Worldlog Week 49 – 2010

I was at the climate summit last week in Cancun. It was an exciting week. Thankfully at the last minute a climate agreement was reached. I felt especially passionate about Bolivia’s contribution. They gave the following message: Mother earth has her rights and we have to co-exist with the earth. During the climate summit, Bolivia expressed a lot of criticism of the United States (US), because according to them, the US does not do enough to limit CO2 emissions or make enough money available to poor countries to allow them to deal with the climate problem. The Party for the Animals also thinks that more money should be made available to help poor countries withstand climate change.

A notable point in Cancun was that the president of the World Bank, Mr. Zoellick, clearly stated that agriculture in developing countries needed to be in the hands of the local population. Therefore the Dutch cattle industry needs to keep out of it! Regionalization of food production is a lot better for the farmer in developing countries and also a lot better for the climate.

Also notable is that it was discussed that the problems agriculture faces are due to climate change; however agriculture itself is causing the climate crisis. Thankfully the youth representatives explained that they want climate-unfriendly production to be more expensive and meat consumption was pointed out by them as a cause of the climate problem.

Meat the Truth was shown several times during the climate summit. Unfortunately I could not be present during the showings due to the busy schedule, but I am proud that the film was shown several times during the climate conference! By the way it’s great news that we won the award for “Best Documentary on Animal Rights” with Meat the Truth on November 15th at the IV International Rights Film Festival “STEPS” 2010 in The Ukraine.

Meat the Truth is now also available in Hindi en Gujaradi! And a Japanese and Russian translation is in progress.
During my absence Esther Ouwehand discussed in the Lower Chamber an end to the whale hunt in Iceland. At this time negotiations are underway about Iceland joining the European Union. Hunting whales is forbidden by international treaties. Iceland is not complying with these agreements. The Party for the Animals believes that if Iceland wishes to join the EU, then it is on one condition: the whale hunt must stop immediately.

Other European countries have spoken out against the whale hunt by Iceland in the framework of the negotiations to join the EU. Hunting whales is not only illegal because the whale is an endangered species, the whale hunt is also unbelievably cruel. There is also no market at all for the whale meat. Most of the meat is stored in freezers, because Iceland has no market for it. Therefore the Party for the Animals does not understand why Iceland needs to continue with the whale hunt. Shortly we will submitting a motion about the negotiations with Iceland.

See you next week!

Marianne