Press release - 17 March, 2006
"Ignore the Bush Administration's apparent reckless intent to ravage the planet," says Greenpeace today as experts attend an urgently convened meeting on World Heritage and climate change. Greenpeace called on the experts to ignore a challenge from the Administration and continue with its deliberations and subsequent recommendations on protecting listed sites from the dangers posed by climate change.
Bleached coral, Great Barrier Reef. Effects of climate change.
Today's meeting in Paris follows the decision to hold an
investigation, which was agreed at a meeting of the United Nations
Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) last
year after petitioning by campaigners and lawyers. However a recent
submission from the United States suggests that it is an
inappropriate discussion for World Heritage and warns that if the
Committee addresses the issue of global climate change it risks
'losing the unified spirit and camaraderie that has become
synonymous with World Heritage.1'
"The United States has a history of trying to stifle the climate
change debate in any and all fora and that's exactly what it is
trying to do here," said Laetitia de Marez, Greenpeace France
Climate & Energy Campaigner. "It also once again deploys the
defunct argument that there is not enough evidence to prove that
climate change is caused by humans, therefore there is no proof
that humans can do anything about it under the World Heritage
Convention."
Greenpeace is petitioning the World Heritage Committee, along
with other organizations, to list both the Great Barrier Reef in
Australia and the Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park in the
United States and Canada as they are in danger due to the damage
caused by climate change2.
"There is no doubt that these sites and many others are being
damaged by climate change to the extent that they may eventually
lose the characteristics that made them Heritage sites in the first
place," said De Marez. "In the Glacier National Park, for instance,
only 27 glaciers remain out of 150 and those are rapidly
melting".
"It is completely appropriate for World Heritage to discuss this
issue and we hope that the meeting will recommend that State
Parties should take responsibility for reducing greenhouse gas
emissions as part of its strategy for protecting and preserving
heritage sites around the world," concluded De Marez.
The World Heritage Committee will discuss the report by the
expert working group in July, 2006.
Other contacts: Laetitia De Marez, Greenpeace France Climate & Energy Campaigner, +33 608 755 008Mhairi Dunlop, Greenpeace International Communications, +44 7801 212 960
VVPR info: Photographs of the Great Barrier Reef available from the photo desk +31 629 00 11 62Video is available from +31 653 504 721
Notes: 1. Position of the United States of America on Climate Change with Respect to the World Heritage Convention and World Heritage Sites.2. Petitioners are particularly concerned about the impacts of climatechange on five UNESCO World Heritage sites. These are* The Everest National Park (Sagarmatha National Park)* Coral reefs in Belize* Glaciers in Peru* The Great Barrier Reef in Australia* Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park in the United States and Canada