Back in Circulation

The updates from the IWC were a little slim (read non-existent) in the end, and after the meeting finished I grabbed a few days and headed north in to the heart of Alaska, to Denali National Park for a few days of fantastic wilderness and wildlife.

Right now, I am in Seattle airport, in transit back to Amsterdam, so this is only a quick post, and over the next few days I will add more of my travels, and some wonderful photos from Denali.

In the end, the IWC wrapped up reasonably well. There are two very distinct groups at the IWC - those who want to protect whales, and those who want to kill more. And that is where it becomes strange. Whilst we have the moratorium on whaling, the pro-whaling forces are working incredibly hard to resume commercial whaling. And because they have a goal, it is in some ways easier for them to move forward. It seems it is much harder to defend the status quo , although I think this largely reflects a complacency on the part of the pro-conservation forces. We desperately need to ensure that there is a clear agenda forward for next year's meeting that further reinforces whale protection.

One of the funniest highlights of the meeting was the complete security overkill. The security planning obviously expected a "Battle for Seattle" type event. The IWC is definitely not that - more like an Amway convention. Anyway, the various Greenpeace activities at the meeting meant the police did not get entirely bored, and Mel and Ashby (who were responsible for logistics in Anchorage for us) made a whole bunch of new friends, as the photo above shows...

More soon
Shane