John Frizell is part of our oceans team currently in Doha, Qatar, for the CITES meeting. following the disaster for bluefin tuna yesterday, he sent this bittersweet update.
There is a small gray bird flying around the main conference hall. Just before the vote which rejected protection for polar bears it landed on the bar which supports the transmitters for our simultaneous translation headphones, prompting the Chair to say ‘The wildlife has arrived.’
Oceans Bluefin Tuna Action
"Stocks of Atlantic bluefin tuna, prized as a delicacy in Japan, have plunged more than 80% since 1970, according to CITES". Ok, that's clear.
Yesterday at the meeting of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) in Doha, 68 countries, opposed a proposal from Monaco for a trade ban, and 20 governments voted in favor. There were 30 abstentions.
Something is just not right.
"The abject failure of governments here at CITES to protect Atlantic bluefin tuna spells disaster for its future and sets the species on a pathway to extinction," says Greenpeace International Oceans Campaigner Oliver Knowles.
Japanese fish dealers have welcomed the ban (Japan consumes about 80 percent of the world's Atlantic bluefin tuna). They believe that the ban is "too drastic". According to Kazuhiro Takayama, a fish wholesaler at Tokyo's sprawling Tsukiji fish market (as reported by AP): "a lot of people depend on this fish for their livelihoods".
But no effective measures have been implemented so far, so this was the next logical step to avoid tuna becoming extinct (more details in Greenpeace's report here).
"It's wrong — people telling us what we can and can't eat," said Yukio Unagizawa, a wholesaler at Tsukiji market (again in the Reuters article).
But, what will happen when there is NO tuna left? What will the fishery industry say then?
Time magazine (which includes two videos of the decline of tuna stocks worthwhile watching) attempts to explain the inexplicable decision of the UN to reject the ban and concludes:
"With the start of the Atlantic bluefin spawning season just two weeks away, Mediterranean tuna fishermen — and sushi lovers — have been granted a reprieve. One that will last, however, only as long as the bluefin does."
Photo credit: © Greenpeace / Gavin Parsons
Willie from Greenpeace UK's biodiversity team wrote this after the latest (bad) development in Doha.
Governments at the CITES meeting at Doha have voted AGAINST a trade ban on Atlantic bluefin.
Words cannot express how frustrating this is. The science and scientific backing is incontrovertible. The public will and pressure is immense. The species could be commercially extinct within just a few years. The managing body for the species is an international joke.
Yet here we are. It’s business as usual after the proposal by Monaco, and the ‘compromise’ proposal by the EU to list Atlantic bluefin on CITES Appendix I have been defeated. A vote was no certainty today, and it was pushed forward by Libya, one of the Mediterranean bluefin
fishing nations.
You should be angry about this, you are not being represented, and the interests of a small number of fishing interests are calling the shots on species of international importance.
Seriously, if we can’t get it right on a species as unarguably in need of protection as Atlantic bluefin – what chance have we got for the rest of them?
Forest Action against Nestle UK
Greenpeace's controversial video slamming Nestle's Kit Kat for using palm oil and contributing to the destruction of the Indonesian rainforests (and the Orangutans that live there) is beginning to make waves. So far the video has been described as ‘gory’ by the media, but eye-opening nevertheless.
It's bloody, but it's bloody right.
Nestle and Youtube pulled down the video yesterday claiming a ‘breach of copyright’ but, that has just made matters worse. For them, of course. The video has been posted and re-posted in many different languages in YouTube and in online newspapers such as Blick (Switzerland biggest tabloid).
Photo credit: © Jiri Rezac / Greenpeace
Garabed is an oceans campaigner with Greenpeace in Lebanon. He is part of our team in Doha, following the CITES meeting that could save or fail bluefin tuna
Perplexity was the word of CITES Day 5. The morning had started with reporters roaming the corridors of the Sheraton asking environmentalists their reaction to the sharks proposal being defeated in the closing hours of Day 4. Oliver was interviewed by Al-Jazeera to clarify the fact that the proposal in concern was put forward by the CITES Secretariat to try and provide greater transparency in the shark fishing industry and conduct further research into its impacts. The conclusion was indeed disappointing but on no account affects the proposals of listing several endangered shark species on Appendix II, which are still to be discussed next week.
