Tag Archives: IWC

PEW meeting + IWC scandal

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Last Friday I met with Alex Garcia, an associate of the Varda Group that is organizing the PEW meeting in Lisbon, and I’ve passed from an invited observer to a local coordinator. Nice! The PEW meeting comes in a time where much discussion is abide related to the IWC and I belive it will be interesting, they will also try to congregate the Portuguese NGOs in a room and hopefully engage them into the IWC affairs!

Scandal within the IWC in again on top of the table…
“Apparently” (IFAW and I have been saying this since the IWC meeting in Chile on last July) the Bush Administration is trying to reach a deal with the Japanese to solve all the whaling issue. (We also start the meeting saying other things that turned almost everyone against us but in the end of the meeting many press releases came out saying what we badgering all along!)

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Washington Post story about the attempts to craft a deal
IFAW’s press release on the secret Bush’s administration plan to legitimise Japanese whaling

NGOs are now asking President Obama to cancel all negotiations regarding this “coup d’état”.
Read Greenpeace pledge to President Obama to assert authority and replace officials

I keep saying that this year things will get very interesting, the only down side seems to be me stuffed down on a suit and tie … funny!

MMIX

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Entering a new year is always strange, maybe because nothing really weird happens, it is like one minute we are still here and suddenly we are there.
2008 was quite a challenge for me almost from the beginning, at all levels I tend to drive my living: Personal, Professional and Emotional.

Personally: My house was in construction most of the time; some of the plans were from my father some mine, some from my mum. Much work was needed and I was part of every task, which was quite fulfilling. Now the second phase of construction began and I’m quite enthusiastic about it.

Professionally: I had to get back to Sao Tome and Principe (STP) a small island on West Africa and ensure they didn’t join Japan at the International Whaling Commission (IWC), the international body that regulates whaling.  I was one of the lecturers at the Forum Biodiversity and Ecotourism, with the talk; Non-lethal use of Cetaceans a multidisciplinary perspective. I eventually accomplished the mission (with much help from various people) with success since STP didn’t show up at Chile for the 60th meeting of the IWC.

At the Chilean meeting I was representing the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) with whom I hold a contract until the next IWC meeting that will take place in Madeira, Portugal.
I also got into a business I never had the chance to really be, Surf Industry. I started working with Fatum Surfboards and now I’m in charge of their website (www.fatumsurfboards.com)

Emotionally: I got involved with a fine and very special girl but unfortunately before the end of the year we broke up. My wish is that we can still relate from now on a different dimension. Whoever, the task is not easy.

2009 is a very important year because much is expected of me until and during the IWC meeting in Madeira. My only hope is that I can perform at the level I’m expected to, accomplish much and get a place at this field of work. Some other plans are also on the cooking but nothing certain yet.

Song of the Whale docked at the Marina de Oeiras, Portugal

I hope this year may bring you happiness, laughter, health and prosperity!

During 2009 we will have the conjunction of Jupiter and Neptune, Jupiter 24′ south. First of three in a triple conjunction of Jupiter and Neptune (May 25th). . A total solar eclipse (on July 22nd). The longest lasting total solar eclipse of the 21st century; and sometime during November the retail sale of incandescent light bulbs will be banned in Australia. Just to mention 3 events.

Chile & IWC 2009

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Frenetic, stressful, inflammatory debates and very unproductive, the old same! This was the ambience surrounding the 60th Meeting of the International Whaling Commission, (IWC) hosted by the Government of Chile and held at Santiago.
After several decades of little change in terms of making the IWC a body that regulates properly whaling, it is sliding off to the middle ages framework. This because now (and like the UN) the IWC has a “mini-commission” that decides (by consensus) what goes around on the main venue, and so controls topics and themes that are “allowed” to e discussed. Preventing the other members of having an active and demanding stance inside the Commission itself.
It is my belief that this mini-commission is not going anywhere and should be dismantled during the next couple of meetings. However it is undermining all the work environmentalist and conservative government have done so far. Even those government are being blunt on their position. And worst of all the NGOs are giving out “votes of confidence” to governments who are betraying them and they keep supporting them. Some NGOs (big ones) even are saying one thing to the press and other inside the room. I must say i was very pleased to be representing the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) in Chile, whose position was the same throughout the meeting, it had the vision and clarity to see what was going behind the scenes and made accurate and precise conclusions about the outcome.

