Worldlog Week 45 – 2010

In week 43's Worldlog I told you about the biodiversity summit in Nagoya, Japan. Happily, agreements were made during the summit whereby the 193 participating countries set objectives to protect nature and ecosystems. And yet we have mixed feelings about the new international accord to protect biodiversity. The party welcomes the agreements made to protect a greater surface area of nature and sustainable use of agriculture by 2020, but unfortunately previously set objectives surrounding biodiversity are as yet unmet. And so by 2010, the regression of various species and ecosystems should have been stopped, but the regression continued unabated.

One of the agreements that gives me hope is that subsidies that damage biodiversity will no longer be available after 2020. The Party for the Animals believes, given the enormous damage that commercial fishing does to the ecosystems in the lakes and oceans, that the fishing subsidies in the Netherlands should be the first to go.
Last week I had a great interview on Radio Netherlands Worldwide about such things as our two seats in Dutch parliament. And this amazing photographic report on The Boston Globe website is something you won't want to miss! These photos are for the occasion of the new series by National Geographic titled: Move as millions, survive as one.

In the Netherlands the discussions about the Oostvaardersplassen have reared their ugly head again. In the Eighties, the government started 'releasing' nature in this area, which means that humans would have as little as possible influence on how this area is run. At the start, there were also a few dozen Heck cows, Konik horses and red deer that were expelled from that area. There has been a great to-do about man's influence on these wild animals. The Party for the Animals does not advocate removing animals, especially not from these kinds of fenced in spaces where the Oostvaardersplassen is located. But for the time being it is simply something with which we must live.

The Oostvaardersplassen, which is 6,000 hectares large, is managed. This is done by the National Forest Service. It watches over several nature reserves in the Netherlands under commission from the central government. This furore over the area recurs every year in the winter when some of the large grazers die from under nourishment. In order to evaluate whether the National Forest Service should change this, the previous cabinet set up a committee to provide advice on some measures to prevent large-scale death among the grazers. This advice is expected next week.

At the top of our list is that animals need to have sufficient space and food in order to be able to live a natural life. Our viewpoint is that the National Forest Service's plans for the Oostvaardersplassen, whereby the animals are not unnecessarily disturbed but are put out of their misery in a timely fashion, is the most animal-friendly solution. We also need to enlarge the area by linking the Oostvaardersplassen with another nature reserves in the Netherlands to allow the animals to migrate. Other political parties want for the animals to receive additional food. This will however, not help the animals in any way. Just the opposite, in fact: additional feed creates unrest in the herd and the animals get used to being fed become less self-reliant. Additional feed will also increased the number of young, making the problem larger. The animals that are 'given aid', will only fall victim next year to the hunter's lobby that wants to shoot innumberable animals to death under the guise of 'population control'. To be continued.

See you next week!

Marianne