When looking for best examples of communications about Biodiversity, I came across this visual created by Julia Diel, a student of The Offenbach Academy of Art and Design (Germany). I think this striking image summarises well the risk we are facing with regards of biodiversity losses!

This visual was created in 2007 for a German campaign Schuetzt biologische vielfalt ( Protect biological diversity ) no longer available online….

“Biodiversity is considered a prerequisite for a functioning ecosystem, and human beings are only capable of surviving in such an ecosystem. The widespread extinction of species is thus a threat to our own existence. In general, however, people have yet to realize this. This campaign is designed to change that. In order to speak especially to people with little interest in environmental protection, the threat is discussed in terms of society. Politics, sports, music, and entertainment all work—just as nature does—only thanks to the uniqueness and the diversity of their protagonists and the interplay between them. When these groups are stripped of their diversity, this demonstrates the fatal consequences such one-sidedness can have and how important it should be for the future to protect biodiversity.”

Source: http://www.hfg-offenbach.de/w3.php?nodeId=3927&pVId=99392232

Caroline Martinot

The GREEN Consultancy was exhibiting at the first Global Business of Biodiversity Symposium yesterday, Tuesday the 13th at Excel, London, UK.

It was a fascinating regrouping of experts from all around the world who intended to draw awareness to environmental issues that our globe is facing, and will be facing in the future if proper measures are not taken. The outcomes of the Human Being’s actions are devastating to ecosystems. We must inform those not aware of this danger, and try to “convince” those aware of it to make efforts in order to make a difference.
Many ignore that “to make a difference” does not mean inconvenience, burden or higher costs.

Specialists, such as the CEO of Conservation International, the CE of Rio Tinto, the Chairman, Head, and former Special Representative of the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and many others, covered different areas from the business world, including marketing, architecture, fashion, construction, agriculture etc. The general idea of the symposium was to bring awareness about the urgency for sustaining the natural living systems or ecosystems that provide us with food, fuel, health, wealth, and other vital services; to show how the problem of biodiversity is equally important to the one of global warming.
Who knows, maybe tuna will become a fish our grand children will not have the possibility to eat?

Strategic measures were suggested in order to promote awareness as well as change:
•    We should talk less about loss, and more about love
•    We should balance need and add action
•    Being “bold” when presenting our ideas is important
•    Always ask others what they want before introducing our needs
•    Use nature to inspire business; use biodiversity as part of business
•    Etc.

An interesting anecdote concluded the symposium:
Does anyone know what ecology means?
Ecology comes from Greek and means: the study of/understanding of home.
And does anyone know what economy means?
Economy comes from Greek as well and means: the study of/understanding of management.
So how can we manage our home if we don’t even know what our home is?

Last Monday, the Convention on Biological Diversity launched a new report: “Global Biodiversity Outlook”.

(more…)

Green is funky, Green is sexy, Green is wacky!

If you think that climate change and sustainability communications are dull and boring, well think again. Here is a sample of exciting comms that intend to showcase environmentally friendly behaviour as cool and sexy.

“God save The Green”

These three short movies directed by Nadege Winter aim to inform people about energy efficiency by diverting the traditional codes of environmental activism.  Imagine that you run into a peep show. You see a beautiful pin-up naked, but instead of engaging in an erotic conversation, the beautiful woman gives you a lesson of ecology.

Unfortunately you can see these only from France. But here is the teaser that will, I hope, feed your imagination.

“Fuck For Forest”

FFF is a project created by a non-profit environmental organisation founded in Norway.  The two persons behind the concept adopted a refreshing perspective to help addressing deforestation issues. FFF basically produces pornographic films whose profits go directly to reforestation projects. They were officially backed by the Norwegian government and received seed funding to help launch the concept.

You can buy their videos here.

“Green Porno”

Green Porno is a series of short movies written and directed by the ex-model and actress Isabella Rossellini. The quirky little movies combine ecology and pornography. Both comic and instructive they are the result of genuine scientific research and observation. They help viewers understand how gnats, cockroaches and other bees reproduce. An anthem to biodiversity….

