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Protect the reindeer forests
(Here's a message from Matti at the Forest Rescue Station in northern Finland.) Right now we are standing up for the forest rights of Sámi indigenous people against the greed of a state controlled logging company. Despite the fact that their reindeer forests are supposed to be protected, the Finnish government is profiting from their destruction. Only international pressure from people like you can help defend these forests and help us win this campaign. Take action and make sure we are not alone! Matti Liimatainen
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Volume 5, Number 3
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| Save Kakinada beach from dirty
shipbreaking
I am devastated by the move of the government to set up
a shipbreaking yard in Kakinada. We can't afford to lose our income. I
will strongly protest against the shipbreaking plans.
Prashad
The beautiful beach of Kakinada (India) may soon turn into a scrapyard
for old, toxic ships, threatening the lives of local people and the
nearby Coringa nature reserve. Kakinada fishing families need your help
to save Kakinada beach. Let the President of Andra Pradesh and the
European Union know they should protect nature and the livelihood of
Kakinada families.
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| Canadian seal hunt begins
The Canadian Government has chosen to proceed with the
Atlantic seal hunt on the ice floes in the Gulf of St Lawrence, despite
evidence that the hunt is unsustainable and scientifically
unjustifiable. The hunt began 29 March at 6am local time.
A further hunt in Labrador, known as the Front, will begin on April 12.
The total allowable catch (TAC) for this year is 319,500 harp seals, 95
percent of which will be under one year old. This brings the total to
975,000 seals that will have been killed and officially registered over
the three-year management plan produced by the Government's Department
of Fisheries and Oceans.
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| Come back whales
Whales are in danger the world over. They are threatened
by human overfishing, pollution, destruction of their habitats and
illegal trade in whalemeat. Many whale populations have never recovered
since the ban on commercial whaling came into effect in the 1980s.
Despite this, some countries are pushing for a return to commercial
whaling. Greenpeace and the Korean environmental organisation KFEM have
joined forces, and are taking the Rainbow Warrior around Korea to ask
the Korean government to:
* vote 'yes' to whale protection and 'no' to whaling at the
International Whaling Commission (IWC) meeting in Ulsan, Korea this
year
* support all efforts to strengthen the IWC's conservation remit so
that it works to eliminate the increased environmental threats to
whales
* set up an action plan to keep Korea's oceans clean and healthy
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| Dugong update
There are less than 50 dugongs (sea cows) left in
Okinawa, Japan. Nevertheless, the US and Japanese governments want to
build an air base for the US Marine Corps on top of a healthy coral
reef rich in marine diversity like endangered dugongs. In early March,
the Rainbow Warrior and its crew members joined the local activists
occupying the site, and more than 13,200 cyberactivists from 133
countries put international pressure on the Japanese government. Thank
you if you helped out with this campaign.
The good news is that Japanese Prime Minister Koizumi mentioned the
possible cancellation of the plan on March 16th. If you have not
written to a letter yet about this issue, please do so now and ask the
Japanese government to cancel the plan officially.
Local activists has been sitting on scaffolds almost 350 days. They
need help! Please send your message to the Japanese and the US
government NOW.
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| Creativity needed
Feeling creative? Then enter one of our contests. Take a
famous song and rewrite the lyrics to be about whales or the ocean, and
enter it into our Whalevision song contest. Or if you are more visually
inclined, take on the Ford Motor Company by submitting a parody
billboard making fun of the Land Rover SUV. The best entry may become a
real billboard in London, England.
The deadlines for both these contests are coming up in the next few
days, so enter soon.
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