Contents

1. Introduction
2. Japan's attempt to ´normalize´the IWC
3. The Pew Whale Symposia
4. The Gordian Knot
5. Normalizing VS. Modernizing
6. Conclusion

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3. The Pew Whale Symposia

Despite the inevitably one-sided nature of the Tokyo Normalization Conference, that meeting nonetheless arrived at a few general conclusions no doubt shared by most IWC members. These were also reflected in the reports of the Pew Symposia held in New York in April 2007 and in Tokyo in January 2008. Starting with theclimate of “mutual distrust” which the Tokyo Normalization Conference rightly suggested was one source of the IWC’s difficulties, the Pew Symposia helped build the necessary bridges to ensure that the international whaling regime meets the goal of the conservation of whale populations in the 21st Century.

In trying to find a solution to the current impasse in the IWC, presumably all stakeholders would agree to seek “areas of commonality, compromise and letting others know what you want to begin the process of trust building”, as the Chair’s Summary of the Tokyo Normalization Conference put it.  From its inception that has been one of the objectives of the Pew Whale Conservation Project. The broad and diverse participation in the Pew Symposia held in New York and Tokyo was intended to help facilitate this process, and these combined efforts have contributed to the process known as “the Future of the IWC” (See IWC).

Referring to “small signs that things are improving,” the Tokyo Normalization Conference Summary asked “but who should take the first big step to break the ice?” Though what constitutes ‘improvement’ would be open to interpretation, the New York and Tokyo Pew Symposia have, we hope, contributed to moving things forward. Some IWC Commissioners have described the Tokyo Pew Symposium as “the ice-breaker” that allowed the “Future of the IWC” process to take off a month and a half later at an intersessional meeting of the IWC held in Heathrow, UK.

The Chair’s Summary of the Tokyo Normalization Conference also noted the need to “consider looking at Governments rather than Commissioners to resolve the situation”.  Despite their good work and unfailing commitment, it had been thought for some time that IWC Commissioners may have exhausted the limits of their negotiating possibilities.  Taking precisely this concern into account, the New York and Tokyo Pew Symposia sought the input of a larger constituency (See note on participants below). 

It is also with this concern in mind that the Pew Environment Group is organizing the meeting of the Pew Whales Commission made up of a dozen eminent persons from the six continents including several former Foreign Affairs and Environment Ministers.