Whales Threatened Again

[Guest guest]

Whales under threatOn Thursday a proposal will be unveiled that would legalize commercial whale hunting for the first time for 24 years.A group of influential countries are negotiating the proposal right now in Florida. Once they make the proposal public, submitting it for adoption by the International Whaling Commission in June, it will be too late to influence its contents.An outcry now, in the days and hours before the release of the proposal, could stiffen the spines of negotiators who want to protect whales by keeping whaling illegal. Avaaz has launched a last-minute petition, which will be hand-delivered to the negotiators each time it reaches 100,000 signatures so please sign here and forward this message: www.avaaz.org/en/whales_under_threat/?vlA strong international consensus has opposed whaling for decades but for just as long, Japan, Norway and Iceland have continued to hunt whales, ignoring the global ban on whaling or exploiting a loophole by claiming their expeditions were "scientific research".Today those countries and others are negotiating a 'compromise' proposal on whaling in which their activities would be made legal, in exchange for a promise to phase out whaling in ten years' time. However experts and conservationists around the world fear that this promise will come with no enforcement mechanism, making it meaningless. Worse still, a number of other countries are watching the process closely and there are rumours that they plan to start whaling if the proposal goes through. If Japan, Norway and Iceland can hunt whales and sell their meat, others will ask "if them, why not us?" It's time to save the whales - again. Click below and forward this message to oppose the legalization of commercial whale hunting:www.avaaz.org/en/whales_under_threat/?vlThe fact that we have reached this moment is a testament to the power of social movements. Forty years ago many species of whale were on the brink of extinction but after a worldwide call to action a global ban on commercial whaling took effect in 1986. While many whale species are still endangered, the ban has made a massive difference, bringing some species back to healthy levels. It is one of the environment movement's great triumphs. Today whales face many threats: not just the whalers' harpoons, but also climate change, destruction of ecosystems by overfishing and pollution and nets intended for fish. A renewed wave of commercial whaling could devastate these extraordinarily intelligent and social cousins of humanity. This is no time to move backwards.With hope, Ben, Ricken, Paula, Iain and Luis Support the Avaaz community! We're entirely funded by donations and receive no money from governments or corporations. Our dedicated team ensures even the smallest contributions go a long way -- donate here.Avaaz.org is a 4.2-million-person global campaign network which works to ensure that the views and values of the world's people shape global decision-making. ("Avaaz" means "voice" or "song" in many languages.) Avaaz members live in every nation of the world; our team is spread across 13 countries on 4 continents and operates in 14 languages. Learn about some of Avaaz's biggest campaigns here or follow us on Facebook or Twitter.To contact Avaaz, please do not reply to this email. Instead, write to us at www.avaaz.org/en/contact or ring us on +1-888-922-8229 (US) or +55 21 2509 0368 (Brazil).