In the News

The industry needs to do a better job being accountable to communities directly impacted by projects, as individuals living near and working at investment sites bear the most risk if an investment has unintended environmental and social consequences, said Margaux Day, Policy Director at Accountability Counsel.

When local communities complain about projects, their adversaries are powerful, and complaint structures can be incredibly opaque and burdensome.

Based on over a decade of working with communities around the world, Accountability Counsel has seen various pitfalls of not adhering to community-led accountability and developed recommendations for how to improve.  

Margaux Day of Accountability Counsel emphasized that Janine Ferretti, the new vice president of the Compliance Advisor Ombudsman, will have to put her experience working on environmental and social safeguard issues at the Inter-American Development Bank to use as she endeavours to fulfil the terms of reference of the post during these challenging times.

The International Finance Corporation’s Operating Principles for Impact Management take a step to protect against impact-washing by requiring disclosures and verification. Genuine accountability requires more.

Watchdog groups such as Accountability Counsel amplify community voices around the world to protect human rights and environment. While these organizations serve as advocates for those harmed by internationally financed projects, screening for potential adverse effects at the inception stage can identify issues that may be non-obvious to the project sponsors or financiers.

Earlier this year, the Asian Development Bank withdrew its financial support for the Northern Province Sustainable Fisheries Development Project in Sri Lanka, effectively halting a years-long community-led effort to make funders accountable to community priorities. Anirudha Nagar

In September, senior executives at mining giant Rio Tinto resigned over the destruction of ancient Aboriginal caves in Juukan Gorge in Western Australia after communities and investors alike voiced concerns that the company was failing to hold them accountable for their actions. This incident has focused attention on the need for accountability…

The IFC’s Chief Executive Officer, Philippe Le Houérou, announced that he will be stepping down from his position, effective 1 October.

Philanthropists and impact investors who “intend to do good” with their money often have “a blind spot” because they fail to consider “the potential negative consequences in a real way,” said Natalie Bridgeman Fields, founder and executive director of Accountability Counsel.

Indigenous people in south-eastern Myanmar want to stop poachers, loggers and agribusinesses from laying waste to the globally significant wilderness of Tanintharyi, home to threatened species like tigers and Asian elephants.

Indigenous and land rights activists in Myanmar say the “Ridge to Reef” conservation project will disrupt largely agrarian and fishing-based livelihoods among residents of about 225 villages in the proposed park area.

As USAID sets its course for the near future, it should respond to a key congressional directive to strengthen accountability for its development activities. Doing so will help the agency be well-positioned to ensure its projects avoid harm and achieve their intended impact.

A conservation project in the Tanintharyi region in southeast Myanmar aimed to protect the area from unsustainable palm oil and rubber plantations and overfishing. Indigenous Karen and other communities, however, objected that the top-down project cut them off from their livelihoods, jeopardized ceasefires that had ended a civil war and prevented the…

Indigenous peoples in Jharkhand, India whose sacred spaces and rights have been trampled on by a World Bank-financed water scheme are calling on the bank to take three steps that would demonstrate a meaningful commitment to accountability — and prevent further undermining of public confidence in the bank.

In the south of Mongolia, a two-day drive from Ulaanbaatar, a giant mining complex has risen from the sand, disrupting the way of life of local herders. The story could have ended there, but the nomadic herders fought. Persistent and well advised, they negotiated with the mine to reach a historic compensation agreement.

The U.S. International Development Finance Corporation has been officially operating for about six months, and while it has met some goals, other early actions have raised questions about how the agency is delivering on its development mandate and living up to its required transparency and accountability standards.

Local residents and activists in southern Myanmar say indigenous experts are more effective at conservation than the UN, saying top-down plans for massive nature reserves will cut off locals’ access to food and land.

Campaigners in the Tanintharyi region of southern Myanmar have urged international donors to support community conservation efforts, rather than what they see as a top-down approach that excludes indigenous groups.

The Conservation Alliance Tanawthari has put out a new report, titled “Tanawthari Landscape of Life: A Grassroots Alternative to Top-Down Conservation in Tanintharyi Region”. Here’s a joint press statement from CAT and Accountability Counsel.