Pew Whale Symposium Offers Ray of Hope for Resolving Whale Controversy

Pew Whale Symposium Secretariat
whales@pewtrusts.org

3rd February, 2008

One hundred participants from 28 nationalities met at the Headquarters of the UN University in Tokyo for a two-day symposium aimed at generating good will and a positive climate to help resolve the ongoing controversy surrounding the future of the International Whaling Commission (IWC). The Pew Whale Symposium comes at a time of heightened international tensions related to Japan’s so-called scientific whaling program and amid growing concern over the future of the IWC.

Judge Tuiloma Neroni Slade, former Presiding Judge of the International Criminal Court and previously Ambassador of Samoa to the United Nations, chaired the Pew Whale Symposium, which brought together government officials, environmentalists, policy makers, scientists and others from around the world.

“The moratorium on commercial whaling remains a singular environmental accomplishment and is responsible for saving many species of whales from extinction,” said Joshua Reichert, managing director of the Pew Environment Group and host of the symposium. “However, amid growing signs that the moratorium is weakening, with more whales killed in 2006 that in any year since it went into effect in 1986, I am encouraged by a renewed sense of commitment to the long-term conservation of the world’s whales.”

The Pew Environment Group would like to see a resolution to the entrenched positions within the IWC. It held a first symposium in New York in April 2007, bringing together the conservation community, scientists, policy experts and others from both inside the ‘IWC community’ and beyond. The Tokyo symposium has taken the dialogue a step further. By holding the symposium in the heart of the main pro-whaling country, we have opened up the dialogue to those interested in effective and possibly pragmatic solutions. The results of the Pew Whale Symposium precedes the 6-8 March 2008 Intersessional meeting of the IWC in London, England and the annual meeting in Santiago, Chile, this June.

“The Tokyo Symposium was designed to seek a way forward and away from the impasse that dominates the work of the IWC. We invited participants to engage in an open and constructive dialogue that would inform and broaden perspectives, and to do so with real understanding,” said Judge Neroni Slade. “Ultimately, it is that degree of understanding that will produce the ability and confidence for all parties to face up to the realities of feasible alternatives and, hopefully, to find solutions.”

In his chairman’s summary of the symposium, Judge Slade noted several important areas of agreement:

1. The International Whaling Commission has produced significant benefits for whale conservation, but conflict at the IWC is escalating.
2. Endangered whale species and depleted stocks deserve absolute protection. Recovery is progressing for some species but not for others.
3. An internationally-accepted solution is preferable, although whether the political will exists to support such an outcome is uncertain.
4. Relative to other international conventions, the IWC is outdated, less transparent, flexible and responsive. The International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling itself does not include many elements of more modern international conservation agreements, such as references to the precautionary approach, ecosystem approach, or conflict resolution – or clear criteria or definitions.
5. Finally, there are a range of important legal, scientific, ethical, social and cultural issues that need to be considered in defining a way forward. Ultimately, however, the resolution of these conflicts is political not scientific.

A comprehensive Chair’s Summary will be prepared this week, and posted on this website within two weeks, after participants have had a chance to offer feedback on a first draft.

The final summary report of the Earth Negotiations Bulletin team is available in English. The Japanese version will be available soon.

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Chairperson

Judge Tuiloma Neroni Slade, former Presiding Judge of the International Criminal Court; previously Ambassador of Samoa to the United Nations; Chairman of the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) and leader in the climate change negotiations; and former Co-Chairman of the United Nations Informal Consultative Process on Oceans and the Law of the Sea (UNICPOLOS).

Secretariat

Rémi Parmentier, Senior Policy Consultant, Pew Environment Group.

Kelly Rigg, Director of the Varda Group.

Alex García Wylie, Associate of the Varda Group.

Monica Medina, Director of the Pew Whales Project.

Duncan Currie, Barister.

Vanessa Goad, Associate of the Varda Group.

Whales in the Media

Read the NY Symposium Bulletin

Click here for ENB online reporting of the Whale Symposium.