The fat lady has sung in NY and she is decidedly off key
New York, United Nations, 8:45pm
As the final day at the oceans meeting here at the UN in New York draws to a close, we’re sitting at the back of the room, unable to speak as the debate is now only among states. They have been at it since 10am this morning. The translators have long gone. It even looks as though half the delegates have gone home or nodded off.
Less than 24 hours to go here at the UN, but no-one thinks it will be over according to the timetable. We meet half an hour each close of session each evening to talk about which countries are doing what to whom and what the word is in the corridors of this strange building where so many monumental decisions have been made. This evening it was especially tense because the draft outcome was presented to the awaiting delegates to take home and consider overnight and come back tomorrow to negotiate during the day and no doubt night – drafting by committee is a laborious process.
Day 2 at the UN: "Without Conservation, Fisheries are doomed"
Happy World Oceans Day! We've been really busy at the UN. Today was the day I got to speak on one of the panels at the meeting. I was really privileged to sit on the "Civil Society and Science" panel with three incredibly distinguished people. Dr Boris Worm is a marine scientist at Dalhousie University in Canada, though originally from Germany. His presentation focussed on the disappearance of the top predators from the world's oceans - the tunas, swordfish and sharks and it was sobering stuff. For example he opened by saying that while the oceans cover 70% of the planet, if you include their depth, then our oceans make up 90% of the biosphere!
The first few days in New York at the 'United Nations Informal Consultative Process on Oceans and the Law of the Sea' (UNICPOLOS)
June 6th and 7th, The first day at the United Nations Informal Consultative Process on Oceans and the Law of the Sea (UNICPOLOS), saw a series of formal opening statements by state delegations, intergovernmental organisations and NGOs, followed by a more informal panel discussion, in which national officials and stakeholders shared the floor.
While the Rainbow Warrior and crew are out on the coal face, and our team is on the ground in Nelson, we also have a team in New York negotiating the intricacies of the 'United Nations Informal Consultative Process on Oceans and the Law of the Sea'. The United Nations is after all where the power lies. Greenpeace and the Deepsea Coalition is asking for a global United Nations led moratorium on bottom trawling in international waters.
So, just as we did in 2004, we're going to the top... Watch this space for Karen's updates from New York!
November 2004 New York: Greenpeace visits the United Nations
Greenpeace campaigner Karen Sack addresses the united Nations General Assembly 2004
Security was tight and fidgety. The cameras were ready to record the moment. Our Greenpeace activist was camouflaged to blend in to her surroundings. She had borne witness to an environmental crime: the bulldozing of fragile ocean seamounts. And she was in the presence of people who could do something about it. At the appointed moment, she leapt into the spotlight to demand action, not words.
