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March 17, 2010Nestle try to censor our advert, get it pulled from Youtube
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.
Today in videos: Forests
Today in videos, we'll look at videos about forests. Greenpeace Switzerland just released a new one, really powerful, quick and effective. I don't think you need to speak German to understand the point that was made there.
TODAY: Will Santa Free Our Activists for Christmas? COP-FLOP Stories of Woe Continue; Swiss City Bans GP Supporter Recruitment
This is part of a trial series
Like yesterday, lingering COP15 news reports on the failure of the Climate summit and the updates on the arrested activists.
In the Washington Times, Gabe Wisniewski was quoted, "Two years have passed since world leaders promised all of us a deal to stop climate change. After two weeks of U.N. negotiations, politicians breezed in, had dinner with the Queen, a three-hour lunch, took some photos, and then delivered what could only be described as the 24-hour Head of State tourist brochure of Copenhagen instead of a climate treaty."
Grist however seems optimistic about The Copenhagen Accord and calls it a big step forward. "The Copenhagen climate deal that President Obama hammered out Friday night with the leaders of China, India, Brazil and South Africa broke through years of negotiating gridlock to achieve three critical goals," it said.
The German Tageszeitung reports that 12 activists have been released from a Copenhagen prison but our 4 Greenpeace activists remain in "solitary confinement." Norwegian and Spanish media continue to report strongly on this topic in favor of the GP activists.
AP reports that in the case of Norwegian activist Nora Christensen, Danish investigators who usually take on cases of murder, robbery and other serious violent crimes have been put on the case of Nora.
TODAY: Brown blames COP-Flop on China, US; Mexican cars take a dive and Climate heroes spend Christmas in jail
This the first in a trial series
Unsurprisingly, the biggest story in environment and Greenpeace news this week has been the disappointing outcome of the COP15 summit as major NGOs are turning focus on Mexico in 2010. Only US media seems careful to judge the summit as harshly as the European Press.
There are some interesting new names for the Copenhagen summit floating around in the media. Which was first Hopenhagen is now Flopenhagen or Brokenhagen in French media.
L'Express reports that the last two weeks have seen "45000 accreditations, 12 days of negotiations and 46,200 tonnes of carbon only to lead to "a crime against humanity" the major NGOs have turned to Mexico in 2010, are angry after the flop of Copenhagen." Kumi Naidoo was quoted saying, The Copenhagen Accord has "holes so big you could cross them with the Air Force One!"
Success is a tiny logo
You know the story: winter comes, you start to sneeze, your tissue supply is running low and as it's Sunday evening, there's only one small 24 hours shop open in a three kilometer radius.
It happened to me last night, and as I arrived in the small shop, desperate to re-supply on tissues, I found that only one brand was available: Kleenex.
Species we're killing this week: Koalas
Last month, Sasha informed us about the alarming state of the grizzly and black bears as their main food, salmon, are diminishing.
This week, another type of bear is threatened by climate change – the koala bear.
AFP reports that the cute cuddly creatures could be extinct in 30 years. The Australian Koala Foundation indicated in a recent survey that numbers have plunged by more than half in the past six years due to climate change, disease and over-development.
"We're saying (numbers) could be as low as 43,000 and as high as 80,000” Foundation chief Deborah Tabart told public broadcaster ABC Radio.
Large numbers have been killed by disease while others have been affected by loss of habitat due to deforestation and climate change. Hotter, drier conditions have reduced the nutritional value of their staple food, eucalyptus leaves, leading to fatal malnutrition, Tabart said.
Conservationists are calling for the iconic creatures to be declared an endangered species.
Another victory in Lapland
There's rejoicing in Finland, where we just notched up another victory protecting some of Europe's last old growth forests!
Just 2 months after a lawsuit against Finland's State forest service was settled by a deal which will protect the Nellim forest, we have reached a major victory on our other old-growth forest campaign. We’re pleased to announce that following intensive negotiations, Finnish State forest enterprise, Metsähallitus, has agreed to leave 35 000 hectares of boreal forests intact. It's a decision that significantly improves old-growth forest protection and will bring peace to the forests and its inhabitants.
Firefighting in action
© Greenpeace/FB Anggoro
An update from Richi about fighting the forest fires that raged through Indonesia recently
My name is Richi, and I work for Greenpeace in Indonesia doing action logistics and volunteer coordination. Recently, I coordinated the work that we did with community firefighting efforts in Riau Province, Sumatra, Indonesia from 31 July – 6 August 2009.
Now, I’m back in the village of Kuala Cinaku, with my feet firmly planted in it’s yellow soil after over two-years. Not much has changed in this small village, but this time I’m fighting to breathe through the thick pungent smoke from the forest fires that annually blight the province of Riau on Sumatra’s east coast, opposite Singapore. I am here to check firefighting equipment and prepare teams for the peatland forest fires that are once again burning out of control here.
Forests could go the way of the Dodo?!
The world’s forests harbour more biodiversity and store more carbon than almost any other global terrestrial ecosystem. They house around two-thirds of the world's land-based species of plants and animals and they also help keep the climate stable over time by storing massive amounts of carbon. That’s the good news, now for the not so good news.
Award winning forest photography
Today we're congratulating one of the world's best photographers Daniel Beltrá, who has often worked with us on forest and climate campaigns. He has just won the new Prince’s Rainforests Project Award at the prestigious Sony World Photography Awards. Most of Daniel’s pictures in the competition were taken while he was working on our campaigns in the Amazon and Indonesian rainforests.
In a video message at the awards night, in Cannes, France - HRH The Prince of Wales, said:
“Photographic imagery can tell a compelling story about the truth of the situation and, the truth is, if we lose the fight against tropical deforestation, then we lose the fight against climate change.”
Daniel, a Spanish photographer now based in Seattle, beat off stiff competition from some of the world’s finest environmental photographers. Upon receiving the award he said:
"This award is a great honor and I am thankful to the Prince's Rainforest Project, Greenpeace and the Indigenous people whose help was invaluable. The greatest reward however would be if the photos alerted world leaders to the urgent need for forest protection. Rainforest's are being destroyed at an incredible rate and under horrible circumstances. This is a catastrophe, not only for those who call the forests home, but for the rest of civilization, which stands to lose both a natural wonder and a natural protection against dangerous climate change. It is imperative that heads of state meeting this December at the Copenhagen Climate Summit, understand the urgency of the situation; I hope my photos can help."
As the winner of this award Daniel will receive funding to photograph the rainforests of the world, and the impacts of deforestation. The resulting images will be exhibited globally, and will form part of a book highlighting the plight of the world’s rainforests. We wish Daniel all the best of luck with this project and look forward to seeing more of his outstanding images!
When bad news is good news
This morning Paulo Adario, Amazon Campaign Director sent out an email to staff explaining why sometimes bad news from the Amazon can actually be good news for the fight to protect the forest and fight climate change.
Today the soya trading companies operating in Brazil - this includes giants such as Cargill, Bunge, ADM, Dreyfuss, Amaggi and others - will announce that the monitoring of the current soya crop (2008-2009) found soya planted where it shouldn't be: in areas deforested in the Amazon after July 2006. This is the date when the soya industry announced a moratorium for buying soya coming from newly deforested areas in the Amazon – a direct result of a strong campaign led by Greenpeace and soya European consumers, including McDonalds and its allies.
The long, hard slog to protect Canada's Great Bear Rainforest
A victory we won in 2006 has come to fruition this month. Tamara Stark, now the communications director at our office in the UK was one of the Greenpeace forest campaigners who won protection for Canada's Great Bear rainforest. She wrote this piece for our UK website.
An era ended for me this week when the government of the Canadian province of British Columbia finally protected my extraordinarily beautiful Great Bear Rainforest. Today, more than one-third of the largest intact area of temperate rainforest left in the world is legally off-limits to logging - an area half the size of Switzerland. For many people it's a pretty emotional moment.I say "my" somewhat facetiously, because clearly I'm conscious of the fact that this is a global treasure that belongs to us all. And yet because I'm from British Columbia, and because the Great Bear campaign is where I cut my teeth as a campaigner, it feels a bit like it is my forest. It was a long, hard slog to get to this week, I must say, but along the way we 'baby' campaigners certainly learned a lot.
Activists locked down Sinar Mas headquarters
Forest destruction is now universally recognised to cause about 20 percent of annual greenhouse gas emissions. This means that cutting down trees is more destructive to the planet than the entire global transport sector. Add that to species extinction, loss of biodiversity and the elimination of entire ways of life for forest communities and you have to wonder why companies like Sinar Mas are allowed to continue to expand their destruction of forests and peatlands in Indonesia.Yesterday, 25 activists put themselves on the line and demanded an immediate end to expansion into forests and peatland by Sinar Mas and other companies. Read more.
Take Action. Tell the Indonesian government to implement a moratorium on any further forest conversion. This will not only help curb the country's greenhouse gas emissions, but will safeguard the wealth of tropical biodiversity and protect the livelihood of forest dependent communities all across Indonesia.
