A group of Czech Greenpeace activists are set to begin their third week occupying the site of a proposed US 'Son of Star Wars' base in the Czech republic. About 20 Greenpeace activists broke into the Brdy military zone south of Prague on April 28th. After establishing a base camp in nearby woods, they entered a wooded area inside the military installation and hung a 60 ft banner carrying the message "We don't want to be targets" across a series of tree-platforms.

The US want to build an X band radar at Brdy - like the one the Labour government controversially gave go ahead for at Fylingdales in Yorkshire - as part of the European end of their proposed 'Son of Star Wars' missile defence system.

"If you look at world history, ever since men began waging war, you will see that there's a permanent race between sword and shield. The sword always wins."
Jacques Chirac, former President of France

The plans have sparked major opposition in the Czech Republic - where polls have repeatedly shown that more than six out of 10 Czechs oppose hosting the US facility. The Greenpeace occupation is one of a whole series of protests against the plans over recent weeks and months.

Despite this opposition the Czech and US governments still appear to be closing on a deal to place the radar base in Czech territory, although the last minute cancellation of the signing ceremony by US Secretary of State Condolezza Rice earlier this week have raised hopes of opponents. Although officials explained the delay as 'a matter of logistics', the strong Czech public opposition to the plan, which is also strongly opposed by Russia, is likely to have played a strong part.

We oppose the US 'Son of Star Wars' system as we believe that it will trigger another arms race. The only people who will benefit from Star wars are giant arms contractors, such as Lockheed Martin and Boeing who will build develop both the shield and then profit from building the new weapons designed to evade it. As former French President Jacques Chirac put it:

"If you look at world history, ever since men began waging war, you will see that there's a permanent race between sword and shield. The sword always wins. The more improvements that are made to the shield, the more improvements are made to the sword. We think that with these [anti-missile] systems, we are just going to spur swordmakers to intensify their efforts."

The programme will also be hugely expensive - diverting tens of billions away from tackling the real problems our planet is facing, like tackling the effects of climate change.

You can watch live coverage of the site occupation on www.greenpeace.cz. Or you can help internationalise the protest by posting your photograph and a personal message at www.fotoblokada.cz.

To find out about ongoing protests against son of star wars sites in the UK checkout www.yorkshirecnd.org.uk/ and the campaign for the accountability of US bases at www.caab.org.uk/

Today is the deadline for bids to takeover British Energy, the country's beleaguered nuclear operator. Leading the pack of foreign companies hoping to get their hands on BE's nuclear sites is the French government owned Electricité de France, or EDF as they prefer to be known on this side of the Channel.

Now, EDF is hoping to bag large tranches of UK land at nuclear sites - not for BE's financial integrity or for operational performance, but to add the UK to its nuclear catalogue. Put simply, they reckon building a new reactor on British soil will pull punters into their atomic showroom.

Flogging BE has been heralded as a sure step forward in the fight against climate change and a way of getting some much needed money back in to the Treasury coffers after the UK taxpayer bailed them out in 2002. But look a little closer and, not surprisingly, it is anything but.

The expected takeover by EDF (a notion which would have Nelson turning in his grave) will come at huge financial cost, do very little to help the UK reduce its carbon emissions and lead to continued confusion over who picks up the tab for the radioactive legacy.

Only this week, the CEO of E.oN, one of the worlds' largest power providers, said that any replacement programme of nuclear reactors, including the cost of BE, could cost up to £60 billion.

£60 billion! That's twice the amount this muddling government stated only months ago. And it would only deliver a paltry four percent reduction in emissions. When you consider the kind of return you'd get if you invested this in renewable technology and energy efficiency it's rather like comparing a radioactive Dairy Lea Triangle with a vintage Comté Extra Vieux.

To put it more bluntly, nuclear power is a multi-billion dollar blocker to actually getting the much more effective and cheaper alternative solutions up and running. If you find yourself tempted to scoff at this, ask EDF's CEO Vincent de Rivaz. He recently declared at the Adam Smith Institute that if the UK meets it renewables targets, the role for nuclear power will be marginalised.

