16
June 2009 - Brazil — Just two weeks after
our exposé 'Slaughtering the Amazon'
showed how the Brazilian cattle industry
is decimating the Amazon rainforest, we
are seeing a stampede as companies and the
World Bank start to sever their links with
the slaughterhouses and farms involved.
News is just out that
the World Bank has cancelled its loan to
Brazilian cattle giant, Bertin. The International
Finance Corporation (IFC), the private lending
arm of the World Bank, withdrew a USD 90
million loan to Bertin. The loan - intended
for the company to further expand into the
Amazon region – would only lead to more
rainforest destruction and fuel global climate
change. The last USD 30 million hand-out
from the IFC will no longer be given and
it is anticipated that the IFC will ask
for the USD 60 million it has already invested
to be returned earlier than previously agreed.
"It is good news
that the World Bank is withdrawing these
funds, yet scandalous that it was feeding
a company that causes Amazon deforestation
and climate change in the first place,"
said Paulo Adario, Greenpeace Brazil’s Amazon
campaign director. "For a bank that
portrays itself as the 'knowledge bank',
this was a very ill-conceived and thoroughly
destructive use of its resources. It must
now guarantee that it will not invest in
such damaging projects in the future."
So what about the brands?
Brazilian retailers have also reacted to
our investigation. The three biggest supermarket
chains in Brazil - Carrefour, Wal-Mart and
Pão de Açúcar – said
they will suspend all trade in cattle products
from farms involved in deforestation in
a key area of the Amazon. We have yet to
see such a positive reaction from the big
brands in the US and Europe, which were
also implicated in our report - among them,
Nike, Adidas, Clarks and Geox and several
well-known supermarkets.
Back in Brazil, there
have also been some legal moves. Prior to
the release of our report, a federal prosecutor
in Pará State filed a billion dollar
lawsuit against 20 farms and 10 cattle companies,
as well as Bertin. Under the law suit, offending
farms will be fined for environmental damage
and their operations suspended in areas
of forest that have been destroyed illegally.
Watch this space
Things are moving fast – and not all the
news is good news. The Brazilian government
still refuses to get out of bed with the
powerful agribusiness industry. Environment
Minister Carlos Minc, who has praised our
report and said he agrees with our recommendations,
is under fire from the agribusiness bosses,
who are circulating a petition calling for
his removal.
And, while President Lula talks the talk
at the international climate negotiations,
he has yet to prove he will take the leadership
required to help protect us from climate
change by protecting the Amazon.
In early June, the Brazilian
Congress passed legislation which was originally
intended to legalise the land-holdings of
small settlers, but they changed it to include
provisions that benefited medium-to-large
land grabbers and business interests. The
law will privatise ownership of up to 67
million hectares of the Amazon rainforest,
land that has been occupied illegally. This
is an area bigger than Norway and Germany
combined, and puts Amazon protection in
jeopardy.
Lula can still stop
the worst parts of this bad legislation
going through. Whether or not he does so
will indicate whether history will remember
him as one of the leaders who averted runaway
climate change or one of the losers that
brought it on. Forests are a vital defence
against global climate change. Any effective
deal to save the climate must include a
deal to protect forests.
President Lula needs
to veto the worst articles of this law and
commit to zero deforestation. In return,
rich countries must dig deep and fund forest
protection in Brazil, Indonesia and other
forested countries. We also need Lula and
all other Heads of State to take personal
responsibility for securing an effective
climate deal by attending the Climate Summit
in Copenhagen in December and taking immediate
action to guarantee a positive outcome.
+ More
Greenpeace – Yes Men
spoof newspaper declares climate deal
18 June 2009 - International
— Readers of a free copy of the International
Herald Tribune in Brussels today may have
done a double take when they saw headlines
like “Markets Soar on News of Copenhagen
Climate Deal” and “Atmosphere Named World
Heritage Site.” That’s because the newspaper,
datelined six months into the future, was
brought to them by Greenpeace and the Yes
Men.
