Happy volunteers on an open boat

Blogpost by Jo McVeagh - January 17, 2011 at 11:14

Kia ora folks, I'm Jo (or JoJo, as the team call me), and I'm currently onboard the Rainbow Warrior in Taiwan. My role here is to coordinate the eight 'Open Boat' days that we're having, where the public come to visit the ship and take an onboard tour.

Obviously, as someone who can't speak any Mandarin, this presents some challenges! That means that I have to rely pretty heavily on a team of volunteers to be the bridge between the English-speaking crew and the Mandarin & Taiwanese-speaking public when they come onboard.

I've worked with volunteers at Greenpeace in Aotearoa / New Zealand for the past 5 years, and have been involved in recruitment and training of volunteers, organised and managed volunteers, as well as well as having put in many months of volunteer work myself.

I love working with 'the vollies'. They're one of the best parts of this organisation. They all come and give their time, energy, enthusiasm, love, and 'blood, sweat & tears', because they simply believe in the work that we're doing. That's an incredibly powerful and humbling thing, and we'd be totally lost without them.

When I came to Taiwan I really didn't know what to expect; as an organisation, Greenpeaces presence here is counted in months rather than decades. We don't have the same recognition here in Taiwan as we do in New Zealand. But I've now been in Taiwan for 3 and a half weeks, and I've been totally blown away by the vollies I've met so far. For many of us, we first met at a training workshop held over Christmas weekend. Before we knew it we were having a BBQ, telling stories (with the help of hand-gestures and those with better English acting as translators), and planning our next meetings.

Since then, we've held four 'Open Boats' onboard the Rainbow Warrior, in the rainy ports of Keelung and Suao, in the north east of Taiwan. But if Keelung and Suao were wet and grey, the volunteers were anything but. Kitted-up in “hot-freakin'-pink” t-shirts, they were probably the brightest and bubbliest bunch of bandits I've ever worked with. They didn't stop laughing and smiling from the minute they arrived in the morning to help with the set-up, until we all sat down and had a drink together in the mess at the end of the day. While they endlessly showed groups of people around the main deck, dashing from sheltered-point to sheltered-point, while they handed out (soggy) info-sheets, while they translated the words of wisdom from the crew for the twentieth time that day, their laughter never faded.

I'm always touched by working with vollies – I'm a bit of a softie like that. I'm always honoured that people give their time and energy so generously. And in this sense I think that Taiwan is going to be a lot like Aotearoa/NZ; with a strong volunteer-culture within the organisation, and a campaign team that is all the more stronger, cheerful, and effective for it. I'm looking forward to seeing where we take it.

-- Jo

Joanna McVeagh is a Greenpeace open boats coordinator from New Zealand.

BS3GVGH78ENT>> Find out more about the Ocean Defenders Tour of East Asia.

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Looking for tuna in Taiwan

Blogpost by Apple Chow

The ship has already left windy and rainy Keelung and we just arrived at the second stop of the Ocean Defenders East Asia tour, Su-ao in eastern Taiwan. Suao is the second largest tuna fishery port in Taiwan.

At 7am the following day, we went to the fishing market of Nanfangao. Unfortunately (or luckily), the vessels did not go out because of bad weather. We walked along the cold wet street on the side of the port, hundreds of small longliners are docked here. You can see that most of the fishermen are not Taiwanese; they come from Indonesia, Philippines… usually only the captain is Taiwanese.

Most fishermen in Nanfangao are over 60 years old. Young people just don’t want to work in this industry. Some old fishermen worry that the industry will die in 10 years, when all the old captains have retired.

We went to the fishing market, but couldn’t find any tuna. Two bunches of Mackerel were lying on the ground, which were caught by purse seiners. The workers were putting the fish into foam boxes. Nanfangao supplies 95% of mackerel in Taiwan.

The small scale longliners at Nanfangao are mainly working on the local coastal fishery. The catch is usually fresh yellowfin tuna, sometimes bigeye tuna but there is a short period targeting bluefins in the early summer.

We walked around the harbour, looking for any tuna. Suddenly, my colleague was pointing at a small truck, and we found one tuna there. The tuna was off-loaded in the middle of the fishing market. It was a yellowfin. A few people stood around this lonely fish looking at its colour, size, freshness…

Suddenly, the tuna moved! I can see the muscle contraction on its stomach. Although I don’t believe that it was still alive, but the move reminded me it used to be a strong yellowy silver rocket swimming in the sea.

At 9:00am the auction bell rang. The staff from the fishing association started the auction. The buyers cried out the price in Taiwanese dialect and the auction ended in just 2 minutes. I asked the staff of the buyer and she said the tuna was sold at TWD 390 per kg. The tuna was 69kg, so the total price of the whole tuna was around TWD 27000 (US$ 800).

Usually, the price of yellowfin is around TWD 280-300 per kg. This tuna was sold at a higher price than normal, since this is the only catch for the day. Sometimes the decline in total catch will drive up the price of the fish.

We left the market as the auction ended. But many questions were left inside my mind after the trip. How many people are making their living off the tuna? What would they do if this was the last tuna for the second largest tuna fishing port in Taiwan?

-- Apple

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Stories from the Rainbow Warrior: Crizel

I don’t think I’ve ever felt actually honored to write a blog, but today I am. Watching the video below, I’ve been quite overwhelmed by the urgency of so many environmental issues – issues that not only slowly destroy our planet, but put young innocent lives at risk.

2000 Abi and Crizel, the Toxic Warrior from Greenpeace on Vimeo.

Ten years ago, Greenpeace South-East Asia was founded. Last month, they held a memorial for Crizel.

We’re opening more and more regional offices in developing countries – the latest, Greenpeace Africa, works in South Africa and the Democratic Republic of the Congo – where the attitude of western countries and companies seems to be “out of sight, out of mind”. We need to eradicate this attitude, and we need your help to do this.

I hope that one day, stories of toxic pollution will only belong in history books – and that Crizel’s story won’t be forgotten.

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Finnish Forest Rescued!

Blogpost by Dave Walsh

Real change rarely comes quickly as we would like – it’s one of the tough lessons of environmental campaigning. But when it eventually does arrive, it can be very, very sweet, like the satisfaction of saving an immense forest in the far north of Europe.

In February 2005, I was in the back of a car in Northern Finland, an apparently lifeless, monochrome expanse of skinny dark trees and dazzling white snow blur by. “What”, I wondered, “are we doing here, trying to save these young, tiny little trees?” I was part of an international team of Greenpeace activists from all over Europe and beyond who had arrived in Lapland to set up the Forest Rescue Station, a kind of base camp that would put us in a position to help the local Saami reindeer herders protect the forest. If the Finnish government was to have its way, many of these trees were destined to end up as paper pulp for books and magazines across Europe.

I had a lot to learn. It would take me a couple of weeks of immersion in the Lapland wilderness to truly grasp the subtleties of the forest. Due to the short growing season 300km north of the Arctic Circle, the world’s northernmost pine trees grow slowly. The wood here is hard and dense, and the annual growth rings are close together; the “little” trees I had scoffed at were actually hundreds of years old. Days later I was shown a clearcut – an area that has been completely cleared of trees half a century before. The “new growth” pines were barely as high as my waist, despite being decades old; it would presumably take hundreds of years for this area to “return” to anything like its original state. No one really knows.

Herd of Reindeer in Ancient Forest, Northern Lapland. Photo © Greenpeace/Matti Snellman

And that’s where the good news comes in. last week, Matti, Greenpeace’s hard-working forest campaigner in Finland, let us know that following a decade of endeavor, a final victory has been achieved in the campaign to protect old-growth forests in northernmost Finland. Negotations between the Saami reindeer herders and the Finnish state forestry company Metsahallitus have resulted in a deal to protect 80% of the forests defined as important by both reindeer herders and Greenpeace in 2002.

