Cyanide Dreams ... Ecotourism and mega-mining don’t mix in Honduras http://dominion.mediacoop.ca/story/cyanide-dreams/17716WWF and Goldcorp have also collaborated on projects, including exchanges such as a $50,000 donation by Goldcorp to WWF for research into North American economic dependence on water resources and the provision of a company expert for a WWF study examining gold mining and its water footprint. CIDA has also funded WWF. An ongoing $15 million CIDA project in Mozambique, for example, included a $74,000 contribution to WWF for civil society participation in a CSR debate. The same CIDA project provided technical assistance to the Mozambican Ministry of Mineral Resources (MIREM) for policy development regarding the mining and oil and gas industries.Back in Honduras, Siria Valley residents say that before the mine opened, company representatives held parties, gave out gifts and offered notebooks and piñatas to the children. The controversial consultation process was followed by the opening of the mine, which went ahead despite widespread dissent.Pedro Landa, the human rights and environment program coordinator with the Honduran Centre for the Promotion of Community Development (CEHPRODEC), called the marriage between mining and development agencies a strategy of war.“First you do a project about water, talk about sustainability and development, promise to help the children,” Landa told The Dominion in an interview in Tegucigalpa in February 2013. “Then, they will say that Goldcorp is a good neighbour and try to tell people that the mine will be good for their community.” The work of NGOs in collaboration with mining companies can have a coercive effect on prospective or established mining communities since certain projects appear to, and may actually be connected to the presence of the mine, according to Jamie Kneen, communications and outreach coordinator at MiningWatch Canada. NGOs end up covering costs that would otherwise have to be covered by the company and in many cases, at least part of their funding comes from Canadian public funding, through CIDA. This marks a shift from the way things were done in the past, said Kneen.“Individual NGOs have been involved with mining companies for decades, but not with CIDA funding these activities,” he told The Dominion. “Until last year, CIDA was not allowed to fund private companies, only civil society organizations,” noting that a previous specific CIDA program for commercial support, CIDA Industrial Cooperation Program (CIDA-INC), ran from 1978 to 2005 and failed.CIDA now openly emphasizes the private sector and particularly mining; the agency has started providing direct funding for specific projects that directly involve mining companies. “While mining companies may also contribute funds, the projects are mostly funded by CIDA through public funds,” said Kneen.
[ed notes:im just citing few paragraphs click link for whole expose,its a good read..then also see.. Background of the WWF and the 1001
http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/sociopolitica/sociopol_1001club01.htm