WWF
has applauded the International Whaling
Commission’s willingness to re-examine its
role in whale conservation, but is concerned
the process might take too long for some
threatened whale and dolphin species.
“We applaud moves to
take the IWC towards a future much more
constructive than a continuing deadlock
on commercial whaling”, said Dr. Susan Lieberman,
WWF International Species Programme said
as the IWC’s 60th meeting drew to a close
in Santiago, Chile. “We regret that no resolution
has yet been found on any issues of substance,
while so-called ‘scientific’ whaling continues
unabated.”
A major success at the
meeting was the prioritisation of climate
change as a significant threat to whales.
A well-received WWF report at the meeting
revealed the dangerous extent of the climate
warming threat to whales – a point made
strongly by many governments during the
meeting. The IWC will now be holding a special
workshop on climate change next year, and
several governments have made financial
contributions to ensure this initiative
is a success.
On other fronts, a series
of new scientific studies have conclusively
found whales ‘innocent’ of declines in global
fisheries, a charge placed on them by Japan,
Norway and other nations in order to justify
their whaling programmes. Over-fishing and
excess fishing capacity were found to be
the real culprits. Blaming whales serves
to harm developing nations by distracting
any debate on the real causes of the declines
of their fisheries.
“We call upon whaling
countries to show flexibility, and on all
governments to agree to move the IWC into
a meaningful future for whale conservation,”
Dr Lieberman said. “We also call upon governments
to fully engage non-governmental organizations
in all their deliberations in the coming
year.
“The IWC is at a crossroads—the
world is watching, and both the future of
the IWC and the world’s whales are in the
balance.”
Dr Lieberman also applauded
the achievement of a unilateral consensus
position by the Latin American bloc at the
meeting – a timely and significant move
which coincided with the first IWC meeting
to be held in South America for almost a
quarter of a century.
“All 12 Latin American
member governments of the IWC are now strongly
in support of whale conservation,” she said.
About WWF
WWF, the global conservation organization,
is one of the world's largest and most respected
independent conservation organizations.
WWF has a global network active in over
100 countries with almost 5 million supporters.
WWF's mission is to
stop the degradation of the earth's natural
environment and to build a future in which
humans live in harmony with nature, by conserving
the world's biological diversity, ensuring
that the use of renewable natural resources
is sustainable, and promoting the reduction
of pollution and wasteful consumption.
