Lost in Transit

Well, it has been a bit quiet on the blog, due to crazy travel plans. I left Buenos Aires on Thursday, bound for Amsterdam via Sao Paulo and London. Got home around lunch time Friday, then flew out to Tokyo Saturday afternoon, got here lunch time Sunday, and straight in to some work. Hell of a travel plan, and don't even think about the CO2 emissions...

The reason for coming to Japan is to attend a meeting organised my the Japanese Government. Over recent years, they have increasingly talked about the need for 'normalisation' of the International Whaling Commission (IWC). This is basically code for a return to commercial whaling. So this meeting is really about commercialisation, not normalisation.

That said, we actually agree with the Japanese Government on one thing. There is definitely a need to reform the IWC. But we think it needs to be modernised. The convention governing the IWC was written in 1946, and it certainly does not reflect modern international environmental law norms. It needs greater transparency, the removal of the 'scientific' whaling loophole, and better monitoring and enforcement provisions.

And it needs to become an organisation that is about protecting whales. Whales face a myriad of threats in the oceans these days. Climate change, being struck by ships, pollution, getting caught in fishing nets and underwater noise all threaten whales, so the last thing they need is to be hunted. The IWC needs to become a whale conservation organisation, not a whale hunting group.

Anyway, this meeting is definitely a gathering of the whaler's club. Aside from Japan, there is Denmark, Iceland and Norway, plus all of the small countries that Japan pays for to be part of the IWC. All of the countries who are against whaling have decided not to attend, saying that the meeting is outside the IWC, so has no formal status. Unfortunately, Switzerland decided to attend. It seems sometimes neutrality can get in the way of common sense.

And then there is us! Junichi, from Greenpeace Japan, and myself will have to sit through three days of bad science, misleading population figures, and false argument about cultural heritage. I have just finished a background briefing document called "Whalers Myths - And the Reality". It is not posted on the web yet, but I will insert a link when I have one.

So watch this space - should be some interesting political snippets in the next few days.

Shane