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LOGBOOK
4 Feb 2000 - Rainbow Warrior Visits Prachuab Khiri Khan, south
of Bangkok
Greenpeace presents blueprint for sustainable energy in the region.
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Bangkok/Prachuab
Khiri Kan, Feb 4, 1999: The Rainbow Warrior arrived today in this province,
south of Bangkok, to support local community organisations in the campaign
against the Hin Krut and Bornok coal-fired power plants.
The Rainbow Warrior is on a regional tour of Asia as part of a campaign to expose polluters and dirty technology transfer and to highlight the need for clean production. |
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“We are concerned about the potential social and environmental impacts of these proposed fossil fuel technologies which will eventually be a thing of the past,” says Athena Ballesteros, Greenpeace South-East Asia Energy Campaigner. We decided to stop by Hin Krut to help publicise the local opposition to these dirty energy technologies and to promote alternatives, added Ballesteros. |
Greenpeace recently launched a regional report entitled, The
Big Switch - Renewable Independent Power Producers: (pdf file) An Analysis
of Future Independent Renewable Power Production in the South-East Asian Electricity
Sector. The report assesses the economic, employment and environmental options
and threats in the South-East Asian energy sector, and compares the impact
of a power production based on polluting conventional fuel such as coal with
alternatives based on renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies
such as wind, micro hydro, biomass and solar photovoltaics.
“Through the Rainbow Warrior, Greenpeace is presenting an innovative way of
providing reliable electricity supply without compromising the environment
and sustainable livelihoods of local communities” says Pete Wilcox, the skipper
of the Rainbow Warrior.
The Asian region continues to be the biggest market for large scale electricity
production. “Because of diminishing markets in their own backyards, Western
companies have decided to make Asia their biggest dumping ground for fossil
and nuclear technologies”, says Sven Teske, Energy campaigner for Greenpeace
Germany. “Worse still, this alarming trend is orchestrated by international
financial institutions and export credit agencies which only seek to perpetuate
dependence on imported fuel, their world market prices and external capital”
Teske added.
Greenpeace is calling on the companies involved, including Fortum and Gulf
Electric as well as their funders Nordic Investment Bank, Finnish Export Credit
Agency, US and Japan Eximbanks, to demonstrate social and environmental responsibility
by withdrawing from the project and instead switching their investments towards
renewables and energy efficiency.
Below
is an account of the days events by an activist on board the Rainbow Warrior:
10:24 - Rainbow Warrior (RW) approached the shore of Ban Krood district. Some
40 small fishing barges followed our ship carrying people who wanted to visit
her. I saw three barges with strong messages: "We fight for a clean world,"
"No coal power plants," and of course "Welcome Greenpeace." I heard the sound
of firecrackers from the temple on the hill - the locals are getting into
the swing of Chinese New Year.
10:32 - RW's anchor is down. The skipper "parks" RW just about 50 metres away
from the beautiful temple on the hill. A 15-metre high Buddha statue looks
very beautiful. Also the weather is very good and the sea is so calm. Somebody
tells me that this place had bad weather, with very stormy seas, the whole
week just before RW arrived. It's now so quiet, enabling RW to drop anchor.
Blessed arrival, I think.
Energy campaigners from Germany, Sven (Teske), and from the Philippines, Athena,
come aboard RW. I saw a Buddhist monk in the same barge as them. Around 70
people finally come aboard RW.
10:40 - Press Conference onboard. Three TV stations and five reporters cover
the press conference by Pete Wilcox, the skipper. The skipper and local people
exchange flags and take pictures together.
11:00 - Most of the crew and the skipper go ashore for a press conference
and lunch (and tree-planting activities). More people (and of course plain
clothed police and bureaucrats) attend the press conference. Pete Willcox,
Athena and Sven talk about the drawbacks of coal power plants. The crowd cheer
when Athena says that men, women, and children are the important parts of
the campaign against the proposed coal power plants in Ban Krood. They cheer
even more when they know that Greenpeace have targeted Prachuap Kiri Khan
Power Plants as one of their campaigns.
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13:30 - Tree-planting activities: Ban Krood people take the RW crew to an area, occupied illegally by the company for the site of the coal power plant. About 200 trees are planted together by the RW crew and local people. 14:30 - Temple visit. The crew visit a temple that is under construction on top of the hill overlooking the proposed site for the coal power plant. Too beautiful a view to be spoilt by a dirty power plant. Meanwhile, onboard RW Dilip is busy coordinating an open day for the school children of Ban Krood. |
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17:00
- The last round of RW's young visitors. Mathias, the "school bus" driver,
looks relieved to end his endless job.
17:10 - The skipper decides to unfurl the sails and sail away to Bangkok.
The sea is so peaceful.