These areas – all around Inari and the Saami area, add up to 80,000 hectares of original, primary forest that has now been set outside logging areas either permanently, or for the next 20 years.

The struggle to protect the Finland’s forest reached its zenith almost six years ago, between February and April 2005, when we established the Forest Rescue Station. Located first on the Finnish-Norwegian border, and then on the Russian border, the Forest Rescue Station was crewed by activists from all over Europe, who hiked, skied and rode snowmobiles through the forest with local reindeer herders to chart and demarcate the forest areas that needed protection. We had mild weather by local standards, but it was a shock for some of the fair-weather southerners; temperatures rarely climbed above -15C, and that was in the sunshine, with no wind, while at night we camped in -30C and below.

Saami reindeer herder and Greenpeace activist demarcating the forest.Photo © Greenpeace/Patrik Rastenberger

And then there were the neighbours. Greenpeace forest activists around the world regularly come against fierce opposition sponsored by the logging industry; in Finland we had to deal with a supposedly “grassroots” group of loggers that set up a rival camp to block access to ours. Activists went through weeks of sleeplessness and stress; harassed by snowmobiles and taunts during the daytime, they were kept awake at night by fire sirens beside our tents or the windows of our converted shipping containers. One night, a huge tree harvesting machine was driven into the heart of the camp and started cutting down the trees around us – on another, we were woken because a tree inside the camp had been set on fire. But they never “got to us” – our team kept its sense of humour, and its determination to carry on.

The Forest Rescue Station. Photo © Greenpeace/Matti Snellman

I spent two months in the village of Inari and the Forest Rescue Station, and despite having trips to the Southern Ocean, Greenland and West Africa under my belt since; I still rate my time in Finland as one of the toughest I’ve experienced with Greenpeace. There was little respite from pressure; our vehicles were followed everywhere, and one activist who lived locally even started receiving death threats.

But it wasn’t all bad – an amazing, dedicated family of activists was formed at the Forest Rescue Station, and in the town of Inari, we had great support, from both the Saami people in general, and the students from the local Education Institute. Special mention should go to Rosso, the Italian activist drafted to cook for at the camp. Even while our tormentors surrounded us, Rosso was in the kitchen turning out fresh tagliatelle from the pasta machine he’d brought with him. And he still maintains he lost weight from the stress and sleepless nights… For my part, I fell in love with the wilderness and wildlife of Lapland, the long shadows of afternoon, and long nights of early summer.

The success of the Forest Rescue Station came not only from working in the forest itself; our campaigners were working from the forest, reaching out across Europe to contact companies directly about products that were connected to the forest destruction and building up awareness of the problem amongst suppliers. Demonstrations were held not only in Finland, but Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland and Italy – countries where the Finnish wood was exported to be made into paper. We even had a group of bestselling authors from across Europe travel to the forest, concerned about where the paper in their books might come from.

All this work eventually led to an informal moratorium on logging beginning in 2006. Now, almost five years later, these forests are protected thanks to the incredible dedication, commitment and patience of the Saami people, Greenpeace folks from Finland and all around Europe. They’ve worked countless hours, trekking and camping in subzero temperatures, delivering messages to the paper industry and governments, and sitting through rounds of apparently endless meetings.

They all remembered to keep their eyes on the prize, even when suffering setbacks, or when progress seemed impossible. They believed that the longterm protect of the forest was possible, and more importantly, that it was the only acceptable outcome.

Siberian jays in the forests of Northern Finland. Photo © Greenpeace/Matti Snellman

Greenpeace is campaigning to protect forests in many different parts of the world, such as Indonesia, the Congo and the Amazon; amongst other things, we are also in the midst of long, hard campaigns to save our oceans, protect water resources, and save our climate. The Finnish forest success outcome is a lesson for us all – great things are not only possible, they are inevitable, if we keep maintain our optimism, have faith in our abilities, and have the determination to see our work through to the very end, no matter how long the fight.

This Blog is dedicated to the hundreds of people who gave their time to fight for Finland’s Forests.

Dave (with big help from Olli and Max)

First photo: The beauty of Northern Finland's forests. © Greenpeace/Henna Tahvanainen

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Deep Green: Entropy and Ecology

Deep Green is Rex Weyler's monthly column, reflecting on the roots of activism, environmentalism, and Greenpeace's past, present, and future. The opinions here are his own.

December 2010

“If you don’t have some appreciation of the economy as being embedded in the natural systems of the planet, you’re not going to get very far understanding why we’ve got the problems we have with the environment, and how we’re going to solve them.”

-Peter Victor, York University

The 2010 climate talks in Cancún ended with a marginal climate deal that proposed funds for climate mitigation but no mechanism to provide the money, and carbon emission cuts that remain non-binding and too negligible to arrest global warming. British scientist John Beddington warned the conference offered “little chance” of limiting global warming to 2°C and conceded, “We have to focus on adaptation.” Meanwhile, the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) released data showing atmospheric CO2 at record levels, and The Royal Society published a report, Four degrees and beyond, warning humanity to prepare for a 4°C warmer world.

Human society has known the global warming science since 1896, when Swedish physicist Svente Arrhenius described and predicted the effect. At that time, CO2 concentrations had started to grow from pre-industrial 280 parts per million (ppm) to 290ppm. In 1979, James Lovelock sent Greenpeace a graph of atmospheric CO2, which we pinned to our office wall, showing CO2 concentrations at 337 ppm. By 1985, when the first climate conference opened in Villach, Austria, CO2 concentrations had reached 345 ppm. The assembled scientists ‘expected’ significant warming.

Last summer, CO2 concentrations reached over 390 ppm. Meanwhile, methane gas rises from melting Arctic tundra, 13 million hectares of forest disappear each year and acidic seas and dying coral reefs absorb less carbon; these factors increase the rate of planetary heating.

With a century of science and 25 years of conferences behind us, why are we still losing ground in the global warming battle? We might blame greed, delusion or denial. However, one important piece of the answer may appear at the very roots of our global economic system.

A drainage ditch in Gurao, China clogged with wastewater and trash. Here the economy is centered around textile production and Greenpeace has found high levels of industrial pollution and has documented the effects on the community. Image: Qiu Bo / Greenpeace

Economics without limits

“Some very respected economists have been saying some very erroneous things for a very long time.”

-Herman Daly, Ecological Economics and Sustainable Development.

In 1972, biophysicist Donella Meadows and her colleagues at the Club of Rome published The Limits to Growth, explaining how declining resources would eventually limit economic growth. The following year, economist Robert Solow delivered a lecture to the American Economics Association in response. Solow claimed that capital could be substituted for resources and that if this were true, then “the world can, in effect, get along without natural resources.”

In neoclassic economic terms, Solow’s ‘production function’ states that economic ‘output’ is a product of capital x labour x resources. If this were true then, with a stable work force, as industry depletes resources, production could be maintained by increasing capital. This notion has remained a conventional economic justification for unlimited growth.

However, in 1971, Romanian economist Nicholas Georgescu-Roegen published The Entropy Law and Economic Process, formulating what he called ‘Bioeconomics’, exposing certain errors in conventional economic theory. Georgescu-Roegen made an important distinction between resources on the one hand and capital, labour and technologies on the other.

Money, or capital, is not transformed in the industrial process. However, resources – materials and energy – pass through the production process and are changed from raw materials into products and waste. This transformation must obey the laws of energy conversion, or thermodynamics. The Second Law of Thermodynamics, known as the ‘Entropy Law’ states that energy is always depleted and degraded in any mechanical process. Georgescu-Roegen showed how this law also applies to material transformation.

