24 Feb 2009 - Manila,
Philippines – After 40 years of unregulated
cyanide and dynamite fishing thousands of
people in the western Philippines are in
danger of losing their livelihoods.
The trade in live reef
fish bound for expensive seafood restaurants
in China is facing imminent collapse. Sixty
per cent of all fish taken from the reefs
around Palawan province, 600 kilometres
south-west of Manila, are now juveniles,
a good indication that it has been highly
overfished.
"The trade in live
reef fish in Palawan supports more than
100,000 people, many of whom have few alternatives
for livelihoods, yet the fishery is highly
unregulated and is in a serious state of
decline," said Geoffrey Muldoon, live
reef fish strategy leader for WWF.
"Under the business-as-usual
scenario, Palawan's live reef fish trade
will become economically unviable within
the next decade," he added.
In a bid to help save
the more than 100-million-dollar-a-year
trade, WWF convened a meeting with the Palawan
Council for Sustainable Development, fish
traders and fishermen to discuss the sustainable
management of the fishery.
Among the measures to
be discussed to regulate the industry are
the introduction of accreditation processes,
quotas, levies, and surveillance and monitoring
systems.
Muldoon said the meeting
was also part of efforts to establish a
regional alliance with traders from other
live fish trade hubs, such as those in Indonesia
and Malaysia.
"This alliance
will provide a unified voice for fishers
and traders to express their social and
economic concerns as well as provide the
regional network needed to pursue a more
sustainable trade," he said.
The Philippines is the
biggest supplier of most high-value live
reef fish, such as coral trout, which are
caught often with the use of cyanide or
explosives.
The live reef fish trade
from Palawan has serviced the appetite for
fresh tropical fish at expensive lunches
and expensive banquets in seafood restaurants
in Hong Kong and China since the 1980s.
+ More
Antarctica found to
be a cradle for life
16 Feb 2009 - Sydney,
Australia - The first extensive study of
underwater marine life in Antarctica has
revealed it is home to 7,500 animals, prompting
WWF-Australia to call for an urgent expansion
of marine protected areas in the region.
The study – 2009 Census
of Marine Life – revealed that 235 of the
animals were also found in oceans around
the Arctic, indicating that while Antarctica’s
circumpolar current creates a protective
barrier for the vast majority of species,
some chance events have connected the polar
oceans in the past.
The Antarctic current
isolates species from warmer oceans, and
also creates frigid temperatures that cause
natural selection to come up with novel
survival mechanisms like the antifreeze
blood of several deep sea fishes.
“Antarctica is a cradle
of life for polar species,” said Rob Nicoll,
WWF-Australia, Antarctica and Southern Ocean
Initiative Manager. “In particular, the
research shows it is an evolutionary garden
for octopus, sea spiders and other bizarre
deep sea creatures.
“The fact that scientists
found a number of species common to both
Antarctica and the Arctic indicates that
the polar oceans are effective safe havens
for species that arrive by chance.”
The study also found
that the warming of the oceans due to climate
change was forcing cold-ocean species to
move towards the poles.
The remarkable range
of species has remained hidden for so long
because many assumed the polar seas were
like marine deserts. However it now appears
that the harsh environment of the polar
sea has been an engine of evolution offering
the right ingredients of isolation and a
wide range of habitats.
WWF believes these isolated
habitats are threatened by climate change,
which is driving ocean acidification and
increasing temperatures around the poles.
“It’s yet another reason
why the world's governments need to commit
to deep emissions cuts at the United Nations
Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen
this December,” said Nicoll, “otherwise,
scientific expeditions like this will simply
create a list of species in our oceans that
will perish due to climate change.”
The threat of climate
change comes on top of other threats to
the Antarctic’s marine biodiversity from
invasive species, oil spills and pollution
through shipping activities and the actions
of illegal, unregulated and unreported fishing
vessels that flaunt international rules.
“Networks of marine
protected areas are urgently needed as the
backbone of a conservation strategy for
the Polar Oceans,” Nicoll said.
