"Glaciers are melting. Forests are retreating. We are changing the seasons. We are running out of fish in the sea. We are poisoning our children with persistent organic pollutants and accumulating waste. And as carbon emissions increase, we find ourselves running out of sky. Distinguished delegates, the measure of success or failure in your efforts to save the world will not be words. The sole measure of your success will be the actions your words become."

Address by Thilo Bode, Executive Director, Greenpeace International, to the Special Session of the UN General Assembly, June 1997

Turning words into deeds

'Business as usual' is no longer an option. The use of renewable resources including land, forest, fresh water, coastal areas, fisheries and urban air is beyond their natural regeneration capacity. Our fragile earth deserves effective programmes and commitments which safeguard its future. It needs solutions, not excuses. It demands actions, not words.

Greenpeace calls on governments and industry to accept that the 1997 Kyoto climate accord marks the beginning of the end for fossil fuels and gives an urgent imperative for investment in renewable energy. A fundamental shift in the world's energy scenario is the pivotal human opportunity of our times. It transcends national politics and vested interest. It provides the essential backdrop to our ongoing search for solutions and safeguards across a range of campaign issues worldwide.

A record of success
Much has been achieved over the year. The acknowledgement by Shell that dumping at sea is wrong in principle and unnecessary in practice is a victory for good sense and a vindication of the Greenpeace Brent Spar campaign.
In December 1997 Greenpeace celebrated the final ratification of the landmark Antarctic Protocol which bans mining for a minimum of 50 years and designates the entire continent and its marine ecosystems a 'reserve devoted to peace and science'. After years of negotiation and a decade of campaigning by Greenpeace, the Protocol will finally safeguard a natural laboratory crucial to our understanding of climate change, ozone depletion and atmospheric pollution.
In September 1997 Greenpeace collected the UNEP Ozone Award for the development of Greenfreeze, a domestic refrigerator free of ozone depleting and significant global warming agents. Widely available in Europe, Greenfreeze technology has also spread through the efforts of Greenpeace to Australia, China, Indonesia, Argentina and Cuba. In Tunisia, Greenfreeze is now an exhibit at the International Centre of Environmental Technologies at Tunis.

Key campaign goals
As we look ahead, however, much remains to be done. Greenpeace will continue to protect our fragile earth by pursuing key goals across a wide range of issues on land, at sea and in the air.

CLIMATE: Prevent dangerous climate change by limiting greenhouse gas emissions; ending new oil exploration; and promoting a shift in investments from fossil fuels to renewable energy.

TOXICS: Protect human and animal health by eliminating sources of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) including PVC and chlorine; promoting cleaner alternatives; and preventing developing nations and the world's oceans from becoming dumping grounds for toxic waste.

OCEANS: Safeguard marine biodiversity by halving the world's large-scale fishing fleet by 2005; preventing fishery bycatch; ending all commercial whaling; and enacting a global moratorium on the expansion of intensive shrimp aquaculture.

NUCLEAR: Protect future generations from the effects of nuclear contamination by stopping radioactive discharges and plutonium transports; and phasing out nuclear power.

FORESTS: Save the remaining 20 per cent of ancient forests by stopping destructive logging practices and ensuring industry adopts ecologically responsible forest management.

GENETIC ENGINEERING: Halt genetic pollution by banning the release of genetically engineered organisms into the environment; preventing transboundary movements of modified organisms; and guaranteeing thorough disclosure to consumers.