This may sound technical, but it's actually very simple. We cannot burn the same barrel of oil twice. Common sense tells us that a pile of boards and sawdust is not a tree, even if it is represents the same amount of material. Although we can recycle materials, every transformation degrades matter and burns energy. There is no escape. Money, therefore, is not a substitute for energy, trees, fresh water or any other resource, and material constraints do indeed limit economic growth.

A saline deposit is the only evidence left of a small lake in the Star Sea Lake in China which completely dried up only 4 years ago in 2001. Image: Greenpeace / John Novis

Entropy

“Since the Entropy Law allows no way to cool a continuously heated planet, thermal pollution could prove to be a more crucial obstacle to growth than the finiteness of accessible resources.”

-Nicholas Georgescu-Roegen, 1975

Entropy is a measure of disorder in a system. Without energy, physical order decays toward disorder. Sunlight bathes Earth daily, offsets entropy and allows organic organisation. We eat to bring that solar energy into our personal biological system. However, every biological or mechanical process transforms useful energy (low entropy) into waste energy (high entropy).

Georgescu-Roegen showed that human economics had to respect the entropy law. This is why there is no such thing as a ‘perpetual motion’ machine. A machine cannot create the resources that it transforms. Tools can increase the harvest but they don’t create resources. Ancient hunters knew this. Making more arrowheads did not create more bison. Farmers have known this throughout history, which is why fields were left fallow to recover nutrients and energy.

The entropy law applies to materials as well as to energy. We can transform a tree into a table but we can’t transform a table back into a tree. We can recycle a table into building materials but this requires more energy and involves a net loss of both energy and material. Everyone who keeps a house can witness how entropy works. Order falls apart easily but it takes energy to put it back together again. A house left on its own does not get cleaner or more organised- it collects dust and gets less organised. That’s entropy at work.

Georgescu-Roegen and later economists such as Donella Meadows and Herman Daly (Steady State Economics) showed that resource depletion is inevitable with all economic activity. In nature, ‘sustainability’ is the state of homeostasis, balance with the material and energy flows available in a habitat. The promoters of endless growth mock this as pessimism but, to any biologist or physical scientist, it is simple realism. When we look around at our degraded Earth – acidic seas, drained aquifers, growing deserts, extinct species – we witness the entropic cost of human economic growth.

Georgescu-Roegen also stated that industrial growth necessarily results in social conflict (over depleted resources) and inequality, both regional (the rich taking resources from the poor) and inter-generational (today’s society leaving resource scarcity and waste to future generations.)

New wind turbines are constructed at the Butterwick Moor Wind Farm in the UK. Image: Steve Morgan / Greenpeace

Quest for homeostasis

“They bombard us with adverts cajoling us to insulate our homes, turn down our thermostats, drive a little less, walk a little more. The one piece of advice you will not see on a government list is ‘buy less stuff!’”

-Tim Jackson, UK Sustainable Development Commission

Today, humanity finds itself in a complex dilemma. Our primary energy source is heating Earth’s atmosphere, oceans and land. To stop the heating, we must make a transition from hydrocarbons to renewable energy sources such as geothermal, wind and solar. But there is more. Hydrocarbons have allowed us to grow our numbers and consumption at unprecedented rates, and that growth itself degrades our resource base and frustrates the transition.

University of Manitoba Environment and Energy Professor Vaclav Smil warns that the biggest challenge with the transition from hydrocarbons is the scale of our oil-based economy. In the 19th century, during the transition from biomass (wood) to coal, it took over 60 years for coal to grow from 5 percent to 50 percent of human energy use. However, today, our overall energy consumption is 20 times greater than it was then.

Smil warns that the transition to renewables will take longer since “the absolute quantities that need to be replaced have only become bigger.” He advises that to make such a conversion feasible requires “decreasing the rates of per capita energy use.” The leading strategies of our energy transition must be reduction and conservation.

The entropy law teaches us that tools – including computers and windmills – do not create resources; tools burn resources. Humanity has stumbled over this fact of nature in the Sumerian cedar forests, on ancient denuded Greek hillsides, on Easter Island, and today on a global scale.

Global warming has not slowed down because it is a symptom of a deeper problem: a belief in unlimited growth. Biophysical economists such as Georgescu-Roegen, Meadows and Daly are the Copernicus, Kepler and Galileo of our age. They looked behind conventional delusions and discovered the truth. The status quo today, as in the 16th century, ignored and mocked them. However, just as the cosmos revealed itself, so too will nature here on Earth. Nature shall not be mocked.

In the end, our quest for sustainability will be governed not by wishful thinking but by nature’s laws. Anywhere in nature – in a watershed, on an island or on the entire planet – a species endures only when it discovers homeostasis, living within the natural energy and material flow of its habitat.

-Rex Weyler
November 2010

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Tears for the tuna

by Karli Thomas - December 14, 2010 at 11:49

A Yellowfin tuna lies on the ground in Honiara's market. The feet of a local child are seen alongside. © Greenpeace / Paul Hilton

Last week's meeting of the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission ended as a sad day for the tuna, for the whales and whale sharks, and those whose livelihoods depend upon the Pacific Ocean's resources.

Until recently the Pacific was the home to the world's last abundant tuna fisheries, but there are now serious problems facing Pacific tuna. Bigeye and yellowfin tuna are already in serious trouble, and even skipjack, once thought of as virtually limitless, is now in decline and being caught at a rate that is not sustainable in the long term. Wasteful fishing methods are widespread in the fisheries, including the use of fish aggregating devices (FADs) and even setting nets around endangered species like whale sharks and cetaceans. Almost all the money from fishing is being made by foreign countries that send industrial fleets to the region, with little financial return for Pacific Island countries themselves – just 5-6% of the value of the tuna catch goes to Pacific countries through license fees.

In response to this unsustainable and unfair situation, Pacific Island countries have offered a solution. They’ve come forward with a range of proposals to better manage the region's fisheries. These included:

- Closing off areas of international waters to reduce fishing pressure and assist in management and surveillance to stamp out pirate fishing.

- Reducing fishing effort in Pacific Island waters by limiting the number of days that can be fished to reduce the pressure on bigeye, yellowfin and other tuna stocks.

- Banning purse seine fishing around whale sharks and cetaceans, which are targeted as they attract fish, but are sometimes killed themselves in the process.

Unfortunately none of these measures made it past the powerful bloc of fishing nations at the commission. European Union and Korea were opposed to closing additional areas of international waters; and even after photos of a whale shark caught by a purse seiner shamed the room to silence, Japan eventually spoke up demanding to continue this disgraceful practice.

So where does that leave us, the tuna and the people of the Pacific who depend upon this resource?

The glass half empty version is that once again the vested interests of insatiable industrial fishing fleets have bowed governments into submission and they have blocked vital progress. In a Commission that operates by consensus, it can seem like an impossible task to get every country around the table to support, or at least keep quiet, when agreement on new conservation and management rules is within reach.

The glass half full version is that there is solidarity within the region including NZ and a determination to make these fisheries sustainable and fair. The measures above will be unilaterally implemented by a group of eight Pacific Island Countries called the PNA, or 'Parties to the Nauru Agreement'. These countries have the richest tuna resources in the region, making their fishing licenses highly sought after. From the start of next year all licenses from those eight countries will be issued with these strict conditions, meaning that vessels that sign up to fish in PNA waters agree not to fish in five large areas of the high seas.

