The World Bank: privatising and commodifying nature at Rio+20 and beyond

Amid all the preparation for Rio+20 and media speculation about the possible outcomes, the World Bank quietly released a rather important document last week – its Environment Strategy for 2012-2022.

Although it has gone relatively unnoticed, the document basically lays bare what the World Bank will actually do after Rio – regardless of what is agreed at the negotiations.

And it sure isn’t pretty.

"In a market-based world, as natural resources become scarce, their price should rise", the document states in a matter of fact manner and goes onto to advocate the expansion of carbon markets (which have totally failed to reduce emissions) to the domain of biodiversity. It also envisages the expansion of the UK-funded 'WAVES' (Global Partnership for Wealth Accounting and the Valuation of Ecosystem Services) programme, which is about getting poor countries to place a price tag on their ecosystems and habitats.

As we at the World Development Movement have argued consistently in the run up to Rio, ascribing a monetary value to free natural resources like biodiversity and clean water could lead to increased financial sector domination of the natural world, more land-grabbing, and the violation of the human rights of some of the world’s poorest communities.

The strategy also appears to envisage the continuation of the World Bank’s disastrous Climate Investment Funds (CIFs), which have saddled poor countries with debt and funded subsidised electricity for Walmart in Mexico. This is despite the CIFs having a 'sunset clause' obligating them to close down to make way for the UN Green Climate Fund.

So, it seems that whatever the outcome in Rio, the World Bank will continue to do as it wishes, as it, unlike the UN, answers only to the handful of rich industrialised countries with all the money and voting power.

Of course, that doesn’t mean that the World Bank isn't trying to use Rio to promote its agenda. Today, a UK-organised 'Natural Capital Summit' will see the World Bank and large financial sector interests argue for the marketisation of ecosystem 'services' and biodiversity. And while developing countries have so far successfully kept overt references to pricing nature out of the draft outcome document, the main summit will see the World Bank’s paymasters in the industrialised world put increased pressure on them to make concessions.

This is why WDM campaigners have joined a number of allies to hold a mock auction of nature (although eBay cancelled the listing!) to protest the proposals being put forward at the UK/World Bank event.