The Brazilian Congress, influenced by the agribusiness sector, seeks to change the Forest Code in Brazil to open more of the Amazon rainforest to be cleared. Not only will this destroy forested areas in the Amazon no longer protected by the Forest Code, but the clearing and burning of these lands will release millions of tons of greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere—making the impacts of climate change much worse.
As the whaling fleet prepares to depart Japan, evidence is mounting of an industry in crisis, as new revelations of financial and image problems add to the woes of the scandal-plagued industry.
Our activists marked the departure of Japan's whaling fleet from the port of Innoshima with banners declaring "Whaling on Trial" and another in Japanese outlining the whaling operation's multi-million dollar drain on Japan's taxpayers. The fleet had attempted to leave for the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary unnoticed, by canceling their traditional high-profile departure ceremony in Shimonoseki. Instead, the factory ship Nisshin Maru left with no fanfare, waved off only by the crew's families and whaling officials.
Good news for the whales comes in threes. And then you get a dollop of extra. Asahi Shimbun, one of Japan's biggest newspapers, reports there will be a 20 percent reduction in the number of whales targeted in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary hunt this year -- the first reduction since 1987.
Police and port authorities in Dumai forced a Greenpeace activist down from the anchor chain of a Rotterdam-bound tanker ship today. The activist was protesting the fact that the ship was laden with crude palm oil produced on a plantation created by destroying the rainforests of Indonesia.
The Greenpeace ship Esperanza arrived in Jakarta on the morning of October 29th to help launch the Forests for Climate initiative, Greenpeace’s pioneering solution to reduce deforestation, tackle climate change, preserve global biodiversity, and protect the livelihoods of millions of forest-dependent people. Forests for Climate (FFC) is Greenpeace’s landmark proposal for an international mechanism to fund sustainable and lasting reductions of emissions from tropical deforestation in participating countries in order to meet commitments for the second phase of the Kyoto Protocol.
Greenpeace USA’s executive director, John Passacantando, has announced that he will step down at the end of 2008, capping an eight-year tenure that saw the organization weather some of its most difficult trials and achieve some of its greatest victories. While he will be sorely missed, Passacantando leaves behind a legacy that will serve Greenpeace USA well as we continue to tackle the most pressing environmental issues facing the planet today.
Greenpeace has published the second edition of the Energy [R]evolution scenario, updated with the latest economic, technical, and population data. The Energy [R]evolution is the only energy scenario that shows how the world can cut emissions, phase out nuclear power, save money, and maintain global economic development without fueling catastrophic climate change. All we need to kick start this plan is bold energy policy from world leaders.
On October 10th Greenpeace and 35 labor and environmental groups called on Congress to pass legislation on chemical plant security before the "interim" law expires on October 4, 2009. When Congress returns in January 2009 they will have only nine months to complete this legislation.
In his first visit to Washington, DC, 20-year-old Jean-Christian Ebanda from Cameroon delivered a forest petition with 42,000 signatures to the President of the World Bank, Robert Zoellick. He is attending a town hall meeting at the International Monetary Fund (IMF), in the presence of Mr. Zoellick and IMF boss Dominique Strauss-Kahn. While everyone is talking about the financial crisis, Christian came to talk about the crisis facing his country—rampant deforestation.