After being pressured by thousands of emails from Greenpeace supporters New Zealand has also finally joined the regional movement to close the five areas of international waters in the West and Central Pacific. The New Zealand fleet operates under PNA licenses so will no longer be fishing in the high seas from 2011. By supporting this measure New Zealand was recognising not just our responsibility to support our Pacific neighbours in protecting their ocean resources, but also acknowledging that if these areas are not closed by the Commission, it will leave gaping loopholes. Vessels without Pacific licenses and the US fleet which operates under a Treaty pre-dating the region's tuna crisis are not bound by PNA measures therefore can continue to fish with impunity in the area that will be off-limits to others.

We were relieved to finally hear New Zealand speak up in support of high seas closures and some of the other positive measures up for discussion, but that is by no means the end of the story. The coming year will be crucial to build on Pacific solidarity and ensure these rules are adopted by the Commission when it reviews the conservation and management rules for bigeye and yellowfin tuna at the end of 2011. This was the precedent-setting agreement reached in 2008 that put two pockets of international waters off limits to all purse seine vessels.

We have done it once, we can do it again!

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USA: Step Up at Tuna Summit in Honolulu!

Blogpost by Sari Tolvanen - December 8, 2010 at 10:18

Greenpeace activists hang a banner from Honolulu's iconic Aloha Tower the day before the Pacific Tuna Summit began, urging the Tuna Commission to save tuna. For the Pacific region and its people, no fish means no future.

I am in beautiful Hawaii, on Pacific shores, for this week’s important meeting to ensure the future of the Pacific Ocean’s tuna populations. It’s the annual summit of the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC), where nations bordering the Pacific decide how to manage the Pacific and the fish that live in it. Hawaii is fortunate to have a large marine reserve in its waters - the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument, which was established in 2006 by President Bush. The declaration of this reserve, encompassing all of what is called the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, was a surprising move for the otherwise environmentally unfriendly Bush and was welcomed by the environmental movement and local communities here in Hawaii. So it is quite an ideal location for this meeting – where precedents can and should be set for effective marine conservation.

Unfortunately, there is trouble in the Pacific Paradise, with the ocean’s tuna stocks in trouble, matching similar declines in our other oceans. The world’s insatiable hunger for tuna has meant that bloated tuna fleets have set their sights onto the Pacific, previously thought to be teeming with fish. Over 60% of the world’s tuna comes from the Pacific and unless action is taken soon, we could well see the collapse of tuna stocks here. This would of course be catastrophic for the vulnerable small island states that depend on tuna for food and as a major part of their economies. Here in Honolulu, Greenpeace is demanding that nations meeting at the WCPFC:

- Close the four high seas pockets to all fishing,

- Ban Fish Aggregation Devices (FADs; man-made objects used to attract tuna to nets) in purse seine fisheries,

- Reduce tuna fishing in the Pacific by 50% (or halving the amount of fishing).

If this meeting doesn’t produce an outcome that includes these three things, the Pacific tuna situation will be a food security and economic disaster in the making.

But there is hope. The Pacific Island Countries that need healthy tuna stocks the most have taken the scientists’ warnings seriously and are in a process of changing the way their tuna and their coastal waters are managed.

Eight Pacific Island nations are proposing that the WCPFC agree to one far-reaching measure, which they will be implementing at the beginning of next year: closing over 4.5 million square kilometers of Pacific ocean to purse seine fishing, a wasteful fishing technique that uses deadly fish aggregation devices (FADs) to catch tuna, and in the process also remove a lot of juvenile tuna and other marine life such as sharks and turtles from the Pacific. This would not be as strong a level of protection as the US has given to the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, but nevertheless, it would be the first step of protecting the very important areas of the Pacific where tuna spawn.

Given US leadership in creating marine reserves, it would seem likely that the US government would support this proposal to help restore tuna fisheries in the Pacific, but one day into the meeting, it’s starting to look more and more unlikely.

To understand this position, just look back only 20 years, when the US signed a treaty with the Pacific Island Countries and negotiated the US tuna fleet’s way into the Pacific (after the then-Soviet Union was also considering expanding its fishing into Pacific waters). Unfortunately, this treaty is now outdated and gives the US the option not to comply with modern conservation plans, including ones which the Pacific Island Countries have since implemented in their own waters. This even means US vessels can, and likely do, fish in the protected areas of the Pacific. This is even more unfair as all other nations’ fleets have long since accepted and complied to the measures introduced by the island nations.

Closing huge areas of international waters to fishing is a step that’s on the table here in Honolulu. It will be enforced through access agreements that allow foreign fleets into the Pacific Island countries’ waters. Most fleets will have to comply to these as they cannot survive economically without being able to fish the tuna that migrates though these areas of ocean. But the US, unless it agrees to the measure here this week, can continue to be exempted from this based on a treaty that is over 20 years old!

It is time the Obama administration embraces ocean conservation, recognises the need to protect the oceans via closure of areas to fishing and champions the Pacific proposal at the meeting here this week. Take action and email the US government to stand in solidarity with the region and its aspirations.

Sari Tolvanen is a Greenpeace International oceans campaigner, based in Amsterdam. She coordinates the global campaign to defend the Pacific Ocean, enjoys sunsets, long walks on the beach and green tea.

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Arctic defenders still in police custody

Blogpost by LisaV - September 3, 2010 at 20:42 PM Add comment

We are still waiting for our climbers to be released but hoping they will be back on board the Esperanza soon. They are sorely missed - especially Timo's lovely guitar playing in the evenings. Anais is talking about preparing a "Welcome Back!" banner for them and every time the captain or our campaign leader walks past we keep asking "any news?". The answer is still no. Nobody knows exactly when they will be out and perhaps they wont be allowed back to the ship at all.

Sim, Timo, Jens and Matt are truly heroes! I don't think I have ever witnessed such an amazing direct action in all my time with Greenpeace. Timo, Matt, Jens and Sim scaled the oil rig by climbing a structure that looked unclimable to me. When I look at the footage of their ascent - my jaw drops open in amazement. They spent over 40 hours up there - suspended above the churning Arctic waves through freezing winds and periods of loud noise from the thrusters that keep the rig in position. They kept themselves in good spirits throughout the occupation and never complained about the conditions they were in. We're so very proud of them for stopping Cairn's Arctic drilling for so long. They really stopped it for 40 hours - and that's quite an achievement.

While our climbers were on the rig and since they have been arrested - we have received some very touching messages of support from so many people. I've been gathering them today so that I can show the climbers when they're back on board. I thought it would also be nice to share them here (see below) and say thanks to everyone who sent us these messages - and the others I haven't managed to copy yet. It means a lot to us to receive them and I have already printed off several pages of them and passed them around over dinner in the mess. I even saw our chief engineer reading them and watched his face light up with big smiles. And he rarely smiles so this is quite an achievement!

Thank you so much. I'll let you know more news on our heroic Arctic defenders when I have it.

-- Lisa

Timo and Matt on the Esperanza before the action. We want them back along with Sim and Jens! (Images © Greenpeace/ Will Rose)

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Fresh evidence of forest destruction in Indonesia

Guest blogged by Joko Arif - Forest Campaigner, Greenpeace Indonesia

Land is ready to begin planting for expansion of palm oil plantations in the concession area of PT Buana Adhitama © Greenpeace / Bina Karos

Vast, bald, deforested areas surround us, while in the background we can see the wall of surviving forest. Evidence of forest clearing is all around us so we have what we came for – but strangely we haven’t caught anyone red-handed today. There are no workers in sight. Our scouting team go ahead to track down the company in the act of destroying the forest while the rest of us stay behind to bake in the extreme heat. There’s not a single tree left, so there’s no shade. It’s noon on Friday April 23rd and we have found fresh evidence that palm oil supplier Sinar Mas is still in the process of destroying Indonesian rainforests.

Today, April 27th, Sinar Mas held its Annual General Meeting in Singapore and we presented the fresh evidence we collected over the weekend at a press conference just before the start of the AGM – but getting this new evidence was not easy.