Fox news on the toilet paper question
I love it when they guy goes, "Did I blow it?" after he guesses wrong about which toilet paper is recycled. It's a funny clip all the way through. Good job by Rolf Skar from Greenpeace USA. Fox news certainly isn't always the friendliest network for Greenpeace (and that's putting it mildly). But watch all the way to the end for a last minute twist. Pretty cool.
Amazon could be opened to even more destruction
Brazilian Congress is under the serious influence by the agribusiness sector, that much is clear. They are currently trying to change legislation that would open even more of the Amazon to be cleared. If losing the forest in the areas that will no longer be protected isn't bad enough, the clearing and burning of these lands will release millions of tons of greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere—making the impacts of climate change even worse.
The region has already lost almost 18% of the forest cover in the last 40 years. In theory, the change being discussed by the Brazilian Congress would immediately apply to 36% of the Amazon in the hands of the private sector.
Join me in telling the Brazilian Congress to reject this project.
Forests for Climate - Slideshow
Check out this slideshow put together by Jamie, webby onboard the Esperanza for the Forests for Climate tour. I found the images of forest destruction shocking and the the bravery of the activists inspiring. Thanks Jamie.
Direct action continued for weeks as activists called to for an end to forest destruction on the Forests for Climate Tour
Read more about the Esperanza's journey through Indonesia on the ship tour blog.
Palm oil giant destroying national park in Borneo
The Esperanza is now anchored in Singapore harbour and there will be a few days of ship operations - taking on supplies and fuel, doing essential maintenance, that kind of thing. But all that's happening without me. I disembarked yesterday and I'm finishing off a few things from a hotel in Little India. After weeks of daily cleaning chores, I have the strange urge to grapple a mop but I think the hotel staff would be bemused to say the least.
I mentioned that there was one final task left to do, however, and that's to expose once more the environmental crimes of Sinar Mas. Across the South China Sea from here in Kalimantan on the island of Borneo, Sinar Mas companies are clearing forests around the Danau Sentarum National Park, a wetland area protected under the international Ramsar convention, in order to expand their palm oil operations. The buffer zone which is being logged is vital to the health and biodiversity of the park, one of south-east Asia's largest wetland areas and home to a wide range of species including clouded leopards, orang-utans and a large population of proboscis monkeys.
Farewell to the palm oil boom town
After giving the Isola Corallo a farewell paint-job, we've finally taken our leave of Dumai. We did everything we set out to do (and perhaps a bit more), and we've reminded people both nationally and internationally about the problems associated with palm oil production in Indonesia. And as I mentioned in my last post, palm oil giant Sinar Mas has been rattled by our actions and, even though Greenpeace campaigners are now due to meet with their representatives next week in Bali, we're not going to stop exposing the wanton destruction at their hands (and the hands of other companies) of the forests and peatlands here.
This afternoon, we arrived in Singapore which is to be our final destination. This expedition is winding up but don't go anywhere just yet - we have one last task to perform but you'll have to wait for Monday to find out what that is.
In the meantime, remember that poll the Jakarta Post was running about whether our actions were justified? They've published some of the response on their website and apart from one or two negative comments, everyone thinks we did the right thing. Thank you very much if you emailed or texted in - you can go one better and write to Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, president of Indonesia, demanding an immediate end to deforestation in his country.
Tug of war
I had thought that, after the Esperanza nipped into the berth reserved for the Isola Corallo this morning, we'd have some time to rest (and, in my case, a long shower) and prepare for the inevitable visit by the authorities. It didn't quite work out like that and by mid-morning, events were moving rapidly.
The other ship alongside the dock had departed and was replaced by a big barge which was brought right up to the Esperanza's stern to hem us in. With the Corallo preparing to come in (the request for a pilot to guide the ship in had been picked up over the radio), it became clear that the port authorities were preventing us from moving up the berth.
Greenpeace ship moves in to block more palm oil tankers
Apologies for not posting an update yesterday. The anchor chain of the Isola Corallo has been occupied ever since Wednesday night, and still is, but we've been waiting for another opportunity to present itself. Finally, after long hours of observing the traffic in Dumai port and several false hopes, about an hour before dawn our chance came. Now the Esperanza itself has moved in to block the Corallo from taking on its cargo of palm oil.
There's one part of the quayside here dedicated to piping palm oil into the bellies of the tankers. Up until a couple of hours ago it was occupied by two other ships; then one of them moved out and the Esperanza was able to take its place.
We're now preventing the Corallo from coming alongside - it's a much larger ship, just a bit bigger than the Gran Couva we saw earlier in the week, and so both us and the other ship already here will need to move before the Corallo can come in.
Despite the early hour, all hands were on deck. It was my job to help fix the mooring lines once the Esperanza had reached the quay, which involved jumping down from the poop deck. Pipes and thick mud lay directly beneath, but I managed to get down without breaking my ankle.
The chain reaction continues as ship number two is immobilised
So despite several requests to leave Dumai, we haven't left (even though the harbour master visited the ship this afternoon and turned out to be a really nice guy). The reason for that is that we have a bigger and much more significant target in our sights. Now it's arrived and the Esperanza's crew have swung into action once more, and another anchor chain occupation is under way.
We've been waiting a few days for the Isola Corallo to turn up, and at one point a spelling mistake in the ship's name made the researchers wonder whether it even existed. It's time of arrival has slipped later and later but around 7.30pm it finally dropped its anchor.
We headed out into the dark and once more made for the anchor chain. The designated climber scrambled up the chain but, unlike with the Gran Couva, the crew showed very little interest. A couple of heads peered over the side, but their captain had already been informed what we were up to. Plus the crew were probably more interested in shore leave, but I imagine that will change.
Wanted: your opinions on our palm oil actions
The Jakarta Post, Indonesia's main English-language newspaper, is asking for readers' opinions on our recent activities in Dumai:
Greenpeace has blocked several palm oil shipments, preventing them from leaving Indonesia, and has called for an end to forest clearing for palm oil plantations. What do you think? Send your opinions by SMS to +62 81118 72772 or by email to readersforum@thejakartapost.com. Please include your name and city.
Meanwhile, enjoy this quick video of clips from the past couple of days. It was made to send round TV networks and media outlets, but you can still get an idea of what it was like to be there.
Greenpeace climber brought down in front of cops, spectators and fruit sellers
I was hoping we'd make the anchor chain occupation last for at least 24 hours and earlier this morning it was looking like we'd make it. However, we lost out by about 40 minutes because at 12.45pm our climber was removed from the Gran Couva and has been taken away by the police. Never the less, our actions prevented the departure of the Gran Couva and it's cargo of palm oil, plus we've made a big noise in the local, national and international media coverage about the link between the palm oil trade and deforestation.
According to our logistics co-ordinator Ric who was on the scene, police boats gathered during the morning until about 60 police were waiting at the bottom of the anchor chain. The main police boat had an embarrassing mishap on the way in, colliding with the Gran Couva before retreating to a safe distance. Adding to the crowd were pompong boats selling pineapples, jack fruit, onions and other essentials, like little floating shops, as well as various spectators watching the drama.
Paint 'em up, hose 'em down: taking action in Indonesia
Another dawn start today. Yesterday, we arrived in Dumai, a large port on the eastern coast of Sumatra and the second largest in Indonesia in terms of palm oil exports, and the scene of last year's Rainbow Warrior action. This morning, we headed out from the Esperanza and began painting slogans on the hulls of three ships anchored in the port.
They're loaded with palm oil from the plantations of Riau, just like the ones we've seen from the air and from the ground over the past few days, so being daubed with 'Forest Crime' and 'Climate Crime' in bright yellow paint is only appropriate.
The first stop on our tour of the port was the Gran Couva, a large tanker carrying 27,000 metric tonnes for palm oil giant Wilmar (the same company that owns the plantations John flew over on Saturday) and bound for Rotterdam in the Netherlands. The two painting teams got off to a great start, marking out the positions of the letters and getting stuck into 'Crime'. Angry shouts from the Gran Couva's crew did nothing to dissuade the painters, and neither did the hoses which were turned on them. Unfortunately, the water-based paint didn't last so well and some of the letters began to run.
The team in the small inflatable headed to the stern to try their luck there, but were met by more hoses. The second team in Susie Q fared better and were able to complete the words 'Forest Crime' on the other side of the bow. Watching from a short distance in the media boat, I was impressed how easy the painters were making it look, despite the water hoses and the awkward task of writing with paint rollers fixed onto broom handles.
Revealing the facts about palm oil to the Chinese public
posted on behalf of Shangwen, forest campaigner from Greenpeace China, on board the Esperanza
The Forest Defenders Camp we set up last year has gone, and so too has the ancient forest.
I saw the disastrous landscape through the lens of John our photographer and the pictures he has taken. I can feel the pain of our earth and I feel pain in my heart that I couldn’t catch the last cry of the forest which once stood in the same spot where we held the banner. There is an echo in my ears: the Earth does not belong to man, man belongs to the Earth. What will be the future?
