From November 30th through December 4th, 1998, a team of NRDC experts and partners in the campaign to save the gray whale nursery in Laguna San Ignacio, Mexico attended a meeting of the United Nations World Heritage Committee in Kyoto, Japan. To focus international attention on a proposed industrial salt factory in Laguna San Ignacio, the last untouched nursery of the Pacific gray whale, the team urged the Committee to designate the lagoon and two others making up the "Whale Sanctuary of El Vizcaino" as a World Heritage Site "In Danger". They also took the case against the saltworks for the first time to the Japanese media and public and to Mitsbushi's headquarters in Tokyo.

The World Heritage Committee agreed to send an on-site mission to the whale sanctuary. This critical first step in the process of securing "In Danger" status represents real progress in the campaign to save Laguna San Ignacio.

K y o t oD i s p a t c h e s

Prologue | Mon, 11/30 | Tue, 12/1 | Wed, 12/2 | Thu, 12/3 | Fri, 12/4

PROLOGUE

Midway to Japan, 11/28 - It has been more than a year since we started thinking about seeking "In Danger" status for Laguna San Ignacio under the World Heritage Convention and five months since we began planning for the World Heritage Committee meeting in Kyoto. In just eight hours I'll meet up with the rest of our team there.

Everything has come together well for what should be a very important next step in our three-year campaign to save the last pristine gray whale nursery at Laguna San Ignacio.

Just before I left home in Washington for the airport, I got an email message from team member Mark Spalding about the first day of the Bureau meeting yesterday. (The Bureau of the World Heritage Committee is made up of seven governments which are members of the Committee. The Bureau makes recommendations for action by the full committee.) Mark had already successfully engaged with the Mexican, U.S., and other delegations. A representative of the World Heritage Centre -- the Secretariat for the Convention -- mentioned that they already had received 1,000 emails and 800 letters about Laguna San Ignacio. Yet more evidence of what I have seen repeatedly during this campaign: individual expressions of concern by thousands of our members and other citizens do make a difference. On Monday, we will deliver 30,000 more messages to the Committee.

Mark was almost swamped by Japanese media eager to learn more about the controversy over Laguna San Ignacio. Up to this point, there has been no coverage of the saltworks controversy in the Japanese press. Our message is simple and clear: Mitsubishi would never even contemplate such a project in a World Heritage Site -- such as the stand of ancient cedars on Yakushima Island -- in Japan. Why should the company be able to destroy one in another country?

I am eager to learn more about the World Heritage system and to meet with other environmental organizations interested in energizing it. I have already been in touch with the Wilderness Society in Australia. The Society and the traditional people of the Kakadu National Park will be mounting a major effort in Kyoto to have that site declared "In Danger" -- Australian environmentalists are fighting plans to build a uranium mine within the park. Our own Yellowstone National Park, facing a similar threat, was declared "In Danger" in 1995. -- Jacob Scherr

The conference hall just before the start of the committee meeting. Jacob Scherr, right, holds up a few of the 30,000 petitions NRDC presented to the World Heritage Committee.

MONDAY, 11/30

Kyoto, 11:45 p.m. - I arrived at our hotel last night about 9:00 and met up with the other members of our group who had attended a non-governmental forum on World Heritage in Japan earlier in the day. Kyoto itself is the home to many shrines and temples which are World Heritage sites.

This morning, we took six boxes of petitions to the International Conference Center. When we arrived, there was a demonstration underway opposing uranium mining in Kakadu National Park. Once inside, however, it was much quieter than at the global warming talks held a year ago at this same conference center. There is just a handful of non-governmental organizations represented at the meeting. We were told that we cannot register for the meeting until the Committee grants us permission to attend. In contrast, there were hundreds of NGOs freely admitted to the climate negotiations last year. It is clear that the World Heritage Committee is something of a relic of an earlier era when U.N. bodies were not terribly open to participation by NGOs.

Taiko drummers performing at a lunch for the World Heritage Committee. Patricia Martinez, spokesperson for NRDC's Mexican partners.