We set out for Palangkaraya, the capital of Central Kalimantan in Indonesia on April 23rd to meet other NGO friends to exchange information and to gather more data on what PT Buana Adi Tama (PT BAT for short), a subsidiary of notorious forest and climate destroyer, Sinar Mas, has been up to in the area.

See the latest evidence of Sinar Mas' forest destruction on Al Jazeera:

After hours of pawing through documents, we found out that the company was - as we suspected - illegally clearing the forest without a timber cutting permit until 2008, and from what we saw, we strongly suspected that it is still operating illegally. Sinar Mas has broken its promise to stop this sort of destruction – again. The area the company is clearing also overlaps with orangutan habitat and it has already cleared some areas where orangutans have been frequently spotted. We’re going to catch them red-handed.

We wasted no time. The following day, we picked up some journalists who wanted to come with us to gather their own evidence – and, along with the rest of our team, stepped on the gas. It was remote and the road bad – we went off the track several times and it felt as though we were in an international rally, the only difference was that there were no flags and people waving - and that on either side of us lay mile upon mile of degraded forest land and palm oil plantations. Finally we arrived in Kuala Kuayan, a small village on the Mentaya river bank, our final stop before we headed out to the scene of the destruction.

We were up before dawn and rushed to kick start the trip. On the way, we picked up our local contact and a local deer hunter, who frequently sees orangutans during his hunting trips, near forest areas that PT BAT is destroying. There are now 12 people in our group, including two drivers. We traveled fast through the morning dawn, nervous because we had no idea of what awaited us or whether we’d run into unfriendly folk from the company while we gathered our evidence.

Pulling the cars

Just half an hour from our target site we skidded to a halt, the road was already bad but ahead it became an impossibly deep, muddy off-road track. We suddenly faced our most difficult situation of the trip. The drivers were not convinced we could get through it. Motorcycles were our best bet – but where could we find motorcycles in the middle of nowhere? But luck was on our side – it was as if God was forbidding us to give up: two local guys appeared from nowhere on motorbikes. When our local contact told them about our destination, they offered to help us in any way they could. Minutes later, one of the journalists and a couple of our team were off up the track to scout conditions on the road ahead. They returned with bad news: there are two big ditch-like paths that we’d have to pass to get to the location. It was too hot to hike so we had no choice but to try and move on.

We were all holding our breath as the first car drove in to the muddy and deep pathway – but it got through and this gave us enough bravery to try the other one. We had to haul it out of the mud with ropes but we did it - the old saying proved right, if you already have the courage to overcome one big obstacle and you succeed, that success will guide you to beat the others. And with that optimism we overcame the other two obstacles, although we had to pull the cars all the way.

© Greenpeace / Bina Karos

By noon we had reached the location where the clearing was taking place, but no workers were there. To solve the puzzle, we headed off to the worker’s barracks, hoping to find someone brave enough to tell us what was going on. There were only two people there, a worker and someone from a village adjacent to the area the company is destroying. The truth of what was happening rolled out: there was no land clearing today because yesterday some people from the community had attacked the workers as they destroyed the forest.

It appears that the company has spurred a land conflict with the community from the adjacent village. We know of many cases of these kinds of social conflicts, particularly when Sinar Mas is involved, and they often become very violent - the villager did not want us to get him on record saying this.

Again, Lady Luck smiled upon us. A guy appeared who introduced himself as an elder from the village and a victim of the conflict. He was willing to be interviewed. According to him, one guy tricked several of the villagers into giving him their letters of land ownership, which he then gave to the company. He had said they would develop the land into a community rubber plantation but then a big palm oil plantation appeared instead.

We not only had our evidence but also an insight into how the company is operating in the area. Exhausted - we headed back to base and by midnight were preparing the fresh visual evidence of Sinar Mas breaking its promises to stop this sort of destruction. We want to make sure it cannot get away with telling its lies again.

We know a lot depended on our investigation and that a lot now rests on us getting this evidence out to everyone – we have until morning to get it to Singapore, where our team has arranged a press conference in advance of Sinar Mas’ AGM, and to our Greenpeace offices around the world so that we can show everyone what this company is up to in the rainforest.

Joko on location collecting evidence of new forest clearing by Sinar Mas

The evidence got to our press conference on time, where international media outlets and journalists were able to see it, but we also wanted to make sure we shared it with you: our online supporters.

We want Nestlé to stop buying palm oil from destructive companies like Sinar Mas. Since we launched our Kit Kat campaign, Nestlé has canceled its direct contract with Sinar Mas but it still buys palm oil from the company via Cargill. Nestlé says it expects Cargill to decide whether it will sever its contracts with Sinar Mas by the end of this month.

We’re not against palm oil plantations but we can’t let companies like Sinar Mas get away with destroying our rainforests. With this evidence, how can Nestlé justify carrying on buying Sinar Mas palm oil – unless the company genuinely cleans up its act?

Guest blogged by Joko Arif - Forest Campaigner, Greenpeace Indonesia

6:28 PM | 1 Comment | Read More

The cost of deadly fuels

• 

  Michelle, one of our climate campaigners, writes from China...

  I have been following the unfolding story of the oil spill in China and have been so moved by the images coming out everyday.

  Our team is back in Beijing and the stories they tell us are astounding. The fishermen and people cleaning up the spill with their bare hands, scooping up toxic sludge for a meager payment per barrel, workers stopping to catch their breath as they gasp for air because they are not wearing masks for this dangerous job. These images are the stark reality of life in China the difference of what is possible here versus the US.

  The US and China, powerhouses addicted to dirty energy, both have had the worst oil spills in their history at the same time, an eerie coincidence or just the beginning of more to come. Both spills left a wake of devastation but neither country seems to heed this wake up call and move quickly towards action that moves us quickly away from dirty energy.

  China at least has concrete plans and big investments in renewable energy, more so than what the US appears to be doing. To me the images of the Chinese people cleaning up the spill with no protection at all - conveys a horrifying notion that these people are expendable, worth the fix for more dirty energy.

  The images from the Gulf of Mexico of oil covered sea life, dead or dying, signals another acceptable cost of continuing to depend on this dirty and dangerous energy source. The governments in both countries are underestimating the amounts of oil spilled and consequences on the natural world, both people and animals. In China, this year alone environmental disasters are up by 98%. As oil becomes scarcer we will continue to move to deeper and harder to reach places which means riskier operations and likely increased risks of accidents. It is incredibly sad what this dirty energy addiction is doing to our planet and the life that depends on it.

  
  We can do so much better than this. It's time for an energy revolution!

  -- Michelle

9:07 PM | 0 Comment | Read More

Raksasa Pulp and Paper Terus Menghancurkan Hutan Alam dan Gambut

Indonesia — Divisi pulp and paper Sinar Mas, Asia Pulp and Paper (APP), masih terus melakukan perusakan hutan, membawa keanekaragaman hayati penting ke arah kepunahan, dan jika terus dibiarkan, akan mengancam upaya Indonesia untuk mengatasi perubahan iklim. Demikian diungkap dalam sebuah laporan baru Greenpeace yang diluncurkan hari ini.

'Bagaimana Sinar Mas Meluluhkan Bumi (How Sinar Mas is Pulping the Planet') memperlihatkan bagaimana perusahaan-perusahaan besar internasional ikut bertanggung jawab dalam perusakan hutan alam dan lahan gambut kaya karbon Indonesia dengan berhubungan bisnis dengan APP (2), anak perusahaan Sinar Mas.

