Update 26 May 2012: We're back in action. Press release, live updates.
Update 2: Action is over. Read about how it went.
Yesterday was a dramatic day here on board the Rainbow Warrior and in the capital of Brazil too. Our ten day blockade was suspended to give space for a meeting in the capital which we hoped would be an important step towards cleaning up the pig iron trade and stopping slave labor and deforestation from entering the supply chain of big car companies like GM and Ford.
The meeting ended without a positive outcome, with only one of the pig iron industry representatives turning up. Two members of the Greenpeace Brazil team were there along with senior politicians from Brazil, but without the key players in the room there was no deal. No one has actually put pen to paper on an agreement, so this is far from finished.
We are hoping that last minute, behind the scenes phone calls between the President of the environmental commission of the Chamber of Deputies, Deputy Sarney Filho and the industry will lead to an agreement. This could help to bring an end to the forest crime and slave labor that has tainted the supply of pig iron in the Amazon.
As a sign of good faith in the process we have taken our climbers off the anchor chain of the Clipper Hope after ten days of occupation. As I write our climbers are back on board, hopeful but still determined to see the job through. We’re stull here to send a clear message to the industry that forest crime is unacceptable.
Stay tuned.
Photo: © Greenpeace/Marizilda Cruppe