How civil society makes itself irrelevant

FOR as large and energetic as the population of so-called civil society groups in the Philippines is, when one looks at the big picture over the past couple of decades, it becomes apparent that civil society has had an undersized impact on broader national policy. If you have ever wondered why that is so, an article earlier this week (Wednesday, May 24) in Eco-Business provides an excellent example.

The story, written by Hannah Alcoseba Fernandez (I'm not picking on her, she does a good job) has the headline, "ADB's bid to expand private sector financing for climate goals reignites worries about lack of social safeguards," and details some of the reactions to the multilateral development bank's plan to mobilize more private-sector investment to meet its challenging climate finance goals. At its recent annual meeting in South Korea, the bank launched a new $15-billion climate finance facility and aims to ramp up funding for climate response to $100 billion from its own substantial resources. For the Philippines, among the top recipients of ADB financing, it plans to lay out about $4 billion this year for various projects.