From the 11th to 14th July 2011, Living Earth joined local and international NGOs and press representatives in forming the observer delegation at the International Whaling Commission’s 63rd Annual Meeting on the island of Jersey.
This year’s meeting saw the introduction of refined procedural regulations, that it is hoped will improve transparency of governance within the IWC and avoid any further allegations of financial irregularities. Unfortunately improved governance through an increased role for civil society, while addressed in the original draft, was not adopted at this meeting and is likely to resurface next year.
Other topics under discussion included the proposed review of the Aboriginal Subsistence Whaling regulations, which will impact upon the Inupiat communities of Alaska’s Arctic Slope. This review includes the recommendation that the term ‘Aboriginal’ be replaced by ‘Indigenous’ and the full wording updated to align with the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. At the 64th Annual Meeting in Panama it will also address the proposed extension of the time periods for which catch-quotas are determined.
Lively debate also took place around the subjects of a Safety at Sea motion proposed by the Japanese delegation, which was ultimately adopted, and the repeat request for the instigation of a South Atlantic Sanctuary, which generated such extensive dispute that a decision was postponed until 2012.
Press releases from each of the four days of the meeting can be found here
Comments
No comments yet.