The video Nestlé don't want you to see. Want to put your own copy of our video on your favourite video sharing site? Download the file now and be our guest! The more copies out there, the more interesting it will be for Nestle.
Dear Nestle's PR department,
Hey! How are you doing? I know that when we highlight the damaging effect your business is having on the Indonesian rainforests, it must be a bit annoying. I hope you understand that we're only trying to get your attention because using unsustainable palm oil in your products is such a very bad thing. You see, we just can't afford to let the Indonesian rainforests go up in smoke to provide land for palm oil plantations.
Rice farmers from the Yunnan Province
Despite that the Chinese government has not yet approved the commercial cultivation of GM rice, a Greenpeace study released on Monday found genetically modified rice in supermarkets in China, such as US retail giant Wal- Mart (watch video here). The study was conducted last October and November in the supermarkets of eight Chinese cities and revealed the existence of transgenic rice in Chinese supermarkets under the brands of Maoya and Xueyou. "The DNA transgenic fragments were found in rice sold at both supermarkets. The Maoya sample is, as tests showed, a pest-resistant BT variety," Wang Weikang, spokesperson of Greenpeace's food and agriculture programme said on Monday. A report has also been submitted to the Ministry of Agriculture. A member of the Chinese bio-safety committee, Huang Dafang said to China Daily: "I don't think their survey is trustworthy but the ministry is open to such inquiry on the precondition that it's based on sound scientific data. China has laws and designated establishments to oversee and regulate GM food and we've never heard of such a case from these sources."
The story, which has splashed all over the Chinese media, raises concerns of consumer trust when shopping for foods, that without their knowledge, could have serious long-term unpredictable consequences.
Photo credit: © Greenpeace / Bai Yunxian
Olly Knowles is an oceans campaigner with Greenpeace. He is currently in Doha, Qatar, following the CITES meeting that could save or fail Atlantic Bluefin Tuna.
CITES COP 15 is now properly up and running and it’s a veritable quagmire of lobby and counter-lobby, I can tell you. The big issue on the table is of course bluefin tuna – and not just for Greenpeace. It’s a key item for the CITES secretariat as well which means it's very high profile. Most of the other NGOs here are also working very hard on the issue – all of this combined is making bluefin a big media story, not least in the national Qatari press, which is useful because delegates are getting free copies every morning.
Illegal Hotel in National Park Action in Spain
Concerns over censorship and freedom of speech in Spain as the coasts collapse
There is an ongoing debate in Spain after the Spanish government yesterday decided to censure 2 min footage of a TV series that exposed severe coastal damage in Spain. The story was published in Spanish national newspaper El Pais (after being picked up by newswire EFE). Today the Ministry of Environment has apparently given the go ahead to the series after causing a stir in Spain, raising concerns over censorship and freedom of speech. What is not clear is whether the polemic footage will appear untouched. The article opens with the following line "the Ministry of Environment had a very complicated day yesterday." But the complications have just begun. Pilar Marcos, head of Greenpeace Coast, said the case was "just the tip of the iceberg of the many policies of coastal management that have been paralyzed".
You can see a summary of the controversial chapter of the Spanish series 'Banks of the Sea'.
Coast destruction in Spain has remained latent for many years with land speculation taking over the coast. Last year sixty Spanish activists from Greenpeace covered the illegally built hotel El Algarrobico which was constructed in protected in a conservation area. It’s license is still being discussed. Click here for more details.
