14 April 2010 - International
— The UK has created the world’s largest
marine reserve, covering some quarter of
a million square miles of ocean around the
Chagos Archipelago -- one of the most pristine
and biologically diverse coral ecosystems
on the planet. But as much
as we'd like to break open the champagne
and tell our oceans campaigners to go home
- we're a long way off reaching our goal
for defending our oceans.
This is a huge step
forward for marine conservation given that
the protected area is bigger than the whole
of France. And it nearly doubles the total
amount of ocean that is now off limits to
commerical fishing. The Chagos Islands Reserve
will make up 40 percent of the world's marine
reserves and is even larger than the 140,000
square miles of the US Papahânaumokuâkea
Marine National Monument that surrounds
the northwestern Hawaiian islands.
Our UK campaigners blogged
about this before, and many of our supporters
in the UK called for the creation of this
Marine Reserve through the government’s
consultation. The "Consultation Report"
from the foreign office noted over a quarter
of a million people registered a view on
the decision, with about 90 percent in favour
of a marine reserve.
A rich diversity of
marine life
The Chagos’ seas are
worth protecting. They hold over 200 species
of coral, the world’s largest coral atoll,
and a stunning array of biodiversity ranging
from clownfish to whale sharks, and coconut
crabs to sea turtles. It ranks up there
with the Great Barrier Reef, the Galapagos
Islands and the Coral Triangle as a globally-important
biodiversity-blessed patch of sea.
As well as endemic species,
found nowhere else, the area is vital for
wide-ranging endangered species like bigeye
tuna, turtles, hammerheads and whitetip
sharks. Creating a marine reserve gives
these species a vital refuge, especially
in the face of the abject failure of international
agreements like CITES to give these species
the protection they need.
One small step for fish
At the moment, a few vested interests make
a large amount of money from plundering
these seas. But this fully protected area
will stop that. And that can only be good
news for the fish, the sharks and turtles,
and the Chagossians.
There are many things
of course that the marine reserve cannot
solve, and a peaceful and sustainable future
for the Chagos Islands must include justice
for the Chagossian people, and the closure
and removal of the US military base on Diego
Garcia.
In the bigger picture
on marine protection, this is a huge step
in the right direction, but there is much,
much more to do. We need more large marine
reserves created, in all parts of our seas
-- protecting all sorts of marine life.
Only fully-protected areas give the chance
for our oceans to recover and thrive, yet
politicians and fisheries managers are reluctant
to create them.
Size does matter
Despite this great news - the total percentage
of our oceans that are now fully protected
still falls far short of 1 percent! Scientists
and the world's governments have agreed
that much more needs to be protected but
with the current rate of progress we wont
be able to protect enough before it's too
late.
Marine reserves not
only help to the buffer the effects of fishing
outside their boundaries but they also serve
to give ocean life a better chance of adapting
and recovering from the effects of climate
change. A recent study shows that corals
in marine reserves can recover from the
impacts of climate change.
We know they are needed.
We know they work. We need to make sure
our politicians and retailers know we expect
them to happen.
For now, we're happy
that there is at least a little more protection
for a globally-significant chunk of the
ocean. For the future - we're calling on
the UN for a global network of marine reserves
that covers 40 percent of the world's oceans.
+ More
Activists 'drop' in
to Nestlé shareholder meeting
15 April 2010 - Lausanne,
Switzerland — Thirty activist 'orang-utans'
greeted shareholders as they arrived for
Nestle's Annual General Meeting today asking
them to give Indonesia's rainforests a break
and stop profiting from destroying rainforest,
threatening biodiversity and accelerating
climate change.
Inside the meeting itself
Greenpeace activists dropped from the ceiling
and unfurled two large banners directly
over the heads of shareholders. We want
shareholders to use their influence to change
Nestle's policies and stop using palm oil
and pulp and paper products from destroyed
rainforests and carbon-rich peatlands.
Since the launch of
our Kit Kat campaign (March 17th), 200,000
people have sent e-mails to Nestlé
and hundreds have called them. Today hundreds
more are addressing them and their shareholders
online - we invited Nestle shareholders
to receive messages during the AGM directly
from online supporters of our campaign by
visiting http://www.greenpeace.org/kitkat
- where they will also be able to watch
the Kit Kat video that launched the campaign
and has now been viewed over 1.3 million
times.
Our International Head
of Forests Campaigns, Pat Vendetti, made
a short address directly to shareholders.
He urged them to ensure that Nestle stop
purchasing products from rainforest destruction.
The company is not only driving climate
change and biodiversity loss if it continues,
but it is also damaging its corporate reputation.
Earlier in the day German
activists gathered at Nestle's headquarters
in Frankfurt where they erected a 'Twitter
wall' displaying tweets from online supporters
at Nestle employees as they arrived for
work.
Following the launch
of the Kit Kat campaign, Nestle publicly
announced that it would cancel its direct
contracts with Indonesia's biggest palm
oil supplier, Sinar Mas, because it has
a long history of environmental abuse. These
cancellations did not really give the rainforests
a break, because Nestle continues to use
Sinar Mas palm oil, as well as Sinar Mas
pulp and paper products, via other suppliers
like Cargill and Asia Pulp and Paper (APP),
a subsidiary of Sinar Mas.
Each day that Nestle
allows Sinar Mas products in it's supply
chain, it links itself to the rampant destruction
of Indonesia's rainforests and peatlands.
Today we have published new satellite and
photographic evidence showing that Sinar
Mas continued to destroy peatlands and other
conserved areas in Indonesia despite making
a commitment in February to stop. Nestle
is condoning this destruction by not acting
immediately to remove all Sinar Mas products
from its supply chains.
Deforestation is a major
cause of climate change. It is so rampant
in Indonesia that the country is the world's
third largest greenhouse gas emitter. To
avert catastrophic climate change we must
end deforestation - to begin with we need
an immediate moratorium on destroying Indonesia's
rainforests and carbon-rich peatlands.
