AIIB Watch documents environmental and social conflicts arising from infrastructure projects financed by the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB).
Our interactive map lists 18 cases where there is evidence that the AIIB is failing to meet its own safeguard standards. For more information on safeguards, have a look at the glossary below.
The cases take the environmental and social standards approved in 2016 and revised in February 2019 as a basis (see link under further information). These were to be reassessed and adjusted after three years based on practical experience with them. However, the review of the implementation and effectiveness of the standards was not done by the Bank itself, but primarily by civil society. Consultations with civil society took place from fall 2019 to May 2021.The AIIB Watch and the cases documented here informed the revision of the standards. In May 2021, the revised standards were approved and will enter into force in October 2021 (see link under further information).
For the project overview, we used information from the AIIB homepage. Please click on "More information" in the map to be taken to a summary for each case that provides details and further links to the safeguards involved. These summaries are compiled by a group of civil society organizations from Asia, Europe and North America. They are designed to help give voice to local communities, document realities on the ground, and testify that standards on paper can never be enough - they must be implemented.
Projects are constantly reviewed and results are documented on an ongoing basis. The research of the partner organizations often takes place under high risks. The security situation is so volatile that we cannot present all the details of individual cases without endangering the communities.