60th IWC meeting at Sheraton San Cristobal, Santiago of Chile

In sum the 60th meeting of the IWC was highly armful to whales, the so much hoped Southern Atlantic Sanctuary was not even proposed and all conservation work stopped. Who really won was Japan that didn’t gave any sign of good faith, keep their “junk-science” research in the Southern Ocean and took hard measures to prevent a transparent and democratic system inside the IWC (it might as well have won the secret ballot vote that it has been trying for years now).

As IFAW stated on its press released, “we didn’t ask fopr voting to stop, the only thing we want to see stopped is whaling!”

It will be interesting so see how things go in Madeira next year, where I’ll have much work on my shoulders to do and my only hope is that I may deliver good results.

Bolivian Passport

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History especially…. That’s the topic I most like to read before departing to a new trip. This time I’m going back to South America; and why history? I like to go back in space and revive the birth of nations that allows to a better understanding of the current society. However, I also like to get some knowledge about the current trends and what some interesting places to visit.
This time I’ll be landing Buenos Aires on the 15th of June and head towards Montevideo (Uruguay) straight away, and have a week of vacations there. Then on the 21st I’ll be flying to Santiago (Chile) for the annual meeting of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) as a representative of the International Fund for animal Welfare (IFAW), and will be returning to Buenos Aires for some time in Argentina, returning home on the 6th of July.

But reading here and there and looking out for visa specifications I stumble on an article from the New Internationalist website about Bolivia, quite astonishing!

And did you know that …
Bolivians seeking tourist entry to the US have the pleasure of completing the following steps:
1 Pay $110 (twice the monthly minimum wage) for the honour of submitting a visa application and seeking an interview at the US Embassy in La Paz.
2 Wait (usually months) for your interview to be scheduled.
3 Travel to La Paz and wait in a long line in Arctic-like morning weather outside the fortress-like, white US Embassy.
4 Approach the first window and have your paperwork reviewed (including all kinds of personal economic information, such as bank statements and employment letters). Have a good chance of being turned away right then for completing incorrectly the confusing, English-only forms.
5 Advance to a second window for questioning about your intentions. You might chat through the thick glass window with someone who is friendly, or with an official who seems interested in turning surliness into a fine art.
6 Stand a 90-per-cent chance of being denied (no refund of the $110 you paid the US Government for the experience).

Read more here

Sao Tome and Principe (part II)

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I’ve returned from Sao Tome and Principe (STP) last Thursday, where I gave a presentation at a conference about Biodiversity and Ecotourism. The title I presented was “The non-lethal use of Cetaceans – a multidisciplinary perspective”. It basically covered the uses cetaceans can withstand nowadays (whaling is not one of them), recommendations to the STP’s government and a challenge for STP to declare their national waters a sanctuary for cetaceans.

Sao Tome and Principe Kids

Interestingly enough, the day I arrived a commission of STP’s government headed to Japan where they signed a bilateral agreement on fisheries, presumably to do with tuna. My opinion is that the International Whaling Commission (IWC) and whaling issue was on the agenda, and STP is at risk of joining the IWC and vote with Japan to uplift the moratorium of 1986.

Beside the forum I had the chance to speak with some people of the government, tourism agencies and people interested in developing sustainable ecotourism and the press. I also manage to get a letter from 10 different organizations to the president himself. One can only hope STP is not signing the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling (ICRW).

Also, there will be published a book with the presentations given at the forum, so I will have the chance to make a point on why whaling is not acceptable today and how Whale-Watching can be of a great help to the local community.

Sao Tome and Principe (part I)

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During March last year (2007) the international community that struggles to safeguard the place of cetaceans on this planet was alarmed by the possibility of Sao Tome and Principe join Japan in their loop-hole inside the International Whaling Commission (IWC). News of this kept coming and so Global Ocean (an UK based Charity) decided to send me there last November and do a first on-site recognition of the problem.
After planning the political and social strategie it was decided that the work would have 3 focused areas of action:
1) Government
2) The Tourism Sector
3) Press

Sao Tome and Principe

The first aim was to show the government that there are more reasons not to support whaling than the opposite, the other was to alert the damages and impact the involvement of Sao Tome and Principe on the whaling issue could have on the touristic sector (on expansion in the islands). Ultimately warn the public through the press the image their government is giving to the world and how bad that is for the country.
The foremost Goal? Prevent Sao Tome and Principe of joining the IWC.