You can watch the three episodes on Sundance Channel.

Author Caroline Martinot

Author: Caroline Martinot

2010 has been declared the International Year of Biodiversity (IYB) by the United Nations. It was officially launched on January 10th in Berlin by Angela Merkel and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. The global campaign is being run by the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) which was created after the Rio Earth Summit in 1992 to ensure the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity.

The campaign is an opportunity to promote the understanding of ecosystems and to raise awareness of the importance of biodiversity, the variety of life around the planet and how human activity is endangering it. And ultimately to slow if not to stop the extinction of many species.

“You are biodiversity. Most of the oxygen you breathe comes from plankton in the oceans of the world and lush forests around the globe. The fruit and vegetables you eat were likely pollinated by bees, and the water you drink is part of a huge global cycle involving you, clouds, rainfall, glaciers, rivers and oceans.”IYB Message (excerpt)

The campaign aims to impact both the world’s decision makers and citizens.

Indeed, 2010 will be punctuated by a series of official events.  On January 21st and 22nd in Paris, the UNESCO hold an inaugural event to present what we know about biodiversity and raise awareness of the alarming rate of biodiversity loss among world leaders.  During this meeting Ahmed Djoghlaf, Executive Secretary of the CBD highlighted that  member states “failed to fulfil the target to reduce the rate of loss of biodiversity by 2010” and warned that biodiversity was being lost at an “unprecedented rate”; stressing thereby the urgency of drastic actions. But as a good communicator and as recommended by the UN Campaign Guidelines, Ahmed Djoghlaf also instilled optimism and excitement to his audience by reminding them of the regional successes.  “We need to identify these important successes and build upon them as we prepare the next strategic plan of the CBD.”

Current trends make it hard to share his optimism.  Indeed, in 2010, approximately 34,000 plant and 5,200 animal species face extinction (the current global species extinction rate is estimated to be 50 to 1 000 times higher than the natural background extinction rate). Forests are home to much of the known terrestrial biodiversity, however, forest biodiversity is increasingly threatened as a result of deforestation, and about 45 per cent of the Earth’s original forests are gone, mostly during the 20th century. Climate change is also progressively becoming a more significant driver of biodiversity loss.

Anyway, in the UK the IYB is supported by the campaign “Biodiversity is life”. It showcases simple things you can do every day to preserve biodiversity: i.e. “eat organic”, “seek out a rare British food crop or animal, like Scottish Beremeal and support biodiversity by eating it”, “don’t mow your lawn”. There will be also a plethora of events run all over the country for the public. From the dodgy exhibition The Occurrence of Malformation in Amphibians (London 5- 31 March) to the hippie Bristol Festival of Nature (12–13 June).

The UN campaign for biodiversity preservation is well done. The UN have led to a multitude of national and local campaigns. By adopting some clear communication guidelines the UN incites the national actors to apply some basic communications tricks to foster awareness and behaviour change such as targeting audiences, being inspiring and translating the messages into practical actions. It’s tricky to assess the success of such planetary campaigns. The UN seems to be good at mobilising political and it’s a good thing that they delegate the task of communicating to citizen, to local actors. But who remember that 2009 was the International Year of Natural Fibres?

“It is hard to imagine a more important priority than protecting the ecosystem services underpinned by biodiversity. Biodiversity is fundamental to humans having food, fuel, clean water and a habitable climate.” Professor Georgina Mace

Article reproduced, author: Donald Carli*

Most people will tell you that they care about saving our forests, but they tend to be uninformed or misinformed when it comes to knowing the causes of deforestation or some of the places being affected most significantly by land use change that kills trees, pollutes rivers and contributes to climate change. Until recently the conventional wisdom has been to demonize paper and print media as the major culprit behind “killing trees” and to idealize digital media as “green and groovy” alternative without consideration for the full backstory or life cycle footprint of either.