After receiving our official entry badges and attending a lunch accompanied by taiko drummers, we held a press conference to explain our call upon the World Heritage Committee to designate Laguna San Ignacio "In Danger." Patricia Martinez started off by describing the unique beauty and natural importance of the area and the determination of Mexican environmental groups to protect it. Then Mark Spalding described the letter the Mexican groups, NRDC and the International Fund for Animal Welfare sent to the World Heritage Committee in June describing the dangers to the lagoon. Finally, I presented the 30,000 petitions from NRDC members in support of the "In Danger" listing. I pointed out that not only does Japan have a responsibility for its own heritage sites, but, as a major economic power with interests in many other countries, it also has an obligation to avoid harm to sites in other countries, including Laguna San Ignacio in Mexico.

We were told later that the World Heritage Committee has never before received such an outpouring of public concern as our petitions demonstrate. We asked about the procedure for formally submitting the petitions to the Committee and were told there isn't one, nor any precedent for doing so. Nonetheless, the president of the Committee, Ambassador Matsuura, graciously accepted them and indicated that the Committee would respond.

Joel Reynolds submits our petitions to Ambassador Koichiro Matsuura, President of the World Heritage Committee.

As the day ended, we listened to the beginning of a review of the status of various sites around the world which are already on the World Heritage "In Danger" list. The U.S. delegation pointed to the progress that has been made in addressing the problems at Yellowstone and Everglades National Park, the other American site on the list, but did not suggest that either be removed from the list. It was both refreshing and encouraging to see that the World Heritage Committee was actively pushing, encouraging, and assisting governments to take measures to improve the protection of important natural and cultural sites.

Tomorrow the Committee will take up the question of status of other sites, including Laguna San Ignacio and the rest of the Whale Sanctuary of El Vizcaino. At this point, the Bureau has not recommended that any new sites be added to the list. However, we are confident that there will be action taken to signal international concern about Laguna San Ignacio. -- Jacob Scherr

One of Kyoto's temples, which is inscribed as a World Heritage Site.

TUESDAY, 12/1

Kyoto, 11:00 p.m. - This is my first visit to Kyoto, a remarkable city full of historic and cultural sites already included on the World Heritage list. At this time of year, the sun is bright, the air is clear and cool, and the leaves on the Japanese maple trees are at a colorful peak of red, yellow, and orange. Almost immediately upon arriving, though, we headed for the Kyoto Conference Center, where we will spend our days in overheated, windowless rooms arguing the case for protection of Laguna San Ignacio.

Yesterday, as Jacob described, we had some fun delivering the largest number of petitions ever received by the World Heritage Committee in support of a single application for either listing of a site or designation of a site as "In Danger" -- an amazing tribute not only to Laguna San Ignacio but to the NRDC members who generated the more than 30,000 petitions.

The petitions also served as "Exhibit A" at our opening press conference, held before an overflow crowd of Japanese press. For most of the reporters, this was the first opportunity to learn about Laguna San Ignacio, the Mitsubishi saltworks project, and NRDC’s campaign to stop it.

Today we arrived at the conference center just as the morning session was beginning. One by one the World Heritage Bureau’s recommended actions were described by the director, focusing first on existing "In Danger" sites -- including Yellowstone and Everglades National Parks -- and, second, on the far greater number of World Heritage sites about which there are concerns. The committee members from around the world reacted, with decisions taken by consensus. Nothing can be included on the list of World Heritage sites without the consent of the home country; by contrast, once listed, a site can be designated "In Danger" even over the home country’s objection.

Appeals to the World Heritage Committee for an "In Danger" designation can face an uphill battle, because many countries want to avoid the heightened international attention and scrutiny that "In Danger" status brings. There must be a compelling case of risk, demonstrated through a mission to conduct careful on-site study.

That is precisely the step that the Bureau, with NRDC’s support and Mexico’s acquiescence, recommended in the case of Laguna San Ignacio. At 11:00 a.m., the Bureau’s recommendation was presented to the Committee and accepted without objection. For its next meeting in December 1999, the Bureau will send a mission to Mexico and prepare a report on the "state of conservation" of the Whale Sanctuary of El Vizcaino.