The French takeover of British Energy also raises the question of just who is going to pay the massive bill for cleaning up the toxic legacy of spent fuel once the keys to our reactors settle next to Citroen's on the key fob. Since the beginning of 2005, the UK government has been legally committed to dealing with all the spent nuclear fuel on these sites, and this commitment will continue even when the sites are sold.

So instead of that money going back to the taxpayer, at a time when we are facing economic crisis, we will be subsiding French profits and accommodating increased fuel bills.

So, les incompetents in Westminster have once again undermined efforts to deliver meaningful reductions in carbon emissions and further burdened the tax payer with a legacy that will remain much longer than the memory of a Brown government that once again got it wrong.

Bottom trawling, possibly the most destructive fishing method yet devised by man, is to be regulated across the whole North Atlantic ocean. The process, which involves dragging nets weight down by metal girders across the seabed, is notorious for its wastefulness. Besides legitimate target species such as cod, plaice and sole, vast quantities of corals, sponges and other deep sea creatures are destroyed as bycatch. The devastation caused is so great that Greenpeace has been calling for some time for a moritorium (suspension of activity) on bottom trawling. Now it looks as though some progress may be being made.

The Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization (NAFO), whose members include Canada, the European Union, Norway, Iceland, Russia and the US, yesterday announced plans to regulate the activities of its fleets in line with a 2006 United Nations resolution. The resolution calls for urgent action to protect deep-sea corals and other vulnerable ecosystems from the impacts of bottom trawling on the high seas. The UN originally set a deadline for all regional fisheries treaty organizations to fully implement its plans by December 2008.

NAFO, whose members have the largest fleet of bottom trawlers in the world, is the first to start complying. It has agreed that all high seas bottom fishing within its areas will be subject to impact assessments by the end of 2008, and that fishing areas should be closed or fisheries prohibited where damage to corals, sponges and other deep sea species cannot be prevented. NAFO has set itself an ambitious work schedule over the next several months to complete the assessments and begin identifying areas on the high seas that require protection.

If, as NAFO promise, they implement the majority of UN's recommendations it would be good news, setting a precedent for protection of deep-sea ecosystems across the whole of the North Atlantic. Crucially, it would also be an acknowledgement that our seas are not a limitless resource which can be endlessly exploited without any consequences, but one which must be carefully and sustainably managed if we want to continue to harvest their bounties.

Video: Bottom trawling

It’s Transport Minister Ruth Kelly's 40th birthday, and just now seven women from Sipson were at the Department for Transport to give her a birthday cake. But the message is less traditional, it's a big fat, creamy, sugary NO – well that's the shape of the cake anyway. They also sang happy birthday in the reception and staff got NO cupcakes.

You too can send Ruth Kelly a birthday message. She's in charge of Heathrow expansion, so send her a message asking her to join the Make a NOise carnival on May31st.

Geraldine Nicholson from Sipson was one of the women who sang Happy Birthday for Kelly. She said: "They say life begins at forty, but for our village life will end if Ruth Kelly gives the green light to a third runway. They don’t seem very interested in the fight to save our village or the wider climate change implications of a third runway."

Come on Ruth, we've got God on our side. The Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams is backing the carnival. He's almost given up flying and will be writing a letter of support to be read out at the event because he has other commitments at the time. But you could say he will be there in spirit.

Or perhaps, Ruth, you can be swayed by the former executive of British Airways. Bob Ayling came out against the 3rd runway this week saying it "is against Britain's economic interests".

In the Times he wrote: "This is a classic exercise in misguided central planning. What Ruth Kelly, the transport secretary, and the government do not see is that the transfer passengers, for whom such a hub would be built, spend no money in Britain, at least little beyond the price of a cup of tea, and Heathrow as an interchange is already so far behind its rivals that it is out of the game."

Ayling explains that the hub-and-spoke model which assumes Heathrow can act as an interchange for passengers is contributing to the bankruptcy or almost every US airline.

But really Ruth, the most important reason to come out to the carnival on the 31st is to hear what Londoners think about your plans to expand Heathrow.