Pixels Don’t Grow on Trees

Paper and print media supply chains are far from being sustainable, but may be far less of a threat to forests than the “Tree-Wash” claims about how digital media saves trees or how pixels are greener than pages. “Tree-Wash” is my term for a special class of “greenwash” making false, misleading or unsupported marketing claims that ignore the causes of deforestation associated with digital media, or that fail to identify the actual trees and forests allegedly being saved or planted.

However, the Copenhagen Climate Summit and technologies developed to verify land use are likely to play a major role in changing the status quo with regard to foot-printing forests, identifying trees and the calculating the climate impacts of coal-powered IT.

Are You Seeing REDD yet?

Deforestation and the sustainable management of the world’s forests are serious issues that should be top of mind given the world’s focus on climate change. Trees sequester carbon equal to half of their dry weight, and scientists estimate that as much 20 percent of total emissions of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide (CO2) are emitted due to deforestation, land use change and forest degradation. For that reason, Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD) is a major issue that will be addressed in Copenhagen.

Sustainable forestry will play an increasingly important role in supporting the literacy and sanitary existence of the world’s growing population. In addition to providing millions of jobs and providing the wood fiber used to produce over 350 million tons of paper per year, the world’s forests also serve as the planet’s “lungs” by converting or “sequestering” atmospheric carbon dioxide into woody biomass and providing other important environmental services. In addition, sustainably harvested forest biomass will increasingly be employed by a new generation of integrated biorefineries to replace fossil fuel energy and petrochemical feedstocks.

According to some reports just one day’s deforestation is equivalent to the greenhouse gas emissions of eight million people flying to New York; in order to address such a serious challenge and provide a basis to monitoring the reduction of deforestation and forest degradation, an impressive array of geo-locative and remote sensing capabilities are being developed to map the world’s forests and identify the location of individual trees with startling precision.

For example, as part of the Global Forest Resources Assessment 2010, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and its member countries and partners is undertaking a global remote sensing survey of forests covering the whole land surface of the Earth. FAO is also providing technical support for national forest assessments and the establishment of national forest monitoring systems. See: Global Forest Resources Assessment

Do You See the Forest or the Trees?

Remote sensing of forest biomass and geo-locative tagging of trees will become increasingly important as the exemption of carbon dioxide emissions from bioenergy use will only be appropriate if there is a system that also counts emissions from deforesting land and land use activities that degrade forest ecologies. In that way, if biomass for energy use results in deforestation, emissions are counted as land use emissions equivalent to fossil fuel emissions. However, these new applications will also be making it possible to stem the tsunami of “Go Digital, Save Trees” Tree-Wash marketing claims that many marketers of e-billing, e-books and digital media have been flooding the market with.

One of the little known but significant causes of deforestation in the United States related to digital media is the practice of Mountain Top Removal, employed to mine the coal used to generate electricity in states like West Virginia. In 2008 over 41 million tons of coal were extracted by means of Mountain Top Removal in West Virginia. Coal provides the majority of electric power in 32 states, and 99 percent of the electricity generated in West Virginia comes from coal.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that by 2013 an area the size of Delaware will have been deforested to extract coal. In addition to the greenhouse gas emissions associated with the energy consumed by digital media’s IT infrastructure, the deforestation, toxic air pollution and water pollution impacts associated with coal mining, coal combustion and coal waste need to be considered before making claims about digital media being greener than print or saving trees.

Truth in Augmented Reality

Deforestation, illegal logging and land-use changes that result in greenhouse gas emissions and other environmental damage are serious matters that billions of people care about. With today’s advanced remote sensing and geo-location capabilities consumers have every reason to expect marketers making claims about their offerings saving trees, or resulting in the planting of trees, to identify the trees in question and account for the life cycle impacts associated with their products. Even if the FTC does not yet prosecute such cases, that would not preclude a competitor from calling on the National Advertising Review Council to review the truthfulness and accuracy of a green marketing claim.

As we enter the “Post Madoff” trust-but-verify age of social-media powered transparency and climate awareness, it is becoming more possible and important than ever to monitor the green message content and supply chain impacts of advertising. Pixels may not grow on trees, but it is increasingly likely that remote sensing and augmented reality pixels can and will be used to hold marketers responsible for the carbon footprint of their media supply chains and the truthfulness and accuracy of advertising claims they make about saving or planting trees.

