Asian Development Bank

Friday May 4 to Monday May 7 2007 the 40th Annual Meeting of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) will be held in Kyoto. The meeting will be attended by some 3,000 people including finance ministers and central bank governors from 67 countries and regions. Discussions at the meeting will focus on issues relating to the future of the Asia-Pacific region including the widening gap between rich and poor, environmental problems, and the furthering of regional cooperation.

Activists from countries around Asia are gathering for a People's Forum at Doshisha University Imadegawa Campus, Kyoto.

The NGOs feel they have brought some modest yet significant gains since founding the NGO Forum on ADB. Their ADB campaign has contributed to changes in the Bank’s policy in terms of:

* improved social and environmental guidelines for projects
* new Bank-wide lending priorities
* Bank initiatives in defining sectoral priorities on forestry, energy, population, involuntary resettlement, and information disclosure,
* a more open attitude to dialogue with NGOs and communities,
* and more recently, the Bank’s shift to poverty reduction as its “overarching framework.”

Yasuaki Yamaura from Consumers Union of Japan will speak on issues close to the heart for Japanese farmers and consumers on May 6.

NGOs that are active on ADB issues in Japan include:
Attac
JACSES Japan Center for a Sustainable Environment and Society (English website here)
Kansai NGO Council
ISEP Institute for Sustainable Energy Policies (English website here)
AMNet (English website here)

Updates:

Yomiuri: ADB confab kicks off in Kyoto
Mainichi: Asian Development Bank opens meeting under attack from environmentalists
Mainichi: Asian Development Bank under fire from 'disadvantaged' nations
The Japan Times: Large-scale ADB projects draw critisism
Yomiuri: Govt to set up 2 ADB funds

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Global Article 9 Conference to Abolish War

Image
A unique three-day international conference is being held at Makuhari near Tokyo, a day after the 61st anniversary of the enforcement of Japan's Constitution. It is organized by nongovernmental groups, including Japan-based Peace Boat . Organizers said the meeting will provide an opportunity to discuss the significance of the constitutional article that endorses demilitarization and what people can do to promote its spirit, notes The Japan Times . While the constitution stipulates that Japan renounces war as a sovereign right and that it will not maintain land, sea and air forces, the ruling Liberal Democratic Party has been keen to make amendments. "The war in Iraq has shown that even the strongest, biggest army in the world can not keep peace in a single city. It proves that aggression never instates peace," Tatsuya Yoshioka, director of Peace Boat and a representative of the event's organizing committee, said during the opening remarks. "Article 9 is a treasu
Read more

マーティンの鵜の目鷹の目 -世界の消費者運動の旅から

Image
  My new book has been published! マーティン・フリッド (著)   世界中の消費者が同じ課題を抱え、悩み、たたかっている。スウェーデンに生まれ、ヨーロッパ、そして日本の消費者運動の現場を歩いてきた著者が、人びとの日常によりそいながら軽妙なユーモアを交えて食、環境、エネルギー、社会のあり方、政治、経済を考えます。   https://nishoren.net/new-information/14177 Consumers all over the world are facing similar problems, worries, and struggles. In this book, the author, who was born in Sweden and has walked the frontlines of consumer movements in Europe and Japan, con
Read more

Salvador Dali, Hiroshima and Okinawa

Image
Spanish artist Salvador Dali was deeply terrified by the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki , and his exact, detailed style was very much suited to show the horror of the A-bomb, which America tried to keep a secret by classifying photos and descriptions until the end of the occupation of Japan in 1952. The Bureau of Atomic Tourism has more details if you want to know more about the legacy of nuclear weapons in the U.S. Even today, do people understand the real horror of atomic bombs? If not, then, why not ? Dali's paintings are on display in Fukushima prefecture, where you can view Melancholy Atomic and Uranium Idyll and The Three Sphinxes of Bikini at the Morohashi Museum of Modern Art . Long YouTube video from the Nihon University (Nichidai) channel with an interview featuring Morohashi Eiji, the son of the founder of the unique museum, and scenes from the Morohashi Museum (29:20): #271美術館への誘い ダリの世界 Is there a hidden message in Dali's Bikini hydrogen bomb painting
Read more