Photo credit: © Greenpeace / Mario Gomez
Greenpeace supporters and local farmers are harvesting the black rice variety of organic rice in Ratchaburi. © Greenpeace / Athit Perawongmetha
Last week was a tough one for companies pedaling GE crops across the world. Monsanto admitted their GE cotton is creating resistance in bollworms to the toxins engineered into the cotton, and entered a meeting on agriculture and competition with farmers complaining about their expensive seed. As if admitting your technology is not working isn’t enough, on Monday the third verdict against Bayer for their contamination of US rice supplies was reached in Arkansas, and the jury awarded the farmer over US $ 1 million.
New Greenpeace International Executive Director Dr Kumi Naidoo (centre)
Greenpeace's head Kumi Naidoo took centre stage this Sunday to address the issue of climate change skepticism in an interview with Andrew Maar in the BBC. He said that errors in the IPCC (International Panel for Climate Change) report on the consequences of climate change had been taken out of proportion whilst other facts, which are key to understanding the very basis of climate change, could have been downplayed. He said that this gave him a sense of 'deja vu' as scientists in South Africa (Kumi's homeland) actually denied the HIV Aids link." As a result we lost and continue to lose thousands and thousands of lives", he added. He also addressed the issue of the Tokyo 2 (the two Greenpeace activists that are on trial after exposing corruption in Japan's government funded whaling programme) after he was asked if climate change was shadowing other "traditional Greenpeace concerns" such as whaling. Kumi said that this is not the case and that it is important to understand that climate change is a reality which affects other Greenpeace campaigns, such as forests because deforestation can lead to CO2 emissions (for more information about this click here).
British newspapers picked up on his comments that breaking the law is justifiable when fighting climate change (if done in a peaceful manner, as Greenpeace does) carrying this on the headline and using an image of Kumi which clearly illustrates their point. Kumi's full answer was the following:
"Well Mahatma Gandhi broke the law, Martin Luther King broke the law, Nelson Mandela broke the law. All of these people are revered now. So sometimes it is necessary to get a message across when we are in a context where our children and grandchildren's lives are under threat."
To hear an extract from the interview click here and here for the full transcription.
Photo credit: © Jeremy Sutton-Hibbert / Greenpeace
CITES, the Convention of International Trade of Endangered Species, is meeting this week in Doha, Qatar. The star of this meeting is Atlantic Bluefin Tuna - and the big question is whether or not CITES will be able to give this species the protection that regional fisheries management organisations (RFMO) have not been able to give.
Some major fishing nations, like Japan (who also happens to be the main consumer of the species) have been saying that CITES should not be managing fish stocks, that this is a job for RFMOs. They're right. CITES isn't going to be managing the stock, it's going to try to save it.
Allison is an assistant who has been in Aomori this week - supporting our "Tokyo Two" team. She's been blogging throughout the week - during Junichi and Toru's trial. Here's some extracts from her blog posts as a summary of this week's trial proceedings - along with drawings from the courtroom - by Jules, another one of our campaign assistants (her drawing on the left is of the lead Tokyo Two defence counsel, Yuichi Kaido, in court.)
March 8th, Witnesses and Tall Tales
It began with a testimony given today by former crew member (Mr. X) of the Nisshin Maru. He is entangled in this case because some of his “souvenir” whale meat was contained in the box of evidence discovered by Junichi and Toru.
Although he was a defense witness, Mr. X was not exactly thrilled to be in the Aomori courtroom and was considered a hostile witness. According to his own evidence, he must have taken far more than his “souvenir” allowance in 'unesu' or whale bacon as a crew member. His story has changed in regards to amounts, of whale meat he sent home in boxes, the types of cuts (young whale unesu or less valuable guts and fins).
Mr. X was unable to explain why more senior crew members leave with more “luggage” at the end of their journey, boxes and boxes of items loaded immediately by the processing crew onto to trucks after arriving to port. They would not have been able to acquire such a load from gift shopping at ports of call (there are no shopping malls in the Southern Ocean). He also couldn’t explain why a box of whale bacon worth thousands of dollars was labeled cardboard.
