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Whales Still being Slaughtered     Delegates Fail to Ban Terminator

Violent Attack on U'wa     Greenland Ice Sheet Melting Away     The North Pole is Melting

Global Extinction Crisis     April 11 [Stop Citi] Corporate Takeover Picture

 from International Fund for Animal Welfare Spring, 2000

http://www.ifaw.org/

  Commercial Exploitation and Trade in Wild Animals
Campaign Update: A global effort to protect whales

The issue
Despite a worldwide moratorium on commercial whaling, more and more whales are being killed. During the past two years, Japan has killed 200 minke whales in the North Pacific and almost 400 in the Southern Ocean Sanctuary under the pretense of conducting scientific research, even though most scientists now say you don't need to kill whales to study them. During Norway's last whaling season, which continues in outright defiance of the ban, whalers slaughtered nearly 600 minke whales.

IFAW is opposed to commercial whaling because it is inherently cruel and because the history of the whaling industry has taught us that commercial whaling has always led to over-exploitation and endangerment of whale stocks.

• Nearly 13,000 whales have been killed since a global moratorium on whaling came into effect.
  
  
• As the large whale populations have been depleted, whaling nations now target the smallest whales.
  
  
• Any commercial whaling puts endangered whales at risk because there are no international regulations in place to monitor which whales are being killed.
  
  
• Whales are also threatened by pollution, entanglement in fishing nets, collisions with ships, and habitat loss due to industrial development.
  
  
  

