Enviros yesterday called on the World Bank to deny funding for a proposed 650-mile pipeline that would carry oil from landlocked Chad to the Cameroon coast, cutting through a tropical rainforest and most of Cameroon’s major river systems. The World Bank is expected to decide by November whether to provide $190 million in loans to help pay for the project, which would be built by a consortium of international oil companies, including Royal Dutch/Shell and Exxon. The Environmental Defense Fund argued for a moratorium on World Bank funding until environmental and human rights concerns surrounding the project can be resolved. The group says the revenues from the pipeline would stay with the Chad government and not help average citizens. The World Bank claims there are no other development options other than the pipeline that would allow Chad and Cameroon to quickly increase government revenues.