"Komitmen keberlanjutan Sinar Mas hanya terjadi di atas kertas dan beberapa merek paling terkenal di dunia ikut meluluhkan bumi dengan membeli produk dari mereka," ujar Bustar Maitar, Jurukampanye Hutan Greenpeace Asia Tenggara.

Investigasi baru ini juga menggaris bawahi bagaimana upaya Presiden Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono untuk mengurangi emisi gas rumah kaca Indonesia dari deforestasi di bawah kesepakatan senilai US$ 1 miliar dengan Norwegia, bisa sia-sia jika moratorium (penghentian sementara) penebangan hutan tidak memasukkan penghancuran hutan dan lahan gambut yang sudah dan sedang terjadi saat ini.

"Jutaan hektar hutan - termasuk ratusan ribu hektar yang berada di bawah kekuasaan Sinar Mas - tidak termasuk dalam kesepakatan dengan Norwegia. Celah ini bisa membuat sia-sia semua upaya untuk mengurangi emisi Indonesia. Presiden Yudhoyono harus segera melakukan implementasi moratorium pada semua perusakan hutan dan memastikan perlindungan menyeluruh terhadap lahan gambut. Hanya dengan cara itu kita bisa memastikan Indonesia bisa menurunkan emisi gas rumah kaca," ujar Maitar.

"Greenpeace menyerukan semua perusahaan, seperti Hypermarket dan KFC, untuk berhenti berbisnis dengan Sinar Mas segera, dan memastikan tidak ada lagi hubungan dengan perusakan hutan dalam rantai produksi mereka. (3) Juga mendesak mereka untuk mengumumkan kepada publik dukungan kepada pemerintah Indonesia dalam perlindungan menyeluruh lahan gambut dan penghentian segala perusakan hutan," imbuh Maitar.

Beberapa perusahaan terkemuka telah menanggapi bukti-bukti dari Greenpeace yang melaporkan praktek ilegal dan merusak lingkungan dari Sinar Mas Group di Indonesia dan membatalkan kontrak mereka dengan perusahaan minyak sawit Indonesia dan kertas raksasa (3). Hari ini, Carrefour membenarkan bahwa ia telah berhenti membeli produk APP untuk merek sendiri dan Tesco telah mengumumkan bahwa mereka akan melakukan hal yang sama pada akhir tahun. Selain itu, Kraft telah mengkonfirmasi bahwa telah menghentikan pembelian kertas APP dan kemasan, (4) sementara Kimberly-Clark, Nestle dan Unilever sedang menerapkan kebijakan baru yang juga akan mengesampingkan pasokan dari APP, kecuali jika perusahaan dan pemasoknya membuat perubahan besar. Unilever, Kraft, dan Nestle juga menghentikan kontrak dengan Golden Agri Resources (GAR), anak perusahaan minyak sawit Sinar Mas grup, setelah kampanye Greenpeace baru-baru ini. (5)

Greenpeace telah melakukan investigasi di dua kawasan hutan hujan penting di Sumatra. Kawasan Hutan Bukit Tigapuluh adalah perlindungan terakhir bagi Harimau Sumatra yang terancam punah serta orangutan, dan kawasan kaya karbon Kerumutan yang merupakan pertahanan penting dalam upaya mengatasi perubahan iklim; banyak lahan gambut di sana dalamnya lebih dari tiga meter yang menurut hukum Indonesia ilegal untuk dihancurkan. APP menggunakan kayu dari hutan alam ini untuk mensuplai kebutuhan pabrik mereka di Sumatra, dimana produknya diekspor ke seluruh dunia.

"Sinar Mas mengoperasikan model bisnis mereka dengan penghancuran hutan alam berharga kita yang masih tersisa, membuat Indonesia berada di posisi ketiga penghasil emisi gas rumah kaca terbesar di dunia. Perusahaan global dan pemerintah Indonesia harus melakukan aksi segera untuk menyelamatkan masa depan hutan alam kita dan spesies serta masyarakat yang bergantung pada hutan," pungkas Maitar.

(1) Greenpeace report "How Sinar Mas is Pulping the Planet", July 2010 http://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/publications/reports/SinarMas-APP

(2) APP mempunyai fasilitas besar di Indonesia dan China serta berekspansi ke Australia, Kanada dan Amerika Serikat. APP punya jaringan penjualan di Amerika Serikat, Inggris dan Spanyol.

(3) Beberapa perusahaan besar termasuk Staples, Office Depot dan Woolworths (Australia) telah membatalkan kontrak dengan Sinar Mas dengan alasan praktek perusakan lingkungan. Sementara Unilever, Kraft, dan Nestle menghentikan kontrak menyusul kampanye Greenpeace.

(4) Surat dari Kraft untuk Greenpeace di Inggris, 1 July 2010.
(5) Sejumlah perusahaan besar termasuk Staples, Office Depot dan Woolworths (Australia) telah menghentikan kontrak dengan Sinar Mas karena praktek-praktek lingkungan yang merusak.
Ringkasan Laporan 'Bagaimana Sinar Mas Meluluhkan Bumi'

8:51 PM | 2 Comment | Read More

Bayer finally gets the message – we don’t want GE!

Blogpost by gtyler

It has taken a long time - 8 years to be precise. In 2002 Bayer first applied for approval for Brazilian farmers to be allowed to grow their genetically engineered (GE) rice. The only problem with their plan is that Brazilian rice farmers and producers don’t want GE rice. Bayer has finally gotten the message, and yesterday they finally withdrew their application.

Bayer is saying publically that they have withdrawn their application “to broaden the dialogue with key members in the production of rice in Brazil”. I would think 8 years would be more than enough time to broaden the debate on how GE crops are becoming less effective in the face of weeds that are resistant to herbicides, how rice producers have lost financially due to GE rice and how we continue to see unexpected side effects from GE crops.

It might have been more than just the Brazilian’s rejection of GE rice that made Bayer act. They are also currently taking a pounding in the US courts, having to pay out tens of millions of dollars to rice producers affected by their contamination of the US rice supply in 2006.

Despite this, the message from Brazilian rice producers is clear – GE rice is not wanted in Brazil. To broaden the debate Bayer will need to do some serious searching for other players in the Brazilian rice production chain, as already most of these players have voiced their opposition to GE rice. Amongst these groups is the Rice Federation of Rio Grande do Sul, the region which accounts for 60% of Brazilian rice production.

It’s time for governments everywhere to stand up for what people and producers want and stop GE rice.

See more on Greenpeace Brazil’s webpage (in Portuguese).

Image: Greenpeace banner showing a danger triangle that warns against genetically engineered crops in Brazil. © Greenpeace / Jeremy Sutton-Hibbert

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AREVA in Niger: the human cost of nuclear power

At the heart of Greenpeace’s report ‘Left in the dust: Areva's radioactive legacy in the desert towns of Niger’ is the human cost of nuclear power. If we are going to embrace nuclear power then, every time you flick a switch and nuclear-powered light bulb comes on, you must accept the suffering of the likes of the people who live around Areva’s uranium mines in Niger (and those people are by no means the only people to suffer at the hands of the nuclear industry).

This is what the nuclear industry wants us to forget. According to them, nuclear power is just a matter ‘safe’, ‘clean’ and ‘reliable’ reactors producing ‘low carbon’ electricity. They don’t want to think about where the fuel for those reactors come from, about the contaminated streets of Arlit and Akokan. They don’t want you to think about the people of Niger trapped at the bottom of the United Nation’s Human Development Index.

But, if you’re pro-nuclear power, think about them you must.

Find out more:
- AREVA’S dirty little secret
- From Niger to Geneva
- Left in the Dust - Areva's uranium mining in Niger

Posted by Justin on May 8, 2010 6:13 PM | Permalink

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Bluefin’s Mediterranean holiday romance - Will it last?