We hope that the Aomori District Court will get the message from our living statue who faced the cold and snow today. Justice is blind, and the judges should not weigh evidence one way because of government involvement.
Myrto, one of our agriculture campaigners, tells us what's wrong with genetically engineered (GE) crops - and what you can do to stop them.
The other night I had some friends for dinner and I decided to prepare for a starter - my Mum’s favorite recipe: eggplant dip. It is so easy and yummy. You grill the whole eggplant till it burns, you remove the skin, you blend it with olive oil, lemon, salt and pepper and serve it with fresh bread. Delicious!! I was explaining to my friends that all ingredients were organic and another reason I chose to cook this recipe was that I was so happy the Indian government recently put a moratorium on the commercialisation of genetically engineered eggplant.
“Why you care about Indian genetically engineered eggplants?” a friend of a friend asked while he was scooping the remnants of the dip. Silence followed...
My friends start smirking as they knew that I have been campaigning on the issue of genetic engineering and sustainable agriculture for the last 10 years - and they were waiting for my my boisterous response. “After all" he added "I read couple of recent articles that GE crops are expanding and will help developing countries to feed themselves.”
Right…(I thought to myself), if you know nothing about the GE issue, these articles sound very convincing…let’s see if I will manage to explain to my guest before serving the second dish of organic baked potatoes - why we should care how the food we eat is grown and if GE crops will help feed the hungry of this planet.
It's been a long an intense week for the Tokyo Two in Japan. They are on trial and facing up to 10 years in jail for exposing a whaling scandal (read all about the scandal here). They are encouraged by all the supportive comments they have been getting - on facebook, twitter and our blogs.
Junichi asked me to post this response from him.
"I'm very happy and excited to receive all the warm messages from all over the world. The last 4 days of trial have finished, leaving the team here in Japan feeling very good. The court has asked two current crew members of the whaling fleet to come testify about the embezzlement of whale meat on May 14th. We are putting the whaling on trial and winning support among not only the judges but also the domestic media also. Thank you all for your support!"
Junichi and Toru are joined by half a million voices calling for justice! Have you added your voice yet?
Here's a message from both of them - to those of you who have!
Read the latest news on the trial.
-- First day of the trial
-- Whaling on trial - part 1
-- Whaling on trial - part 2
Greenpeace activists protest against GE in front of EU-parliament.
© Greenpeace / Eric de Mildt
In Bulgaria the parliament has voted to ban GE crop cultivation. The decision comes as opposition grows to the EU Commission's "quiet" introduction of GE potato (Amflora), while debate in the European Parliament was blocked. Many countries have now taken national measures to prevent what was the first GE-approved crop in the EU for 12 years. In India, controversy continues over the proposed regulatory bill that would remove State-level powers to control GE, placing sole jurisdiction in a centralized authority. The Hindu reported a Congressional Committee of the State of Andhra Pradesh has said states should be allowed to decide on commercial release of GE crops and that State Agricultural Universities should be empowered to evaluate and assess scientific aspects of GE crops and accordingly decide whether to permit them or not. They have also called on the government to fix the price of Bt-cotton seed, and prevent any further increases which have hurt farmers.
Greenpeace activists last night blocked a cargo of dupleted uranium going from France to Russia.
© Pierre Gleizes
Fifteen Greenpeace activists last night blocked a train carrying depleted uranium from leaving Val-de-Mar in France, calling for a moratorium on the export of nuclear waste. An AFP story reported the activists chained themselves at 01.00 to the railway tracks at the rear- and front-end of the cargo leaving the Areva nuclear plant at Pierrelatte (Drôme). Axel Renaudin of Greenpeace said they aimed to stay in place for ten hours to delay the convoy, which was otherwise headed to join the Kaptain Kuroptev bound for Russia. The activists were in place for nearly four hours. Areva claims the waste is going to Russia for reprocessing, to be returned to France, but critics say it is actually just waste. Over the past 15 years, Areva and Urenco (another, Brussels-based nuclear company) have dumped 140,000 tons of waste in Russia. Greenpeace France also took action to block a nuclear waste convoy 16 February this year. Learn about the campaign here.
