VZCZCXRO4906
OO RUEHMJ RUEHRN
DE RUEHKO #0623 0782240
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
O 192240Z MAR 09
FM AMEMBASSY TOKYO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 1649
INFO RUCNUNE/UNEP GOVERNING COUNCIL COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHFK/AMCONSUL FUKUOKA PRIORITY 3069
RUEHNH/AMCONSUL NAHA PRIORITY 5409
RUEHOK/AMCONSUL OSAKA KOBE PRIORITY 6861
RUEHKSO/AMCONSUL SAPPORO PRIORITY 3609

C O N F I D E N T I A L TOKYO 000623 
 
SIPDIS 
 
EEB/IFD/ODF: RACHEL LEATHAM, OES/ENV: KERI J. HOLLAND, 
TREASURY: RACHEL BAYLY 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/18/2019 
TAGS: ECON PAS MDO RAS FIN DOE DCM AMB DAO PAS AID CON ECON
SUBJECT: ADB SAFEGUARDS 
 
REF: STATE 21473 
 
Classified By: Pol M/C W. Michael Meserve per (1.4b, d). 
 
¶1. (C) Embassy Tokyo Political Officer delivered reftel 
demarche to Satoshi Suzuki, Director of the Environmental and 
Social Considerations Review Division (Southeast Asia and 
Pacific) at JICA (Japan International Cooperation Agency). 
Suzuki responded that JICA is at present working with the 
Japan Bank for International Development to revise their 
Guidelines for Environmental and Social Considerations.  He 
added that both the Bank's (2001) and JICA's (2004) 
Guidelines contained an identical statement, "Efforts must be 
made to obtain the consent of indigenous peoples after they 
have been fully informed."  Suzuki stated they are studying 
the World Bank approach to this issue and expect the new 
language to call for "efforts to be made to obtain consent 
without this necessarily being an absolute criteria." 
 
¶2. (C) Financial Attache delivered the same points to the 
Ministry of Finance's Development Institutions Division 
Deputy Director Kentaro Ogata, who explained that MOF 
"understands and to some extent shares" our views.  However, 
Ogata noted the September 2007 UN Declaration left MOF little 
choice.  Allowing that the UN declaration was non-binding and 
confers neither rights nor establish legal principles, Ogata 
stated the EBRD,s revision of its safeguards policy after 
the UN Declaration made FPIC (Free Prior Informed Consent) a 
performance requirement, and would prompt the ADB to 
reference the UN declaration or risk facing a flood of UN 
criticism. 
 
¶3. (C) Japanese NGOs have expressed preference for language 
requiring consent. Yuki Tanabe, Program Coordinator of the 
Japan Center for a Sustainable Environment and Society 
(JACSES) told Embassy Tokyo, "It's not our main criticism of 
the ADB (Asian Development Bank) Safeguards Draft Document, 
but we have expressed our desire that it be included." He 
added that the group's main problems with the Draft is the 
disclosure issue as it relates to the environmental impact 
assessment, and perceived internal inconsistencies.  JACSES 
is also concerned that the Draft's list of Prohibited 
Investment Risks does not seem to apply to the ADB itself, 
but only to its investment partners. 
ZUMWALT