The Earth needs a voice. The forests need a voice. I believe that’s why we, Greenpeace volunteers from around the world, stood in the middle of the devastation on Friday, even though many times we’ve felt hopelessness in the depth of our hearts. We must face the truth instead of turning our back and walking away. We must make decisions and take action instead of just talking while the forests are being chopped down. We must understand this: if we can not stop deforestation immediately, we will lose the struggle against climate change.
Sumatra's dark, satanic mills
posted on behalf of John on board the Esperanza
As a Greenpeace photographer, I find myself creating pictures in many interesting places. In any part of the world where there is a critical environmental problem, the Greenpeace photographers are there making the best visuals possible to share with everybody. Yesterday was no exception.
It was the last of the twice-daily, three-hour helicopter aerial surveys of Riau province in Sumatra, carried out over the last four days as part of the Esperanza's Forests for Climate tour of Indonesia. Every flight survey has been fascinating but this one - documenting the palm oil plantations belonging to Wilmar, one of the biggest palm oil companies in Indonesia - was breathtaking on a scale I have never seen before.
After flying a short while over intact and beautiful peatland forest, in the distance there appeared what looks like a sea or enormous lake. As we approached, we started to make out a green plain stretching to the horizon. Closer still and we knew we had found what we were looking for – the Wilmar plantations.
Alongside the forest, up against the wall
I've scrubbed and showered but there are still traces of mud sticking to me. It's my own fault - I guess I shouldn't have gone tramping around the peatlands here in Riau. But the picture above, that's us: some of the Esperanza's crew and several Indonesian volunteers pulling our banner tight against the forest wall, the straight line that separates the thriving ecosystem from the barren areas which have been cleared of trees. In case you're wondering, I'm at the top of the P in 'STOP'.
It was an early start and a long drive to get to the site on the Kampar peninsula, chosen because PT Arara Abadi-Siak has permits to set up plantations for acacia trees, used for making pulpwood and paper. The company is a subsidiary of Asia Pulp and Paper (APP), which is in turn owned by our old friends Sinar Mas - as well as having fingers in pulpwood, Sinar Mas is also one of the largest palm oil producers in Indonesia (not to mention a member of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil), and many of the nearby palm oil plantations have their name above the gate.
Driving along the road from Sungai Pakning was deceptively pleasant - elegant wooden houses were nestled amongst lush green foliage, and kids were cycling to school. But after crossing the Siak river on the ferry, we were deep into plantation country. Rows of oil palms lined the way with their shaggy coats of ferns, and bunches of palm fruit lay by the roadside. Along one stretch, intact forest sprawled to the right while regiments of young oil palms were springing up on the left, the forest wall a thick blue line on the horizon, and a pipeline followed us all the way from ferry.
Slash and burn in the forests of Sumatra
We've arrived in Sungai Pakning, a small port on the coast of Riau in Sumatra, and the Esperanza is anchored in a wide, silty channel running between the mainland and two islands, Pulau Bengkalis and Pulau Padang. The soupy water flowing gently past the ship will be down to the Siak river, the mouth of which is just a few miles south.
Sungai Pakning might be small, but the signs of what's happening further inland are everywhere. Large container ships wait patiently at anchor for their cargoes and the flame at the top of a refinery lights up the night sky. For we're on the edge of the great plantations which have come to dominate this area, both the oil palms we've seen so much of and, increasingly, acacia trees which are being harvested to be used as pulpwood and paper.
All these plantations are sitting on areas which used to be lowland forest growing in thick, water-logged peat. Of course, the forest is no longer there and the peat has been drained and burnt, causing the annual smog which drifts over south-east Asia during the burning season. It's this chopping, draining and burning which is releasing colossal quantities of greenhouse gases and helping to give Indonesia the number three spot in the global emissions charts.
Cycling through Sumatra to meet orang-utans
posted on behalf of Madeleine, captain of the Esperanza
In early 1995, sailing on a Greenpeace ship was still just a dream for me. I had applied several times over the years, but I never received anything other than the standard courtesy reply. If people asked me what I wanted to do with my life, I used to tell them that one day I'd love to sail on a Greenpeace ship.
But at that time I was in Sumatra. For a few months, I had been learning to surf on the island of Nias, famous for the surf break at Lagundi Bay. My board had just snapped for the second time and it looked like it was irreparable, so I was searching for the next adventure. I caught the ferry back to Sibolga in Sumatra and bought the cheapest mountain bike I could find to replace my surfboard as my travelling companion. So I had a 20kg bike and a backpack which weighed 8kg and held all of my worldly possessions.
A VIP tour of the Esperanza
While we were docked in Jakarta last week, hundreds of people came to see the Esperanza and take a tour around the bridge. These included Greenpeace supporters, journalists and the general public, but there was one group that was particularly special.
When he's not being second mate on various Greenpeace ships, Dmitri runs a charity called Orphans Trust Fund in his adopted home of New Zealand to help kids who lost their parents in the 2004 tsunami. He was on board the Rainbow Warrior when she delivered aid to Aceh in Sumatra following the disaster and stayed behind to help when the ship departed.
The money Dmitri raises helps to pay for the kids' education at a school called Fajar Hidayah which has faculties in both Aceh and Jakarta. As we were in town, we couldn't pass up the opportunity to give them an exclusive tour of the ship.
Here Dmitri explains how he came to set up his charity and why he believes helping just a few children is very important. Listen to the interview, and there's a transcript below.
Forests For Climate: the great tree protection scheme
With a scheme like Forests For Climate, intact forests would become more valuable than cash crops like palm oil © Beltra/Greenpeace
Change is in the air. We've picking up several new crew members in Jakarta who are joining the Esperanza for the journey to Sumatra and the peatlands of Riau province. As I've been escorting one or two of them around the Esperanza, I can't help thinking back to when I first came on board barely more than three weeks ago. It's odd to think that this ship which is now so familiar was once just as new to me as well.
You'll get to meet some of them over the next couple of weeks but the big event today was perhaps the lynchpin of the entire expedition. In the VIP room of the bustling passenger terminal at Tanjung Priok port in Jakarta, we presented our Forests For Climate plan to get money flowing from developed countries to fund forest protection in Indonesia, Brazil and elsewhere, with the eventual aim of zero deforestation across the globe. I covered the nuts and bolts of it a couple of weeks ago, but it's a complex piece of work so it's worth going over some of the details again.
'It's more powerful than just wearing a t-shirt'
It’s slightly weird being docked after ten days at sea. I woke this morning to find Jakarta hovering on the horizon with container ships lining the route into Tanjung Priok port, and sadly the glistening blue seas and dense white clouds have been replaced by grimy harbour water and a blanket of brown smog. But the energy of the place is infectious and I’m itching to get some shore leave and explore.
Before we launch into the next phase of our tour and really get to see the damage that palm oil is doing to Indonesia’s environment, there’s one last interview to present. Madeleine is the ship’s captain and, although this is her first time as captain of a Greenpeace ship, she has a long involvement with both this organisation and others involved in environmental and social campaign work.
With yesterday's Rainbow Warrior activity in the UK, it's particularly interesting to hear Madeleine describe her first experiences with the ship in the Pacific and explain why she loves direct action. There’s a transcript below.
Our man in the sky
Someone who has taken part in all the research flights our helicopter Tweety has carried out during the Esperanza's current tour is, of course, the pilot. Shaun (or Dingo as he's known about the ship) has flown every mission in both Indonesia and during the previous leg in Papua New Guinea.
As a result, he's seen a considerable amount of New Guinea and is able to draw comparisons between the two sides of the border.
Listen to the interview below to hear about Shaun's experiences flying over New Guinea.
Video: Investigating Indonesia's last forest frontier
To show off the most interesting footage from the helicopter trips over Papua during the Esperanza's current tour of Indonesia, we’ve compiled the video below. It’s narrated by Bustar, who went on many of the flights, and he explains why protecting the forests of New Guinea is so important. Enjoy.
Feet on both sides of the border
On the Esperanza, we've been sailing past and through some of the most wonderfully named parts of the world - Flores, Butu, Ceram, Halmahera and their associated seas - which for me conjure up images of trading ships at full sail, laden down with cargoes of nutmeg, pepper and cloves.
It's a very Eurocentric view, of course, and the spice trade was often at the expense of the local population, but I can't help finding the associations with exploration and uncharted waters bewitching. (And for a very readable account of that period in history, you could do worse than track down a copy of Nathaniel's Nutmeg by Giles Milton.)
But while these exotic locations drift by, we're preparing for our arrival in Jakarta next week, and the long journey is also giving me a chance to catch up on some of the interviews I conducted between Jayapura and Mankwari.
One of the more interesting and colourful people I've had the pleasure of working with on this expedition is Dorothy. She's a Greenpeace forest campaigner from Papua New Guinea and joined the Esperanza in Port Moresby in August. Dorothy left the ship last weekend in Manokwari but before she disembarked, I wanted to find out why it was important that she stay on the ship over the border into the Indonesian half of New Guinea.
