{"id":24232,"date":"2019-09-12T10:05:41","date_gmt":"2019-09-12T08:05:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/?p=24232"},"modified":"2021-12-01T13:49:47","modified_gmt":"2021-12-01T12:49:47","slug":"whale-breeding-ground-or-oil-field","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/story\/24232\/whale-breeding-ground-or-oil-field\/","title":{"rendered":"Which do you prefer: a whale breeding ground or an oil field?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

When I have an important decision to make, I usually write a list of pros and cons. I know this is not unique, but you\u2019d be surprised at the number of decisions that are made without any consideration of the negatives.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

This is, I\u2019m afraid, the case with BP.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

The British oil company has been planning to drill for oil in the Amazon Reef region in Brazil since 2013. While at first, they didn\u2019t know about the existence of the amazing and unique reef there, we made sure they could see what was at stake in 2017, when we showed them <\/span>the first ever underwater images<\/span><\/a> of this amazing ecosystem.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

\"Amazon
One of the first images of the Amazon Reef taken from a submarine launched from the Esperanza in 2017.
\u00a9 Greenpeace<\/div><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n

It didn\u2019t convince them.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

So, we went back in 2018, and proved that the Amazon Reef was bigger than expected, and that it stretched out of Brazil and reached right into French Guiana.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

Even that wasn\u2019t enough.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

In December of 2018, IBAMA (the environmental agency in charge of analysing the environmental impact of projects) <\/span>denied BP\u2019s partner Total the license to drill in the area<\/span><\/a>. <\/span><\/p>\n\n

\"Cimbing
Greenpeace activists protest at the ANV-COP21 got inside the Palais des Congr\u00e8s in Paris, where Total\u2019s 2018 Shareholders\u2019 Meeting was planned.
\u00a9 Greenpeace \/ ANV-COP21<\/div><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n

Drilling was stopped for a clear reason: there is no way to protect this precious and diverse region from a potentially devastating oil spill.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

This didn\u2019t convince BP either. So here we are, back with more reasons to protect the Amazon Reef region.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

For one, we\u2019ve now confirmed and documented for the very first time that this is an area where whales migrate and breed. <\/span><\/p>\n\n

\"Humpback
Humpback whale documented in French Guiana during Greenpeace expedition aboard the Esperanza.
\u00a9 Pierre Baelen \/ Greenpeace<\/div><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n

For the very first time in French Guiana, we\u2019ve documented the Bryde\u2019s Rorqual (a type of whale) underwater.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

It\u2019s not just whales who are at risk. We also observed sailfishes, spotted dolphins, false killer whales, pygmy killer whales, silky sharks, and Melon head dolphins. <\/span><\/p>\n\n

\"Protect
Bryde\u2019s Rorquals documented underwater for the first time in French Guiana during Greenpeace expedition aboard the Esperanza.
\u00a9 Pierre Baelen \/ Greenpeace<\/div><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n

It\u2019s clearer now, more than ever before, that BP should stay out of the Amazon Reef.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

This region with its incredibly diverse and vulnerable ecosystem needs protection. It must be kept safe from industry if we want healthy oceans.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

To keep the Amazon Reef safe we need two things:<\/span><\/p>\n\n

  1. A bold Global Ocean Treaty – a legal instrument to protect the high seas of this amazing region from the reckless plans of the BPs of the world.<\/span><\/li>
  2. That BP urgently withdraws their oil drilling plans there before it\u2019s too late.<\/span><\/li><\/ol>\n\n

    We won\u2019t be able to protect the oceans if we don\u2019t stop BP. Take action now<\/a>, and help us tell everyone to protect the stunning mega-fauna and richness of this region!<\/span><\/p>\n\n

    Silvia D\u00edaz P\u00e9rez is the Engagement Lead of Amazon Reef project.<\/em><\/p>\n

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    It\u2019s clearer now, more than ever before, that BP should stay out of the Amazon Reef.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":94,"featured_media":1086,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_planet4_optimize_post_is_variant":false,"_planet4_optimize_experiment_name":"","_planet4_optimize_variant_name":"","ep_exclude_from_search":false,"p4_og_title":"","p4_og_description":"","p4_og_image":"","p4_og_image_id":"","p4_seo_canonical_url":"","p4_campaign_name":"not set","p4_local_project":"","p4_basket_name":"not set","p4_department":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[70,99],"tags":[20,85],"p4-page-type":[59],"class_list":["post-24232","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nature","category-ships","tag-esperanza","tag-oceans","p4-page-type-story"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24232","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/94"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24232"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24232\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":51204,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24232\/revisions\/51204"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1086"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24232"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24232"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24232"},{"taxonomy":"p4-page-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/p4-page-type?post=24232"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}