We are extremely pleased. The Committee’s action not only signals its concern about the potential impacts of the saltworks project on the lagoon, but it formally begins the approval process for designating the region as a World Heritage Site "In Danger." For NRDC and our Mexican partners, today’s action is a major success -- an important step toward our goal in protecting and preserving Laguna San Ignacio. -- Joel Reynolds

Jacob Scherr continues - We discussed the planned mission with Oscar Ramirez, head of the Mexican delegation, and with staff of the World Heritage Centre. We hope that the mission can be scheduled in early 1999 when the gray whales are in residence at the lagoons. We indicated our willingness to assist the mission in any way we can.

Delegates to the meeting were met by demonstrators opposing a uranium mine in the Kakadu National Park in Australia.

We spent the afternoon listening to the debate over the most controversial issue at this meeting -- the proposed "In Danger" designation of the Kakadu National Park in the Northern Territories of Australia. Kakadu is one of just 20 sites recognized both for their extraordinary cultural and natural values. Kakadu has rock art and other artifacts dating back some 13,000 years. The park contains internationally important wetlands, spectacular escarpments, and a wide range of habitats and species. The "traditional owners," the Mirrar Aboriginal people, together with the Wilderness Society and every other major environmental group in Australia, are fighting the continued construction of a major uranium mine at Jabiluka within the site.

At its June 1998 meeting, the Bureau decided to send a mission to Kakadu and its report, presented in Kyoto, included recommendations that the construction of the mine be halted and the park placed on the "In Danger" list. The Australian Government mounted a full-court press against the report. The Aboriginals and their supporters were very much in evidence in and outside the conference center. The debate was quite heated and a major story in the Australian media. In the end, Australia was given six months to submit additional information regarding the potential impacts of the mine, which will be subjected to independent scientific review before the Bureau makes a decision. The Committee asked the Australian government to halt construction of the mine during this period. The conservative Australian government immediately rejected the demand. Jacqui Katona, the spokeswoman for the Mirrar people said the Committee’s decision was "a big win" in their struggle against Jabiluka. Alec Marr of the Wilderness Society, who has been at the center of the Kakadu campaign for three years, was eager to share his experience and insights with us. (For more information, see http://www.mirrar.net/ or www.wilderness.org.)

We learned a lot from the debate over Kakadu, which has many parallels to the case in Laguna San Ignacio. Both involve major resource extraction activities which will harm the environment and undermine the well-being of the local people. As repeatedly noted in the Japanese press, Japan would be the principal customer for the uranium from Kakadu and the salt from Laguna San Ignacio.

WEDNESDAY, 12/2

Kyoto, 11:30 p.m. - Over breakfast, I met with Alec Marr and James Martin-Jones, Director of the Global 200 Initiative of the World Wildlife Fund. We agreed on the importance of the World Heritage Convention, which is not well-known even among environmentalists, and the need to generate much more support for its implementation. Environmental groups worldwide could be much more active in pressing governments to fulfill their promises to protect these areas. Also we could encourage and assist governments with their own national World Heritage efforts.

On the bullet train to Tokyo, Joel Reynolds, Patricia Martinez, Naoko Funahashi, and Jacob Scherr, left to right, prepare for meeting with Mitsubishi.

In regard to this last point, I was intrigued by a conversation later that morning with Alexey Butorin of Greenpeace, who came to Kyoto as a member of the Russian delegation. For the past three years, Greenpeace has been working with the Russian government -- a newcomer to the convention -- to nominate a number of important natural sites for "World Heritage" status. Alexey was pleased that the Committee had just decided to grant such status to the Golden Mountains of Altai, which are home to rare and endemic species, including the snow leopard.

In the afternoon, we boarded a bullet train to Tokyo where we will meet with Mitsubishi tomorrow. Joel and I have had numerous discussions and contacts with Mitsubishi’s U.S. subsidiary, but this will be the first time we will have an opportunity to make our case against the saltworks to Mitsubishi officials in Japan. -- Jacob Scherr

The Center of Ginza in downtown Tokyo.

THURSDAY, 12/3

Between Tokyo and Kyoto, 8:30 pm - We awoke in Tokyo to a cold wet morning and were met in our hotel lobby by Mr. Murase from Mitsubishi who accompanied us on the subway ride to the one of the company's office buildings close to Tokyo's main train station.