• Third runway is a flight of fallacy
  A third runway at Heathrow is against Britain’s economic interests. It is being driven by BAA, the Spanish-owned airport operator, and the misguided aspirations of British airlines. It is likely, in the long term, to prove a costly mistake.
• Wall Street Journal: Parody ad flips Unilever
  Eco-Geek on a Wall Street Journal story, which says that the Greenpeace Dove ad campaign flipped Unilever.

The parties involved in the expected takeover of British Energy have "little interest in tackling climate change or protecting British taxpayers", said environmentalists today.

Nathan Argent, nuclear campaigner for Greenpeace, said:

"The expected French Government bid to takeover of British Energy will come with huge financial costs, a tiny reduction in carbon emissions and continued confusion over who pays for the clean up of radioactive waste.

"Energy bosses admit that replacing the UK's existing reactors will cost about £60 billion - twice the amount the Government estimated only months ago. Even the Government has said that this will only reduce carbon emissions by around four per cent."

Such an investment should instead be used to enable the UK to reach legally binding renewable energy targets, environmentalists say.

"And there's still an enormous question mark over dealing with spent nuclear fuel produced by the reactors that the French hope to buy. Since the beginning of 2005, the UK Government has been legally committed to dealing with all the spent nuclear fuel on these sites, and this commitment will continue even when the sites are sold. So, the British taxpayer will be financing the clean-up of French owned nuclear sites in the UK.

"It's worryingly obvious that anyone involved in this dodgy deal - and that includes the Government - has little interest in tackling climate change or protecting British taxpayers."

For more information, contact the Greenpeace press office on 020 7865 8255.

• Nuclear's CO2 cost 'will climb'
  The case for nuclear power as a low carbon energy source to replace fossil fuels has been challenged in a new report by Australian academics.
• Turning over an old leaf
  Only 24 books are produced for every tree felled. But book-swapping websites could provide a solution for the eco-aware reader. Charlotte Northedge reports

Potentially good news for orang-utans - Unilever announced this morning that they're now supporting our calls for a moratorium to protect Indonesia's rainforests from destruction at the hands of the expanding palm oil industry.

When we sent in our own 'orang-utans' to Unilever HQ last week to tell them that they needed to do more to stop rainforest and peatlands being cleared to make way for palm oil plantations, company executives told us that they wouldn't be forced into a quick decision on the matter.

But today they have started to change their tune, as chief executive Patrick Cesau made a speech supporting a moratorium, and promising that all Unilever's palm oil would be sustainable by 2015. His decison followed the release of our latest report: How Unilever Palm Oil Suppliers Are Burning Up Borneo, which details how its suppliers are actively involved in rainforest destruction, pushing species like the endangered orang-utans to the brink of extinction and speeding up climate change. And, of course, all the photographs and emails you all sent to him parodying Dove's 'Campaign for real beauty' marketing campaign. Check out the latest additions at Stop Dove destroying rainforests, and keep sending in contributions - this campaign is not over yet. And if you've not already seen it, watch our Dove Onslaugh(ter) video, which has racked up 254,000 YouTube views in just over a week.

As one of the world's biggest users of palm oil in its Dove soap and Persil products, Unilever has a huge influence on how suppliers operate. It is essential that the company pushes for a moratorium, as Greenpeace UK director John Sauven pointed out this morning, "Unilever's commitment to sourcing sustainable palm oil will be meaningless unless its suppliers stop trashing Indonesia’s rainforests - this is why the moratorium is so important. Every day that Unilever keeps buying palm oil from these suppliers, orang-utans are pushed closer to extinction."

If Unilever is serious about halting rainforest destruction in Indonesia, it needs to use its position as Chair of Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) to encourage other member companies to follow suit. Unilever has held this infuential position for the past six years - yet during that period not a single drop of sustainable palm oil has actually been produced. This situation urgently needs to be rectified, and until they start to exert real pressure on the ground, we'll be keeping up the pressure.

• Let them eat biofuels!
  Food riots? Rationing? Governments overthrown?

