moratorium

Last edited 1 January 1970 at 1:00am
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World Bank ditches shares in Congo-trashing company

Posted by jamie — 10 December 2007 at 6:20pm - Comments

Forest canopy in the Congo rainforest

There have been some great developments around our Congo rainforest campaign, as the FT reported on its website this morning that one of the arms of the World Bank will offload the shares it owns in a company known to be destroying the forest of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

The International Finance Corporation (IFC) has announced that it will divest its holdings in Olam International, a Singapore-based company which has operations in the DRC. The Congo report we released earlier this year showed how Olam was holding forest land granted in breach of the current moratorium which the World Bank itself helped establish and that it was also trading in dodgy timber. As a result, Olam has since given back its forest holdings to the DRC government, but it still buys illegal timber cut by local companies.

Article tagged as: africa, congo, deforestation, DRC, forests, IFC, illegal timber, moratorium, OLAM, world bank

When is a moratorium not a moratorium?

Posted by jamie — 4 May 2007 at 2:00pm - Comments

Forest officials in the DRC are woefully under-resourced

Forest officials in the Democratic Republic of Congo are woefully under-resourced

It's not a trick question, and the answer is simple: when a moratorium is failing to stop the problem it was originally designed to address, then it's not much of a moratorium at all. There's one in place right now in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) that is supposed to help prevent the destruction of the country's rainforest, and yet it has been repeatedly breached until the moratorium itself is practically worthless.

Article tagged as: africa, congo, destructive logging, DRC, forests, moratorium, world bank

Iceland sinks UN moratorium on bottom trawling

Posted by jamie — 24 November 2006 at 7:04pm - Comments

The news that the UN moratorium on bottom trawling has sunk to the metaphorical, erm, bottom is grim enough but when you hear that it was all down to one country, it's just bloody depressing. And the culprit? Step forward Iceland, proud whaling nation and now ocean floor destroyer. Thanks guys.

But I can't put it better than Adele over on the Making Waves blog. There's real rage for you.

Article tagged as: bottom trawling, iceland, moratorium, oceans, UN

Blame Canada (and Espana) - bottom trawling gets the South Park treatment

Posted by bex — 17 November 2006 at 7:06pm - Comments

Bottom trawling - it's not big and it's not clever. An upcoming UN vote could see a moratorium on this fishing method which is destroying life on the ocean bed, but Canada and Spain are opposing it. If the video below doesn't inspire you to take action, you've misplaced your funny bone.

Article tagged as: bottom trawling, moratorium, oceans, south park

The odd couple: how Greenpeace and McDonald's are working together

Posted by admin — 2 August 2006 at 8:00am - Comments

Greenpeace research in the Amazon helped identify the link between deforestation and European food manufacturers

John Sauven, campaign special projects director for Greenpeace UK, explains how Greenpeace worked with McDonald's to change the food industry's attitude towards Amazon soya.

"Huge chickens invaded fast food stores in London and started to ask customers if they knew they were eating soya from deforested areas of the Amazon. That was in April. The chickens were noisy Greenpeace activists... It took McDonald's only six hours between the first 'homo chickenacius' invasion of its restaurants and the phone call to Greenpeace to discuss the issue. Why? Because fast-food consumers started to be choked with McNuggets and McChickens. Ethical consumption's appeal is increasing."

Article tagged as: agriculture, amazon, brazil, cargill, forests, mcdonalds, moratorium, soya

McVictory

Posted by admin — 25 July 2006 at 8:00am - Comments

Giant chickens invaded McDonald's in April to protest at their involvement in Amazon destruction

In an historic deal that has impacts far beyond the golden arches and into the global agricultural market, McDonald's is now the leading company in the campaign to halt deforestation for the expansion of soya farming in the Amazon.

Article tagged as: agriculture, amazon, brazil, cargill, mcdonalds, moratorium, soya, successes, supermarkets

Last edited 1 January 1970 at 1:00am
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Iceland fail in bid to rejoin IWC without abiding by whaling ban

Last edited 23 July 2001 at 8:00am
IWC53: Watching the whalers

IWC53: Watching the whalers

IWC conference update: day 1

The first item on the International Whaling Commission's (IWC) agenda today was a long and complicated attempt by Iceland (backed by Japan, Norway and the at least nine countries whose votes Japan has very obviously bought) to re-join the IWC while rejecting the moratorium on whaling implemented by the IWC in 1986.

Luckily, even after a series of votes and legal manouvres by the pro-whaling nations, this was unsucessful! Iceland meantime made their intentions clear - saying that they wanted the moratorium on whaling overturned as quickly as possible so that whaling can resume.

Article tagged as: iceland, IWC, moratorium, oceans, vote buying, whaling