1) See generally WILLIAM FISHER, ED., TOWARD SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT? STRUGGLING OVER INDIA'S NARMADA RIVER (1995). The Inspection Panel is in some ways modelled after the Independent Review Commission established specifically to evaluate the Sardar Sarovar Projects on the Narmada River. See SARDAR SAROVAR: THE REPORT OF THE INDEPENDENT REVIEW (Ottawa: Resources Future International, 1992).

2) World Bank, Effective Implementation: Key to Development Impact -- Report of the Portfolio Management Task Force (Washington, D.C. 1992).

3) For more information on the creation of the World Bank Inspection Panel, se D. Bradlow, International Organizations and Private Complainants: The Case of the World Bank Inspection Panel, 34 VA. J. INT'L L. 553 (1994); D. Hunter & L. Udall, The World Bank's New Inspection Panel, ENVIRONMENT, Vol. 36. No. 9, at 2 (Nov. 1994); D. Hunter & L. Udall, The World Bank's New Inspection Panel: Will It Increase Accountability?, CIEL ISSUE BRIEF NO. 1 (April, 1994); L. Udall & D. Hunter, Proposal for an Independent Appeals Commission (Paper prepared by the Environmental Defense Fund and Center for International Environmental Law, 1993).

4) See World Bank Inspection Panel, IBRD Resolution No. 93-10 (Sept. 23, 1993) [hereinafter Panel Resolution]; World Bank Inspection Panel, Operating Procedures (Aug. 1994) [hereinafter Panel Operating Procedures].

5) See Arun Concerned Group, Request for Inspection (Oct. 24, 1994). Rondonia Natural Resources Management Project (PLANAFLORO). For a discussion, see D. Bradlow, A Test Case for the World Bank, 11 AM. U. INT'L L. & POL'Y 195.

6) In November, 1995, a third claim was filed by Chilean environmentalists and indigenous peoples concerned with construction of the IFC-financed Pangue/Ralco hydroelectric complex on the BioBio River. The claimants alleged that the IFC had violated applicable indigenous peoples and environmental assessment policies, as well as failed to supervise implementation of the project properly. The claimants recognized that the Panel did not currently have jurisdiction over IFC-financed projects, but requested in their submission that Mr. Wolfensohn authorize the Panel to investigate the claim anyway and that the IFC board adopt the Panel mechanism in the future. Mr. Wolfensohn subsequently agreed to launch an internal investigation of the claim and to create some accountability mechanism for the IFC. There have been two other claims filed with the Panel that did not raise significant social or environmental issues and were ultimately dismissed.

7) ADRIAN COWELL, THE DECADE OF DESTRUCTION: THE CRUSADE TO SAVE THE AMAZON RAIN FOREST 131 (1990).

8) For an account of the events surrounding the death of Chico Mendes, see A. SHOUMATOFF, THE WORLD IS BURNING: MURDER IN THE RAIN FOREST (1990).

9) For information on the POLONOROESTE project, see COWELL, SUPRA note 7, at 128-35; B. RICH, MORTGAGING THE EARTH: THE WORLD BANK, ENVIRONMENTAL IMPOVERISHMENT, AND THE CRISIS OF DEVELOPMENT 26-28 (1994).

10) Cowell, supra note 7, at 131 (quoting World Bank President Barber Conable).

11) Request for Inspection Submitted to the World Bank Inspection Panel on the Rondonia Natural Resources Management Project, IPN Request RQ95/3, at 11-20 (Portp Velho, June 13, 1995) [hereinafter PLANAFLORO Claim].

12) Id at 21-35.

13) Id at 36-40.

14) Id at 41-43; see also World Bank, Operational Directive 13.05 (Project Supervision); World Bank, Operational Directive 4.20 (Indigenous Peoples).

15) See Panel Operating Procedures, supra note 4; Panel Resolution, supra note 4.

16) Panel Resolution, supra note 4, at para. 14(b).

17) PLANAFLORO Claim, supra note 12, at 48-49.

18) Office Memorandum from Gautam S. Kaji, Acting President, Mr. Ernst-Gunther Broder, Chairman, The Inspection Panel, para. 3 (July 19, 1995) [hereinafter Management Response].

19) Id at Annex A, para. 4.

20) World Bank Inspection Panel, Request for Inspection: Rondonia Natural Resources Management Project (Loan No. 3444-BR), Recommendation of the Inspection Panel, at para. 11 (INSP/R95-2).

21) International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, Draft Minutes of Executive Session of Sept. 12, 1995 (Sept. 29, 1995).

22) World Bank Inspection Panel, Request for Inspection of Rondonia Natural Resources Management Project (Loan No. 3444-BR), Additional review by the Inspection Panel, at 7 (Dec. 8, 1995) (INSP/R95-2) [hereinafter Panel's Additional Review].

23) Compare Additional Review, supra note 23, at 7 with Country Department I, Latin America and the Caribbean Region, International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, Rondonia Natural Resources Management Project (Loan 3444-BR); Report on the Status of Implementation, Annex C at 2 (Dec. 15, 1995) [hereinafter Management's Status Report].

24) Panel's Additional Review, supra note 26-28.

25) Management's Status Report, supra note 24.

26) Letter from Luis Rodrigues de Oliveira, Executive Secretary, Rondonia Forum of NGOs and Social Movements and Maria Clara Couto Soares, Coordination of the Brazil Network on Multilateral Financial Institutions to Mr. James Wolfensohn, President, World Bank, at 2 (Jan. 19, 1996). Many international organizations supported the Rondonia NGO Forum's renewed request for an inspection. See, e.g., Letter from David Hunter, Center for International Environmental Law on behalf of ten organizations, to Mr. James D. Wolfensohn, President, World Bank (Jan. 23, 1996) (including a signed petition from thirty nine other organizations from twenty-four countries).

27) See The World Bank News Release No. 96/S37, World Bank Calls for Further Review of PLANAFLORO Project in Brazil (Jan. 25, 1996).

28) See, e.g., Amazon Project Inquiry Rejected, FINANCIAL TIMES, at 2 (Jan. 26, 1996); Jim Lobe, World Bank Rejects NGO Appeal, INTERPRESS SERVICE (January 25, 1996); Center for International Environmental Law, Press Release: Bank Board of Executive Directors Rejects Inspection Into PLANAFLORO (Jan. 25, 1996).

29) Letter from Forum of NGOs and Social Movements in Rondonia, Brazil, to Mr. Ernst-Gunther Broder, Chairman, The Inspection Panel (Oct. 10, 1995).

30) Management's Status Report, supra note 24, at Annex F: Detailed Plan of Action for Extractive Reserves.

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