Also by jamie

ICCAT fails to protect bluefin tuna

Posted by jamie - 29 November 2010 at 5:00pm - Comments

Oceans campaigner Oliver Knowles, Greenpeace delegation lead at the recent ICCAT meeting in Paris, sums up his feelings about the rather poor outcome.

This year, ICCAT had the opportunity to do two things: rescue bluefin tuna from the edge of commercial extinction and salvage its reputation for inaction. It has now failed on both counts.

Once again, ICCAT's 10-day meeting has resulted in a new fishing quota for bluefin, this time of 12,900 tons - a tiny reduction on last year's quota of 13,500 tons. Come May, sanctioned by the very organisation which is supposed to "conserve" tuna, destructive purse-seine fishing vessels in the Mediterranean will cast their nets again on this hugely depleted species.

Let's put a marker down here and now - the governments and delegates at this ICCAT session must be noted in history as those people that have failed this magnificent species.

A big day for bluefin tuna approaches

Posted by jamie - 23 November 2010 at 1:22pm - Comments

The tunamobile makes its debut at the ICCAT tuna meeting in Paris (c) Chauveau/Grenepeace

Oliver Knowles, oceans campaigner at our international office, wrote on Making Waves last week about the start of the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT meeting) in Paris.

I'm on my way to Paris right now, where some important days for bluefin tuna are going to be taking place later this week and next. Fisheries managers and representatives from countries around the world are about to come to together at the annual meeting of ICCAT - the body that is meant to manage tuna populations in this area of the world. The challenges facing bluefin tuna have never been more plentiful and more serious.

The big question that will soon be answered - can those meant to protect bluefin tuna deliver meaningful change after years of mismanagement?

Historic Indonesian forest protection deal at risk from industry

Posted by jamie - 23 November 2010 at 11:36am - Comments

Plantations, like this eucalyptus one in Sumatra, are gradually replacing Indonesia's rainforests (c) Beltra/Greenpeace

Laura Kenyon from our Making Waves blog explains how money intended to protect forests could actually encourage deforestation.

Norway and Indonesia are about to make history. A US$1bn forest protection deal between these two countries could help set Indonesia on a low-carbon development pathway and become a positive model for the rest of the world. It could clearly demonstrate that lowering carbon emissions to address climate change does not mean sacrificing economic growth and prosperity. What's more, this prosperous low-carbon development does not need to come at the expense of Indonesia's natural forests and peatlands.

But this deal is at risk. Today we released a report - Protection Money - which outlines how the deal is in danger of being undermined, unless action is taken to protect it from notorious industrial forest destroyers in the palm oil, paper and pulp sectors.  There is a potential that international money intended for the protection of Indonesia's forests and peatlands could end up being used to support their destruction.

Man chews orang-utan finger, wins short film award

Posted by jamie - 22 November 2010 at 5:24pm - Comments

Some great news to start the week - the spoof KitKat video we made to protest Nestlé's use of palm oil has won an award. Our German colleagues entered it into the viral video strand of the 26th Berlin International Short Film Festival, and it scooped Best Viral! Thanks to everyone who watched, shared and took action off the back of this video - its success is down to you.

Nestlé has, of course, since taken steps to divest its supply chain of palm oil and paper products from Sinar Mas and so has joined the growing ranks of companies who refuse to do business with a group which is wantonly destroying Indonesia's rainforests.

So while the message of this video is no longer applicable, we're still chuffed to have won the award. And it was damn good fun to make.

Finally! Palm oil companies recognise the value of forests

Posted by jamie - 15 November 2010 at 6:05pm - Comments
Orang-utan in Indonesia
All rights reserved. Credit: Will Rose/Greenpeace
Orang-utan in Indonesia

Helen Buckland, UK director of the Sumatran Orangutan Society, reports on developments at the recent Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil meeting...

It's no secret that the palm oil industry is responsible for massive deforestation in Indonesia, but it's now gone some way towards acknowledging the value of rainforests and how vital they are for conserving endangered species, including orangutans.

With so little habitat remaining in Sumatra and Borneo, it is vital to preserve even degraded forests to ensure the survival of orangutans in the wild.

Sayonara, Nagoya: UN biodiversity summit closes

Posted by jamie - 1 November 2010 at 1:47pm - Comments

Nathalie Rey (pictured above briefing journalists) is an Amsterdam-based Oceans Policy Analyst who led Greenpeace's delegation in Nagoya for the CBD. She is the proud mother of two daughters, an avid coffee drinker and a surprised fan of Japanese food.

After two weeks of negotiations, this Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) has concluded and not without some last-minute drama. Unsurprisingly, a lot of the contentious issues were left to the last day. Delegates, media and observers were told that the Friday afternoon plenary discussion was to begin at 3pm. That meant that the 197 nations gathered here would have to agree a new Protocol, decide the future of protected areas on land and at sea and sign off on a new Strategic Plan for the CBD all in less than three hours.

For all of you out there who haven't sat through these talks for the past two weeks, I assure you that this seemed like an impossible feat when they announced it on Thursday.

How our Nestle campaign travelled around the web

Posted by jamie - 28 October 2010 at 2:20pm - Comments

Sinar Mas influence map

The Sinar Mas influence map by Salter Baxter

Is it a tube map for spiders? A diagram of the galactic core? No, it's an analysis of our ongoing Sinar Mas campaign, specifically the way it has evolved online.

Communication consultants Salter Baxter have tracked how our campaigns on Nestlé, HSBC, Burger King and their connections to Sinar Mas have been discussed on the web, how those conversations have interacted and what impact they've had on the campaign itself.

Scientists criticise claims by logging and palm oil industry mouthpieces

Posted by jamie - 27 October 2010 at 10:25am - Comments

Scientists are objecting to claims made by industry lobby groups, including the amount of carbon stored in plantations compared to rainforests © Greenpeace/Behring-Chisholm

Big oil companies are not the only ones to engage in a spot of sneaky zeitgeist manipulation. The palm oil, paper and timber companies of South East Asia are also dabbling in these dark arts with various front organisations softly massaging public and political opinion.

Both Sinar Mas and Rimbunan Hijau - a Malaysian agribusiness giant - have strong links to Alan Oxley, who runs two groups, the World Growth Institute (WGI) thinktank and consultants ITS Global, both of which have been lobbying hard on behalf of their corporate benefactors.

I've got criteria and I'm not afraid to use them!

Posted by jamie - 22 October 2010 at 5:50pm - Comments

Richard Page is an oceans campaigner with Greenpeace International, focusing on marine reserves and polar ecosystems. He currently has the pleasure of attending the UN's Convention on Biological Diversity meeting in Japan. 

So today is my last day in Nagoya doing my bit to try and make sure that the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) gathers momentum and that governments create a global network of marine reserves.  It is good to be in Japan again - the people of Nagoya seem especially friendly and helpful.

Two years ago, I was lucky enough to visit the Tokyo fish market at Tsukiji with Callum Roberts, the scientist with whom we worked to design the Greenpeace proposal for a global network of marine reserves and Daniel Pauly, who has done much to raise awareness of the dire consequences of overfishing.

Slideshow: saving Sumatra

Posted by jamie - 22 October 2010 at 10:39am - Comments

Take a look at this audio slideshow produced by photographer Jeremy Sutton-Hibbert and our very own Bex Sumner, both currently in Indonesia. It features our international exective director Kumi Naidoo and US forest campaigner Rolf Skar who've been witnessing the devastation in Sumatra for themselves, where plantations are replacing the rainforests at a rate of knots.

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