Listen to the audio clip below and hear about Dorothy's links to both Papua and Papua New Guinea.
Follow the Esperanza in Google Earth
If you're still trying to picture the destinations we've been to so far and the route we're taking through Indonesia as part of the Forests For Climate tour, you can now follow the Esperanza in Google Earth. Just download this Googe Earth layer and you can see when and where the highlights on the tour have occurred. (You'll need to have Googe Earth installed as well, of course.)
New placemarks will appear automatically as we update the journey, so check back often to see what we've been up to and how the campaign is progressing. If you don't want to install Google Earth, you can also see where we are in your web browser.
Meanwhile, we left Manokwari on Monday and are sailing west towards Jakarta where we'll arrive in the middle of next week. We've passed through a narrow passage called Selat Sagewin, less than 2 miles between the forested slopes of two islands, and we're now cruising through the Ceram Sea.
The crew have been taking advantage of the journey to Jakarta and the paint pots have come out to give some parts of the ship a touch-up. I also been taking a break from my web duties to help out and yesterday a gang of us were giving the forward bulkhead of the boat deck a new coat of paint.
While we were working, Locky the bosun and Silas spotted a commotion in the water a couple of hundred metres away. Areas of the sea were foaming, and every so often a plume of water would shoot skywards which could only mean one thing - whales. Several of them appeared to be herding schools of fish into bait balls and occasionally a set of massive jaws breached the water as a whale scooped up it's prey.
Dimitri, our second mate, took a few photos and although we were some distance away, you can clearly see a whale gorging itself. It's seven years since he's seen a whale at sea - a lucky day, indeed.
Manokwari, here we come
A dance troupe from Manokwari take a tour of the Esperanza's bridge © Greenpeace/Rante
After nine days at sea, the Esperanza pulled into Manokwari harbour this morning - that's Manokwari in the Indonesian province of West Papua, not any other Manokwari you might be thinking of. Crowds of people were already on the dock and despite the overcast skies, we received one of the colourful and exotic welcomes I'm becoming accustomed to on this trip, with traditional dancing and singing to greet us when we disembarked.
Manokwari isn't what I expected. The image I had in my head was a quite an industrial place with lots of concrete, but although I haven't left the port yet it looks very pleasant. It's a small place, strung out along a bay and from the ship, most of the town is concealed by palms and trees. And just behind the town lies the forest, the tall tropical trees towering over the nearby buildings.
Who's who in palm oil: commercial interests
See that yellow and black blob? That's Switzerland, about the same size as the area waiting to be converted into palm oil plantations
As we saw from the helicopter flights yesterday (part of the Esperanza's Forests For Climate tour around Indonesia), palm oil is beginning to make its presence felt in Papua and West Papua. So far, we've surveyed plantations in two areas - Lereh near Jayapura last week and of course the one near Teluk Bituni from yesterday - and compared to the vast monocultures in Sumatra and Kalimantan, these are pretty small affairs. But their presence here is a reminder that huge areas of forest have already been carved up on paper between the Indonesian government and palm oil companies, and will be carved up for real if we don’t take action.
While only 60,000 hectares of palm oil have been planted in this region, the government has handed out permits covering four million hectares (that's just a bit smaller than Switzerland), and at the moment much of this is densely forested. Palm oil producers like Sinar Mas, Medco, Korendo and Asian Agri have been given the rights to move in and expand their huge agribusiness operations but they're not moving in en masse, at least not yet.
Illegal logging exposed in Indonesia by Greenpeace research team
During the past week of the Esperanza's tour of the Indonesian half of New Guinea, we've already seen some incursions into the forests of Papua and West Papua, mainly logging roads and small camps but also deforestation on a much larger scale near Jayapura, at the hands of palm oil producer Sinar Mas. Then, on Monday, our helicopter team discovered an area where illegal logging was taking place.
The team passed over the Kaimana area in West Papua where two logging companies had been operating, but had their permits suspended earlier this year. In July, the Indonesian police arrested senior executives of both companies - PT Centrico and PT Kaltim Hutama - for violating national forestry laws by logging outside the areas set in their permits.
Flying high over Indonesia's forests
I'm not sure how I managed to persuade my superiors to release me from my normal London-based duties and travel to Indonesia to join the Esperanza for two months, but whatever I did, it worked. I'm here for the second leg of the Forests For Climate extravaganza - the first half covered Papua New Guinea and now the show has moved across the border to the Indonesian provinces of Papua and West Papua.
We're focusing our efforts on the growth of the palm oil industry, which threatens to engulf the region's magnificent forests and we're gradually working our way towards the centres of production. Never far from our minds is the massive impact forests have on the whole climate change thing - good if they’re left as they are, bad if they're put to the chainsaw.
Activists occupy Canadian logging company headquarters
Read more and find out what you can do.
The land of the unexpected
From Dean, onboard the Esperanza in Papua New Guinea
They say Papua New Guinea is the land of the unexpected and that’s exactly what researchers found in 1995. Scientists surveyed all things jumping, growing and breathing in the Kikori Basin, an area known as a biodiversity “hotspot” and one of the most important areas of forest and wetland life in the Asia-Pacific region. It’s also being logged right now and has been for 20 years by Turama Forest Industry, a company of the Rimbunan Hijau (RH) group.
The researchers discovered new, unique species restricted only to the Kikori Basin that are not found anywhere else in the world including:
• 12 new fish species in Lake Kubutu
• 28 new species of frog
• at least 20 new orchids
• 2 new palms
• a new bird – the New Guinea flightless rail
In 1999, four new species of mammal were discovered on Mt. Sisa including a new species of marsupial rat that is only known to exist in this particular area.
Around 60,000 forest people live within Kikori Basin who are subsistence farmers, hunters and gatherers. And although the people are small in height, they seem to live in a land of giants...
Broken promises in Papua New Guinea
Broken promises are what logging companies give to Papua New Guinea communities in exchange for logging rights. A Greenpeace team recently spent two weeks documenting life and conditions for local residents in three PNG logging concessions.
Also here's a 15 minute radio documentary that the team made about this issue. The people they interviewed are forest people. They are the voices from the forest. They speak a diversity of their own languages and survive only from food from the forests and waterways. There are no shops, or roads (except logging roads) - they travel by waterways and bush tracks.
Click here to find out more about this campaign and what you can do to help.
Slideshow: Taking action against illegal logging in PNG
The following is written by one of our activists from PNG onboard the Esperanza
My name is Daniel Holland, I’m a freelance artist. My Dad is from Abau, Central Province and Mum from Popondetta, Northern Province, Papua New Guinea.
I live in Port Moresby and am a volunteer activist with Greenpeace. My first action was in the Pacific Ocean a few months ago, campaigning on the overfishing of tuna in the international waters between Pacific Island countries.
Now in my own country, Papua New Guinea, the Esperanza is here doing forest campaigning and I’m proud to be part of it. I’m in the climb team that climbed the
crane of the ship and hung the big banner that said “Protect Forests Save Our Climate’.
It’s a new experience and I like it.
I know exactly how these people feel, it’s painful. I had an experience a bit similar to these people.
Illegal logging shipment halted in Paradise
Here's some cool "fly on the wall" footage from the recent action in Papua New Guinea.
The following is written by Raoni Hammer - an activist from New Zealand on board the Esperanza - who took part in the action.
Three days of sunsets and sunrises, driving rain and sauna-like sun - perched precariously 40 metres up on top of the SV Harbour Gemini’s main log loading crane was an inspirational experience! Up high on the crane we had an amazing overview of the nearby rainforest and it’s abundant life, from the largest Harpy eagles and flocks of colourful birds to evening visits from hundreds of masquerading moths.
It felt like a privilege to be invited by the local resource owners to raise awareness of the situation on the ground, their rainforest being destroyed.
Everyday long canoes filled with villagers paddled around up and shouted and sang encouragement.
The other 3 crew of my climb team - all Papua New Guineans - were reveling in their role as crane occupiers, armed with flutes, songs and laughter we made sure there was never a dull moment between the seriousness of media interviews over the satellite phone.
It felt like an honour to be a messenger of this dire situation of these local clan’s livelihood to the world.
Cutting down paradise
Here's an update from Dean on the Esperanza in Papua New Guinea
When we arrived here at Paia Inlet in the Gulf Province - a huge roar greeted the Esperanza crew from hundreds of locals lining the shore. There were people in small log canoes singing and dancing with joy. Some had even made their own protest banners - complementing ours. Tears welled in the eyes of our crew.
"Some of these people have been suffering under the logging company for 23 years" said Kemaru Garry Bissue, Chairman of the Kikori Environmental Association and landowner from Kibiri Tribe. They were very happy to see the Greenpeace ship.
The water of the Aiai River is muddy from soil running off the hills where the forest has been chopped down. The timber is dragged to waterways, piled on barges to fill the holds of enormous cargo ships, taken to China, made into plywood, furniture and outdoor decking, before eventually being thrown into a landfill or incinerated in a distant land.
Fires raging in the Amazon
Here's a story from Jamie in the UK.
