Greenpeace International Executive Director Kumi Naidoo making opening remarks at the People’s Arctic Council
The Arctic Council meeting in Sweden just wrapped up, and while we were thrilled to deliver photos of 280 global “I Love the Arctic” photos to the delegates including US Secretary of State John Kerry, we were disappointed that the meeting ended with no action to protect the Arctic.
In the next two years the Arctic Council must ban offshore Arctic oil drilling, take action on marine reserves and decrease carbon emissions in the Arctic. A beacon of hope during the meeting was the participation of Indigenous peoples.
Greenpeace delivers ‘I Love Arctic’ photo-books to two Permanent Participants of Arctic Indigenous Peoples in the Arctic Council.
At the end of the conference, a range of the participants signed onto a declaration, which was drafted by a group of Russian Indigenous Peoples at the first conference of its kind last August.The declarationnow has more than 40 signatories including two of the six permanent participants at the Arctic Council calling for a ban on offshore oil drilling and for the Arctic states to respect the rights of the Indigenous Peoples.
Make a call to Secretary Kerry’s office today to tell him to protect the Arctic!