Unbeknownst to the folks
over at the International Herald Tribune,
we created the hopeful hoax and distributed
50,000 copies of the paper outside of metro
stops and street cafes in major cities from
New York to Beijing to Brussels. (Along
with a complimentary copy and a bottle of
champagne to the chief editor of the real
International Herald Tribune) The headline
read “Heads of State Agree Historic Climate
Saving Deal.” So maybe we haven’t actually
seen our leaders stand up and take responsibility
for leading the global community in the
fight to a climate deal; we can’t help but
ask ourselves “Why not?”
Update : We have just
recieved a correction - and sadly it's not
good news. It reads
World Not Actually Saved
Fate of Planet Back in the Balance as EU
Leaders fail to deliver
The editors of yesterday’s
special edition wish to correct stories
appearing on pages 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and
8 of yesterday’s 8 page special. It appears
that European leaders failed to pledge funds
to help the developing world address climate
change at the heads of state meeting on
June 18.
As a result, a climate
saving deal was not agreed in Copenhagen
as reported in this paper.
The IHT regrets the
error.
We also regret any premature
celebrations our publication may have triggered
among lovers of polar bears, coral reefs,
tropical forests, the billion people now
once again likely to suffer water shortages
in the next decades, and everyone else on
the planet, who now face an impoverished
and chaotic future as a result.
Due to a printing error,
the quote from Greenpeace responding to
the meeting conclusion was mistakenly edited
out of the story. The statement should have
read:
"Greenpeace calls
upon the citizens of the world to hold the
EU heads of State personally accountable
for this failure, and to get out into the
streets to demand with the loudest voice
ever raised on Earth that our leaders lead,
so that the fictitious vision of a world
saved from global warming which the International
Herald Tribune mistakenly described might
in fact become a reality."
The IHT regrets the
omission.
The IHT does not, however,
regret reporting that Silvio Berlusconi
was suffering from hug related injuries.
That part was right. Thousands of journalists
gathering in the European Council building
in Brussels were audibly chuckling as they
awaited the news of the real outcome of
discussions today, concerning how much money,
if any, the EU will be putting on the table
to help poor countries adapt to and mitigate
the consequences of climate change. According
to the fictitious paper, the breakthrough
moment enabling the December 2009 climate
deal came today, when EU leaders broke the
negotiation deadlock and agreed “US$ 50
billion (Euro 35 billion) for climate protection
measures in developing countries.”
Can’t change the science? Change the politics!
The paper is an optimistic fairy tale of
how our leaders set aside their national
interests and work together to save the
climate. It’s a story made of satire and
hope, about how civil society forced a new
direction, and politicians responded to
public protests around the globe demanding
that world leaders do the right thing for
the planet. It tells the inspiring story
of a climate deal that forced ambitious
cuts in global carbon emissions, an end
to deforestation and a fund for climate
protection measures in the developing world.
It’s a story that we want to come true,
and a story you, dear reader, can help make
happen.
Check out the paper
online or download the PDF
Less talk, more action
The real news is not so good. Negotiators
are leaving meeting after meeting with little
or no progress towards a climate deal that
tackles climate change. The science demands
that, as a group, developed countries cut
emissions to 40 percent below 11000 levels
by 2020. So far they have offered - at most
– 15 percent. Unless they raise their game
considerably over the next six months, the
world will be heading for a global temperature
rise of 3° C and the distinct possibility
of runaway climate change, and irreversible
climate impacts. World leaders need to take
charge and stop the compromise.
Scientists continue
to warn against inaction. The public continues
to demand action. But so far we haven’t
seen any. In December, 15,000 assorted politicians,
negotiators, journalists, observers, caterers
and cleaners will set up camp in the Copenhagen
Bellacentre for the two-week Climate Summit.
We expect world leaders to also be there,
acting in our name and taking responsibility
for our future. The international deal that
saves the climate doesn’t just have to be
a headline in a spoof newspaper, it can
be the real thing delivered by our Heads
of State.
We can’t carry on like
this and still hope to get the outcome the
planet needs at the Copenhagen Climate Summit.
Something has to change. Take action now
and demand that Heads of State show up and
be part of the climate deal that will dictate
the future of the planet.