*Author: Donald Carli
Senior Research Fellow
Institute for Sustainable Communication
http://www.sustaincom.org

By Ben Ferguson and Michael McCarthy, Environment Editor

Monday, 30 November 2009, Independent

Only seven days to go now, in the Countdown to Copenhagen – one week until 192 nations come together to try to negotiate a new international climate treaty that will allow the world to deal with the potentially catastrophic threat of global warming.

Most world leaders, from US President Barack Obama down, will attend the meeting in the Danish capital which begins on 7 December and lasts until 19 December; it will be one of the largest international gatherings ever seen, with about 15,000 delegates and diplomats working behind the prime ministers and presidents who will make the final decisions.

But there is another gathering taking place in Copenhagen, running in parallel with the main conference, and that is the coming together of environmental activists from all over the world, who are flocking to Denmark to cheer the conference on, as it were, and also to give it a few sharp prods – to remind the presidents and the prime ministers doing the deciding that the situation is serious and needs an adequate response.

There may be 10,000 of them. There may be 20,000. There may be even 30,000. Their official focus will be Klimaforum09, the alternative “people’s summit” which will host speakers such as the anti-globalisation activist Naomi Klein, the author and climate campaigner George Monbiot and the radical Indian environmentalist Vandana Shiva. “Klimaforum’s aim is to provide an opportunity for the public to enter into discussion,” said its spokesman Richard Steed. “We’re going to be looking at radical solutions.”

Plenty of people will be offering them. Naomi Klein, the Canadian author whose book No Logo became a key text for anti-globalisation campaigners, contrasted Copenhagen with the “Battle of Seattle”, the angry confrontation with the authorities at the World Trade Organisation conference in 1999, which she took part in.

This time around, she believes, “it’s really tricky for activists in terms of figuring out how you interact with a summit like this. There’s a different dynamic [from Seattle], because the fact is that the people in the streets overwhelmingly support the mission of the meeting in Copenhagen. And, so, they’re not saying ‘no’ to the idea of a climate summit. In fact, they’re saying ‘yes’.”

Friends of the Earth International (FOE) have organised one of the major actions during the conference, known as The Flood. Part of the Global Day of Action on 12 December – the middle Saturday of the conference when the city centre will become a carnival of parades – this will consist of about 3,000 members of the public taking to the streets dressed in blue. They will march towards the Bella Centre, where the main climate conference is being held, after joining up with other groups. “System Change, Not Climate Change” is the slogan for the less formal actions being organised by Climate Justice Action (CJA), the umbrella group for an international network that includes Climate Camp, Focus on the Global South, and the Indian Social Action Forum.

The organisations marching that day plan to convene outside the Bella Centre to show the level of solidarity needed to cut carbon emissions at an appropriate rate. As well as attempting to persuade governments to commit to these targets, the demonstrators will also argue that market-based ideas such as the trading of carbon emissions are merely opportunities for companies to profit from pollution. Most of the protesters reject the involvement of the World Bank in international climate finance.

Exhibitions by members of indigenous populations from Peru, the Philippines and the Arctic will discuss the policies of developed governments, such as the idea of carbon offsetting as a method to reduce carbon emissions. NGOs including The Third World Network, Focus on the Global South and Jubilee South will participate in the official conference and lobby against the dangers of these proposals to local communities.

Crowds are expected to gather in Copenhagen for the arrival of the high delegates on 16 December. At 7pm, during “Earth Hour” the lights of the city will be turned off, sending a message about the need for a commitment to a global climate deal. On the same day, demonstrators will attempt to enter the Bella Centre en masse, turning the debate into the People’s Assembly for Climate Justice.

“We’ll definitely be met with violence from the police,” said UK-based protester Isabel Jama. “CJA has a guideline that we’ll only use our bodies in the protest, and we’re anticipating police tactics to be an obstacle to get around, not to confront. However, this will be different to UK protests where police don’t use teargas, and we’ll be working with legal and medical teams on the day. Danish kids are rowdy and the police use dispersal tactics there.”