Blogpost by LisaV - May 20, 2010 at 6:15 PM Add comment

From Willie MacKenzie, Greenpeace UK oceans campaigner - currently on board the Rainbow Warrior.

Imagine you are an Atlantic bluefin tuna. You’ve been out at sea most of the year, in cooler waters, feeding away, and you know generally getting on with being a big ol’ fish at the top of your food chain. Save from the occasional orca or shark scare, not much to worry about really.

Then spring springs, and the urge takes you. Forces you don’t really understand compel you to head back to warmer waters, and a certain key place, sacred to you bluefin. For it has to be just right, the bluefin equivalent of a romantic dinner and some subdued lighting, is a sheltered warm sea. But even that’s not enough. Because of the, er, messy, way most fish reproduce, they congregate together, and only release sperm and eggs when the time and the temperature is right. 23 degrees Celsius, it’s the perfect temperature for a bluefin love-in.

Atlantic bluefin, like many other animals, are very particular when it comes to getting frisky. And as anyone who knows anything about saving creatures who are on the brink of extinction will tell you, protecting their habitat, and allowing them to breed successfully is the key to starting to stop the decline. That’s as true of bison and pandas as it is of bluefin. Bluefin, being hugely migratory, aren’t as easy to breed in captivity as some other animals. That makes protecting the areas important to them in the wild so important. And it’s why I keep banging on about them.

The best known example is the seas around the Balearic Islands. To most of us these islands are a holiday haven for hordes of European tourists, and one of the few places you can find somewhere proudly claiming to serve ‘British’ or ‘German cuisine’. To the Atlantic bluefin, this area is vital. When the time and temperature are right, fertilised eggs hatch into baby bluefin and this is their nursery. They will then float in the plankton, and hide amongst weeds til they are big enough to hold their own.

So – if you want to protect bluefin, you should protect the Balearics (and the Sicilian Channel, and the Gulf of Mexico too, for starters…). At the very least you should be protecting these nursery grounds from large-scale fishing, targeting the very fish that come here to breed.

The science is sound. The rationale clear. It makes sense to anyone you tell it to - whether they want to save bluefin as a species, or as a future fishery.

So why hasn’t it happened? The Balearic bluefin sanctuary (described here in a Spanish newspaper) has been proposed and endorsed by a number of NGOs, including Greenpeace. It has been backed by the regional government of the Balearics. Heck, it’s even been supported by Mitsubishi Corporation, the largest trader in Mediterranean bluefin. But as yet, the government of Spain (not known as the best friend to the fish, it’s true…) hasn’t agreed.

It’s yet another scandal in a sea full of them. How come it’s okay for purse-seiners around the Mediterranean to wait and pounce on an endangered species just when they come together to breed? Why are our governments defending the vested fishing interests instead of the fish?

For an Atlantic bluefin tuna, answering that natural call to mate has never been so crucial.

Image: Bluefin tuna © Greenpeace/ Gavin Newman

6:56 PM | 0 Comment | Read More

Master Class on Nuclear Lobbying

Nuclear industry has no doubt learnt some lessons during the past decade. Not that they learned hot to build reactors properly. And obviously not the economics of nuclear power, better don’t think about who might have been giving an Economics 101 class to the industry. We have seen an impressive unlearning curve that brought the cost of new reactors from 2,000 USD per kilowatt back in 2003 to between 6,000 and 8,500 USD today.

So what is the thing in which nuclear companies truly improved? It is their lobby skills. Thanks to investigative analysis of American University we now know that only in US, companies and unions related to the nuclear industry have during past decade spent more than $600 million on lobbying and nearly $63 million on campaign contributions. This is massive, but still a fraction of how much they will have in return for even building one single reactor.

So instead of trying to improve worsening economic indicators – perhaps knowing better than anyone else what kind of impossible mission that would be – or instead of earning money in some decent way like other people do, the industry focused its efforts to strip dozens of billions from the society.

It’s rate of return seems impressive: not only that it managed continue to shift massive costs related to its liabilities (from reactor operation, dismantling, and waste management) to society. But for an investment of less than a billion dollars, it achieved to secure 18.5 billion dollars loan guarantees from US federal budget. But even this is not enough to satisfy the black hole of nuclear economics - the industry now requests second round and more than 100 billion dollars in the pot. We also should remember many hundreds billions that were already poured to the industry since its birth in 1940s, which failed to deliver what it promised.

So, if this is not the high time to stop this insanity, when is?

Today, there are other flourishing technologies that deserve several years’ worth of subsidies so that they can fully stand on their own legs. Modern renewable technologies, such as wind and solar, manage to deeply cut their costs consistently year by year, coming close to the point of full competitiveness with traditional ways of generating electricity. They are safe and clean, provide sustainable jobs, and with no fuel needed they provide energy security. They can also be built on much faster schedules than nuclear reactors, meaning they have a big role to play in the task to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 2020.

We need to say to our politicians: quit nuclear madness, go for renewable energy. NOW!

11:07 PM | 0 Comment | Read More

Three out of four Germans not safe from nuclear power accidents

Today's big stories from the nuclear industry:
Three out of four Germans not safe from nuclear power accidents

The figures are based on the foundation’s ‘Nuclear Power Atlas,’ which counts the number of people living within a 150-kilometer (93-mile) radius of each of the 17 nuclear power stations in Germany – putting them in immediate danger in the event of a nuclear accident. Between 5.4 million and 11.8 million people were counted within the various zones, which cover most of the western and southern regions of Germany. The city of Bremen, within 150 kilometers of six nuclear powers stations, is particularly at risk. According to a foundation statement, the numbers are considered conservative, as “in the case of a big accident a lot more people could be affected by the radioactive fallout.” Foundation board member Hans Guenter Schumacher concluded, “It’s not just irresponsible, but inhuman that nuclear power stations continue to be operated in a country as densely populated as Germany when millions of people could be endangered by an accident.”

Pacific Sandpiper powered out of Barrow under tight security

Nuclear bosses, unions and community leaders are hoping the first-ever shipment of highly radioactive waste overseas from Sellafield will eventually lead to new business and more employment security. They also say that the “historic milestone” finally nails claims that Sellafield was becoming the world’s nuclear dustbin and should not be allowed to carry on producing more waste from reprocessing. Relationships with Japan who refused to do any more business with BNFL and Sellafield after the Mox fuel scandal several years are now said to have been healed with much trust and confidence restored. The Pacific Sandpiper powered out of Barrow under tight security – but unlike for the Mox fuel shipments the vessel is not armed. Double hull security barriers and safety features are considered robust enough to protect the “hot” cargo from the potential risk of terrorism attack or hi-jack through territorial waters. The Sandpiper is carrying cannisters of hot waste which have been converted into glass blocks in the Sellafield vitrification plant. The waste is from Japanese spent fuel reprocessed at Sellafield and is finally being sent back under inter-government deals struck in 1976.

French Nuclear Firms Told to Stop Bickering

Prime Minister François Fillon on Wednesday summoned the squabbling chiefs of EDF and Areva to a meeting to calm tensions in the country’s increasingly dysfunctional-looking nuclear power industry. Mr. Fillon called Anne Lauvergeon, chief executive of Areva, the nuclear power plant giant, and Henri Proglio, chief executive of EDF, the world’s biggest operator of nuclear power facilities, to his office at the Hôtel de Matignon to resolve two thorny contractual disputes after days of quarreling in the press. “The prime minister reminded the parties of the state’s role in the nuclear field,” Mr. Fillon’s office said in a statement, and he underlined “the necessity of guaranteeing the competitive production of electricity on French soil.” The state owns 84 percent of EDF and 91 percent of Areva.