It's currently the dry season in the Amazon and, as the live webcast last week demonstrated, fires have been decimating large areas. The video crew weren't the only ones documenting the fires and last week we received images from another Greenpeace team who took to the air to photograph them and the devastated areas they leave behind. We've put together some of the most striking (not to say depressing) images into the slideshow below.
You'd be forgiven for thinking the images seem familiar, as this happens with depressing regularity. Fires are a natural feature in the lifecycle of many forests and some species even rely on regular firestorms to reproduce. But many of the fires in the Amazon have been started deliberately: a forest isn't really conducive to growing crops or raising cattle so this is the time of year when matches are put to the dry wood to open up new areas for cultivation.
While there's a certain stark beauty in some of Daniel Beltra's photos, it's one that comes at a very high price.
The Esperanza arrives in PNG to protect forests and save the climate
Greenpeace Australia-Pacific has launched our Forests for Climate tour with a colourful welcome in Papua New Guinea. Our ship, Esperanza, will tour the region protecting forests and highlighting the effect of deforestation on global warming.
To the sounds of beating drums and singing, the Esperanza docked in the tropical heat of Port Morseby. The ship’s crew was welcomed by traditional Huli, Kairuku, and Oro dancers along with Asaro mud men from coastal and highland regions. Dancers' costumes were made from the fibres of tapa and pandanus trees, leaves, bird of paradise feathers and, naturally, mud.
The ship's crew was formally welcomed by the Governor of the capital district, Powes Pakop, who praised Greenpeace, saying the Esperanza brings hope to Papua New Guinea. He noted that the impacts of climate change can already be witnessed, adding, “Now is the time to act. We don’t have to wait for the Kyoto protocol to take action.”
If you can't fix it, don't break it
I’ve just read an article on the New Scientist estimating how long it takes for a rainforest to recover after destruction. The good news is that some parts of it can take as little as 65 years to come back to normal - that is, for some trees to grow, and some animal species to feel at home again. The bad news is that to come back to normal takes 4000 years. And that’s not even counting the extinct species - because extinction is forever.
This looks to me like a classic case of "if you can’t fix it, don’t break it.” If it takes 4000 years for a primary forest to come back to normal, we’re going to have to explain our actions to quite a few generations in the future.
This is why logging is illegal in many places - we know it can’t be fixed, and governments decide to protect some areas (though of course, it’s still not enough to really protect species or limit climate change). When these areas are logged illegally, irreparable damage is done. When that wood is sold in the EU, you and me are made unwilling accomplices of a destruction that can last for up to four millenia.
You can stop this. Please send a message to EU Commission President Barroso today, and ask him to do the right thing.
The picture above has been submitted by T h e C h a r l e s to our ForestLove group on flickr. Did you send a photo yet?
Reading YouTube comments
If you remember not to take them personally, the comments on YouTube videos can be quite hilarious. Daniel, the man behind our ForestLove video thankfully has a good sense of humor and therefore was not too offended when he read that he was an "over sexed liberal with NO understanding of his TRUE VALUE TO GOD WHATSOEVER" and also " SUPER LAME as well as STUPID" with a "maturity level... which is that of an ape".
This is I think the worse comment so far under the YouTube video. We've also had a few mentioning everything they disliked about Greenpeace, to finish with "but I like this video". In general, though, I'm really surprised at the positive comments we get, considering how rapacious people can be on YouTube.
The best punch lines, though, came from Gawker comments. My two favourites are "Forest Hump"and "If a tree moans in the woods and no one hears it, does it make a sound?
Can you think of anything better? Put it under the video!
Want to act? Take action now.
Nutella, with this deforestation you are really spoiling us
We're still working to build a coalition of companies which are determined to reform the palm oil industry so no more forest is lost due to the expansion of their plantations in South East Asia and with Unilever's help we're in contact with other major players in the palm oil trade. However, some are less keen than others to co-operate and need some persuading.
One such company is Ferrero, makers of Nutella and of course Ferrero Rocher. It is another large user of palm oil and one that has already been the focus of attention for our Italian office. They analysed the ingredients of Nutella and it contained 31 per cent vegetable oil, and much of that is palm oil.
Deforestation 55000 times more dangerous than meteors
Here’s a not-so-fun fact: I’ve been working on the forest campaign for about a month now, and I’ve heard a lot of people mention how many football fields of forest disappear every second/ hour/day. I don’t know about others, but I personally didn’t have the remotest idea of the actual size of a football field until I wrote this post. According to our resident football expert, Maarten, there isn’t even a standard size. So why do we keep talking about football fields? It helps visualize, since most people, unlike me, have a clue. According to FIFA , the average size of a football field is 7000m2. If a football field disappears every two seconds, it means that we lose every day at least 302 million square metres of forests. That’s a lot.
Here’s another not-so-fun fact: exactly a century ago today, a meteor flattened an area of forest of 2 billion square meters in Siberia. It is know as the Tunguska meteor (but to be perfectly honest, the exact nature of this object is still debated).
Compare those two sets of data. It takes less than a week (6.61 days to be precise) for humans to chop down 2 billion square meters of forests. So in a week, humans can cause more destruction than a ball of fire coming from outer space. In the space of a century, this makes deforestation 55219 times more dangerous than meteors.
Now, that’s visualization.
Google Earth layer shows forest destruction
It is an interesting moment when you brainstorm for cool things to do on a campaign, just to notice two days later while doing a Google search that someone else did it. This happened to me yesterday, when I stumbled upon the new Google Earth disappearing forests layer, created by Google Earth genius David Tryse.
It showcases which primary forests around the world are depleted, as well as the data comparing what was there originally and what is left now. This layer has been created using some of our data, which we’re happy to boast about.
If you have Google Earth installed on your computer, you can download the layer here .
Greenpeace's Dove viral flies into Wall Street!
Type the word “Dove” into YouTube’s search box, and what do you find in the number one spot?
Not Unilever’s ads, that’s for sure. Produced by WPP Group’s PR agency Ogilvy & Mather, Unilever’s ads have previously scooped top prize at the annual advertising convention held in Cannes, France. But they’ve been knocked off top spot on YouTube by Greenpeace’s parody of Unilever’s “Onslaught” ad. “Onslaught(er)” was launched only two weeks ago, and produced at a fraction of the cost of the original.
Top Dove video on YouTube
Go take a look -- Search YouTube for "Dove" -- and you'll see our new video top of the list. I wonder what the marketing folk at Unilever (the company behind Dove soap) will think when they see that.
Last month we polled Greenpeace supporters around the world, in advance of the international Dove campaign we just launched. Around 30,000 people responded, and the results were extremely encouraging. Asked should corporations be held responsible for their climate impact and the impact of their suppliers, an overwhelming 97% agreed or strongly agreed. Could it be any clearer?
Greenpeace activists swung into action at Unilever's buildings yesterday. Because Dove, and other brands, are so well known though, there's lots we can all do online (without a monkey suit). More than 1 in 12 supporters polled has a blog or webpage. Links to the video are already making the rounds on Facebook and Orkut. We're only just getting warmed up.
So if you're a Greenpeace supporter, an environmentalist, an activist, know that you're in good company here. And if you say that you're a "good company" (as Unilever claims to be), then you'd better match words with deeds!
Orang-utans swing into action to stop Dove destroying rainforests for palm oil
Today, we're launching the next stage in our campaign to protect the rainforests of Indonesia from the expansion of the palm oil industry and direct actions are taking place in London, Rome and Rotterdam. Our volunteers, dressed as orang-utans, are currently climbing over the Italian, Dutch and UK headquarters of the company behind Dove, which uses palm oil as one of its ingredients. Our latest research shows that Unilever, the makers of Dove, is buying palm oil from companies that are destroying valuable rainforest and peatland areas, which is bad news not only for the millions of people who depend on them for their way of life and endangered species such as the orang-utan, but also for the global climate.
Because this Google Earth deserves a voice...
I once read that when the Apollo 8 astronauts made the first orbit of the moon, the "Earthrise" that they witnessed was such an unexpected wonder that it introduced complete chaos to their scripted-to-the-minute schedule. They forgot about radio check in, they forgot about telemetry and task lists. They just went gah-gah and snap-happy with the cameras, as they witnessed something that all their planning and training hadn't prepared them for: a sight no human had ever seen.
Only 24 human beings have seen the Earth in its totality from space. But the images that they brought back were a monumentally important event in human history -- the chance for us to see the beautiful blue marble we inhabit in all its vulnerable isolation.
For those of us who haven't been to the moon, there's Google Earth.
And thanks to Google's Outreach program, which is coaching charities and non-profits and activist groups in how to create their own layers of information and bundling them in with the application, Greenpeace now has an initial set of datapoints that draw the link between climate change and forest destruction, bundled right into the Global Awareness layer that comes with the free software.
Congrats Paulo!
Greenpeace Brazil campaigner Paulo Adário has been named one of the country's 100 most influential people by Globo's magazine Epoca. Paulo's been using that influence for years to help protect the Amazon. You can read stories about his work: in English, in Portuguese.