Just some of the men, women and things who have told Dove to stop trashing rainforests

Our Dove campaign is rolling along and at the weekend it broke out into town centres up and down the country. Groups of Greenpeace volunteers were asking members of the public to pose for photos which are now part of our growing Flickr gallery full of people who think it's a bit mad to chop down rainforests just to make soap. We've had young 'uns, old 'uns and even a Cyberman - if you've had your picture taken, see if you can find it and send it to the people behind Dove (details below).

If you haven't come across any camera wielding fellow supporters, you can add your own picture to our gallery. Lots of other people have already done just that (check out the latest images below - we've even had some from Second Life) so if you're keen, follow the simple steps below. If you're too bashful to pose for the camera, you can still help - go to our Flickr group, Stop Dove destroying rainforests, choose the picture you like best and skip straight to step four.

Step one
Take your picture. You know the Dove adverts? (If you don't, just look at this and this.) We want you to strike a pose like their models, holding up a message to Dove at the same time. You can use the ones we prepared earlier (you can either be angry or incensed) or you can create your own telling Dove to stop destroying rainforests for palm oil. Got some Dove products in your bathroom? Work those into the picture as well. Feel free to get creative.

Step two
Add your picture to Flickr (you'll need to register with Flickr, but it's free). When you're uploading your picture, add the tag "real beauty" so everyone else will be able to find your photo. If you don't want to set up a Flickr account, no problem - just email your photos to us, but keep the file size under 2MB or it will bounce.

Step three
Join our Flickr group, Stop Dove destroying rainforests, and add your photo to the group pool. There's a 'Send to group' link above your photo and just chose the group name from the list.

Step four
Make sure the people at Dove see your photo. At the bottom right of your photo on Flickr, you'll see a 'send to a friend' link. Use that to email your photo, along with a message about why Unilever, the makers of Dove, should stop uprooting rainforests for their palm oil, to one or all of these people:

• Group Chief Executive Patrick Cescau, patrick.cescau@unilever.com
• President (Europe)
  Kees van der Graaf, kees.vandergraaf@unilever.com
• President of Home and Personal Care Ralph Kugler, ralph.kugler@unilever.com
• Director of Corporate Responsibility and NGO Stakeholder
  Management Lettemieke Mulder, lettemieke.mulder@unilever.com
• Sustainable Agriculture Director (and
  Chairman of RSPO) Jan Kees Vis, jan-kees.vis@unilver.com

Step five
Use your photo on your Facebook, MySpace or Bebo profile, plus we have some rather nifty banners you can use.

Video: the discovery of Aaptos kanuux

Fascinating news just in - our two month research expedition to the Bering Sea last summer led to the discovery of a new species. Using manned submarines and a Remote Operated Vehicle, the crew of the Esperanza explored two of the world's deepest underwater canyons and took samples of never before seen life on the sea floor. Now, careful analysis has revealed one of them to be an entirely new species of sponge. Discovered in Pribilof Canyon, the new discovery is to be named Aaptos kanuux.

“We named it 'kanuux' after the Unungan word for "heart", explained George Pletnikoff, Greenpeace Alaska Oceans Campaigner and a native of the Unungan communities on the Pribilof Islands. "These canyons are the heart of the Bering Sea, pumping out the nutrients that are the lifeblood of the entire ecosystem. As long as these canyons are at risk, so too will be the communities that have depended on these waters for thousands of years."

Working with other scientists including a member of NOAA (the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration), the Greenpeace team were in the Bering Sea documenting the effect of destructive fishing on fragile sea floor habitats. They found considerable evidence of impacts to from bottom trawling and other fishing gears.

John Hocevar, senior oceans specialist with Greenpeace USA, is in no doubt as to the importance of the research: "This discovery highlights how unique these canyons are and how little is known about the deep sea. Half of the 14 coral species and two-thirds of the 20 species of sponge we documented were previously unrecorded in the Bering Sea. Setting aside these areas as marine reserves would reap benefits for fishing communities as well as the environment."

The Bering Sea is just one threatened area that we know very little about. But overfishing threatens almost all every part of the oceans, and no recovery will be possible until large areas are placed off-limits to fishing and other extractive industries like oil, gas and gravel. Which is why we're campaigning for the creation of a network of marine reserves to protect 40 percent of the world's oceans. In the long term, it's the only way to guarantee a future for all marine species - from tiny unknown sponges to the greatest of the great whales.