“At the last meeting
of the Commission for the Conservation of
Antarctica Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR)
governments again dragged their heels over
designating meaningful large areas for protection
in the Southern Ocean. With International
Polar Year drawing to a close we need real
action and not more rhetoric.”
+ More
WWF Statement - WWF’s
Involvement in the RTRS due to its Connection
to the GM Soy Industry
17 Feb 2009 - Established
in 2005, the RTRS is a multi-stakeholder
initiative which aims to, among other objectives,
facilitate a global dialogue on soy production
that is economically viable, socially equitable
and environmentally sound.
The RTRS provides stakeholders
and interested parties - social organizations
and business and industry - with the opportunity
to jointly develop global solutions leading
to responsible soy production.
These include development
of criteria for the responsible production
and sourcing of soy.
The RTRS is currently
developing a set of principles and criteria
(P&Cs) for responsible soy production
that include requirements to halt conversion
of areas with high conservation value, to
promote best management practices, to ensure
fair working conditions, and to respect
land tenure claims. Likely to be ratified
by the RTRS General Assembly in May 2009,
the RTRS does not yet have a certification
system in place to verify compliance with
the P&Cs.
WWF is a founding member
of the RTRS, and a representative from WWF
Brazil currently sits on the RTRS Executive
Board.
WWF offices in key soy
producing and buying countries across the
globe are actively working to ensure that
the certification systems being developed
by the RTRS will encompass strong environmental
safeguards.
WWF is currently the
target of a letter writing campaign led
by GM Watch for its participation in the
RTRS.
This campaign was precipitated
by the RTRS Executive Board’s decision to
accept two global companies that promote
GM technology, Monsanto and Syngenta, as
full members of the RTRS.
The campaign’s letters
accuse WWF of greenwashing the GMO soy industry
and ask WWF to end its involvement with
the RTRS.
WWF’s position on GM
organisms includes:
A moratorium on use
or release of GMOs into the general environment
until ecological interactions are fully
researched and safeguards put in place
Regulatory frameworks for environmental
use and release of GMOs should support the
Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety
Transparent, comprehensive environmental
impact assessment of planned releases into
the environment
Avoidance of additional impacts through
genetic modifications
The control of gene technology
WWF Policy on GM (PDF)
WWF believes that the
RTRS cannot be effective in helping to prevent
the environmental impacts of soy production,
such as forest conversion, habitat loss,
soil degradation, water use and pesticide
use, unless it applies both to GM soy and
GM-free soy.
As stated clearly on
its website, the RTRS process is inclusive
of all soy production methods, including
conventional, GMO, organic, etc.
One recent study estimates
that GMO soy represents 70% of the world’s
soy production. This includes:
95% of the Argentina
production,
92% of the US and
62% of Brazil.
These are the world’s
leading soy producer countries and together
they represent 81% of global production.*
Eliminating GMO soy
producers from the RTRS would greatly limit
its potential to mitigate environmental
impacts.
The Roundtable format
enables stakeholders to have an open dialogue
on how best to mitigate these environmental
impacts and improve production practices.
WWF does not agree with
all the viewpoints presented, nor do we
endorse the positions of all the stakeholders.
However, WWF believes
that by developing standards with other
stakeholders, we can have a far greater
impact than by refusing to participate.
WWF participation in
the RTRS does not negate WWF’s policy on
GM organisms, nor should our participation
in Roundtable discussions be construed as
WWF endorsing GM production because other
members of the multi-stakeholder body happen
to be active in this field.
WWF has a history of
promoting GMO-free soy, as evidenced by
its development and promotion of the Basel
Criteria for Responsible Soy...
http://www.panda.org/what_we_do/knowledge_centres/forests/publications/?16872
...(a scheme that preceded
RTRS), and it will continue to do so within
and outside the RTRS.
WWF will:
Work with the RTRS to explore and promote
options for identifying and labeling RTRS
soy that is GM-free. The preferred approach
is to include an optional protocol within
RTRS for those who want to verify that soy
is GM free. If this fails, other options
include use of the Basel criteria or systems
already operating in national markets to
identify GM-free products should be pursued.
Encourage companies to pursue GMO-free production
and commit to GMO-free soy in their procurement
policies