Palm oil blockade's end
© Greenpeace / Christian Aslund
This is actually from an email Sue sent yesterday from on board the Rainbow Warrior. I think it gives a good wrap up of their palm oil tanker blockade, and she was nice enough to let me post it:
We have now moved away from the wharf after being forced out of the way by tugs while the [palm oil tanker] Westama crept out of its berth.You would have seen the press release from this morning stating that our blockade of the Westama is now over. The Westama tried to leave last night at midnight but due to our proximity it was deemed unsafe for it to proceed. We were served with an official notice to leave and the shipping agent had kindly ordered a pilot for us - who came on board around 11pm. We kindly declined the pilot's services and sent him off happily with a "Damming Crew" T-shirt, and continued to hold position. The tugs didn't turn up.
Captain's blog - palm oil tanker blockade
That's Mike, current captain of the Rainbow Warrior, seen through the bridge window. As I write, the Warrior is still in position - blocking the palm oil tanker from leaving port. This morning activists added to the pressure by climbing on palm oil holding tanks with banners. [ Photo here. ]
We've never done this kind of action in Indonesia before so this is all pretty intense for people on the ground there. Full story here.
Here's captain Mike's account from yesterday:
Both main engines fed into the one spinning propeller. The old girl was alive with power and her anchor clear of the mud. The tide was swift - 3 knots - a spring tide. Cautiously at first - not wanting to be detected - I edged the Rainbow Warrior out of the anchorage. But once clear of the other ships I put the engines on full astern. A shudder came up through the steel deck beneath my feet. The old girl leaped backwards: two knots, three, five knots. We were abeam of the Westema, a motor tanker loading 30 000 tonnes of Palm Oil Product. We were just fifty meters off.
Forest Protection is a Climate Solution
The four biggest emitters of CO2 in the world are the USA, China, Indonesia and Brazil. We all know about the top one, the second place isn't too surprising but Indonesia and Brazil?
Well with CO2 released from deforestation making up almost a fifth (17%) of the worlds' carbon emissions nations which cut down a lot of trees end up releasing a lot of carbon. If we could stop deforestation in Indonesia and Brazil which between them account for almost half of the deforestation then around 10% of global emissions would be saved. That's a big chunk of what's needed to hold off dangerous climate change.
Learn more about how we're putting pressure on Indonesia and the global food companies fuelling the deforestation in our report 'cooking the climate'
Palm oil: Cooking the Climate
[ A forest is seen through smoke, days after being burnt down along the Kapuas
River in Indonesia. (Photographer: Natalie Behring.) ]
According to recent estimates Indonesia is the third largest greenhouse gas emitter after China and the United States, mainly due to the destruction of peatland forests. A lot of this clearing is being done to make way for palm oil plantations. Palm oil's one of those things that goes in to lots of snack products (KitKat, Pringels, that sort of thing).
The report we released today is getting quite a lot of attention all over the world - from Al Jazeera to the Washington Post, from the BBC to the Philippines Inquirer. Even food publications are picking it up. No doubt our team taking peaceful action in the forest against this destruction will be glad to hear the word is getting out.
There's also a feature story upon our site. But here are some quick factoids from our report...
Oxfam warns about biofuels
From the Oxfam website:
Biofuels may offer the potential to reduce poverty by increasing jobs and markets for small farmers, and by providing cheap renewable energy for local use, but the huge plantations emerging to supply the EU pose more threats than opportunities for poor people. The problem will only get worse as the scramble to supply intensifies unless the EU introduces safeguards to protect land rights, livelihoods, workers rights and food security. ... The UN estimates that 60 million people worldwide face clearance from their land to make way for biofuel plantations. Many end up in slums in search of work, others on the very plantations that have displaced them with poor pay, squalid conditions and no worker rights. Women workers are routinely discriminated against and often paid less then men.In Indonesia almost a third of palm oil is produced by smallholders most of whom lost their land to advancing plantations and were ‘rewarded’ with a two hectare plot. These smallholders are bonded to the palm oil companies which provide them with credit and are required to sell to them – which means they do not get the best price for their oil.
We've got a team on the ground in Indonesia documenting the situation first hand, and joining locals in direct action. Read more in the Indonesian Forest Defenders Camp blog.
Indonesia - save the peat bogs!
In Indonesia, peat swamp forests are being destoryed to make way for palm oil plantations. First the trees are cleared or burned, then the swamp is drained and the peat decomposes. Huge amounts of global warming gas are emitted in the process and the forest is lost for good.
Locals and Greenpeace activists are taking a stand. They've set up a Forest Defenders Camp on the front lines, and are damming the swamp back up.
Updates on their weblog, and newsreel video of the damming. Full story: "Indonesian forest destruction dammed", on our website.
Mayor and governor of Sao Paulo join fight for the Amazon
The state of Sao Paulo is the major industrial powerhouse of the Brazilian economy and has about one-fifth of the country's population. The city of the same name, is not only the largest city in Brazil, it's the most populous in the Southern Hemisphere.
So it was a big deal today when both the governor and the mayor (respectively) joined our call for zero Amazon deforestation within seven years.
[ Photo: Governor José Serra paints the outline of a tree trunk on the floor of our truck. ]
Today's ceremony took place on a truck that was going carry the charred remains of the tree that we took from land that had been illegally cleared and burnt and intented to tour around in Brazil. The idea is to bring the reality of the Amazon to the people using the wood.
Great to see such political heavy weights these two taking a stand for the Amazon. Sao Paulo state is the largest Brazilian consumer of Amazon timber - so the policies these guys are enforcing have a direct impact. Today the governor announced that more than 300 tons of illegal Amazon timber has already been sized.
World Bank aiding destruction
A long time World Bank adviser, Robert Goodland, has published a brutal critique of the direction it's taken, focusing especially on the Amazon. From his Guardian op-ed:
The Bank Group is stimulating hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of cattle ranching in Amazonia, an activity I campaigned against strongly. These ranching investments violate applicable standards for both deforestation and slavery. ... A quarter of the Amazon forest has already been destroyed, aided and encouraged by the bank. Amazonia suffered its most devastating drought yet in 2005. The 2007 drought and fire seasons look like being even more shattering. This loss of forest is intensifying climate change, and there are reports of impending reductions in rainfall and farm yields in the rest of Brazil. While Brazil is possibly crossing the threshold into free fall, plans are being drawn for massive dam, cattle ranching and highway projects.
Whistle blowers like this are incredibly important. They give us an honest view from the inside, bring accountability and speak out when it would be much easier to stay quiet.
Camping at the edge of destruction...........
Up to one-fifth of the world's CO2 emissions come from deforestation and Indonesia has the highest rates of deforestation on the planet. Over the past weeks Greenpeace has been setting up the Forest Defenders Camp, in Sumatra, Indonesia, as part of our international effort to protect the world's remaining forests and global climate prior to December's negotiations on the Kyoto Protocol.
Over the next month our volunteers at the camp will be blogging about their experiences - the first is from Hayden....
This morning we got up early and took a walk into the concession area to do a 'show and tell' to the new campaigners that just arrived. They toured the forest destruction caused by conversion of forests to palm oil plantations. We took a walk through the wasteland of the charred remnants of trees and saw the network of canals that have been dug to drain the peatland. Yifang and Frode, from our China and Nordic offices had many questions, and the tour, not surprisingly, was sobering. The image above gives you some idea of what it looks like out there.
Loggers besiege Greenpeace in Amazon; get to keep log
From the Guardian:
RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (AP) - Hundreds of loggers and angry residents have surrounded eight Greenpeace members who tried to leave an Amazon town with a scorched tree trunk for an exhibit on global warming, the environmental group said Wednesday.The activists are holed up in the makeshift headquarters of the federal environmental agency in the town of Castelo dos Sonhos, Greenpeace campaigner Andre Muggiati said. "They are still surrounded and the situation is tense,'' he said by telephone.
The region in the Amazon state of Para is part of the so-called "arc of destruction,'' the southern edge of the rain forest that has been devastated by loggers. In 2005, American missionary Dorothy Stang was shot dead in the region during a land dispute.
On Tuesday, the Greenpeace activists tried to haul away a badly burned fallen tree trunk for an exhibit on global warming in Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo, Muggiati said.
He said the federal environmental agency Ibama gave Greenpeace the OK to transport the tree trunk, but the permission was suspended in the wake of the standoff.
Thankfully, our team managed to get out of there in one piece. This isn't the first time we've had to deal with this kind of intimidation in Brazil, but our work there is making a real difference.
Internal report slams World Bank for Congo deforestation
We've posted on this blog before about the World Bank and the Congo, last April we published an extensive report on how the World Bank is contributing to Congo deforestation, and Greenpeace activists have taken direct action to try and stem the flood of timber out of the country. Now, according to the Guardian, the World Bank's own internal report also accuses the bank of razing Congo forests:
The World Bank encouraged foreign companies to destructively log the world's second largest forest, endangering the lives of thousands of Congolese Pygmies, according to a report on an internal investigation by senior bank staff and outside experts. The report by the independent inspection panel, seen by the Guardian, also accuses the bank of misleading Congo's government about the value of its forests and of breaking its own rules.Congo's rainforests are the second largest in the world after the Amazon, locking nearly 8% of the planet's carbon and having some of its richest biodiversity. Nearly 40 million people depend on the forests for medicines, shelter, timber and food.