At 10:00 a.m. we were brought into a room with a large gray and white marble table, and sat across the table from the Mitsbushi team. There was one familiar face among the eight Mitsubishi officials -- James Brumm from Mitsubishi in New York, with whom we have met a number of times over the past two years. He was on his way back from a trip to Asia and stopped in Tokyo to participate in our meeting.

Next to Mr. Brumm was Hajime Koga, another member of Mitsubishi's board of directors and the general manager of the quot;Basic Chemicals Division Bquot; which is directly responsible for salt production. The other Mitsubishi participants included two top members of the quot;Salt Team,quot; which oversees Mitsubishi's involvement in the Baja California, Mexico saltworks, and ranking Mitsubishi officials responsible for environmental issues.

We explained our opposition to the proposed construction of the saltworks at Laguna San Ignacio and talked about the growing public concern about the project in Mexico, the United States, and worldwide. We described the World Heritage Committee meeting still underway in Kyoto and the Committee's decision to send a mission to Mexico to review the situation at Laguna San Ignacio and the other two lagoons that make up the Whale Sanctuary of El Vizcaino. We expressed the hope that Mitsubishi would withdraw from the proposed saltworks and take steps to preserve Laguna San Ignacio and to address toxic spills and other pollution problems at its existing Guerrero Negro salt facility.

Mr. Brumm and Mr. Koga reiterated Mitsubishi's commitment not to proceed with the project if the environmental assessment now underway shows that the saltworks would harm the whales or the environment of Laguna San Ignacio. We agreed on the need for openness and participation in the environmental review process in Mexico, but made clear our disagreement on the threshold question of whether it is permissible or appropriate to build a major industrial facility at Laguna San Ignacio. The project had already been rejected once, in 1995, by environmental officials in Mexico as incompatible with the protected status and natural values of the site. The experience at Mitsubishi's existing facility as well as the first environmental assessment for the project was convincing evidence that the saltworks would transform and degrade Laguna San Ignacio.

We presented Mr. Koga with a few hundred letters and petitions from our members and other citizens against the proposed saltworks. We were surprised to learn that Mitsbushi has now received some 600,000 such messages of opposition -- about twice our own previous estimate. It was clear that this outpouring of concern has now gotten the attention of those at the very top levels of the company.

Mr. Koga told us that this was the first time in his 30 years in the chemicals business that he had met with environmentalists, and that he was quot;impressed.quot; We agreed to meet in Guerrero Negro in January with Mitsubishi officials, managers of the saltworks, and, we hope, Mexican government environmental enforcement officials. We will be discussing the need to increase the openness of the continuing investigation of toxic spills and turtle deaths at the existing saltworks and of the ongoing environmental study of the proposed plant at Laguna San Ignacio.

The meeting ended about 11:30 and we went for lunch and a brief walk through the Ginza district, which was decorated for Christmas and crammed with shoppers. Joel, Laura, Patricia, Naoko, and I were all very pleased with how the meeting had gone. We have not yet convinced Mitsubishi to abandon the project, but felt we had a good hearing from one of the key decision-makers in Mitsubishi.

At press conference, Joel Reynolds holds article on saltworks in Japan Times by Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.

In the afternoon we visited the Japanese Environmental Agency. The agency occupies four floors of a 26-story skyscraper with two other government agencies. We met for an hour with about a dozen reporters in the press club within the offices of the environmental agency. Already that day, the Japan Times had printed an article by our colleague Bobby Kennedy [Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.] about the saltworks project and the Asahi Shinbum had published an editorial about the threats -- including Mitsubishi's saltworks -- to World Heritage Sites. The Japanese media also covered comments from Pierce Brosnan (who traveled with us to Laguna San Ignacio in 1997) and Bobby Kennedy, who met with Japanese reporters in New York, about the project.

As Tokyo's rainy rush hour began, we raced back to the hotel and then to the train station for our return trip to Kyoto. We did stop to purchase copies of the evening edition of The Yomiuri Shimbun, Japan's largest newspaper, which contained a half-page ad in Japanese regarding the saltworks project. The ad was placed by the International Fund for Animal Welfare and we signed on along with a number of Japanese environmental groups and our Mexican partner organizations. It's very rare to see such advertising in Japan and I anticipate that our ad will be noticed. -- Jacob Scherr

FRIDAY, 12/4

Between Detroit and Washington, D.C., 4:00 p.m. - Patricia Martinez and I started the morning meeting with a reporter. I then headed out to the conference center to see what was going on during the final day of the World Heritage Committee meeting. Following discussions on the existing sites and the addition of some 30 new sites, the Committee was addressing budgetary and organizational matters. I had a chance to say good-bye to some of the individuals who will be involved in organizing and shaping the World Heritage Committee mission to Laguna San Ignacio next year.

