It will also describe the many IUCN rules and
prior decisions that have been violated. These
include, for example, the important principles of
the Earth Charter passed by the 2004 Congress, as
well as the UN Declaration on the Rights of
Indigenous Peoples, the Convention on Biological
Diversity, the World Heritage Convention, the UN
Declaration on Human Rights, the International
Covenant on Economic and Social Rights, among many
others.
New Environmental Impact
Assessment. A second
Resolution may demand preparation and acceptance
of a new Environmental Impact Assessment
of the naval base construction near
Gangjeong---free of government control and
censorship---that will include a truly accurate
assessment of the dredging and other impacts on
the soft coral reefs, and the killing of rare
species that are all absent from the government’s
document. (As indicated above, a new
independent EIA is already being prepared by
several outraged IUCN scientists.)
End The Four Rivers
Project. A third Resolution
will demand that Korea immediately discontinue its
notorious Four Rivers Restoration project, and
begin to actually restore the great
rivers to their prior condition.
There is one potential complication.
Unsurprisingly, the attorneys were told by some
IUCN management not to bother with these motions.
They will be “too late,” past deadline, they were
told. And yet, the historical record of IUCN
offers many examples of last minute
submissions. They have always been permitted
if they raise new, urgent,
unforeseen issues, and if at least ten IUCN
members co-sponsor the request. There are already
more than ten willing IUCN co-sponsors. And
they certainly qualify as urgent new
matters for IUCN. If we don’t stop this
destruction now, by the time IUCN meets again in
four years, the corals, the Boreal Digging Frogs
and other species, and many local people will be
dead. We must not let that happen.
#2.
Let the Gangjeong People
Speak.
Information Booth
Crisis. As briefly mentioned
above, the Gangjeong villagers, working to save
habitats, biodiversity, and the Red-List species
from the military’s destruction, applied a few
months ago through official IUCN channels for
permission to set up one “information booth” among
the dozens of others that have been okayed within
the convention center throughout the
meeting. That would seem a benign enough
request, but a runaround ensued. Instead of
routinely okaying the application, the IUCN passed
it to the Korean government (the KOC, mentioned
above) which is heavily invested in
silencing any and all opposition to the
base or the Four Rivers project. Korean newspapers
have also been silenced on these matters.
Repeated efforts over recent weeks to confirm
permission for the information table were ignored.
Finally, a few days ago, they received an official
letter from the Director of IUCN’s Constituency
Support Group, Enrique Lahmann. He said
this: “Unfortunately, we are not able to
accommodate your request for an exhibition booth
at the WCC.” That’s it. No reason was
given. And no explanation of how this
fullfills official IUCN proclamations of democracy
and inclusiveness.
No Protest Allowed Within Two
Kilometers. Meanwhile, the
Korean government announced that it would not
permit any demonstrations or even picketing within
two kilometers of the Convention. So, no
information table inside. No demonstrations
outside. Where are we again? Isn't
South Korea supposed to be a democracy?
During the upcoming Assemblies, IUCN leaders
must at last denounce the government for
these appalling moves, and permit the villagers,
who are actually doing IUCN’s work, to not only
have their information table inside the
convention, but if they so choose, to go ahead and
demonstrate freely outside, just as if this were a
democratic society.
Addressing the Full
Assembly. All of the above is
not enough. The Gangjeong community should
be permitted ----no, invited by IUCN
leadership---to address the opening and/or closing
plenary of the IUCN convention, to provide the
full story of this local disaster and what they
are going through. If the government
resists, the IUCN leadership should insist.
We all need to hear from the indigenous local
farmers and fisher-people, and the custodians of
the sacred sites, about what they have seen and
experienced. Everyone needs to hear
this. After all, we are meeting on their
indigenous soil, on their island, on the coast
that has nurtured them for thousands of years.
So, our own group inquired as to the
possibility of the villagers speaking at the
assembly, but we were told by IUCN officials, as
above, that all South Korean presenters have to be
approved by the government.
Here’s some good news. Several IUCN
member groups have already (quietly) invited local
leaders to participate in some of the groups’ own
scheduled workshop panel time to tell the
Gangjeong story. (In our next letter, we will
brief you on who is speaking and at what time. By
delaying this announcement, we hope to avoid
government crackdowns against the
groups.)
#3. Go
Visit the Destruction Sites, and the Sacred
Sites.
