Protect Threatened Environmental Resources
 The International Committee of the Sierra Club addresses letters to businesses, governments, and organizations to call their attention to actions that threaten the environment and environmentalists.
January 2003
Addressee: Prime Minister, Iceland
Purpose of letter: Objected to Alcoa's proposed aluminum smelter and related 690 Megawatt hydroelectric power plant at Karahnjukar. The proposed works would jeopardize the Eastern Highlands - the largest wilderness in Iceland and possibly in Western Europe.
Addressee: President, Republic of Turkmenistan
Purpose of letter: Challenged the detainment of Mr. Tukhbatullin, a member of an ecological NGO, who was seeking to protect natural resources in his country.
Addressee: Administrator, US Agency for International Development (USAID), Washington, D.C.
Purpose of letter: Expressed concern at the loss of expertise in USAID's Policy Bureau, following its elimination of environmental policy positions and personnel. (The Sierra Club is a signatory to this letter, written by a coalition of international environmental groups.)
Addressee: World Economic Forum, Davos, Switzerland
Purpose of letter: Asked financial institutions to put people before profit, and to take responsibility for their role in the debt crisis and in funding controversial projects. (The Sierra Club is a signatory to this letter, written by a coalition of US-based environmental groups.)
February 2003
Addressee: Executive Director, World Bank, Washington, D.C.
Purpose of letter: Demanded the World Bank acts vigorously to help restore the livelihoods of people displaced by Bank-funded open-cast coal mining projects in India. (The Sierra Club is a signatory to this letter, written by Indian NGO Chotanagar Adivasi Sewa Simiti and British NGOs Minewatch and Bretton Woods Project.)
May 2003
Addressee: International Whaling Commission, Cambridge, U.K.
Purpose of letter: Called for the creation of a conservation committee within the IWC, which would promote conservation in the organization, and work globally to protect cetaceans. (The Sierra Club is a signatory to this letter, written by the international NGO Greenpeace.)
Addressee: The Scottish Executive, Glasgow, U.K.
Purpose of letter: Objected to Highland Light and Power Ltd's proposed 3.55 Megawatt hydroelectric power plant in Wester Ross National Scenic Area. The proposed works would damn four lochs in one of Scotland's finest wild and unspoiled areas. (The Sierra Club is a signatory to this letter, written by British NGO The John Muir Trust.)
June 2003
Addressee: President, International Commission on Dams (ICOLD), Montreal, Canada
Purpose of letter: Asked ICOLD to incorporate the recommendations of the World Commission on Dams (WCD) into their new code of ethics. This would encourage responsible corporate behavior and reduce the negative impacts of large-scale dam construction on local ecosystems and communities. (The Sierra Club is a signatory to this letter, written by Canadian NGO The Halifax Initiative.)
Addressee: European Parliament, Luxembourg
Purpose of letter: Called for regulation of the military's expanding use of high-intensity active sonar in the marine environment. The intense sound produced by this technology can injure and kill marine mammals and fish. (The Sierra Club is a signatory to this petition, submitted by the thirty-nine member organizations of the European Coalition for Silent Oceans, and twenty-six US conservation and animal welfare organizations.)
August 2003
Addressee: Premier of British Columbia, Victoria, Canada
Purpose of letter: Expressed concern for the future of British Columbia's forests, and called on the government to take action to protect threatened wildlife and biodiversity. (The Sierra Club is a signatory to this letter, written by North American NGO Forest Ethics.)
October 2003
Addressee: Secretaries of State and Defense, Washington D.C.
Purpose of letter: Asked the United States Departments of State and Defense to discourage American and allied civilian and military personnel from buying or trading the skins of the endangered snow leopard and other rare animals in Central Asia, namely Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Addressee: Premier, Beijing, China
Purpose of letter: Asked the Chinese government to ensure the proposed dam on the Mugecuo Lake, Sichuan Province, complies with the priorities and guidelines of the World Commission on Dams (WCD). (The Sierra Club is a signatory to this letter, written by UK-based NGO International Tibet Support Network and US-based NGO International Rivers Network.)
Contact the Sierra Club International Committee
Michele Perrault, Vice President for International Affairs
Photo courtesy of Amanda Leung.
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