Pulp freighter blockade in Canada
( More photos. )
From the press release:
Greenpeace Canada has begun a blockade of the freighter Jaeger Arrow from their ship, the Arctic Sunrise, in Quebec's Saguenay River near Chicoutimi. Three Greenpeace activists are hanging from the ship's mooring lines while two other activists block the freighter in a zodiac boat to prevent its departure. "Save the Boreal Forest" has been painted on the hull of the freighter.The 170-metre long ship is being loaded with pulp manufactured by SFK Pulp. The pulp is destined for processing at paper giant Stora Enso's paper mills in Germany and France. Stora Enso manufactures paper for many of Europe's major publishing houses.
"This blockade is a peaceful protest against destructive logging of the Boreal Forest and those companies who purchase unsustainable forest products," said Melissa Filion, a Greenpeace Canada forest campaigner onboard the Arctic Sunrise.
You can follow the story on the Greenpeace Canada website.
Activist and indigenous people in danger in the Amazon
This video is a little long, but it is an amazing view of the dangers faced by activists working in places like this.
From the Guardian's website:
Paulo Adário, the coordinator of Greenpeace's Amazonia campaign, who led the mission subsequently complained that 'We heard from the Mayor and all of the others that the Constitution does not exist in Juína, there is no right to go and see, no freedom of the press. It is completely unacceptable that ranchers, with the support of the local authorities, can violate our freedom of movement and freedom of expression in this way.'Unfortunately such threats are both very real and very common in Brazil today. Over the past 30 years, 1,237 rural workers, union leaders and activist have been killed in Brazilian land disputes and only a tiny handful people have ever been convicted as a result.
I have huge respect for journalists and activist who put their lives on the line to get the truth out. But as Paulo reminded me by email:
We could leave the region with our plane and - that Tuesday - remove the two Opan guys. But the Enawene will stay there forever, and Opan needs to come back to help them. They are under threat, not us.
He's right. They've asked for our help, and brave people like that deserve it. One way we can help to keep them safe is to spread the word. So please forward this video around.
Survival International is also calling on people to write emails and letters (read mine here if you want an example). Also see the OPAN website.
Threats and intimidation down Amazon way
As the narrator of this startling video states, "working in the Amazon forest is not for the faint of heart." In the past, people from campaigning organisations have been bullied by land owners and workers, facing intimidation, violence, death threats and even murder. The most recent example, documented in the video from Greenpeace Brazil, happened just last week and seeing footage of a situation verging on outright violence, I've found a new level of respect for the men and women who put themselves in the firing line.
Good legal ruling in Amazon case
From the Independent last week:
An eight-month investigation by Greenpeace into the land scam, revealed that the Brazilian land reform agency, INCRA, had set up large settlements in rainforest areas instead of placing them in already deforested areas, and settling urban families who promptly sold logging rights to major timber companies."Instead of helping, the official efforts are putting in place mechanisms to ensure the supply of timber to loggers. This opens the door to further forest destruction and climate change," says Greenpeace's André Muggiati.
A prosecutor took up the case, but of course the government said we were off the mark. Now a federal judge has ruled the case has merit. The judge also ruled that INCRA was operating improperly, without regard for environmental laws, and that no further settlements are allowed without the approval of the Brazil's federal environmental agency.
Link: Amazon forest carved up in resettlement scam
Signs of hope in the Amazon
Aerial view in the rainforest, Para State, Amazon. The forest is being burned by the US based Cargill corporation to clear land for soya plantations.One year ago yesterday the Amazon was thrown a much needed lifeline. A deal to halt deforestation from the planting of soya was agreed by soya traders in the Amazon after pressure from Greenpeace and food retailers, most notably McDonald's.
Our 'Eating up the Amazon' report which showed the devastating effect of soya expansion in the Amazon was the catalyst for action by McDonald's. The report made sombre reading with not only the forest being devastated but local communities being forced off their land and some people even forced into slavery.
Congo timber ship blocked
For the past couple of days, a group of Greenpeace climbers have been perched on top of a set of cranes in the port of La Rochelle on the French Atlantic coast. As well as admiring a no-doubt magnificent view, they're also preventing a ship unloading its cargo of timber which has come from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
The company logging the timber, Lebanese-owned Trans-M (another snappy corporate name!), has been given titles spanning 746,000 hectares of the DRC forest but this is in breach of the logging moratorium set up in 2002. Supposedly, no new contracts are to be issued and existing ones aren't to be renewed or extended, but somehow Trans-M have managed to set up shop and ship rainforest timber back to Europe.
This blockade is only the latest action our continental offices have taken to prevent Congolese timber coming into the EU. Over the past few weeks, imports of DRC timber were stopped in by volunteers in both Antwerp in Belgium (the link isn't in English, but there is a subtitled video and a great slideshow) and Salerno in Italy - it's demand for tropical timber in Europe and around the world drive the destruction of the forest in Africa.
As for those climbers, they managed 45 hours on top of the crane before being forced down. I'm not sure if it's a record, but it's a pretty impressive stint.
Choose the right biofuel or the orang-utan gets it
Last month in the UK, we launched a campaign with several other organisations for rigorous controls on biofuels. Governments across the EU are trying to force fuel companies to supply more biofuels and so cut carbon dioxide emissions, but while biofuels could make a small contribution in the battle against climate change, they could in fact do more harm than good.
If rainforests are cut down to make way to grow 'green fuels', it will not only destroy homes for animals like orang-utans, it will also be catastrophic for the climate by releasing more greenhouse gases by destroying forests than we will save using biofuels. The link between deforestation has been well documented so clearing forests to grow biofuel crops makes absolutely no sense.
Anyway, the campaign launched with a cheeky press ad (here's a PDF version) warning of the perils of biofuels, which has now been made into a short, sharp shock of a film which is playing above. Enjoy.
Caterpillars and contracts: first-hand reports from the Congo rainforest
On Thursday, I found myself at Portcullis House, an imposing edifice that sits across the road from the main Houses of Parliament building in London. The occasion was a panel discussion hosted by Greenpeace and (deep breath) the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on the Great Lakes Region of Africa, to discuss the crisis in the Congo rainforest. As the name suggests, it's a collective of MPs from all parties with a special interest in that part of the world who try to make sure issues affecting the region remain on the political agenda.
The special guest stars were representatives from two Congolese organisations that work to protect the forest and the people who live there, so it was an excellent chance for MPs, civil servants and UK campaigners (including me) to hear first-hand reports about the situation in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and how the World Bank's policies are affecting both the forest and the people. Through working on this campaign over the past few months, I've learnt a lot about what's happening in the Congo rainforest, but listening to these guys really brought home how things are hanging in the balance.
Dutch government and companies ignore illegal timber
On Monday Eoin and I took part in Greenpeace actions in the Netherlands for our Forest campaign and we've taken a little time out of our busy week to write about it especially for you!
Logging in parts of Asia is now entirely out of control, due to the insatiable appetite of timber industries, a lack of governance, and corruption at all levels of administration. A staggering 80% of the world’s ancient forests have already been destroyed or degraded and what remains is mostly under threat from illegal and destructive logging.
EU member states play a key role in fuelling the international demand for illegal and destructive timber and they must legislate to ensure that it is not sold in Europe's DIY stores, furniture shops and wood yards.
Time is ticking for the African rainforests
In recent years, we've put a lot of effort into highlighting the threats facing what remains of the world's forests in North America, South America, and South East Asia. But there's one major area we haven't touched on for some time now: Africa. That's all about to change, however, and you'll be hearing more about what we've been up to in the coming weeks and months.
But first let's set the scene. The forest of the Congo basin stretches across central Africa, about two-thirds of which lies within the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) but also covers parts of Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, the Central African Republic and the Republic of Congo. And it's huge: only the Amazon rainforest is bigger. Millions of people depend on it for their survival, including semi-nomadic pygmy communities, and it's another biodiversity hotspot: forest elephants and three of the great ape species - gorillas, chimpanzees and bonobos - all form part of a rich ecosystem.
It's a story familiar from other areas of our forest work, but all this is being threatened by our old friend, industrial logging. Huge tracts of the forest are being opened up by logging companies with hunters and miners following in their wake into previously inaccessible areas.
Let it out for forest destruction
It's an absolute gift when companies who are being less than kind to the environment have an advertising campaign that, with a few tweaks, can be subverted to expose their dodgy deeds. Such a treat came in the form of the Kleenex 'Let It Out' adverts that have been showing in various countries (here's an example for those who haven't seen it) and the guys in the US and Canada running the Kleercut campaign jumped on it.