Danish officials have taken a firm stance against activism in recent years, and UK protestors are expecting to witness the type of resistance seen in the dismantling of the “Ungdomshuset”, a youth community centre run by activists and musicians in the centre of Copenhagen. When police emptied the building in March 2007, more than 400 people were arrested and teargas was used against the crowds.

The Danish government announced recently that they have turned warehouses and gyms outside the city into temporary prisons, and a new law has been hurried through parliament ahead of the summit to allow police to arrest anyone who they suspect might breach the peace.

“Protests have begun to combat these infringements of civil liberties, and whilst there’s an ideological perspective to their action their point is informed by the environmental agenda that requires a constructive outcome,” said Danish student Seb Ross.

Who’s who: The activists

Never Trust a Cop: anti-capitalist network which formed in April 2009 to mobilise against COP15 and link social struggles and climate activism.

Laboratory of Insurrectionary Imagination: art-activist group from Bristol which is teaming up with Climate Camp, pictured, unleash civil disobedience on Reclaim Power day.

n La Via Campesina: movement which coordinates peasant organisations of small and middle-scale producers to search for sustainable agriculture.

Food Not Bombs: grassroots movement which shares free vegan and vegetarian meals at demonstrations.

Climate Justice Action: global network committed to taking the urgent actions needed to combat climate change

Indian Social Action Forum: national forum of more than 500 social action groups, people’s movements and progressive intellectuals that resists globalisation and defends democracy in India.

Act on Copenhagen

UK Government’s ambition for aglobal deal on climate change
www.actoncopenhagen.decc.gov.uk

Global Climate Week 21^st – 25^th September 2009

As part of the Seal the Deal! Campaign, UNEP are leading the Global Climate Week, which is planned to coincide with the United Nations Secretary-General’s High Level Summit on Climate Change on 22^nd September 2009.

This important week and the lead-up weekend will be marked by synchronized activities in more than 100 cities to urge world leaders to seal a fair and effective climate agreement at the UN Conference on Climate Change in Copenhagen this December.

Global Climate Week will unite efforts, whether individual or collective, calling for urgent action to combat climate change – the greatest challenge of our time.

Cities, organizations, groups and individuals are invited to mobilize their networks and join the effort.

The United Nations is also encouraging communities, businesses and individuals to add their voices to the “Seal the Deal!” campaign during Global Climate Week by signing the online Climate Petition, which will be presented to the governments of the world in Copenhagen, she said. The petition is available at http://www.sealthedeal2009.org/the-climate-petition

According to a statement by UN spokesperson, Michele Montas, “the UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon is calling on communities around the world to take advantage of the week to encourage leaders to seal a fair, balanced and effective agreement on climate change.”

Montas stated that events have been planned in more than 120 countries “for this first Global Climate Week, which coincides with the UN Summit on Climate Change convened by the Secretary-General in New York, on 22 September.”

Be part of Global Climate Week

Enter your Global Climate Week pledge at www.sealthedeal2009.org.Afterwards, share your activities with the world by uploading a report, including video and photos.

The Lead-up Weekend

Day 1 - Saturday 19th
Global Tree Planting Drive

Mass tree planting activities may actually help save the planet! Beginning on 19 September, each tree pledged or planted during Global Climate Week will carry the Seal the Deal! message – a direct call for political action on climate change. Let us know how many trees you are pledging to plant and where. The planting can be part of your Clean up the World activity.
Make sure tree-planters sign the Climate Petition at: www.sealthedeal2009.org. The tree-planting drive is carried out in cooperation with the UN Billion Tree Campaign.

Day 2 - Sunday, 20th
Climate Petition Day

Organize public events or online activities to encourage as many people as possible in every corner of the world to sign the Climate Petition. We need millions to show their support in favour of a definitive agreement on climate change by signing the Climate Petition, which calls on leaders to sign a definitive and equitable agreement on climate change this December.