Four years ago Israeli nuclear whistleblower Mordechai Vanunu was released from jail having served 18 years inside. Yet this month the Israeli government renewed, for the fifth time, an order confining him to Jerusalem, where he is under constant surveillance, banned from talking to foreigners and shunned by Israeli society. He lives with no work, income, home or support. A virtual prisoner.

What crime did Vanunu commit to so incense Israeli government and society? He was the whistleblower that alerted the world to Israel's secret possession of over 200 nuclear weapons. A ‘crime' that others have seen as worthy of the Nobel peace prize - for which he has been nominated over five times.

Vanunu's life story reads like a thriller. Between 1976 and 1985 he worked as a junior technician at the Negev Nuclear Research Center - Israel's nuclear weapons factory. He quit in 1985 and in 1986 left Israel to travel the world. During his travels, he met a freelance journalist who worked for the Sunday Times newspaper and revealed to him the facts of Israel's nuclear weapons programme.

In September 1986, days before his information was published, Vanunu was lured into a 'honeytrap' by an undercover agent with Mossad, Israel's feared secret service. Operating under the name of Cindy and masquerading as an American tourist, she persuaded him to fly to Rome with her on a holiday. In Rome, Mossad agents drugged him and smuggled him to Israel on a freighter. Once there he was tried in total secrecy, charged with treason and espionage and sentenced to 18 years imprisonment.

Vanunu served his time, including more than 11 years in solitary confinement in conditions that Amnesty characterized as "cruel, inhuman and degrading". Since his release has tried repeatedly to leave Israel and start a new life. But asylum applications have been rejected by Norway, Sweden, Ireland and Canada. The reason why was indicated by recently released Norwegian government documents showing that they rejected his application despite initial enthusiasm (he was offered a university job, the support of the previous Prime Minister and awarded a Norwegian peace prize) after Israel exerted diplomatic pressure on them.

Why won't Israel let Vanunu go? The official argument is that Vanunu possesses confidential information about the Israeli weapons programme that he could publicise if allowed to leave the country. This despite the time elapsed and his junior role at Negev. Ray Kidder of the US's nuclear weapons programme refutes this idea: "I am ready to challenge any official assertion that Mr Vanunu possesses any technical nuclear information not already made public." Also following this logic means Vanunu will remain a security risk forever, and his restrictions will never be lifted.

The more likely explanation is that Israel doesn't want any more attention paid to its nuclear weapons. Despite Vanunu's revelations, Israel still officially continues its doublethink policy of nuclear ambiguity, ie neither acknowledging nor denying that it possesses any such weapons. So today most Israeli news reports of referring to nuclear weapons will cite "foreigner's reports" or "allegations" that Israel has nuclear weapons. This policy even survived a recent very public slip by prime minister Ehud Olmert who, in an interview with German TV, said "Iran, openly, explicitly and publicly, threatens to wipe Israel off the map. Can you say that this is the same level, when they are aspiring to have nuclear weapons, as America, France, Israel and Russia?"

The rationale for the policy is initially difficult to understand - surely nuclear weapons cannot magically deter others if their existence isn't acknowledged? However a rather large clue to why the policy exists is the fact that a US legal prohibition exists on granting aid to countries with unauthorised weapons of mass destruction. If Israel formally acknowledges their WMD they would risk losing more than US$2 billion a year in military and other aid from Washington.

Whatever the rationale the effect of Israel's 'allowed hypocrisy' both regionally and in the international arena is to fuel existing tensions and to stifle progress on creating a nuclear weapons-free zone in the Middle East, an acknowledged crucial first step towards creating a nuclear weapons-free world.

Surely all these years on, it's now time for Israel to stop wasting effort punishing Vanunu and instead focus on the task of creating a more secure Middle East.

For more on Mordechai Vanunu, visit his website.

Our Executive Director John Sauven, writing for comment is free explains why tuna, once the 'chicken of the sea', is now at grave risk from overfishing.

