Civil society organisations* from Latin America, Europe and around the world have issued an open letter calling on the World Bank's International Finance Corporation to reject a proposal to finance Calyx Agro, a company that acquires farmland in Latin America on behalf of wealthy foreign investors. Calyx Agro is a subsidiary of Louis Dreyfus, one of the world's biggest commodity traders. The World Bank is considering a loan of up US$30 million to help Calyx Agro expand its operations in Latin America.
The letter also denounces the Bank for its on-going support to other leading investors involved in land grabbing around the world.
The complete letter is available in English here.
The letter is also available in Spanish and French.
See also: http://farmlandgrab.org/post/view/18886
*Signatories are:
Acción Ecológica, Ecuador
Acción por la Biodiversidad, Argentina
Campagna per la Riforma della Banca Mondiale (CRBM), Italy
Centro Ecológico, Brasil
COECOCEIBA-Amigos de la Tierra Costa Rica
Confédération Paysanne, France
Corporate Europe Observatory
Focus on the Global South
Friends of the Earth International
GRAIN
La Via Campesina
Land Research Action Network (LRAN)
Red de Coordinación en Biodiversidad, Costa Rica
REDES-AT, Uruguay
SOBREVIVENCIA, Amigos de la Tierra Paraguay