Gregory Nasmyth donates £500,000 to Greenpeace Environmental Trust

The Greenpeace Environmental Trust is delighted that Gregory Nasmyth has decided to donate £500,000 towards our work to secure a green and peaceful future for our planet.

In 2003, Gregory joined Greenpeace aboard our ship the Arctic Sunrise during a campaign against deforestation in the Amazon rainforest. He documented his experiences in an article in The Ecologist, ‘Amazon Crime’, exposing the challenges faced by local activists campaigning  to end illegal logging in the region. The Brazilian government subsequently announced the creation of 2 million hectares of extractive reserve – a huge victory for the campaign, and just one example of the lasting impact of Greenpeace’s work.

Greenpeace has been campaigning to save the Amazon for over 25 years. Thanks to the generosity of our supporters, we have achieved many victories, including:

• a moratorium on forest clearance for soya production. Greenpeace persuaded McDonald’s to stop selling chicken fed on soya grown in newly deforested areas of the Amazon, and then worked with them to leverage their influence over the supply chain – resulting in an industry moratorium agreement. Soya is no longer a major driver of deforestation in the Amazon as a result of this campaign.
• the demarcation of the indigenous Deni people’s lands. Greenpeace supported the Deni people in their 18 year campaign for recognition of their land, which had been illegally sold to a logging company. This victory set an important precedent for the safeguarding of indigenous peoples’ rights over the lands where they have lived for centuries, in harmony with the rainforest.
• the cancellation of the license for a major hydroelectric dam. Greenpeace built a movement of over 1.2 million people calling for the cancellation of a project that would have led to deforestation, degradation of water quality, destruction of wildlife habitats and the displacement of the indigenous Munduruku people. The first of the dams was cancelled last year – but the campaign won’t end until the demarcation of the Munduruku people’s lands are secured.
• this month another Greenpeace ship, the Esperanza,  has been in the mouth of the Amazon investigating a coral reef that is threatened by oil exploration   http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-38789009

The Amazon remains under threat – but Greenpeace is aiming to put an end to deforestation in the Amazon by 2020. Alongside stopping the construction of mega-dams, we are working to end the expansion of agribusiness into the forest, and put an end to the illegal logging that is still ongoing. This donation will play a critical role in supporting our work to protect the environment.

Greenpeace Executive Director, John Sauven, said: “Greenpeace maintains its independence by not accepting any money from companies or businesses, so we rely on the generosity of our individual supporters for everything that we do.  We couldn’t be more grateful for Gregory’s transformational gift to Greenpeace and hope he enjoys seeing the real impact he is making in the fight for environmental justice around the world.”

Gregory Nasmyth said: “In my lifetime I have been incredibly fortunate to have experienced some of the natural world’s most amazing spectacles, the Great Barrier reefs, the frozen cliffs of Antarctica, whales breaching, dolphins surfing, the teeming, thriving endlessness of the rainforests. It is my greatest fear that my children’s’ children may only know of such wonders through animated cartoons and reruns of wildlife documentaries.

Greenpeace has always led from the front in its attempts to stem the ongoing destruction of the natural world. Reaching out to the four corners of the globe, championing the underdog, defending the defenceless, fighting the good fight. It gives me an immense sense of pride and satisfaction to make this donation so that they may continue their campaigns and ensure that future generations shall continue to know the wonders of the natural world.”

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‘Amazon Crime’, published May 2004, The Ecologist:
http://www.theecologist.org/investigations/natural_world/268594/amazon_crime.html  

About the Amazon rainforest:
The iconic Amazon Rainforest is the planet’s largest remaining rainforest. It has more wildlife than anywhere else on Earth and is home to many indigenous communities.

About Greenpeace’s forest campaign:
Our mission is to see more forests standing tomorrow than today; for a world where forests are perceived as precious, finite networks of life – not a limitless resource for commodity production.

About Gregory Nasmyth:
More information about Gregory can be found on his website: gregorynasmyth.com