Woman in flood in Bangladesh

Hong Kong, 13 December 2005 - As delegates from around the world gather for the WTO (World Trade Organisation) Ministerial meeting starting today, Greenpeace warned that free trade must not be prioritised over the interests of people and the environment. Greenpeace argues that the Hong Kong Ministerial can be called a success only if governments agree a complete social and environmental review of the global trade system.

"While government delegates meet behind closed doors to talk about technicalities, biodiversity is being lost at unprecedented rates and our climate is spiralling out of control," said Daniel Mittler, Trade Policy Advisor at Greenpeace International. "Governments must wake up to the real impacts of free trade."

In particular, Greenpeace warns of grave environmental impacts to be expected if the Non-Agricultural Market Access and services (NAMA) negotiations are allowed to move forward. Electronic goods, forests and fisheries are all lined up for liberalisation as part of the NAMA negotiations. Liberalisation will inevitably have negative impacts on these sectors as effective social and environmental rules are lacking. More discarded electronic goods will be dumped on developing countries, more trees will be destroyed in the world's last ancient forests, and even more fish will be pillaged from the oceans.
Greenpeace is calling on ministers from developing countries to refuse to make any further concessions on NAMA. According to Greenpeace, developed nations should not be rewarded by developing countries for their intransigence in the agriculture negotiations. Greenpeace wants developed countries to end all agricultural export subsidies immediately without attaching any conditions to such a move.

Greenpeace is demanding that delegates to the WTO:

• Halt the NAMA negotiations in order to prevent further harm to poor people, forests and oceans; and
• Agree to a complete social and environmental review of the global trade system. On the basis of such a review, a new global trade system must be built; one that has equity and environmental protection at its heart.

Greenpeace is an independent campaigning organisation that uses non-violent creative confrontation to expose global environmental problems to force solutions that are essential to a green and peaceful future.

Notes to Editors:

1. The Greenpeace position paper, a background paper on the impacts of the NAMA negotiations as well as images of electronic scrap-yards, illustrating the real impacts of free trade, are available at www.greenpeace.org/international/campaigns/trade-and-the-environment.

 

 

Publication date: June 2005

Summary
This year the International Whaling Commission (IWC) is meeting in South Korea. South Korea has a history of whaling and its waters are an important habitat for the Korean Gray Whale, one of the most critically endangered whale populations in the world.

Greenpeace is concerned that as human activities continue to degrade the world's oceans, species and populations of cetaceans (whales, dolphins and porpoises) are under increasing threat.

Publication date: March 2004

Summary
How the Finnish government is abusing the rigts of Sàmi reindeer herders in Lapland.

Publication date: July 2004

Summary
This report describes the multiple threats now jeopardising the marine life and ecology of the North Sea and Baltic Sea. It proposes an approach to countering these threats involving the establishment of networks of large-scale marine reserves in which fishing and other extractive activities are prohibited. Finally, it considers what progress has already been made towards the effective conservation of the North and Baltic Seas, and assesses the opportunities towards that goal afforded by recent political developments.

The report is available in high res (with full colour images). The file size is 58Mb. Alternatively, you can download the low res version (no images). The file is 2Mb

Science, technology and our future: the big questions

What is 'natural'?

Publication date: 16th April 2002

Summary
The question and answer session raised issues as wide ranging as alternative medicine, population growth, bio-diversity and the rights of apes.

The Hague, CBD: meeting Michael Meacher

Greenpeace today criticised world governments for failing to seize the opportunity to take urgent measures to protect the most biologically diverse areas on the planet —the last ancient forests—at this week's meeting of the Convention on Biological Diversity, CBD. Despite having recognised that the world's "biodiversity is being destroyed by human activities at unprecedented rates", they failed to take the necessary action to stop further loss and admit that their efforts so far have been "too few, too little and too late".

This is the first time since the Rio Earth Summit that world governments discussed the fate of the world's last ancient forests. However, the Ministerial declaration released this morning ignores the strong recommendations on action provided by their own scientists (SBSTTA) which stressed "the need to urgently prioritise biodiversity conservation efforts on the most endangered and environmentally significant forest ecosystems and species, in particular primary [Ancient] forests."(1)

Some countries such as France, Germany and Russia supported action to stop the ongoing destruction. However, Brazil, Canada and Malaysia spent two weeks watering down the action program and blocking progress and failing to reverse forest loss and tackle illegal logging. The work program delivered failed to match the scale and urgency of the forest crisis.

"Environment Ministers came to The Hague to decide the fate of the world's last ancient forests and could have made history," said Brenda Ramsey from Greenpeace. "Greenpeace, as well as some governments, came here with high hopes to reverse the trend of ancient forest destruction. We are left only with minor steps that fail to match the scale of the crisis. Governments will not be able to justify this to future generations who will inherit the results of their failure."

Joss Garman (16) from Wales, one of a thousand young people representing 19 countries, who came to The Hague to express their concerns and hopes said: "I do not understand what games are played here. All they care about is money and their own interests. Our forests are our future if they are not preserved we could see the gorilla and other animal and plant species disappear."

