press releases

Las Palmas, March 12th 2006: Greenpeace activists have gone aboard an illegal cargo vessel full of fish taken from Guinean waters. Greenpeace and the Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF) have been following the Binar 4 for the last six days from West Africa to Europe and the activists will continue to "police" the vessel until Spanish authorities confiscate its illegal cargo. While the ship was waiting to enter port it was branded a pirate with the slogan "Stolen Fish" painted five times across both sides of the hull.

Madrid, Spain, 10th March 2006: As a pirate fishing vessel loaded with fish stolen from West Africa makes its way towards Las Palmas, Greenpeace and the Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF) this morning presented evidence to the Fisheries Ministry in Madrid, outlining why the authorities should ban the ship from the port when it arrives - in two or three days time.

Nationwide protests as fast food giant is linked to Amazon destruction

McDonald's outlets across Britain have been invaded by seven-foot-tall chickens this morning after a new report revealed the role played by the fast food giant in the destruction of the Amazon rainforest. Overnight, scores of restaurants from Edinburgh to Southampton were fly-posted with images of a chainsaw-wielding Ronald McDonald, while outlets in seven major cities are now occupied by the chickens, which have chained themselves to chairs.

The action comes as Greenpeace releases the results of a year long global undercover investigation into the links between high street brands and logging in the Amazon rainforest. Using satellite images, aerial surveillance, previously unreleased government documents and on-the-ground undercover monitoring, campaigners have for the first time been able to track the trade in soya beans from the Amazon rainforest to the Chicken McNuggets eaten in restaurants across Europe.

A terrorist attack on a routine transport of nuclear waste in the UK could spread radiation over 100 kilometres, and cause over 8,000 deaths, according to an internationally renowned nuclear engineer.

Responding to the release of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority strategy for cleaning up Britain's nuclear sites and news that the cost of dealing with waste is set to rise substantially - Jean McSorley, Greenpeace Nuclear campaigner, said:

"Every time the costs of cleaning up nuclear sites are looked at the cost for the taxpayer spirals. This time it looks like there's another £9 billion for taxpayers to swallow.

BAFTA winning actress Thandie Newton has sold her BMW 4x4 and replaced it with a hybrid car. The star of "Crash" has also written to dozens of other celebrities suggesting they think about doing the same.

Customary PNG landowner asks the timber trade to source 'good' wood

Today, Brian Baring, of the Gingilang clan on the north coast of Papua New Guinea (PNG), delivered a giant letter to Alchemy Partners, asking them to stop daughter company Montague L Meyer from trashing PNG's rainforests for plywood. Logging in PNG is some of the worst on the planet, with virtually all industrial logging being illegal.

Responding to today's ruling by the Law Lords that protestors who tried to stop the invasion of Iraq had no right to argue in court that they were opposing an illegal war, Greenpeace anti-war campaigner Ben Ayliffe said:

"We are very disappointed by the Lords verdict. It is bizarre that people who followed their conscience to prevent an illegal war are penalised while the architects of that war get away scot free."

Guinea, Africa: At first light yesterday morning (March 28th, 2006), the Greenpeace helicopter flew over a group of fishing vessels 60 miles off the coast of Guinea. One was not on the list of ships authorized to fish. An inflatable boat was launched from the Greenpeace ship M.Y Esperanza, taking a Guinean Navy officer and a fisheries inspector with a crew from Greenpeace and the Environmental Justice Foundation on board.

Responding to today's news that the government is set to miss its 2010 CO₂ reduction target, Greenpeace Senior Climate Campaigner Charlie Kronick said:

"This review is pitiful. CO₂ emissions are rising, the target's getting further away and the Government has introduced no new measures to combat this. Failure of government departments to agree a clear plan of action has lead to a review that is nothing more than an abdication of responsibility. At a time when we desperately need bold leadership, yet again Tony Blair fiddles while the world burns."