MEDIA RELEASE PR41653
New Ad Says World Bank Plan Deserts Poor, Restricts Fight Against Hunger
WASHINGTON, Oct. 8 /PRNewswire-AsiaNet/ --
Shows Palm Oil Plan Deprives Jobs and Higher Living Standards
7-10.pdf) accuses the World Bank of turning its back on the poor by withdrawing support for palm oil, a key
agricultural crop that feeds over a billion people in Africa, Latin America and South East Asia.
Growth, greeted officials gathering in Washington, DC for the annual fall meeting of the World Bank Group and
International Monetary Fund (IMF). The text highlights five key inexcusable outcomes of the World Bank palm oil
plan:
-- Denies the poor jobs and higher living standards
-- Restricts expansion of food production
-- Fosters illegal deforestation
-- Gives special interest control of the World Bank
-- Leads poor small farmers into green welfare
In conjunction with the World Growth ad, the NGO's Chairman Alan Oxley released the following statement:
"The palm oil industry provides direct support for around 10 million people worldwide and the crop is a vital food
staple for over 1 billion people. Jeopardizing the supply and expansion of palm oil is counter-productive to the
Bank's mission of poverty alleviation. Enacting this plan and suspending funding for palm oil will reverse the Bank's
decades of successful poverty reduction efforts.
"The World Bank and its President Robert Zoellick have succumbed to the political pressure of radical
environmental groups like Greenpeace, WWF and Friends of the Earth. Economic growth and development should
remain the focus of the World Bank. The Bank's newfound position on palm oil as an environment regulator is
outside the institution's purview."
7-10.pdf.
World Growth is a non-profit, non-governmental organization established to expand the research, information,
advocacy, and other resources to improve the economic conditions and living standards in developing and
transitional countries. At World Growth, we embrace the age of globalization and the power of free trade to
eradicate poverty and create jobs and opportunities. World Growth supports the production of palm oil and the use
of forestry as a means to promote economic growth, reduce poverty and mitigate greenhouse gas emissions. World
Growth believes a robust cultivation of palm oil and forestry provides an effective means of environmental
stewardship that can serve as the catalyst for increasing social and economic development. For more information
SOURCE: World Growth
CONTACT: World Growth, +1-866-467-7200, media@worldgrowth.org
NOTE TO EDITORS: To speak with World Growth's experts, please email media@worldgrowth.org or call +1-
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