"The last ancient forests are now in the hands of Heads of Government who will meet at the Earth Summit in Johannesburg in August this year," said Ramsey. "Greenpeace will continue to do what's right for the forests and the people who live in and depend on them for their livelihood and culture. We will continue to expose all those who threaten their survival."

The ministers also discussed proposals to stop and prevent biopiracy, the theft of genetic resources from developing countries by US pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. This is reflected in the declaration. Greenpeace believes that any agreement to stop biopiracy will be insufficient if the resources to be shared are disappearing. Most of the biodiversity on the planet is found in the last ancient forests, which are still not protected.

Ancient forests house up to 80 percent of the world's terrestrial biodiversity. During the 12 days that delegates met to discuss the fate of the ancient forests, another 360,000 hectares of ancient forests were lost—that 's an area the size of over half a million football fields.

Further information:
Contact:
Greenpeace press office on 020 7865 8255

 

The save or delete campaign launches outside DEFRA

Greenpeace today delivered a MORI poll to Environment Minister Michael Meacher showing that 87% of the British public want the government to ban illegal imports of wood from the world's ancient forests. Furthermore 80% want the British Government to pledge funding to a proposed international fund to protect the world's remaining ancient forests.

The UK is currently the top importer within the EU of illegal wood from tropical forests (1). We import plywood from Indonesian and Amazon rainforests, some of which is used as hoardings around building sites then trashed. Many doors and window frames come from the destruction of the forest home of Africa's great apes in the Congo Basin.

The poll is being released as Greenpeace launch Save or Delete - a new campaign to protect the world's remaining ancient forests. To kick off the campaign gorillas and other 'Ancient Forest Messengers' will be roaming London - delivering the results of the poll to politicians, the timber trade and Harrods, who sell furniture made from illegally logged mahogany.

The messengers will also be unveiling billboard posters around London based on a powerful illustration of Jungle Book characters in a devastated jungle. The poster image has been produced for Greenpeace by maverick street artist Banksy - popular in the hip-hop scene for his stencils and graffiti images that portray striking political messages. The posters promote the campaign website saveordelete.com - where the public can take part in an online referendum and download DIY campaign kits.

Ancient forests are home to two-thirds of all species of land-dwelling plants and animals including the great apes. 80% of the world's original ancient forests have already disappeared forever and today we are still losing an area of ancient forest the size of a football pitch every two seconds. If this destruction continues scientists predict that tropical rainforests in Indonesia and West Africa could be wiped out within decades - leading to the extinction of the great apes in our lifetime.

Ten years ago at the Rio Earth Summit the world's governments signed a pledge to protect the world's remaining ancient forests. Yet, since the Summit, an area of ancient forest bigger than France and Spain has disappeared.

This year world governments have the chance to take real action to save the remaining ancient forests. In April they will meet in The Hague for an Ancient Forests Summit (the Convention on Biological Diversity).

Greenpeace is calling on governments to:

• Clean up the international timber trade by stopping the import of illegal and destructively logged timber.
• Create a global ancient forest fund to pay for forest protection.

 

Further information:
Contact:
Greenpeace UK press office on 0207 865 8255

Notes for editors:
(1) The MORI poll was commissioned by Greenpeace. MORI interviewed a representative quota sample of 1,001 adults aged 16+ across Britain. Interviews were conducted by telephone between 15 - 17 February, 2002.

Summary of results:

Question one - How strongly do you agree or disagree with the following statement:
the Government should ban the import of illegally logged wood from the world's ancient forests
87% strongly agreed or tended to agree
3% neither agreed nor disagreed
8% tended to disagree or strongly disagreed
2% didn't know

Question two - There have been calls for governments to set up an international fund to the tune of $15 billion each year to protect the world's ancient forests. How strongly do you agree or disagree that the British Government should pledge funding to the proposed international fund to protect the world's ancient forests
80% strongly agreed or tended to agree
3% neither agreed nor disagreed
16% tended to disagree or strongly disagreed
1% didn't know

Organic and agroecological farming in the South
(1.3mb file size)

Publication date: February 2002

Summary
The crisis in Argentina in late 2001 illustrated again a frustrating and unjust reality: there is no direct relationship between the amount of food a country produces and the number of hungry people who live there. In 2001, Argentina harvested enough wheat to meet the needs of both China and India. Yet Argentina's people were hungry. Argentina's status as the world's second largest producer of GM crops - largely for export - could do nothing to solve its very real hunger problems at home. For fifty years conventional agriculture has been getting less and less sustainable. Chemical pesticides, fertilizers and hybrid seeds have destroyed wildlife and crop diversity, poisoned people and ruined the soil. Now that the organic movement is taking off in the industrialised world , governments, international agencies and global agribusiness corporations must stop promoting this destructive system in the South. Instead, there must be coherent and long-term support - in practice as well as in principle - to enable the nascent ecological farming movement in poorer countries to continue to grow into the future.