Protests during the COP15 Global Day of Action in Copenhagen. IT companies such as Nokia have potential to be a big part of the solution to climate change, but many have failed to raise to the challenge. © Kristian Buus/Greenpeace
Nokia’s in the hot seat this week. The telecoms giant has agreed to answer readers’ questions on its environmental record at the Guardian newspaper’s website – what better chance to ask the company what it really thinks about the challenge of catastrophic climate change?
Until now, Nokia has been found a little wanting when it comes to speaking up about the most pressing environmental issue of our time.
Its CEO, Olli Kallasvuo, might have written an article ahead of the December Climate Summit in Copenhagen (Who didn’t talk about the climate in those days?), but these comments are still something of an exception. Until then, all we had were six words on the company’s website.
Our Cool IT ranking also shows that Nokia still doesn't offer much in terms of political advocacy on the issue; it scored just four out of 25 points here. When it comes to presenting solutions, all we could give was one meager point (out of 50).
Greenpeace has called for a renewed moratorium ("GE-Free!") in Switzerland on GE crops.
© Greenpeace.
Following the "quiet" introduction of genetically-engineered potato in the EU Commission (BASF's Amflora), more opposition has been stirring. Earlier this week an open debate on the issue was blocked in the European Parliament, to which the Greens responded by holding up banners calling "for a GE-Free Europe" at their plenary session in Strasbourg. Members "denounced" the EU Commission President Barrosso's "rush" to introduce GE potato. Twelve countries have now moved to block its cultivation, including recently Austria and Malta. Barrosso responded to the Greens' protest by saying “I salute your group’s enthusiasm. You have a very strong position against GMOs, which is your right. Personally, I do not have a position either for or against." Barrosso said the Commission "goes by the opinions of the European Food Safety Authority” and that countries in the EU would have the right to choose. However, a Green party member responded "if we start putting a finger in nationalization, we won’t have a European policy.” Health concerns have been raised in particular because the crop contains a gene that is resistant to some antibiotics, which, if introduced to the environment could result in increased bacterial resistance to life-saving medicines.
Reyes, one of our agriculture campaigners in India, shares her immediate thoughts on this 'first-of-its-kind' admission by Monsanto
This was my Saturday's lyrics to breakfast in sunny Bangalore: Monsanto has decided to tell the truth about something: its technology doesn't work!, reports The Hindu. I'm going to need a second cup of chai to digest this, Monsanto speaking honest!? Indian farmers and scientist have been seeing this in their Bt cotton fields for a few years: pests become resistant to Monsanto's genetically engineered toxins and thus farmers apply huge amounts of pesticides. Monsanto has always denied this, has the recent massive rejection of its Bt brinjal in India woken up its senses?
For years Monsanto has been shouting that the main - read only - benefit of Bt cotton in India (the only genetically engineered crop planted here) was the reduction in pesticide use. Well, it seems they have just admitted this is not true. Pink bollworm, a serious pest for cotton farmers in India, is now resistant to the toxin in Bt cotton. Meaning that this bug is now sort of a super-pest that farmers will have to work harder and harder to avoid.
What is Monsanto's solution to this? Maybe you have guessed it: use Monsanto's next weapon – same technology - Bt cotton 2.0. With double the amount of toxins (and almost double the price of non-Bt seeds). Hmmm? I need another cup of chai! This is looking too much like an arms-race, which due to rapid pest evolution of resistance could reach a battle of infinite proportions... followed closely by Monsanto's profits, of course. Indigestible! -my stomach shouts-, because along with Monsanto's profits from selling their special seeds I see also the struggle of debt and the threats to the livelihoods of the many farmers I've met.
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