Proposta brasileira de criação do Santuário de Baleias do Atlântico Sul

 Berlim, Alemanha, 17 de junho de 2003

          Mr. Chairman, on behalf of the Brazilian Government I thank you for the opportunity to speak on behalf of the South Atlantic Sanctuary proposal. As you are aware, the Government of Brazil attaches great importance to the issue of sustainability, both in its environmental and social dimensions. Without adequate environmental safeguards, social justice can be seriously compromised, and this is a concern that underlies our Nation’s policies.

          The history of whaling is clearly one of the saddest examples of the violation of sustainability principles, and of undue appropriation of marine resources, a world heritage which is mankind’s shared responsibility to protect. During the entire twentieth century, whaling represented a predatory force which, apart from the environmental damage caused to whale stocks shared by many coastal nations, generated profit concentration in a few developed countries to the great disadvantage of most of the global community.

                   The negation of this destructive and unjust activity by Brazilian society in the late 1980’s was followed by the flourishing of a wide array of sustainable non-lethal uses which maximized the social benefits of the conservation of whales. Scientific research, promoted by public universities and non-governmental institutions; the historic and cultural rescue related to whales and their environment, with a great emphasis in public education and awareness; and the development of whale watching, bringing direct benefits to our coastal communities, are all aspects of this non-lethal appropriation policy which is already fully implemented by Brazil, Argentina, South Africa and Uruguay, making in practice the South Atlantic a zone for cooperation and, at last, of peace for the decimated species of the great whales.

          The International Whaling Commission is at a crossroads; the prospect of the resumption of large-scale commercial whaling is again in the horizon, and while Brazil and other nations are willing to consider the views and needs of whaling countries, it must be made clear that no agreement can be reached if our regional conservation policies are not properly recognized and safeguarded by the Commission against the renewed encroachment of whaling interests entirely alien to our peoples.

          The South Atlantic Sanctuary, as proposed by Brazil, Argentina and its many co-sponsors, is a tool to advance this recognition and to ensure that our participation in good faith on the proceedings of the Commission will not lead to future threats  to our sovereign right to appropriate whale resources non-lethally, on behalf of the peoples of the region and the whole mankind which benefits from their existence.

          It is with great pleasure that Brazil notes that the South Atlantic Sanctuary proposal has been widely acclaimed and supported well beyond the confines of this Plenary, and therefore we commend it for approval here, to bring the Commission in line with the conservation and social needs of the twenty-first century. Once and for all, let’s say yes to the sovereign right of coastal nations to protect their marine resources from the abusive overexploitation by a few, and let the surviving whales enlighten the economy and the lives of our peoples according to conservation policies democratically decided by ourselves. Thank you.