Source: Ecosystem Marketplace
Amazon Watch, a San Francisco, CA based environmental and human rights non-profit, is seeking a passionate professional for the position of International Finance Advocate to continue and expand our work monitoring, engaging and challenging international financial institutions (IFI), such as the World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the U.S. Export-Import Bank (Ex-Im), and the Brazilian National Development Bank (BNDES). These banks and others are significant funders of destructive development mega-projects throughout the Amazon Basin, such as the Belo Monte Dam Complex. These banks are also positioning themselves as channels of climate financing, such as REDD Readiness funding through mechanisms like the Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF) and the Forest Investment Program (FIP), as well as REDD pilot projects which need to be monitored to ensure that indigenous peoples’ rights and territories are respected.
Of particular importance to our work in the coming years is the emerging role and impact on the Amazon of BNDES whose portfolio of loan disbursement is now larger than those of the World Bank, IDB and US Ex-Im combined. In 2010, BNDES disbursements totaled $101 billion. While the majority of loans disbursed are concentrated in Brazil’s construction, electricity and mining industries, the Bank is expanding its lending throughout the Amazon and Latin America. Many already consider it to be the most significant development bank in the Western Hemisphere.
The International Finance Advocate will build upon Amazon Watch’s history of monitoring, engaging with and challenging IFIs in collaboration with our indigenous and international NGO allies throughout the Amazon Basin, as well as our national and international allies in the north, to promote fair policies and best practices, including free, prior and informed consent (FPIC).