Greenpeace Blog

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St. Kilda - under threat from oil exploration

St Kilda is in the same league as the Great Barrier Reef by being designated a Natural World Heritage Site. It is recognised as being globally important for seabird populations. But little is known about what lives there under the sea. Greenpeace divers conducted the first ever underwater survey of the northern edges of the islands that are most at risk from Government licensed oil exploration.

St. Kilda's precipitous cliffs, crystal clear water and massive seabird colonies have continued to attract generations of divers, sailors and nature-lovers to its shores. It ranks alongside the Taj Mahal, the Grand Canyon and the Great Barrier Reef as a World Heritage Site.

The islands once again find themselves on the edge of a change at least as big as that of the loss of its people. The industrial world is finally encroaching on the wild seas around St Kilda - oil companies are being offered thousands of square miles of the sea-bed of Britain's Atlantic Frontier including areas only 25 miles from St Kilda. In July 1999 the UK Government gave the green light for an oil rig to start drilling west of the Outer Hebrides, just 75 miles from St Kilda.

The IUCN, nature conservation advisors to the UN, have concluded that St Kilda is at high risk from oil developments.

Renewable energy has the potential to create thousands of jobs and generate power without imperilling the climate.

The UK government must set a series of progressive renewable energy targets, leading to a fossil fuel phase out in the next 30 to 40 years and open up the huge UK offshore wind resource. At the very least this means announcing a licensing round for offshore wind. To assure industry that investment in UK offshore wind is worthwhile, the Government must ensure these rounds are substantial and regular.