Action Alert - Jabiluka

Peace Movement Aotearoa

The message which follows is from FoE Sydney, comments on it should be addressed to them.

John Hallam
Friends of the Earth Sydney,
Suite 15,
1st Floor, 104 Bathurst Street,
Sydney, NSW, 2000.
Fax(61)(2)9283-2005 ph(61)(2)9283-2006.
[email protected]
http://homepages.tig.com.au/~foesyd

MODEL LETTER RE KAKADU TO WHC KYOTO MEETING NOV27 WRITE NOW

Dear People, (in Australia and especially elewhere)

I'M SENDING THIS A SECOND TIME BECAUSE IT IS NOW ONLY 11 DAYS TO THE KYOTO MEETING, WHERE THE WORLD HERITAGE COMMITTEE WILL DECIE THE FATE OF KAKADU. The World heritage Committee and Bureau are meeting in kyoto over Nov27-Dec5. About the most controversial item on their agenda will be putting kakadu on the list of World Heritage in Danger.

A major Japanese utility (which i assume to be kansai) is already attempting to counter tne lobbying we hae been doing, and so will the Australian government.

So we need to keep a steady strem of letters aimed at primarily the person who will cahir the World heritage Committee when they met in kyoto.

THAT PERSON IS NOT PROFESSOR FRANCESCO FRANCIONI, THOUGH HE WILL STILL BE CHAIRING THE BUREAU. IT IS THE CURRENT JAPANESE AMBASSADOR TO FRANCE, KOICHIRO MATSUURA (FAX BELOW). he needs to get your letters now.

This is the letter which are are hoping you will write something like - but not imitate slavishly.

MODEL LETTER RE KAKADU 'IN DANGER' LISTING FOR KYOTO MEETING OF WORLD HERITAGE BUREAU AND WORLD HERITAGE COMMITTEE, 27NOV-5DEC.

WHO TO WRITE TO:
The chairperson for the World Heritage Committee meeting in Kyoto will be the current Japanese ambassador to France, Mr Koichiro Matsuura. It is now most important to write to Ambassador Koichiro Matsuura. His fax number is:0011-33-1-4227-5081. Professor Francesco Francioni will still chair the meetings of the World Heritage Bureau, so letters to Matsuura should be copied to him and Berndt Von Droste at the World Heritage Centre in Paris on 0011-33-1-456-85570 If you know who your country's WHC representative is and can write to him also please do so.

If you are in the US, the US representative is Mr John Reynolds, deputy director of the National Park Service. His fax is 202-208-7889, email [email protected]

If you are in France, your rep is M. Alain Megret, 33-1-42-19-19-77.

Australians should write direct to Matsuura, Francioni and Von Droste.

YOUR LETTER SHOULD LOOK SOMETHING LIKE THIS, BUT YOU SHOULD NOT FOLLOW WORD FOR WORD! - CUSTOMISE IT AS MUCH AS YOU CAN BUT DO TRY AND COVER THE POINTS IN THIS SAMPLE LETTER.

WHATEVER YOU DO BE RESPECTFUL.- JAPANESE DIPLOMATS ARE PEOPLE WITH WHOM YOU NEED TO BE CAREFUL.

I HAVE DELIBERATELY GIVEN RATHER MORE MATERIAL HERE THAN YOU WILL WANT TO USE. SHORTEN IT IF NECESSARY.

Dear Ambassador Koichiro Matsuura, Professor Francesco Francioni and Berndt Von Droste, [or you can just cc to Von Droste and Francioni]

I am writing to to you because you will be chairing the next session of the World Heritage Committee of UNESCO in Kyoto.

As you would doubtless know by now, the status of the Kakadu National Park, which was visited by a High Level inspection team which included Professor Francioni and Mr Berndt Von Droste, will be discussed at the Kyoto meeting.

I ask you, with the greatest respect, to please list Kakadu immediately as 'in danger'.

Your High level Inspection team has listened to a lot of evidence including from the very highest scientific quarters in Australia, the Australian academy of Science and the Australian academy of Humanities as well as ICOMOS and IUCN, to the effect that the World Heritage values of Kakadu are under threat.

In making a decision as to whether or not to place Kakadu National Park on the 'World Heritage in Danger' list, the following needs to be borne in mind:

1)The World Heritage Committee has already listed the Yellowstone National Park in the US as 'in danger' due to the threat from a nearby gold mine. More damage has ALREADY been done to Kakadu by uranium mining operations.

2)The pristine nature of the RAMSAR-Convention registered wetlands of Kakadu has already been compromised by releases of contaminated mine water.

3)Damage is already being done on the Jabiluka mineral lease by construction that proceeds on a 24 hour a day basis. More damage will be done as construction proceeds.

4)If the World Heritage Committee, having heard and accepted the arguments that it has already heard, does not list Kakadu as 'In Danger', the Australian government will then portray anything less than an immediate and unequivocal 'in Danger' listing as an endorsement of its policies, which include not only the development of the Jabiluka uranium mine in Kakadu National Park, but also the development of the Koongarra and other mines.

5)Anything less than an immediate 'in Danger' listing will create a terrible precedent, in which the UNESCO World Heritage Committee approves or appears to approve, uranium mining in enclaves excised from the heart of a World Heritage National Park. The Australian Government will actively seek to portray it as such.

6) The World Heritage Committee may actually be manoeuvred into 'negotiating' conditions under which uranium might be mined in the middle of World heritage national parks. This is completely contrary to the meaning and purpose of World Heritage.

7) Failure to list Kakadu National Park as 'In Danger' immediately will place the whole original purpose of the listing, which was precisely to prevent such developments in Kakadu, in danger.

8)An immediate 'In Danger' listing will send the clearest possible message, in a form which it cannot ignore, to the government of Australia that current development plans for Kakadu are unacceptable from the point of view of conserving World Heritage.

With the deepest respect I therefore urge you and the World Heritage Committee to list Kakadu National Park as 'in Danger' immediately.

Yours Sincerely, etc.

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