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Greenpeace ship to watch governments meeting
in Bali decide our futures
 Bali,
Indonesia, 27 May 2002: The Greenpeace ship MV Arctic Sunrise
docked in Bali Harbour today, with the intention of being the eyes
of people around the globe. "This conference is about the developing
south and once again they are being sold down the river by their
obese neighbours from the north," said Remi Parmentier of Greenpeace.
Today was the first day of the last pre-meeting
before the Earth Summit in Johannesburg, late August. The Greenpeace
ship, with a crew from around the globe, will stay in Bali until
the end of the meeting on June 7th.
"We know why the ship came to Bali... but
you have to ask why did these governments come here?" said
Parmentier. "They seem to think that the public will believe
that they are doing jobs simply because they showed up at all."
"If they don't get it right and put in place
some hard and fast rules to ensure the protection of the planet,
it will be too late to say sorry.
 "Governments
are abdicating their responsibility to the private sector. The role
of government is to protect the public welfare," said Parmentier.
"This is their last chance to prove that they are prepared
to take a lead and not simply hand control of the planet's populations
and resources over to the corporations."
Greenpeace and the many other NGOs that have worked
constructively on the Summit for over a year now are viewing with
increasing alarm the influence of the US, Australia, Canada and
their OPEC allies, particularly in relation to their attempts to
prevent meaningful action to provide clean, renewable, affordable
energy to two billion of the world's poorest people who currently
have no access to modern energy services.
Media contacts
Contact Remi Parmentier in Bali 08179710054, or
+31 653504732
Susan Cavanagh in Bali 08179710052, or +316 212 96910
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