Members of our committee, and our Korean
colleagues, will be arranging tours of Gangjeong
village, the sacred sites that are threatened, and
the front-lines of the ongoing confrontation
between the villagers and the police at the
construction site. It is horrifying and inspiring.
(If you want to join those outings, please respond
to:
gangje...@gmail.com.)
It’s very easy to get there---ten minutes by local
bus.
#4
Institutional
Self-Examination.
Finally, we suggest that all IUCN members
take this moment to assess what is happening in
Jeju, and to initiate a process of institutional
self-examination, questioning and
re-organization. None of us can afford to
lose the moral and ethical leadership of one of
the world’s greatest organizations. We need to do
whatever is necessary to assure that IUCN will
revive its historical mandate to place Nature
first, and to protect social justice.
Thank you for your attention.
Please let us know if you want to see the
proposed resolutions; we will forward you the
final texts when they are complete. We can also
forward you the new independent Environmental
Impact Assessment, when it is completed. And
you can sign up for a visit and tour of Gangjeong
Village and the military construction site.
(OUR EMAIL ADDRESS IS BELOW.)
EMERGENCY ACTION TO SAVE JEJU
ISLAND
ORGANIZING
COMMITTEE:
Christine Ahn
Global Fund for Women; Korea Policy
Institute
Imok Cha, M.D.
SaveJejuNow.org
Jerry Mander
International Forum on
Globalization
Koohan Paik
Kauai Alliance for Peace and Social
Justice
INTERNATIONAL SUPPORT
GROUP:
Maude Barlow
Food and Water Watch, Council of Canadians
(Canada)
John Cavanagh
Institute for Policy Studies (U.S.)
Vandana Shiva, Ph.D.
Navdanya Research Organization for Science,
Technology and
Ecology (India)
Douglas Tompkins
Conservation Land Trust, Foundation for
Deep Ecology (Chile)
Victoria Tauli-Corpuz
Tebtebba Indigenous Peoples' International Centre
for
Policy Research and
Education (Philippines)
Anuradha Mittal
Oakland Institute (U.S.)
Meena Raman
Third World Network (Malaysia)
Walden Bello
Member, House of Representatives
(Philippines)
Tewolde Berhan Gebre Egziabher
Environmental
Protection Authority (Ethiopia)
Lagi Toribau
Greenpeace-East Asia
Mario Damato, Ph.D.
Greenpeace-East Asia
Debbie Barker
Center for Food Safety (U.S.)
Pierre Fidenci
Endangered Species International
(U.S.)
John Knox
Earth Island Institute (U.S.)
David Phillips
Int'l Marine Mammal Project, Earth Island
Institute (U.S.)
David Suzuki
The David Suzuki Foundation
(Canada)
Robert Redford
Actor, founder of Sundance Institute
(U.S.)
Mary Jo Rice
Int'l Marine Mammal Project, Earth Island
Institute (U.S.)
Bill Twist
Pachamama Alliance (U.S.)
Jon Osorio, Ph.D.
Chair, Hawaiian Studies, Univ. of Hawaii
(U.S.)
Sue Edwards
Institute for Sustainable Development
(Ethiopia)
Pacific Environment (Russia)
Bruce Gagnon
Global Network Against
Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space
(Int'l)
Andrew Kimbrell
Center for Food Safety (U.S.)
Jack Santa Barbara
Sustainable Scale Project (New Zealand)
Gloria Steinem
Author, Women’s Media
Center (U.S.)
Medea Benjamin
Code Pink, Global Exchange (U.S.)
Randy Hayes
Foundation Earth (U.S.)
Noam Chomsky
Massachusetts
Institute of
Technology (U.S.)
Renie Wong
Hawaii Peace and Justice (Hawaii)
Kyle Kajihiro
Hawaii Peace and Justice and
DMZ-Hawaii (Hawaii)
Terri Keko’olani
Hawai’i Peace and Justice and International
Women's Network Against
Militarism (Hawaii)
Wayne Tanaka
Marine Law Fellow, Dept. of Land & Natural
Resources (U.S.)
(signing independently)
Tony Clarke
Polaris Institute (Canada)
Sara Larrain
Sustainable Chile Project (Chile)
John Feffer
Foreign Policy in Focus (U.S.)
Victor Menotti
International Forum on Globalization
(U.S.)
Arnie Saiki
Moana Nui Action Alliance (U.S.)
Nikhil Aziz
Grassroots International (U.S.)
