photo credit: Natura Paparazzo
Last April a major Swiss conglomerate has agreed to stop any seismic testing that had been planned to take place on the Sakhalin Island in the Russian Far East, which is one of the main feeding grounds for the endangered gray whale.
This decision was reached at the meeting called forth by the Western Gray Whale Advisory Panel (WGWAP), which includes 11 prominent scientists in the field, in order to discontinue any gas and oil developments in and around the feeding areas for the Western Gray Whale.
The meeting was held between the WGWAP and the representatives of Shell, Sakhalin Energy (a partnership between Shell, Gasprom and other shareholders), Russian government officials, project lenders and environmental NGOs and ended in an environmental step forward, since the parties agreed to cancel all planned seismic activities in the Russian Far East, despite the fact that the plans were already put to work.
Such small victories are a good example of the fact that even the big conglomerates and corporation when faced with undeniable science as well as provided with a certain amount of compromise can be reasonable. Thus, perhaps it is not too late to save our planet.