Kimberly-Clark, the makers of Kleenex, Andrex and other big name tissue brands, are chewing their way through the Boreal Forests of North America, all to make the stuff we wipe our nether regions on and flush down the toilet. Is that a sensible use of natural resources? Of course not, so in the latest action a crack team of activists were dispatched to New York City where a camera crew were filming material for a new Kleenex advert.
Thanks to Shedwa for sharing this video of what happened...
Russian forestry agency launches investigation into illegal logging
We have some good news from Russia or, at least, the potential for good news.
Back in September, our Partners in Crime report revealed how Finland is importing vast quantities of timber logged illegally in neighbouring Russia. According to federal law, all forestry management plans must undergo an Environmental Impact Assessment - in the republic of Karelia these assessments are not being done yet the local government continues to hand out logging permits.
However, this week the Head of the Federal Forestry Agency in Russia has ordered an immediate investigation into the problem, appointing a commission to report back next month. This is a huge step forward and acknowledges the scale of the problem - of all the timber felled in Karelia, the majority is illegal.
Kleenex boxes come with Kleercut message
Great activism story from the Washington Post:
"Wiping away ancient forests," warned a note found inside a box bought recently at a drug store in New York by a stuffy-nosed reporter. "Here's a little secret that Kimberly-Clark, the largest tissue maker in the world and parent company of Kleenex, does not want you to know."
Which prompted a typical response from Kleenex:
"We take any and all comments about any foreign materials in products extremely seriously," said David Dickson, a spokesman for Kimberly-Clark. He then called corporate security.
Never mind those ancient forests, someone's tampering with our tissues!!!!
The activists obviously have a sense of humour, unlike Mr Dickson:
Dickson said the company has received a handful of calls about the leaflets. None of the leaflet incidents could be confirmed, he said. In one case, a caller complained about the leaflets but left a telephone number that led to a Greenpeace office.
Of course we'd never ever dream of sanctioning such subversive activities but the article does say how it can be done:
A reporter was able to slide a folded piece of paper underneath the perforated cardboard of an unopened box of Kleenex. With a little manipulating, it may be possible to insert the paper so that it lies on top of the tissues.
More on Kimberly Clark destroying ancient forests to make tissues at Kleercut.net
Alaskan Wildlife Refuge to get permanent protection?
Some in the new Democrat run congress in the US want to permanently ban drilling in the Alaskan Wildlife Refuge, and designate it a protected wilderness area. From Forbes:
Opponents of oil drilling in an Alaskan wildlife refuge are going on the offense after playing defense for a quarter of a century. They want the new Democratic Congress to make an oft-challenged drilling ban permanent.
I've read that the US has less than 3 percent of the world's oil reserves. So increased production isn't much of a solution to our reliance on oil. It would take 10 years for the new oil production to really get under way, and even then it wouldn't make a dent in our energy needs.
Bush has pushed aggressively to get the refuge open for drilling, and at one point the Senate even backed drilling. Let's hope this new congress will challenge him on it.
The Sierra Club has more info, a petition you can sign and a Google Earth map.
Amazon soya campaign wins BBC food gong
Usually, winning a campaign is good enough in itself but winning an award on top of that has to be the cherry on the cake. Or, in this case, the sesame seeds on top of a squishy white bun.
We were nominated by the good listeners of BBC Radio 4's The Food Programme here in the UK as part of their annual Food and Farming Awards for our Amazon soya campaign, of which the giant chickens running around McDonald's were a part. The judges agreed and at a swish awards dinner in Birmingham last Friday, we won the Derek Cooper Award for "a great model of how to research food issues across continents".
Pat Venditti, our UK senior forests campaigner, was there to collect the gong but was unusually coy when the presenter asked if tracking soya imports into the UK meant a lot of hanging about in lay-bys. And the food? Apparently, it was "not bad".
Kimberly-Clark in Torino: Stop flushing ancient forests down the toilet
© Greenpeace/Andrea Guermani
"Stop flushing ancient forests down the toilet" - that's what that banner says, hanging from the rooftop of the European headquarters of the world's largest paper tissue manufacturer, Kimberly-Clark. Also - note the nifty toilets bowls planted with trees being flushed down them, as a metaphor for the the Kimberly-Clark's destruction of ancient Canadian Boreal forests just to make loo paper and other tissue products for the European market.
Massive national park created in Canada
Photo by Peter Essick/Aurora/Getty Images (via National Neographic site)
Some good news is always nice to hear and having just read that 13,000 square miles of land in Canada has just been declared a national park I thought I'd share the love a little. The unamed park is a pristine wilderness that is almost 4 times as big as Yellowstone National park in the U.S! It is an area that connects boreal forest to northern tundra and includes the world's 10th largest lake.
This is the first step of many needed from the Canadian federal government to protect priceless land throughout the Territories. For a decade, Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society has been working with communities, other conservation groups and governments to identify important ecological and cultural lands so they can be protected before large scale industrial activities get underway.
Looks like their hard work is beginning to pay off!
Read more here on National Geographic
Finland wins the Golden Chainsaw Award
This one slipped by me, despite my having been at last year's Forest Rescue Station in Finland. Finland, you see, has managed to win the Golden Chainsaw Award, which we reserve for the worst forest crime offenders.
Between the the 1950s and 1970s, birch trees were considered 'flora non grata' by foresters as they didn't have any commercial value. So, they were cut down and poisoned to reduce their numbers. In some areas, were sprayed with the deadly defoliant Agent Orange - yes, the nasty stuff from the Vietnam war.
Forest Fertiliser "Time Bomb"
The Sunday Times and Friends of the Irish Environment (FOIE) have revealed that the Irish government and the state forestry company, Coillte are sitting on a ticking time bomb. It's been discovered that phosphorous and nitrate silt leaked into an Irish river, causing an algae bloom that asphyxiated most of the pearl mussels downstream. Pearl mussels are a protected species under European law, and Ireland has the largest remaining population. This has caused a moratorium on logging in areas near the species, and public exposure of just how much artificial fertiliser is used in growing Sitka spruce trees in bogland.
Cyberactivists help save Amazon Rainforest
After a lot of pressure from Greenpeace supporters who sent e.mails and letters, McDonald's has decided not use to chickens that have been fed on soy grown in the deforested areas of the Amazon rainforest. Well this is really great news! Now don't get me wrong, I'm not the kind of environmentalist to go all soft on a corporation like McDonald's just because they did something good for a change. The factory farming industry is one big environmental crime and McDonald's isn't likely to start selling organic burgers anytime soon. So I'm not rushing into my nearest McDonald's to place my order (and that has nothing to do with the fact that it is over 650 miles away!).
KFC = Klearing Forest for Chickens
As we revealed in early April, McDonald's have been implicated in the clearance of the Amazon rainforest to grow soya for animal feed and, thanks to the thousands of emails and letters you sent, they're talking to us about how they can get out of the Amazon.
KFC, however, are a different story. Using a secret recipe of illegal deforestation, land clearing and slavery, KFC continue to buy chickens from their suppliers that have been fed on soya from the Amazon.
KFC = Klearing Forest for Chickens
Papua New Guinea: Activists harrassed
Greenpeace Forest Campaigner Sam Moko talks to Rimbunan Hijau security guards while attempting to deliver Rimbunan Hijau with the Golden Chainsaw Award.
True to form, Asia's biggest logging company, Rimbunan Hijau (RH), intimidated and detained six of our activists who attempted to present them with a ‘Golden Chainsaw’ award for forest destruction.
The activists were harassed inside RH’s Port Moresby compound and had to lock themselves into their vehicles for their own safety. A cameraman was assaulted while attempts were made to seize his film and his camera was broken.
More: Activists intimidated as logging company reacts violently to peaceful approach
Amazonia is burning for our food
© Greenpeace / Andreas Varnhorn
28 May 2006, Frankfurt, Germany "Amazonia is burning for our food". 300 Greenpeace activists covering 2000 trees with flame posters to demonstrate against destructive logging for soya plantations in the Brazilian Amazon area.
Don't play with the Amazon!
© Greenpeace / Kurt Prinz
At the opening of the EU - Latin America Summit in Vienna, a Greenpeace activist dressed in the Brazilian football team's uniform, waves a banner reading 'Don't play around with the Amazon!'. We're calling on the Brazilian
President, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva taking part of the meeting, to stop the destruction of the Amazon rainforest.
Amazon Parachute
© Greenpeace / Daniel Beltra
Greenpeace activist parachutes over a deforested area in Belterra, in the west region of Para state, with the message "100% Crime", to protest against the soy expansion which is leading illegal deforestation, land grabbing and violence against local communities in the region.
1/3 of Great Bear Rainforest now protected!
Great news - the provincial government of British Columbia in Canada has announced the protection of 2 million hectares of ancient forest, and strict ecological management for the rest. A massive 33 per cent of the rainforest will be permanently protected, an area twice the size of America's Yellowstone National Park. By 2009, the remainder will only be open to loggers who maintain a strict ecosystem-based management system, making exploitation of the forest's natural resources totally sustainable.
Phew.
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