Read my interview to the main newspaper of Sao Tome (Portuguese)

Talk at the University of Peniche: International Whaling Commission – History Corruption and Possible Solutions

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Talk given at the University of Peniche, Portugal. The theme of the caucus was “emerge and submerged”. There were various talks around different subjects, such as fisheries, artificial aquariums, genetics, animals affected by petroleum, and 3 speeches on marine mammals. I was presenting such a topic, “The International Whaling Commission – History, Corruption and Possible Solutions”. Insight was given of the NGO work on the theme, strategies, actions and aims. Emphasis was also given at the current situation of the IWC that may jeopardizes its future, Japan and its loophole along with the still unsustainable whaling taking place in the world’s ocean is cause of much concern. Some videos and images were shown to illustrate situations and processes. The public showed interest in the theme and many questions were made in the end.

Check out the photos here

Arrested and Deported

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That is why I like travelling! The uncertainty of what we will find, by leaving behind a frontier and entering a new realm…
I almost didn’t get to St. Kitts to start with; Melanie (Global Ocean) forgot to pay my ticket and I was left stranded in Lisbon , but only for a day. On the 16th she had everything sorted and I took off around 0845 to arrive around 2020 at the Marriott Resort and Casino in St. Kitts Island, Caribbean.
Little I knew what awaited me! The 58th anual meeting of the IWC was a pool of a diverse and antonym stimulus, from both the whalers and conservation governments. I witnesses with a reminiscence of anger and despair the St. Kitts declaration to be approved by a simple majority (33 against 32), being this the first Japanese victory in 2 decades!

I also had the opportunity to meet people who I’ve met through books and e-mails, but now I have a visual reference for each of those names.
I also got arrested and deported after taking part in a Greenpeace action. Got locked up for 38 hours; and even though I wasn’t charged of anything… I was not presented to court… BUT I was pronounced guilty! And convicted to immediate deportation!
For now find out more on the Greenpeace Weblog. I’ll write some pages on this after finish writing my memories of South America.

Observer at IWC 58th Meeting (St. Kitts)

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I’ll be at St. Kitts and Nevis from the 15th of June to the 22nd for the IWC meeting. This came after an invitation from Global Ocean (represented by Melanie Salmon) and the efforts from Dan Morast, Leslie Busby , and Sidney Holt . It is an honour for me to receive such call and my only hopes are that I’m at the high standards this situation demands. I wish to express my profound appreciation and gratitude to those who made possible my journey to St. Kitts and Nevis.

Visit the new website about the whaling theme. With fresh news from around the world, some considerations, the history and controversy surrounding the IWC and a culprits zone where you can see the countries who are voting with Japan listed, and much more.
Arm yourself with knowledge go to www.nowhaling.com
More news on the whaling issue after the 58 th IWC meeting.

IWC – International Whaling Commission

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The environmental movement is facing one of its biggest-ever reverses, over one of its most cherished causes: Save The Whale.
The leading pro-whaling nation, Japan, with a remarkable diplomatic “coup d’état” is self-assured to clutch control of the International Whaling Commission (IWC), formed in order to provide for the proper conservation of whale stocks and thus make possible the orderly development of the whaling industry, and so hasten the return of commercial whale hunting, which has been officially banned worldwide since 1986.
Despise the international moratorium and the instituted southern ocean whale sanctuary in 1994 whales are still hunted down and killed, in the cruel and inhumane same ways as ever

Apart from the whaling concern Roger Pain wisely sated in a press release by the IFAW that “military sonar, fishing gear entanglements and global warming all pose a huge threat to whale populations struggling to recover from historic commercial whaling. The added toll of Japan ‘s growing commercial whaling will simply be too much for many whale species. This continuing slaughter, and the ominous Japanese effort to gain international approval for commercial whaling, are serious threats to the survival of whales, and should be opposed in every way possible before it’s too late.”

I have a personal and professional interest in the subject, I always felt attracted by all the debate about the whaling issue, after met Sidney Holt in Ireland who later revised and article of mine published last year about the IWC its history and controversy and reading the book Whaling Season by Keiran Mulvaney I felt like I had definitely bitten the hook.
Convening with Milko Schvartzman from Greenpeace and accompanied him on our dusk to dawn encounters with the politicians and media of Montevideo (Uruguay ‘s Capital) set the ground for the work I’m doing now in Europe with the campaign I’m trying to lead in the best way I can. The outcome of our efforts is still to be known, but we are up against a ghastly adversary – Japan.

Next IWC meeting will be on the 16th June at St. Kitts, where not only the future of whales will be decided but also from the oceans and science has a total.