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IFC board vote on 2nd loan for Amazon soy expansion in June (Sunday, May 9, 2004 -- CropChoice news) -- Below are two letters regarding the approval by the International Finance Corporation for a $30 million loan to Amaggi, the world's largest soybean producer.
IFC board vote on 2nd loan for Amazon soy expansion in June
Dear Colleagues,
In 2002, the IFC approved a $30 million loan to Amaggi, a soy producer,
processor and exporter belonging to Blário Maggi, the world's largest soy
magnate and current governor of Mato Grosso state. The loan is for working
capital, allowing Amaggi to finance 900 soy planters in Mato Grosso and
Rondonia states. The IFC classified this loan as a category "B" loan, so
environmental conditions apply only to the immediate project area. At the
same time, Blário Maggi is among the principal beneficiaries of the paving
of 1,700 km of the 163 highway through neighboring Pará state to the
deepwater Amazon river port of Santarém. He further organized a consortium
of soy exporters and transporters to finance the paving in partnership with
the government. The road paving will substantially cut transport costs for
exporting soybeans, but has already unleashed a land war in western Pará
and an environmental firestorm in Mato Grosso and Pará.
The expansion of soy for export, the imminent certification of all Amazon
states as free of hoof-and-mouth disease, and increased demand for
range-fed beef globally in the wake of mad cow scares, has changed the
terms of agriculture in the Amazon. For the first time, activities that
require large-scale forest clearance have become highly competitive in
international markets. From 2001 to 2003 and from 2003 to 2004, nearly
three-quarters of the deforestation in the Amazon (at the highest levels
since 94/95) occurred in Mato Grosso and Pará states, the two states where
soy and cattle ranching are expanding most rapidly. Rural violence in Pará
has reached levels not seen since the 1980s as land speculators and illegal
loggers seek control of the lands in the 163 corridor ? there are reports
of some 30 rural workers murdered in the corridor since early 2003. In
this context, to imagine that financing the expansion of soy production has
no effects beyond the farm gate is to make a mockery of environmental
impact assessment.
Last February, a group of Brazilian NGOs met with Amaggi in the IFC's São
Paulo offices, ostensibly to share information and investigate
possibilities for further dialogue. The IFC positioned itself as merely a
neutral broker of the discussion. Now, the meeting is being used as
evidence of NGO collaboration with the company to justify a second loan to
Amaggi, said to be scheduled for a vote in June. The NGOs have called for a
meeting with the IFC and World Bank country directors on May 12th, and
express serious concerns with the second loan.
Please sign on to the statement of support for the Brazilian NGOs letter by
COB Tuesday, May 11. (Please indicate name, position, organization.)
Sincerely,
James D. Wolfensohn
Peter Woicke
Dear Sirs,
Our organizations share the concerns of Brazilian NGOs with the IFC's
proposed second loan to the Amaggi company, and support their request for a
meeting with your Country Directors prior to any further action on the
proposed project.
Sincerely,
Stephan Schwartzman
Brasília, May 5th, 2004
Wolfgang Bertelsmeyer
Vinod Thomas
Dear Sirs,
We have noted inconsistencies in information about the relations
among the organizations we represent, the IFC, and its client, the Amaggi
group, and would like to invite you to a meeting to clarify our positions
and expectations in this respect.
In February of this year, we participated in a meeting at the
headquarters of the IFC in São Paulo, with the objective of presenting our
organizations' initiatives in Mato Grosso state, and hearing a presentation
on the Amaggi group's activities and environmental management plans. In
spite of our interest in discussing the terms of the IFC's loan to Amaggi,
we were informed from the moment the agenda for the meeting was set that
this was not relevant, since the loan was already done. There was at no
point any mention of a possible new loan. The IFC presented itself as
solely the facilitator of dialogue amongst the organizations.
Among the subjects discussed in the meeting was the possibility of
identifying potential areas of collaboration among the institutions, which
point was to have been discussed in a future meeting, yet to take place.
Since the February meeting is being cited as evidencing positive relations
between the Amaggi group and the our organizations in the context of
negotiations of a second loan, we are inviting you to the Brasília office
of the Instituto Socioambiental (ISA), on May 12 in order to clarify this
issue.
The prospect of a new loan concerns us, in light of the
socio-environmental situation of the state of Mato Grosso and the relations
between the private company, Amaggi and the state government. In addition
to record-breaking deforestation rates in the state, the government has
sent the Legislative Assembly a proposal for the reduction of state
Conservation areas, which demonstrates questionable socio-environmental
policies.
Being certain of your interest in establishing improved information
flow, transparency and participation in the context of actions for
effective socio-environmental management, we sign,
Cordially,
Oriana Almeida | |