The MV Esperanza confronts overfishing and pirate fishing in the Pacific.

Tuna, particularly the canned variety, has long been one of the UK's staple foods and most of us probably have a couple of tin or two somewhere in our cupboards. More recently, we've been developing a taste for raw tuna, as sushi bars continue to spread throughout the country.

So, what's the problem? Tuna is a wild source of protein. We don't farm tuna; we catch it from the great oceans of the world. And that is where the predicament starts, because global tuna stocks, like those of other species, have been grossly overexploited and are now in big trouble. The iconic bluefin tuna, widely used in sushi, is critically endangered. Bigeye and albacore tuna are also under threat, while yellowfin tuna is in decline globally. Worldwide, up to 90 per cent of stocks of large predatory fish, including tuna, have already been fished out.

The organisations responsible for managing the international tuna fisheries have failed dismally. But where governments have failed, retailers, restaurants and consumers can help turn the tide.

Greenpeace is campaigning to stop the collapse of the world's remaining tuna fisheries, pushing for the creation of large scale marine reserves and changes in fishing practices to allow tuna and other fish stocks to recover.

This month, the Greenpeace ship Esperenza is confronting tuna boats that are fishing unsustainably in the Pacific. Meanwhile, today, more than 80 Greenpeace activists used nets and chains to close down the stands of five of the biggest and most unscrupulous tuna suppliers at the European Seafood Expo, the world's largest seafood fair.

The UK is a huge consumer of canned tuna on a global scale. We import well over 100,000 tonnes each year. Sushi sales are also increasing. So, what can we do as consumers?

First of all, look out for restaurants and retailers that show commitment to sustainable seafood when you eat out or shop. For example, it was hearing about the plight of tuna that leading UK sushi chain Moshi Moshi to the decision to stop serving bluefin in their restaurants and to adopt strict sourcing policies. Among retailers, Marks and Spencer has consistently topped Greenpeace's seafood sustainability surveys. Second, avoid red-listed species like bluefin tuna. (You can find a guide to these species here.)

Third, wherever possible, choose pole- and line-caught tuna, the most environmentally friendly way of catching the fish. Other methods of catching tuna, even when the cans are labelled "dolphin friendly", can be very destructive - killing rare giant turtles, sharks, juvenile tuna and many other fish species.

Sustainable seafood is part of the answer, but the science is clear that we also need a global network of no-take marine reserves, like national parks at sea, covering large parts of the oceans. Following the science, Greenpeace is calling for 40% of the world's oceans to be marine reserves, where no fishing is allowed.

By only choosing sustainable seafood in shops and restaurants, we can all make a difference. Alternatively, as professor of marine biology Daniel Pauly, of the University of British Columbia, has said, you don't need to worry about these problems - as long as your children like plankton stew.

You'd probably find the idea of an event for trading in rhinoceros horns or tiger skins pretty shocking. But today, 1,600 companies from 80 countries came together in Brussels to trade all sorts species, including some threatened and endangered ones: fish, also known as our global marine life.

The Brussels Seafood Expo is the world's biggest sea food trading event, where species on the brink of collapse - like Mediterranean bluefin tuna and North Sea cod - are, literally, served up on a plate.

So 80 Greenpeace volunteers braved the smell and went along to the expo to close down business, locking themselves to stands and covering them with fishing nets. Banners in 13 languages told the traders that 'time and tuna are running out' and, by taking over the sound system, our volunteers explained that stalls - including the one belonging to the world's largest tuna trader, Mitsibushi - had been closed down.

Thanks to bottom trawling, purse seining, longlining, and other destructive fishing methods, the world's oceans are in crisis. Some two-thirds of fish stocks are either fully exploited or overfished and many stocks are on the brink of collapse. Going sustainable, we told traders, is the only way to ensure your business - the world's marine life - has a future.

Our international website has more about today's events, including a slideshow. And please help protect our oceans - part of the Earth's life support system - from fishing by calling for 40 per cent of the world's oceans to be turned into marine reserves.