Global Climate Week

Day 3 - Monday 21st
Climate Change Assembly Day

Young people around the world will hold peaceful assemblies in support of definitive global action on climate change, under the banner “Seal the Deal!” The Climate Petition will be made available online in a print-friendly format to allow campaigners to hand over a meaningful statement to their national and local authorities, urging governments to reach an agreement in Copenhagen.

Day 4 - Tuesday 22nd
Seal the Deal! Green Day

Wear SOMETHING GREEN to show support and solidarity for sealing the deal in Copenhagen on the day the UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, hosts world leaders at a UN High Level Event on Climate Change in New York. Leaders will come face-to-face with the latest support for the Climate Petition.

You can also:

• Arrange for a Seal the Deal! Support Day at work or school
• Add a message to the Climate Wall Twitter, blog, or write an Editorial or a letter to your editor
• Download the Seal the Deal! Screen Saver
• Get creative and do your own thing to show support for urgent action to combat climate change!

Day 5 - Wednesday 23rd
Go Climate Neutral Day

Power down! Go climate neutral for the day in a personal show of support for a definitive agreement on climate change.

Countries, cities, businesses and organizations:

• Pledge innovative action to lessen your carbon footprint.
• Join the UN Climate Neutral Network www.unep.org/climateneutral

Communities and individuals:

• Ride your bike, car pool or take public transport
• Enjoy a candlelit dinner while you turn off the lights
• Find ways to offset your carbon footprint.
• Make a pledge and upload your action, photos, video, songs and comments at www.sealthedeal2009.org

Day 6 - Thursday 24th
Climate Voices Day

Join the global chorus calling on world leaders to act now to protect people and the planet, and to power green growth. Have your voice heard on climate change and acknowledge the heroes and victims of climate change, as well as the individuals and groups who are taking positive action to combat climate change in their communities.

Nominate your local climate champ at www.sealthedeal2009.org

Record your testimonial of how climate change is affecting you at the Climate Wall

Day 7 - Friday 25th
Climate Solutions Day

The latest science shows our climate is changing more rapidly than expected. But it is not too late to change our habits and implement solutions so that humans stop harming the climate. From low energy bulbs to fuel-cell cars, solutions for a low carbon future are evolving every day.

Showcase your green technology innovation and share it with the world at www.sealthedeal2009.org

I attended the UK Premier of ‘Taking Root: The Vision of Wangari Maathai’ from the Green Belt Movement.  Taking Root tells the dramatic story of Kenyan Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Wangari Maathai whose simple act of planting trees grew into a nationwide movement to safeguard the environment, protect human rights, and defend democracy.

The Green Belt Movement (GBM) was founded in 1977 by Wangari Maathai (Nobel Laureate 2004). Green Belt Movement’s approach is based on the premise that truly sustainable development can only take place through recognizing the link between the environment, democracy, and peace.

Through its holistic approach to development, Green Belt Movement addresses the underlying causes of poverty and environmental degradation at the grassroots level. Green Belt Movement programmes use a ten-step development model that mobilizes communities to take action in their local environments. As a result over 40 million trees have been planted and hundreds of thousands of women in rural Kenya have lifted their families out of poverty.

I recommend seeing the film as it a true inspiration to all environmental campaigners. I believe it’s available on DVD at takingrootfilm.com/purchase.htm

The Green Awards Best Green Campaigner category is for those sorts of individuals. See www.greenawards.co.uk/categories_x_16/categories_x_16/best_green_campaigner_award We’re looking for any campaigner who has set a goal or campaign target, has set about achieving it and can explain what they were able to achieve against the odds. Campaigns can be as local as your street, school, college or company or may involve a town, city, borough or even a national campaign.

The Campaigner of the Year will be the individual who is judged to have been most creative in getting results for their chosen issue, regardless of the size of the campaign or the budget.