EDF to Sell a Third of Nuclear Power to Rivals Under Draft Law

Electricite de France SA, Europe’s biggest generator, would be forced to sell as much as 120 terawatt-hours of power a year to rivals, about one third of its French reactor output, under a draft law to open competition. “The price will reflect the economic conditions” of EDF’s existing nuclear reactors and “all of the costs” of operating them will be calculated by the regulator, according to the document. The draft doesn’t contain estimates of the price at which EDF could sell the power to competitors or what volume will actually be put on the market and says the system will be in place until the end of 2025. The volume will be determined by how competition develops within the French market for power generation, the draft states. The planned law is designed to meet antitrust concerns of the European Commission, which raided EDF offices last year as part of a probe into whether the utility abused its dominant position by raising prices on France’s wholesale power market. State-controlled EDF holds 85 percent of the market by volume even after it was opened to competition almost three years ago.

International Power tests French secret M&A formula

It sounded too good to be true - at least the way GDF-Suez told it. If the French utility had succeeded in pulling off a power generation partnership deal with International Power of the UK without having to shell out any cash, it would have accelerated its goal of getting to 100,000MW of electricity generating capacity two years ahead of schedule. The French group currently has about 70,000MW of capacity and has targeted to increase this to 100,000MW over the next three years through a €30bn three-year investment programme. International Power would have allowed it to get there in one fell swoop. Gerard Mestrallet, the long-serving GDF-Suez boss, was determined not to spend a single sou to acquire International Power generation capacity. Instead, he hoped to repeat his current strategy of clinching partnership and other deals with asset swaps rather than cash. For the moment at least, this has clearly not worked across the Channel.

Kingdom signs cooperation agreement with Spain

Jordan expanded international collaboration in its peaceful nuclear programme on Wednesday by signing a nuclear cooperation agreement (NCA) with Spain. At a signing ceremony yesterday, attended by Spanish Ambassador in Amman Javier Sangro de Liniers and Spanish Secretary of State for Trade Sylvia Iranzo Gutierrez, Jordan Atomic Energy Commission (JAEC) Chairman Khaled Toukan hailed the deal as “another milestone on our steady path to nuclear energy”. The agreement will pave the way for Spanish companies to play a major role in the Kingdom’s nuclear programme, Toukan said, noting that Spanish companies may be involved in the construction of the country’s first nuclear power plant, slated to be built in Aqaba. panish firms previously competed for tenders for site selection and preconstruction consultancy phases for the country’s first reactor, he noted.

French power co. Areva signs deal for sale of unit

Nuclear and electric power company Areva SA signed an agreement Wednesday with Alstom SA and Schneider Electric SA setting out financial terms for the sale of its power transmission and distribution business, the company said. The bid from Alstom and Schneider, also French companies, valued the power grid unit at about euro4.09 billion ($5.78 billion). A statement from Areva confirmed the price but provided no details on financial terms and conditions. Separate bids from General Electric Co. and Japan's Toshiba Corp. were rejected in November. Areva had acquired the grid unit five years earlier. The deal commits the buyers to maintain all European sites for three years and guarantees similar positions in the same geographical area to European employees.

9:58 PM | 0 Comment | Read More

January 18: Greenpeace is building a new flagship, The Rainbow Warrior III; Greenpeace’s Guide to Greener Electronics is a continued success; and Juni

Posted by Teresa at 11:21 AM

Copyright Greenpeace/Greenpeace staff Junichi Sato (seated left), Toru Suzuki (seated right), and their lead counsel, Yuichi Kaido (seated centre) face reporters at a press briefing following their first pre-trial arrangement hearing at Aomori District Court, Japan.

Greenpeace International Executive Director Kumi Naidoo has an appearance on the hard-hitting flagship news programme shown on BBC World News and the BBC News channel, HARDtalk. If you are in the UK you can access the interview on BBC iPlayer.

The European Commission has cast doubt on research commissioned by the Federal Government that questions the need to have laws to block illegally logged timber imports. The EU has also questioned the research's estimates on the value of illegal timber imports into Australia and found that timber in furniture is not included. A Greenpeace forestry campaigner, Reece Turner, quoted in The Sydney Morning Herald, said it was time for the Government to fulfill its 2007 election promise to ban illegal timber. ''The European Commission has exposed the Government's attempts to fudge the figures on illegal timber imports,'' he said.

Greenpeace is building a new flagship, The Rainbow Warrior III, a mega-yacht, one of the greenest ships afloat, complete with satellite video system and a helipad. The satellite system will allow campaigners to stream video footage from anywhere in the world. "We have converted ships for 30 years and it's time we practiced what we preach," said Ulrich von Eitzen, a Greenpeace spokesman featured in The Guardian. "Upgrading the existing ship was not technically or financially feasible and converting a secondhand ship would compromise our campaigning and energy conservation needs." The same article mentions Sea Shepherd trying to raise money in Hollywood in order to build a bigger, better, stronger version of Ady Gil. Oceana, one of the world's largest maritime protection organizations, is also planning to launch a third ship. This story was also covered in New Zealand and Belgium.

Greenpeace’s Guide to Greener Electronics, which claims to “cut through the greenwash”, is still in the news in association with the The Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. “Well done Nokia and Sony Ericsson for leading the mobile phone sector in eliminating some of the most harmful substances in your products,” Iza Kruszewska, Toxics Campaigner, Greenpeace International told CNN.

The Reuters story on the Greenpeace action in Germany, in which activists dumped a basketload of potatoes at the feet of German Agriculture Minister Ilse Aigner during a speech at the International Green Week fair in Berlin has reached Sky News.

In Canada, leader of the opposition Michael Ignatieff was interrupted during a speech in Vancouver on Friday. Mr. Ignatieff was speaking in front of a crowd of about 400 people at the University of British Columbia when about a dozen protesters — who were sitting among the crowd — stood up and broke out in a chant and shouted slogans. Some protesters also marched onto the stage with large, white banners that read: “Stop the tarsands.” The protesters, who identified themselves as Greenpeace activists, said they wanted to pressure Ottawa to halt Alberta’s oilsands development and to do more to battle climate change, stated a feature by The National Post.

Junichi Sato is featured in The Australian, in which he explains Greenpeace’s campaign strategy in Japan. He comments on the Australian media persisting to confuse the actions of the Sea Shepherd Conservation group with Greenpeace. He also comments on the counteractions of the Japanese government: “Those few who benefit from whaling have a lot of power within government. Instead of investigating the whaling industry, the government raided Greenpeace offices and arrested Toru and me. We were jailed for 26 days and we are still awaiting trial. We face up to 10 years' jail for stealing property of a whaling crew member. In running our grassroots campaign against whaling in Japan, Greenpeace has had the greatest success with providing information to Japanese people about the billions in government subsidies enjoyed by the whaling industry and the waste of public funds spent on killing whales for meat that the public does not want to eat. This is the message the Japanese need to hear,” writes Junichi.

In general environmental news, the scientists behind the warning on Himalayan glaciers have admitted that it was based on a news story in the New Scientist, published eight years before the IPCC's 2007 report. The New Scientist report was itself based on a short telephone interview with Syed Hasnain, a little-known Indian scientist then based at Jawaharlal Nehru University in Delhi. Hasnain has since admitted that the claim was "speculation" and was not supported by any formal research. If confirmed it would be one of the most serious failures yet seen in climate research says Times Online.

Reuters reports that European leaders discussed ways of deepening their 2020 emissions cuts targets to help reach a deal in the final day of climate talks in Copenhagen but concluded they should not move further alone. "If the United States and China made significant moves, then maybe we could go further," said an EU source. "Talks might carry on next year, and it might be worth keeping this conditional offer to be used as a lever." A similar story has also been written by Agence France-Presse.

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