The 7 th Conference of the Parties (COP7) of the Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) begins on 29 October in Marrakech, Morocco. The Framework Convention was agreed at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 1992, and has been ratified by 186 countries.
Wylfa is an old power station, already operating well past its sell-by date. It is currently closed following the discovery of unexpected safety-related problems in April 2000. Despite a history of safety problems, its owners, BNFL Magnox, not only want to continue operating it, but also to extend its life to 50 years.
BNFL Magnox is proposing to manage the current safety problems, rather than repair them. Their strategy is aimed at restarting the reactors as soon as possible, and it inevitably carries with it safety implications.
This month the US National Family Farm Coalition, in conjunction with Greenpeace, held public meetings to which farmers were invited to hear about the experience of US growers and other farmers regarding the impacts of the commercial introduction of GM crops. Following a number of requests for more information from those who were unable to attend, here's a summary of the meetings and other subsequent developments.
Greenpeace comments on the standard letter sent out by the Japanese Embassy in response to letters from the public protesting at Japan's so-called 'scientific' whaling
In total, 1.5 million whales were killed by commercial whalers in the fifty years from 1925 to 1975, the year that Greenpeace began its long running campaign to stop commercial whaling. Many of the world's whale populations had been taken to the brink of extinction and this massive destruction was only stopped when the International Whaling Commission (IWC) imposed a moratorium on all commercial whaling in 1986. Of the nine countries still whaling when the moratorium decision was taken, seven had ceased by 1990, but two countries, Japan and Norway, did not.