  ---

from Rural Advancement Foundation International June 16, 2000

http://www.rafi.org/

6/16/2000 News Releases COP 5 COPS OUT Despite Mounting Opposition from Southern nations, delegates at the Biodiversity Convention fail to ban Terminator In the face of mounting evidence of its commercialization, the Fifth Conference of the Parties (COP 5) to the Biodiversity Convention (CBD) failed to heed the warnings of most of the world's nations to ban the Terminator technology. 'By not responding to the calls made by many of the nations of the world, a minority of COP delegates from the North ultimately abdicated their responsibility to international food security and biodiversty,' said Julie Delahanty of RAFI. Despite information about new patents and field trials, and the strong opposition to Terminator and genetic use restriction technologies (GURTs)* expressed clearly by most of the world's nations, the CBD approved a proposal coming from its Scientific Advisory Body (called SBSTTA). That proposal recommends that GURTs not be approved for field-testing or be commercialized until more scientific data can be gathered on its potential impacts. The text also states that Parties may choose to establish a complete moratorium on these technologies at the national level. 'The COP 5 recommendation is significant because it highlight the possible negative consequences of the technology,' noted Silvia Ribeiro of RAFI. 'But from the discussion in Nairobi, it was clear to almost everyone that the wording should have been stronger.' Southern Governments Call for Stronger Action: During the Working Group on Agricultural Biodiversity, much of the discussion centered on the issue of GURTs. A number of countries, including Kenya, the Philippines, India, Tanzania, and Malawi, as well as a large group of civil society organizations (CSOs) called for a complete ban on Terminator. 'Terminator technology has no agronomic benefit and it imposes a biological patent with no expiration date to the crops when it is applied,' noted the statement by CSOs. Further, the group called for a complete ban on Terminator and a moratorium on GURTs 'until in-depth, independent environmental, socio-economic, and potential military impact assessments have been carried out.' Joining the countries which had earlier called for a ban on Terminator, a Declaration by the entire African Group to the 5th Conference of the Parties to the CBD called upon all Parties, Governments and international organisations to: '...immediately ban the Terminator Technology from respective national territories and thus, from the whole of Africa, as intolerable politically, economically and ethically and in terms of safety of plant life, and in the future, be constantly on the look out for unacceptable products of biotechnology.' Many countries, including the African nations, most of the G77 (with the exception of Argentina), and China also delivered a strong statement outlining their position on the use of GURTs. In particular, they noted that Africa, G77, and China rely heavily on agriculture as one of the mainstays of their livelihood and economy. Therefore, they argued 'we feel very strongly on the GURTs issue, as they may impact negatively on our agricultural biodiversity.' 'Southern nations clearly believe they have nothing to gain from Terminator and GURT technologies. Sadly, COP failed to provide strong international recognition that Terminator is a direct threat to biodiversity or national sovereignty over genetic resources,' pointed out Julie Delahanty of RAFI. 'Globally, support is mounting for a total ban on Terminator and the final text endorses a moratorium on field testing and commercialization of GURTs,' noted Silvia Ribeiro of RAFI. 'But the real test will be at the next SBSTTA meeting where we will again be pressing for this immoral technology to be banned.' The 'Green Gene' Defense Crops Up in Nairobi: Those who did formally and informally voice their support for the Terminator technology focused in particular on its potential benefits for containing biotechnology. Proponents of this 'green gene' defense claim that engineered seed sterility offers a built-in safety feature. If GM crops, which also bear the Terminator gene, escape into the wild, the seed produced from unwanted pollination will not germinate, proponents argue. Silvia Ribeiro notes that 'while the Terminator gene may curtail some gene transfer, it will certainly not prevent it. Gene flow is still possible from Terminator crops because the crops will still produce pollen and because the Terminator gene might not work every time.' In fact, while there is still no consensus on the point, some authors claim that pollen is more important in gene flow than is seed dispersal. Most importantly, as CSOs in Nairobi pointed out: 'Beyond being an admission that genetically engineered crops are not safe, biosafety at the expense of food security is not an acceptable trade-off.' SBSTTA Out of Step: RAFI clearly demonstrated that the SBSTTA decision being considered at COP 5 was based on misleading and outdated assumptions about the technology. For example, the text of the SBSTTA recommendation on GURTs begins by noting that GURTs are 'not likely to be commercialized in the near future and that at this time no example of the technology has been released in either research or investigative field trial ' Both of these assumptions are woefully inaccurate. In 1999 alone, 7 new Terminator patents were issued to industry and public sector researchers, and at least one company, AstraZeneca, conducted field trials on genetic trait control technology (GURTs) in the UK. Beyond these seven, at least 43 patents have been issued for genetic trait control technology, and patent owners include virtually all the Gene Giants and their subsidiaries. (For more detail and a technical description and summary of each patent, see RAFI web site: http//www.rafi.org, 'Terminator on Trial'). 'The final decision, based on SBSTTA recommendations, calls for further studies to be made of the Terminator technology, but there is no rationale for this recommendation since no 'further studies' will make the suicide seeds less suicidal,' noted Silvia Ribeiro of RAFI. Despite a growing list of national governments that are demanding a ban on Terminator, COP 5 recommends yet another study on Terminator for the next Conference of Parties. 'The real danger,' warns Ribeiro, 'is that Terminator seeds will become a commercial reality before then. Without government action to ban terminator and strong condemnation from intergovernmental bodies, the Gene Giants will never abandon the goal of maximizing profits via genetic seed sterilization,' concludes Ribeiro. The final text on GURTs at the COP 5 recommends: '...that, in the current absence of reliable data on genetic use restriction technologies without which there is an inadequate basis on which to assess their potential risks, and in accordance with the precautionary approach, products incorporating such technologies should not be approved by Parties for field testing until appropriate scientific data can justify such testing, and for commercial use until appropriate, authorized and strictly controlled scientific assessments with regard to, inter alia, their ecological and socio-economic impacts and any adverse effects for biological diversity, food security and human health have been carried out in a transparent manner and the conditions for their safe and beneficial use validated. In order to enhance the capacity of all countries to address these issues, Parties should widely disseminate information on scientific assessments, including through the clearing-house mechanism, and share their expertise in this regard.' *GURTs (genetic use restriction technologies) make it possible to 'switch' on or off different traits in a crop with the application of specific chemicals. Terminator is a specific GURT which renders seeds sterile in the second generation. RAFI (The Rural Advancement Foundation International) is an international civil society organization based in Canada. RAFI is dedicated to the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity, and to the socially responsible development of technologies useful to rural societies. RAFI is concerned about the loss of agricultural biodiversity, and the impact of intellectual property on farmers and food security. For more information, contact: Julie Delahanty, RAFI julie@rai.org Silvia Ribeiro, RAFI silvia@rafi.org Hope Shand, RAFI hope@rafi.org

from the Plebius Press June 26, 2000

   http://www.plebius.org/

Army and Riot Police violently evict U' was
26 June, 2000

In the early morning of June 24, a Colombian military convoy transiting through the municipality of Cubara - a traditional territory of the U. was, asked the indigenous if they could cross it to get to the municipality of Saravena. The indigenous accepted the demand without thinking that the intention of the military was to enter the peaceful ocupation of the U. was and to evict them.