Lisa Linda Natividad
Guahan Coalition for Peace and Justice
(Guam)
Rebecca Tarbotton
Rainforest Action Network (U.S.)
Kavita Ramdas
Visiting Scholar, Stanford U., Global Fund for
Women (India)
Raj Patel
Institute for Food and Development Policy/Food
First (U.S.)
Alexis Dudden
Author, Professor of History, Connecticut
University (U.S.)
Timothy Mason
Pastor, Calvary by the Sea, Honolulu
(U.S.)
Katherine Muzik, Ph.D.
Marine Biologist, Kulu Wai, Kauai
(U.S.)
Claire Hope Cummings
Author, Environmental attorney
(U.S.)
Ann Wright
U.S. Army Colonel, Ret., Former U.S. Diplomat
(U.S.)
Buffy Sainte-Marie, Ph.D.
Educator, Singer-Songwriter (U.S.)
Yong Soon Min
Professor, University of California, Irvine
(U.S.)
Eugeni Capella Roca
Grup d’Estudi I Protecció d’Ecosostemes de
Catalunya (Spain)
Jonathan P. Terdiman, M.D.
University of California, San Francisco
(U.S.)
Evelyn Arce
International Funders for Indigenous Peoples
(U.S.)
Brihananna Morgan
The Borneo Project (Borneo)
Frank Magnota, Ph.D.
Physicist
(U.S.)
Delia Menozzi, M.D.
Physician (Italy)
Aaron Berez, M.D.
Physician (U.S.)
Begoña Caparros
Foundation in Movement: Art for Social Change
(Uganda)
Antonio Sanz
Photographer (Spain)
Cindy Wiesner
Grassroots Global Justice (U.S.)
Gregory Elich
Author, “Strange Liberators" (U.S.)
Joseph Gerson, Ph.D.
American Friends Service Committee
(U.S.)
Piljoo Kim, Ph.D.
Agglobe Services International (U.S.)
Peter Rasmussen
He-Shan World Fund (U.S.)
Wei Zhang
He-Shan World Fund (U.S.)
Harold Sunoo
Sunoo Korea Peace Foundation (U.S.)
Soo Sun Choe
National Campaign to End the Korean War
(U.S.)
Angie Zelter
Trident Ploughshares, (UK)
Ramsay Liem
Visiting Scholar, Center for Human Rights, Boston
College (U.S.)
Kerry Kriger, PhD
Save The Frogs (U.S.)
Marianne Eguey
Jade Associates, (France)
Claire Greensfelder
INOCHI-Plutonium Free Future
(U.S.-Japan)
Laura Frost, Ph.D.
The New School (U.S.)
Chris Bregler, Ph.D.
New York University (U.S.)
David Vine
Assistant Professor, American University
(U.S.)
Simone Chun
Assistant Prof., Gov’t Department, Suffolk U.,
Boston (U.S.)
Matt Rothschild
Editor, The Progressive magazine (U.S.)
Henry Em
Professor, East Asian Studies, NYU
(U.S.)
Eric Holt-Gimenez
Institute for Food and Development Policy
(U.S.)
Maivan Clech Lam
Professor Emerita of Int'l Law, CUNY
(U.S.)
Mari Matsuda
Professor of Law, Richardson Law School, Univ. of
Hawaii (U.S.)
Beth Burrows
The Edmonds Institute (U.S.)
Aileen Mioko Smith
Green Action (Japan)
Susan George, Ph.D.
Transnational Institute (The
Netherlands)
Marianne Manilov
The Engage Network (U.S.)
S. Faizi
Institute for Societal Advancement,
Kerala (India)
Syed Ashraf ul Islam
Ministry of Food & Disaster Management
(Bangladesh)
Manaparambi Koru Prasad
Kerala
Local Self Government
Department (India)
Hernán Torres, Director
Torres
Asociados Ltda. (Chile)
Carlo Modonesi
Environmental Biologist, Parma University
(Italy)
Andrej Kranjc
Secretary-General, Slovenian Academy of Sciences
and Arts (Slovenia)
Ning Labbish Chao
Bio-Amazonia Conservation International
(U.S.)
Perumal Vivekanandan
SEVA (India)
David Newsome
Environmental Science and
Ecotourism, Murdoch University, Perth
(Australia)
And:
Korean
Federation for Environmental Movement
and
Citizen
Institute for Environmental Studies (South
Korea)