I left our hotel around noon, took the train to Kansai airport in Osaka, and flew back to the United States -- actually arriving in Detroit two hours earlier than my departure from Japan.

This was a very productive and successful trip. We have accomplished our goals of bringing the fight to save Laguna San Ignacio into Mitsubishi's backyard and starting the process of securing "In Danger" status for the lagoon. We have made real progress in the fight to save this unique and very special place for the whales and for all of us. -- Jacob Scherr

First proposed in 1972, the World Heritage Convention is a little-known, but potentially very important, international instrument to hold national governments accountable for protecting the most important natural (and cultural) treasures on the planet. Under the convention, governments recognize that these "biological gems" must be preserved for the benefit of all people and future generations. Among the 552 sites on the World Heritage list are the Grand Canyon in Arizona and the Galapagos Islands of Ecuador.

Laguna San Ignacio is one of three lagoons that are inscribed on the World Heritage list as the "Whale Sanctuary of El Vizcaino (Mexico)." Mitsubishi Corporation and its Mexican government partner plan to build a salt evaporation facility at the still undisturbed Laguna San Ignacio, while the other two lagoons have already been degraded by Mitsubishi's existing saltworks at Guerrero Negro.

The Mexican government has indicated by its own actions that the Whale Sanctuary is indeed "in danger". In 1995, the Mexican environmental ministry rejected the first Mitsubishi proposal for the saltworks at Laguna San Ignacio as incompatible with the protected status and natural values of the area. The ministry later relented and Mitsubishi is now preparing a new environmental review for the project. Mitsubishi points to its existing facility as backing for its claim that salt production does not pose any danger to local ecosystems or wildlife. Yet last July, Mexican environmental officials for the first time documented massive toxic releases at the saltworks -- spills which killed 94 endangered sea turtles as well as other marine life and degraded Laguna Ojo de Liebre.

NRDC experts and partners at the World Heritage Committee meeting include:

S. Jacob Scherr - a senior attorney with NRDC, director of NRDC's International Program, and president of Earth Summit Watch, which monitors national implementation of Earth Summit commitments. Jacob has 20 years of experience with international environmental issues. Currently, Jacob partners with Joel Reynolds to lead NRDC's campaign to save the gray whale nursery.

Joel Reynolds - director of NRDC’s Marine Mammal Protection Project. Together, Joel and Jacob Scherr lead NRDC’s campaign to save the gray whale nursery. Joel’s innovative litigation has stimulated much increased governmental and scientific attention to the noise pollution of the oceans and its adverse impacts on whales and other marine mammals.

Patricia and Laura Martinez - are with Pro Esteros, one of the leading environmental organizations on the Baja peninsula. Patricia and Laura traveled to the Laguna area this spring and met with community leaders. They give voice to the concerns of many Mexicans about the threat posed by the saltworks.

Mark Spalding - an attorney and adjunct professor at the University of California San Diego, and one of the top U.S. experts on Mexican environmental law. Mark has been an integral member of NRDC's gray whale nursery team since flying to Baja California in early 1996 to represent NRDC at a hearing on the terms of reference for the new environmental impact assessment for the saltworks project.

Naoko Funahashi - the Japan Representative of the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), Naoko has had her hands full recently with the launch of a new Japanese whaling vessel, but she has been great in helping us put together Japanese language materials. We have had a great working relationship with IFAW on this campaign. They have undertaken NRDC-style policy and technical advocacy on whale protection issues for years.

Richard Forrest - a consultant who has helped NRDC organize our trip to Japan and reach out to Japanese citizen groups and the media. Fluent in Japanese, Richard previously spent six years living in Tokyo and working on environmental issues for the National Wildlife Federation.

last revised 6.28.99