from Environment News Service July 21, 2000

Greenland Ice Sheet Melting Away By Cat Lazaroff WASHINGTON, DC, July 21, 2000 (ENS) - Greenland. s ice sheet, which holds almost 10 percent of the world. s frozen water, is melting at a rate of more than three feet a year in places, a new survey reveals. The study by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) provides the first evidence that melting in the massive ice sheet is contributing to a rise in sea level.   In this computer generated image of Greenland, blues indicate areas where the loss of ice is greatest, and yellows indicate regions that are apparently thickening. Gray areas indicate no significant change in ice thickness (All photos courtesy NASA, Goddard Space Flight Center, Scientific Visualization Studio) Greenland, the world's largest island, spans over two million square kilometers, 85 percent of which is covered by ice. A new aerial survey shows that more than 11 cubic miles (51 cubic kilometers) of ice is vanishing from the Greenland ice sheet each year. Melted, that ice amounts to about 1.25 trillion gallons of water. "A conservative estimate, based on our data, indicates a net loss of approximately 51 cubic kilometers of ice per year from the entire ice sheet, sufficient to raise global sea level by 0.005 inches per year, or approximately seven percent of the observed rise," said Bill Krabill, project scientist at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center's Wallops Flight Facility. "This amount of sea level rise does not threaten coastal regions, but these results provide evidence that the margins of the ice sheet are in a process of change," Krabill said. "The thinning cannot be accounted for by increased melting alone. It appears that ice must be flowing more quickly into the sea through glaciers." Krabill said the changes in the ice sheet could be caused by a warming climate as well as glacial movement. The southern tip of Greenland protrudes into temperate latitudes, and scientists say monitoring this portion of the ice sheet may be one of the best ways to measure changes in our climate, at least in the Northern Hemisphere.  As the ice sheet melts, the open water absorbs more heat, raising temperatures and melting more ice The ice mapping was completed by NASA, which has been surveying the Greenland ice sheet for almost seven years. In 1993 and 1994, NASA researchers surveyed the ice sheet using an airborne laser altimeter and precision global positioning satellite receivers. Those same areas were surveyed again in 1998 and 1999. Now, for the first time, portions of the entire ice sheet covering Greenland have been mapped with sufficient accuracy to detect significant changes in elevation. The center of the island is "amazingly stable," said Krabill. At its highest elevations, the Greenland ice sheet has kept its mass or even gained a small amount of ice. But Krabill noted that while some internal areas of Greenland show slight ice thickening, most areas along the coast show significant thinning. "Why the ice margins are thinning so rapidly warrants additional study," Krabill said. "It may indicate that the coastal margins of ice sheets are capable of responding more rapidly than we thought to external changes, such as a warming climate."   In some areas, like this region of the east coast, Greenland's ice sheet has thinned by more than three feet a year Krabill and his team warned that the measurements can not yet be used to make long term projections; more information must be gathered before the team can make accurate predictions of future trends. In fact, some of the team. s observations raise more questions than answers. Although the North Atlantic region is currently in a cold phase, temperatures on the coast of Greenland have risen over the past decade. The team also cannot explain the thickening of ice at high altitudes, where "both ice cores and model predictions show reduced snowfall during the 1990s," the team reports in an article in today. s issue of the journal "Science." The team is sure that continued melting will lead to higher sea levels in the future. A rise of even a few inches could inundate low lying coastal areas.   The NASA scientists measured the height of the ice sheet using a airplane mounted laser that fires 5,000 bursts of light per second "For the first time, we are seeing evidence that one of the two great ice bodies on the Earth [the other is the Antarctic ice sheet] is contributing, in a modest fashion, to observed sea level rise," said Dr. Ghassem Asrar, associate administrator for NASA's Office of Earth Science. "NASA's ICESat spacecraft, which is scheduled for launch in 2001, will allow us to make similar measurements routinely and keep an eye on both Antarctica and Greenland." The Office of Earth Science, NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC sponsors the Greenland ice mapping project. NASA's Office of Earth Sciences studies long term climate trends to learn how human induced and natural changes affect our global environment.

from the New York Times August 19, 2000

Ages-Old Polar Icecap Is Melting, Scientists Find

By JOHN NOBLE WILFORD

The North Pole is melting.

