This grant will support the work of the Stichting Forest Peoples Programme to ensure that the rights and interests of forest peoples are given priority in the policies and programs of the World Bank Group, the Inter-American Development Bank, and related private-sector activities. This project will maintain its "bottom up" approach to advocacy by assisting forest peoples themselves to engage in policy debates and ensuring that the lessons learned from the program's field projects are fed effectively into the advocacy process.

This renewal will support continued work of the Uruguayan Study Center of Appropriate Technologies to research and analyze the impacts of trade and integration policies on the environment in South America and develop environmentally sustainable alternatives. This project will produce policy analysis from original research; disseminate research findings via a Web site, publications, and a variety of media outlets; conduct workshops with environmental organizations, citizens' groups, academics, and local and national government officials; and develop tools for integrating environmental considerations in regional economic integration processes.

Mani Tese is an Italian organization working on international development issues since 1964. The main goal of this project is to ensure that global financial flows contribute to internationally adopted principles that support and promote sustainable development. This grant increase will support a strategic planning process to rethink nongovernmental organization strategies to address international financial institution, export credit agency, and private bank reform issues.

Oil Change International is a research and policy reform organization working to encourage progress in the energy industry towards a sustainable energy future. Oil Change International's International Program focuses on reforming the energy-related lending of public multilateral financial institutions, export credit agencies, and key private financial institutions. Over the next grant period, it will build upon its successes from the last grant period in shifting fossil fuel subsidies toward clean energy access for the poor. To accomplish this goal, Oil Change International will analyze and present research papers highlighting the scope, as well as the environmental and social implications, of current global fossil fuel subsidies and organize a global nongovernmental organization coalition to build awareness among emerging market countries' decisionmakers.

With this renewal grant, Both Ends Foundation will continue working to improve the environmentally and socially harmful policies and practices of international finance institutions. Through this project, Both Ends Foundation provides support to nongovernmental organizations in developing countries and Central and Eastern Europe, works on project and issue specific campaigns with other nongovernmental organizations, and promotes improvements to the overall policy structure of international finance institutions and Dutch private financial institutions, including the Dutch export credit agency.

The United States is considering the development of a carbon trading market as a mechanism to address climate change. Given the fact that the carbon emissions permits for such a trading system are considered a commodity like corn or wheat, the ability of the United States commodity futures system to monitor a carbon trading market in the United States has been called into question. In the United States and Europe, there are now efforts to strengthen the regulation of commodity futures markets to address both the problems of speculation in this market as well as the implications of the United States developing a carbon market. Over the last grant period, the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy has provided information and analysis that has allowed for a more informed discussion of the commodity markets. In this next grant period, it will work with national and international nongovernmental organizations as well as researchers and regulators to develop proposals to regulate commodity markets, with particular focus on impacts of a potential global carbon market.

Les Amis de la Terre has been actively engaged in encouraging the French government to support international financial institution reform since 1995. As a result of its work, the French government has a stronger stance on the World Bank's climate and energy policies. As well, French private bank and insurance companies have developed sectoral lending policies related to energy. With this grant, Les Amis de la Terre will focus on World Bank and French private banks' environmental and social safeguard policies as well as shifting the lending of these institutions' to more renewable and energy efficiency projects. This grant also will support organizational capacity-building projects.

The Institute for Policy Studies works in collaboration with nongovernmental organizations, academics, and other stakeholders to promote financing for sustainable energy and to develop alternative proposals for the future of the global economy based on environmental sustainability, democracy, and economic fairness. This grant will support policy research on the linkages between financial sector reform and innovations in funding for addressing climate change. This grant will also support coordination with other organizations in the U.S., Europe, and the developing world aimed at identifying policy alternatives and financing mechanisms that would reduce greenhouse gas emissions and promote low-carbon, sustainable development.

For the past decade, South America has experienced a massive development wave, accompanied by considerable investments in regional transport and energy infrastructure that has begun to traverse sensitive Amazonian ecosystems. Friends of the Earth - Brazilian Amazonia is working to ensure there is improvement in the public review and project finance requirements for these projects, as well as requiring a more robust environmental and social impact assessment and the application of environmental and social safeguards policies. The principle focus of this work will be increasing sustainability criteria for the investments of the Brazilian National Development Bank, which is currently the largest public funder of energy and infrastructure projects in South America.

FERN works to ensure that international capital flows contribute to environmental protection and sustainable development in developing and transitional countries. This grant increase will allow FERN to provide analysis for the European Union public review of financial market regulations, with a particular focus on regulation of carbon markets as they expand to include forests.

Ecoa - Ecology and Action works to protect the Pantanal region, as well as promoting sustainable development in the broader Plate River system, in Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, and Bolivia. This grant renewal will allow Ecoa - Ecology and Action to continue its work monitoring investments in energy and infrastructure by the Inter-American Development Bank and to expand its focus on the investment policies and practices of the Brazilian National Development Bank in this important freshwater ecosystem.

Global Greengrants Fund is an international collaborative of environmental donors established in 1993 to strengthen grassroots, environmental, nongovernmental organizations by providing small grants to groups in developing countries. This renewal grant will expand and continue support for a small grants fund for South American community organizations. These small grants support local communities' efforts to actively participate in public discussions on regional infrastructure projects (highways, waterways) and energy production in South America, that are being funded by multilateral and regional financial institutions, including the Brazilian National Development Bank. Grants will support meetings, applied research, educational initiatives, and capacity building.

This renewal grant to INESC will support a coordinated effort to increase accountability and sustainability of Brazilian public sector and international investments in energy and infrastructure in South America. It will also provide ongoing support for coordination of the Brazil Network on multilateral financial institutions, as well as efforts to engage parliamentarians and other elected officials in promoting increased transparency and accountability for investments in the Amazon region. INESC is a nongovernmental organization established in 1979 for the promotion and strengthening of representative and participative democracy in Brazil.