Fate of the whales remains in question - 01 March 2007- Antarctica — Today the whaling fleet crossed the 60 degree latitude, leaving the whaling grounds behind - at least for this season. Officials in Tokyo have finally acknowledged publicly that the deadly fire crippling the fleet's factory ship means an early end to their hunt.

Melanie and Sakyo, on board the nearby Esperanza, radioed the whaling ships as they crossed the line, saying:

"We acknowledge your grief at the loss of your crewmember, and we also acknowledge the work you have done, day and night to repair your ship, but this must be the last time your government sends you to the Southern Ocean to hunt whales and threaten the Antarctic environment. For the sake of the environment, the whales and your crew - never again!"

The future of whaling?

The reported catch this year was 505 minke whales and three endangered fin whales. Next season, the whalers say they will return to hunt up to 935 minke whales, 50 endangered fin whales and 50 threatened humpback whales.

This year's whaling highlighted the risks the Japanese government's whaling program posses to the Antarctic environment, and their ships' crew. International outrage at Japan's unilateral hunt in an agreed whale sanctuary remains high.

Inside Japan, questions are surfacing about the wisdom of the government's whaling programme. Reports in Japanese media have been unprecedented in their even-handedness, and even positive, portrayals of our campaign to end commercial whaling.

That this hunt damages Japan's credibility, wastes millions in taxpayer's money and puts lives at risk is sinking in. And most importantly, people are realizing it's possible to be against whaling, while still loving Japan.

Next stop: International Whaling Commission

The International Whaling Commission (IWC) is the world's authoritative body on whaling. For years now, the Japanese government has been using diplomatic pressure and a vote buying program to stack the IWC with pro-whaling allies, and threatening to leave the organization if they don't get their way.

Last year the whaling faction showed they could muster a narrow majority at the IWC. This year, at the end of May, the IWC will meet in Anchorage, USA. Everyone who cares about the future of whales in our oceans should help prepare for this meeting.

The website whales.greenpeace.org can help. There, you can find ideas you can make happen, or post an idea of your own - then work with others to make it a reality.

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Illegal Carve-up of Congo Rainforests

01 March 2007 - The second largest rainforest in the world -- after the Amazon -- sits in the Congo basin of Africa. Around 21 million hectares (over 51 million acres) of this pristine forest are being illegally logged. We've released new evidence of the extent of this forest crime.

The Congo Government introduced a moratorium in 2002 forbidding the allocation, extension and renewal of logging titles. But despite the original moratorium being reaffirmed by Presidential decree, it has been widely ignored. We are demanding that the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the World Bank, and other stakeholders take urgent action to stop the expansion of the logging industry in Congo's rainforests, and to fund alternatives to deforestation.

The Congo Rainforest is a critical habitat for the endangered bonobo (a relative of the chimpanzee) and other threatened species such as the forest elephant and the hippopotamus. It is considered to be a priority region for conservation, and is also home to numerous communities of the Twa and Bantu ethnic groups.

Greenpeace is highlighting one company which has breached the 2002 moratorium. ITB (Industrie de Transformation de Bois) is actively logging in the region of Lac Tumba, with two logging permits covering 294,000 hectares (726,489 acres) of forests. Both permits were issued after the moratorium was enacted. ITB logs with no forest management plan as it extracts high value species such as Wenge for export to the European market.

Delegates from the Congolese Government, donor community and civil society will meet next week in Brussels to discuss the sustainable management of the forests of the DRC. Greenpeace is demanding that all forest titles allocated by the government -- in breach of its own moratorium -- are cancelled. This would include ITB's. We want an ongoing legal review of all logging titles and an extension of the moratorium until comprehensive land-use planning and sufficient governance capacity is in place in the DRC forest sector.

"Logging companies promise us wonders: work, schools, hospitals, but actually, they seem to be only interested in their own short term profits. What will happen when our forests have been emptied? They will leave and we'll be the ones left with damaged roads, schools with no roofs and hospitals without medicine," said Pasteur Matthieu Yela Bonketo, coordinator of CEDEN, a Congolese NGO active in Equateur province who will be in Brussels for next week's conference. "Industrial logging doesn't bring benefits. The Twa and Bantu people who totally depend on our forests and the local communities who live in them are suffering because of the presence of the industry," he concluded.