Wangari Maathai became the first environmentalist and the first African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize. She overcame unimaginable obstacles that most of us never experience in daily life and yet still maintained a vision and reached into the consciousness of ordinary people to empower themselves to protect the environment and in doing so alleviate poverty. I think one thing I took from last night was the thought that no matter how big the problem is we face we can all make a difference and we should never just sit back through apathy when we hear of environmental degradation happening in other parts of the world such as the destruction of the forests. Because ultimately the planet will survive but the human race might not be quick enough to adapt to the changes that lay ahead because of the effects of global warming and climate change. We need to be focussed on our own survival and we need inspirational leaders to engage the mass consciousness. According to Wangari Maathai’s,Oslo, 10 December 2004, ”In the course of history, there comes a time when humanity is called to shift to a new level of consciousness, to reach a higher moral ground. A time when we have to shed our fear and give hope to each other.”

To enter the Best Green Campaigner Category visit: www.greenawards.co.uk/categories_x_16/categories_x_16/best_green_campaigner_award

For more information on the Green Belt Movement who is an Institutional partner for this year’s Green Awards visit:  www.greenbeltmovement.org

IFAW recently scooped Sustain Magazines Business & Society Award for Communication for the Adopt a Humpback Campaign that GREEN produced.

The overall aim of this campaign was to stop Japanese whalers from carrying out their threat to kill humpback whales in a sanctuary in Antarctica. By “adopting” named whales for all UK MPs, we hoped to engage and motivate them to do all they could to deter Japan from killing these 50 humpbacks – a vulnerable species decimated by whaling in the last century.

One of IFAW’s key international campaigns is to end commercial or so-called “scientific” whaling and protect whales. We hoped MPs would support IFAW’s work and continue lobbying against whaling at the annual International Whaling Commission (IWC) meeting.

The overall campaign objective behind the Adopt a Humpback project was achieved, as a few weeks after the campaign was launched, Japan announced that it would not kill any humpback whales during the 2007/early 2008 whaling season in Antarctica’s Southern Ocean Sanctuary. While this may yet turn out to be only a temporary reprieve for these whales (at the time Japan pledged only that it would not take any humpbacks before the 2008 IWC meeting in June), there has been no clear indication since as to when Japan intends to resume the hunt for these whales.

In August 2008, IFAW welcomed the news that the status of humpback whales on the world’s Red List of endangered species has been moved from “vulnerable” to “least concern” after the population made a considerable recovery since the moratorium on commercial whaling came into effect in 1986.

Another aim of the campaign, to engage and motivate MPs to protect the humpbacks and to be active on the whaling issue generally, was also achieved. 154 MPs responded to the adoption pack, with 63 attending the photo call and a further 91 requesting press releases so they could highlight the issue with their local and regional media despite not being able to attend the photo call. Many MPs also used a follow-up press release revealing that the humpbacks were no longer being targeted. More than 100 newspaper stories appeared on the MP humpback adoption campaign, as well as a small amount of radio coverage. In addition, many MPs responded to our request to write to the Foreign Secretary and the Japanese Ambassador on the issue.

The next time we needed MPs to be really active on the whaling issue – in the run-up to this year’s IWC meeting – we sent another eye-catching mailing. This one was designed to build on the interest from the humpback adoption and encourage MPs to write to countries we feared may vote with the pro-whalers in favour of overturning the ban on commercial whaling.

To make this issue as interesting as possible, as well as being informative, we sent them another foldout pack with a teaser message. The outside read “one person” and as it was folded out continued with “influencing one minister”, “can swing one vote”, eventually showing a map of the world with pro-whaling nations, anti-whaling nations and others. It urged MPs to target five countries in particular, and to push for the creation of a new whale sanctuary in the South Atlantic.

Campaign recognition surveys of MPs have shown widespread recognition of IFAW’s Adopt a Humpback campaign and also indicated whaling was one of the issues they received most correspondence about from constituents. In previous years, MPs had told us whaling was not an issue which their constituents often raised with them.

In a meeting with Marine Minister Jonathan Shaw MP prior to this year’s IWC meeting, he said he had received representations from 250 MPs on the issue. To keep MPs interested and active on whaling we intend to keep sending them personalised updates on their whales as and when sightings occur.