The orang-utans may have retreated from Unilever's premises for the time being, but our campaign to protect Indonesia's rainforests from the expanding palm oil industry has only just started. As well as an advert appearing in today's edition of the Times, commuters at Blackfriars tube station in London this morning saw some of our special 'Dove' adverts alongside the escalators. Blackfriars is the nearest station to Unilever's London headquarters, so a large number of their staff should have seen them on their way into work. Watch the video below for a taste of what they saw.

It's also been spreading across the internet. The video, mocking Dove's own Onslaught film, has racked up over 65,000 views on YouTube in less than 48 hours; making it to the front page of Digg will have played no small part in that. Elsewhere, photos have started to come in to our Flickr group (find out how to add yours) including one from a mountain top in Malaysia of all places, a country which has precious little rainforest left partly due to the growth of its palm oil industry. And Matt Pollack from South Africa has helped out by setting up a 'Stop Dove' Facebook group - go and join, then invite all your friends.

Meanwhile, Unilever's position hasn't changed since Monday when representatives told us that they wouldn't be "bounced" into making a decision on either changing their palm oil suppliers (we want them to stop trading with those companies which are clearing away Indonesia's rainforests) or an immediate moratorium on expanding oil palm plantations into forest areas. They will consider our demands and get back to us within a few weeks but until they do (and with a response that adequately addresses our concerns), then the campaign will continue.

Make sure you've emailed Patrick Cescau, CEO of Unilever, telling him to stop destroying rainforests to make soap.

The orang-utans may have retreated from Unilever's premises for the time being, but our campaign to protect Indonesia's rainforests from the expanding palm oil industry has only just started. As well as an advert appearing in today's edition of the Times, commuters at Blackfriars tube station in London this morning saw some of our special 'Dove' adverts alongside the escalators. Blackfriars is the nearest station to Unilever's London headquarters, so a large number of their staff should have seen them on their way into work.

It's also been spreading across the internet. The video, mocking Dove's own Onslaught film, has racked up over 65,000 views on YouTube in less than 48 hours; making it to the front page of Digg will have played no small part in that. Elsewhere, photos have started to come in to our Flickr group (find out how to add yours) including one from a mountain top in Malaysia of all places, a country which has precious little rainforest left partly due to the growth of its palm oil industry. And Matt Pollack from South Africa has helped out by setting up a 'Stop Dove' Facebook group - go and join, then invite all your friends.

Meanwhile, Unilever's position hasn't changed since Monday when representatives told us that they wouldn't be "bounced" into making a decision on either changing their palm oil suppliers (we want them to stop trading with those companies which are clearing away Indonesia's rainforests) or an immediate moratorium on expanding oil palm plantations into forest areas. They will consider our demands and get back to us within a few weeks but until they do (and with a response that adequately addresses our concerns), then the campaign will continue.

Make sure you've emailed Patrick Cescau, CEO of Unilever, telling him to stop destroying rainforests to make soap.

The orang-utans may have retreated from Unilever's premises for the time being, but our campaign to protect Indonesia's rainforests from the expanding palm oil industry has only just started. As well as an advert appearing in today's edition of the Times, commuters at Blackfriars tube station in London this morning saw some of our special 'Dove' adverts alongside the escalators. Blackfriars is the nearest station to Unilever's London headquarters, so a large number of their staff should have seen them on their way into work.

It's also been spreading across the internet. The video, mocking Dove's own Onslaught film, has racked up over 65,000 views on YouTube in less than 48 hours; making it to the front page of Digg will have played no small part in that. Elsewhere, photos have started to come in to our Flickr group (find out how to add yours) including one from a mountain top in Malaysia of all places, a country which has precious little rainforest left partly due to the growth of its palm oil industry. And Matt Pollack from South Africa has helped out by setting up a 'Stop Dove' Facebook group - go and join, then invite all your friends.

Meanwhile, Unilever's position hasn't changed since Monday when representatives told us that they wouldn't be "bounced" into making a decision on either changing their palm oil suppliers (we want them to stop trading with those companies which are clearing away Indonesia's rainforests) or an immediate moratorium on expanding oil palm plantations into forest areas. They will consider our demands and get back to us within a few weeks but until they do (and with a response that adequately addresses our concerns), then the campaign will continue.

