, Think Centre, Japan
• Mr. Anselmo LEE, APSD Coordinator

GALA-ELSAH Training of Trainers (ToT)

The Two and a half months long Online training ended on October 31st.

The GALA-ELSAH Training of Trainers (ToT) is an online capacity-building program for civil society advocates who are interested to learn and willing to conduct training programs at national and/or international level in Asia about how to engage in policy advocacy on the SDGs through human rights-based approach (HRBA). This training program was organised by Asia Development Alliance (ADA), Asia Civil Society Partnership on Sustainable Development  (APSD) with support from Forus and JANIC

Around the globe

All you want to know about Sharm el-Sheikh Climate Change Conference - November 2022 – COP27 – 6-18 November
In November 2022, the Government of the Arab Republic of Egypt will host the 27th session of the Conference of the Parties of the UNFCCC (COP 27), with a view to building on previous successes and paving the way for future ambition to effectively tackle the global challenge of climate change.
Agenda as adopted
 
Progress on methane emissions by energy companies, but numbers still don’t add up: UNEP
Decreasing the use of methane can significantly help in climate change in the short run because methane remains in the atmosphere for a shorter time frame than carbon dioxide. Around 80 oil and gas companies around the world pledged to reduce their methane emission, which is the second driver of global warming. However, recent reports by the International Methane Emissions Observatory revealed that more companies need to take significant actions to reduce methane emissions and make progress and qualify industry emissions reliably. A published study set the total global methane emissions from the industry estimate to be at 80-140 million tons per year; however, the International Energy Agency’s (IEA) methane tracker estimates emissions at the lower end of this range. However, total emissions from this year’s OGMP 2.0 reporting of member countries were 1.3 million tons of methane. This demonstrates an inconsistency between the estimates of global industrial emissions and the proportional share reported by the partnership’s member companies. The agency further cautions that most assets are not reporting measurement-based emissions, and many assets that are not part of OGMP 2.0 member countries are yet to report.
Sourse : https://news.un.org/en/story/2022/10/1130047

Japan spent record $42.8 bn in October interventions to prop up yen
The Japanese government stepped into the market to secure the yen’s position by spending a record $42.8 billion on currency intervention. This was likely in response to the sharp drop in yen in the past 32 years. The interventions caused a temporary but immediate decline in the dollar value against the yen on October 21 (by more than 7 yen) and on October 24 (roughly 5 yen), although temporarily. Japan’s currency intervention data will bring insight into how much Japan is willing to spend in the currency market. Besides, Japan’s top currency diplomat said that Japan has enough resources to continue intervening in the market. In late September, Japan had approximately $1.2 trillion in foreign reserves. Additionally, four-fifths of Japan’s total foreign reserves are kept in the form of U.S Treasuries that they bought during their dollar-buying interventions when the yen was on the rise. They can convert these reserves to cash when needed as well.
Source : https://www.reuters.com/markets/asia/japan-likely-spent-record-amount-october-prop-up-yen-2022-10-31/
 
North and South Korea fire missiles off each other’s coasts for first time.
North and South Korea have both fired missiles landing in waters off each other’s coasts for the first time. Seoul retaliated on Wednesday three hours after Pyongyang launched a missile that landed less than 60km (37mi) off the South’s city of Sokcho. The South’s military said this was an “unacceptable” breach of its territory. It fired three air-to-ground missiles in response, which officials said landed a similar distance past the Northern Limit Line (NLL). The demarcation line marks the rough midway-point in the sea between North and South Korea, but the North has never accepted the boundary.
Source: bbc
 
NGO MG Global and Regional Organizing Partners ‘contact details
 
Global Organizing Partners (ngomajorgroupopny@gmail.com):
Jessica Bridgers (jessica.bridgers@wfa.org)
Lani Anaya  (lani@myworldmexico.org)
Oli Henman (oli.henman@action4sd.org)
 
Regional Organizing Partners:
Central Africa: Bernard Lutete Di Lutete (bernlutete@yahoo.fr)
Eastern Africa: Henry Oriokot (henrycidc@gmail.com)
Northern Africa: Hagar Monsif (h.monsif@maatpeace.org)
Southern Africa: Joseph Mihaye (aminiac15@gmail.com)
Western Africa: Kofi Kankam (eri@eri.kabissa.org)
 
Caribbean: Donovan McLaren (kevoy1@yahoo.com) and Joseph Severe (unascadhaiti@gmail.com)
North America: Kehkashan Basu (kehkashanbasu@greenhopefoundation.com)
South America: Rosario Diaz Garavito (r.garavito@themillennialsmovement.org)
 
Asia: Jyotsna Mohan (jyotsna@ada2030.org)
Central Asia: Artem Stepanenko (a.stepanenko@eca-ces.ru)
 
Europe: Lara-Zuzan Golesorkhi (golesorkhiwow@gmail.com)
 
Middle East/North Africa: Anis Brik (anisdago@gmail.com)
 
Pacific: Emeline Siale (siale@piango.org)

• ADA's official website has been renewed. All the information related to the
• implementation of SDGs in Asia and actions conducted by Asian CSOs will be accumulated on this website. Please visit www.ada2030.org
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• ADA Twitter account @alliance_asia