The thick ice that has for ages covered the Arctic Ocean at the pole has turned to water, recent visitors there reported yesterday. At least for the time being, an ice-free patch of ocean about a mile wide has opened at the very top of the world, something that has presumably never before been seen by humans and is more evidence that global warming may be real and already affecting climate.

The last time scientists can be certain the pole was awash in water was more than 50 million years ago.

"It was totally unexpected," said Dr. James J. McCarthy, an oceanographer, director of the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard University and the co-leader of a group working for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which is sponsored by the United Nations. The panel is studying the potential environmental and economic consequences of marked climate change.

Dr. McCarthy was a lecturer on a tourist cruise in the Arctic aboard a Russian icebreaker earlier this month. On a similar cruise six years ago, he recalled, the icebreaker plowed through an icecap six to nine feet thick at the North Pole.

This time, ice was generally so thin that sunlight could penetrate and support concentrations of plankton growing under the ice. Dr. McCarthy said the icebreaker's Russian captain, who has made the voyage 10 times in recent years, said he had never before encountered open water at the pole.

Another lecturer, Dr. Malcolm C. McKenna, a paleontologist at the American Museum of Natural History, said the ship, the Yamal, crunched through miles of unusually thin ice and intermittent open water on the approach from Spitsbergen, Norway, to the pole. When the ship reached the pole -- which Dr. McKenna and his wife, Priscilla, confirmed with a hand-held Global Positioning System Priscilla, confirmed with a hand-held Global Positioning System navigation device -- water lapped its bow.

"I don't know if anybody in history ever got to 90 degrees north to be greeted by water, not ice," Dr. McKenna said in an interview. He instantly snapped pictures to document the phenomenon in photographs.

The Yamal eventually had to steam six miles away to find ice thick enough for the 100 passengers to get out and be able to say they had stood on the North Pole, or close to it. They saw ivory gulls flying overhead, the first time ornithologists said they had ever been sighted at the pole.

Over the last century, the average surface temperature of the globe has risen by about 1 degree Fahrenheit, and the rate of warming has accelerated in the last quarter century. (That's a significant amount, considering that the world is only 5 to 9 degrees warmer now than it was in the last ice age, 18,000 to 20,000 years ago.) Scientists and policy makers are still arguing about whether this is a natural fluctuation or an effect of industrial society's releasing heat-trapping gasses into the atmosphere.

"Some folks who pooh-pooh global warming might wake up if shown that even the pole is beginning to melt at least sometimes, as in the Eocene," Dr. McKenna added.

The Eocene was the geological period when the world's climate grew significantly warmer. Around 55 million years ago, according to sedimentary and fossil evidence, tropical vegetation spread inside the Arctic and Antarctic circles. Water and jungles dominated the polar environments, and in the generally warm world, mammals for the first time grew in number, size and diversity.

Previous studies of satellite and submarine observations have seemed to establish a warming trend in the northern polar region and raise the possibility of a melting icecap.

Scientists at the Goddard Space Science Institute, a NASA research center in Manhattan, compared data from submarines in the 1950's and 60's with 90's observations, demonstrating that the ice cover over the entire Arctic basin has thinned by 45 percent. Satellite images have revealed that the extent of ice coverage has significantly shrunk in recent years.

Dr. McCarthy said he would report the encounter with open polar water to environmental scientists and consult other scientists to see if new satellite remote-sensing data have detected the extent of the melting.

Recalling the reaction of passengers when they saw an iceless North Pole, he said: "There was a sense of alarm. Global warming was real, and we were seeing its effects for the first time that far north."

In their models of climate patterns, scientists have long suggested that the northern polar region would be affected earlier and more seriously than the southern region.

They said the greater expanse of land in the northern hemisphere should respond more rapidly to temperature change, presumably leading to marked climate change.

from Environment News Service September 28, 2000

http://ens-news.com

 from Rainforest Action Network April 5, 2001       

www.ran.org