Make sure you've emailed Patrick Cescau, CEO of Unilever, telling him to stop destroying rainforests to make soap.

Five of the world's principal tuna suppliers were forced to stop doing business at the seafood industry's largest trade fair by almost 100 environmental campaigners this morning.

The Greenpeace volunteers entered the European Seafood Exposition in Brussels - where many UK supermarkets buy from the 1,600 exhibitors - at 10am. Using fishing nets and chains, they shut down the tuna traders' stands and used the public address system to urge industry buyers to purchase only sustainable seafood.

The campaigners are calling for a worldwide ban on the sale of threatened tuna, such as bluefin, until stocks recover.

The European Seafood Exhibition is the largest event of its kind in the world and exhibitors' average sales reach millions of euros.

The five seafood suppliers shut down by Greenpeace are: Mitsubishi Corporation of Japan, the world's largest tuna trader and owner of Princes, the UK food and drink group; Spain's Ricardo Fuentes, which controls an estimated 60 per cent of Mediterranean bluefin tuna production; Dongwon Fisheries from Korea, which has a 75 per cent share of the Korean tuna market; Azzopardi Fisheries of Malta, the largest tuna farmers in the Mediterranean; and the Taiwanese Moon Marine, who are heavily involved in tuna longline fisheries in Indonesia.

Speaking from the Seafood Exposition, Willie Mackenzie of Greenpeace said:

"These companies are responsible for pushing tuna towards commercial extinction. Unless urgent action is taken, overfishing and the destructive and short-sighted methods of these companies could see the end of the tuna trade, because there won't be enough left.

"Put simply, there are too many ships chasing too few fish.

"Designating large areas as ???marine reserves', would allow the seas and fish stocks to recover and ensure a sustainable future for the fishing industry. Failing to do so spells disaster for conservation, disaster for fish stocks, and disaster for the long term interests of fishermen."

Worldwide, up to 90 per cent of stocks of large predatory fish - including tuna, swordfish, cod, and halibut - have already been lost.

For more information, contact the Greenpeace press office on 020 7865 8255.

Five of the world's principal tuna suppliers were forced to stop doing business at the seafood industry's largest trade fair by almost 100 environmental campaigners this morning.

The Greenpeace volunteers entered the European Seafood Exposition in Brussels - where many UK supermarkets buy from the 1,600 exhibitors - at 10am. Using fishing nets and chains, they shut down the tuna traders' stands and used the public address system to urge industry buyers to purchase only sustainable seafood.

The campaigners are calling for a worldwide ban on the sale of threatened tuna, such as bluefin, until stocks recover.

The European Seafood Exhibition is the largest event of its kind in the world and exhibitors' average sales reach millions of euros.

The five seafood suppliers shut down by Greenpeace are: Mitsubishi Corporation of Japan, the world's largest tuna trader and owner of Princes, the UK food and drink group; Spain's Ricardo Fuentes, which controls an estimated 60 per cent of Mediterranean bluefin tuna production; Dongwon Fisheries from Korea, which has a 75 per cent share of the Korean tuna market; Azzopardi Fisheries of Malta, the largest tuna farmers in the Mediterranean; and the Taiwanese Moon Marine, who are heavily involved in tuna longline fisheries in Indonesia.

Speaking from the Seafood Exposition, Willie Mackenzie of Greenpeace said:

"These companies are responsible for pushing tuna towards commercial extinction. Unless urgent action is taken, overfishing and the destructive and short-sighted methods of these companies could see the end of the tuna trade, because there won't be enough left.

"Put simply, there are too many ships chasing too few fish.

"Designating large areas as ‘marine reserves', would allow the seas and fish stocks to recover and ensure a sustainable future for the fishing industry. Failing to do so spells disaster for conservation, disaster for fish stocks, and disaster for the long term interests of fishermen."

Worldwide, up to 90 per cent of stocks of large predatory fish - including tuna, swordfish, cod, and halibut - have already been lost.

For more information, contact the Greenpeace press office on 020 7865 8255.