The panel will discuss how knowledge and understanding of environmental impact, extraction of resources and geopolitical issues have moulded the region, and what the consequences are for those of us watching from afar. With oil firm Royal Dutch Shell having recently won conditional approval from the US Department of Interior to explore for oil in the Arctic, we will be asking what this kind of exploration means for the region.

This event will be chaired by BBC Science editor David Shukman, whose reports on research have taken him as far afield as the Antarctic ice-sheet, the Amazon rainforest and the depths of the Gulf of Mexico. Since joining the BBC in 1983, he has covered Northern Ireland, defence, Europe and world affairs. He is author of An Iceberg As Big As Manhattan: Reporting from science’s new frontlines and Reporting Live from the End of the World.

The panel:

Pen Hadow is an Arctic Ocean explorer and advocate. He is the founder and leader of the multi-award winning Catlin Arctic Survey (2007-2013), an international research programme on the Arctic Ocean, and the associated environmental research-sponsorship agency, Geo Mission. A decade on, Pen Hadow remains the only person to have reached the North Geographic Pole, solo and without resupply, from Canada.

Professor Martin Siegert FRSE is co-director of the Grantham Institute. Previously, he was director of the Bristol Glaciology Center at Bristol University and head of the School of GeoSciences at Edinburgh University. His particular field of expertise is to use geophysics to measure the subglacial landscape and understand what this tells us about changes to the environment. In 2013 he was awarded the Martha T. Muse Prize for excellence in Antarctic science and policy, and in 2007 he was elected as a fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.

Charles Emmerson is a writer and historian based in London. He is the author of The Future History of the Arctic, exploring the past, present and future of our relationship with the Arctic, from past mythologies of the north to the modern emergence of the Arctic as a zone of geopolitical interest and massive environmental change. He is an Associate Fellow at Chatham House.

Frank Hewetson has worked for Greenpeace for over 25 years. He has particular knowledge of protest against the off-shore oil industry, he has spent many months at sea and worked consistently on the Arctic campaign for the last 5 years, and was one of the ‘Arctic 30’ detained by the Russians in September 2013.

PLEASE NOTE THIS EVENT WILL BE FILMED AND STREAMED LIVE ON OUR YOUTUBE CHANNEL

The 4,500-kilometer (2,800-mile) Urengoy–Pomary–Uzhgorod gas pipeline connects the second-largest gas field in the world in Urengoy, West Siberia with the Western European market. It has become one of the most vital arteries of the Russian economy, with Vladimir Putin claiming that its gas and oil revenues account for half of Russia’s disposable capital.

For 104 days renowned director Vitaly Mansky followed the course of this Trans-Siberian gas pipeline through seven different countries. He explores what it’s like for ordinary people to live in its vicinity, along a route connecting two extremities of the European continent.

The film is made up of unique miniatures eloquently illustrating the often absurd banality of contemporary Russia: a wedding celebration on the border between Asia and Europe; a group of men pulling out a load of stinking dead fish from an ice-hole in freezing Siberia; the desperate attempts to dig a grave in the frozen ground; and a traveling clergyman trying to get converts with a train for a church. This visually refined road movie offers an unsettling portrait of the legendary Trans-Siberian gas pipeline, on which much of Europe is still reliant.

Directed by Vitaly Mansky
Duration: 117′
Year: 2013

This screening is kindly supported by Deckert Distribution

“They are like my family.”

“They’re just fucking monkeys.”

On Thursday 15 May 2014, the Frontline Club screened Virunga, a masterful documentary that portrays both the highest of human empathy, and lowest of murderous greed in eastern DR Congo.

Present for the Q&A were director Orlando von Einsiedel, producer Joanna Natasegara and investigative journalist Melanie Gouby, who is featured in the film.

From left: Melanie Gouby, Joanna Natasegara, Orlando von Einsiedel. Photo credit: George Symonds

The audience voiced rave reviews:

“It is a beautiful film, and the stars are the gorillas”
“Brilliant film, really engaging”
“Amazing and powerful”
“Incredible film”

Director von Einsiedel began with how the two year project started:

“I’ve been interested in trying to tell a positive, different story from eastern Congo. One that wasn’t all about the many negative things that we mostly hear about the place.

 

“Between 2008 and 2012, there’d been a period of relative stability, and I learned about the really inspiring work of the rangers of Virunga National Park. In their story I saw a metaphor for the wider rebirth of the region.

 

“That the park was implementing various different development projects, tourism was starting to grow again . . . I’d only been on the ground maybe three weeks and this new civil war started.

 

“Around the same sort of time I learned about the park’s concerns about the illegal oil exploration by SOCO International. I ended up staying because I was enthralled about the rangers and their work.”

Orlando von Einsiedel, Director

Two representatives of SOCO International were allegedly present at the screening. The company had issued a PR statement in response to what it “believes to be groundless allegations” recorded in the film.

An audience member from BBC Panorama asked how the filmmakers responded to SOCO’s comments.

“It’s quite simple,” replied von Einsiedel:

“We wouldn’t be sitting up here if we didn’t stand by the journalism and the work that we’ve done.

 

“In terms of SOCO International, what they’re doing in Virunga National Park is illegal. . . . It’s illegal under Congolese national law, it’s illegal under international law, and on top of that, over the years we were there, we have serious concerns about a lack of oversight that this company has. To do with corruption and links to armed groups.”

Excellent night at the @frontlineclub– a sneak preview of the brave @virungamovie and Q&A w/ @jojonata & team pic.twitter.com/foIhGyRATh

— Kate Hardie-Buckley (@katehbuckley) May 15, 2014

Natasegara elaborated on SOCO’s legal position:

“There’s no suggestion that there’s any oil under Virunga National Park. That’s the first misnomer that SOCO International put out. There is no proof that there’s any oil under this world heritage site. . . . What they are doing is illegal, as Orlando said.

 

“What they failed to recognise is that it’s illegal at the highest level of law. It’s enshrined in the constitution that a world heritage site cannot be exploited in this way for oil exploration, ever. So all the permits they would like to suggest they have are all null and void. . . .

 

“So in terms of whether we have oil or not, what we have is a bird in the hand, and a bird that we don’t know exists. The bird in the hand is Virunga National Park, a world heritage site which is there for all of us; and is in fact building a £150 million development programme which is genuinely helping the local communities . . . .”

Jonna Natasegara, Producer

“What power do we have to act against these groups, these immoral positions?” asked a member of the audience.

“There’s a moral position and there’s a legal position,” posited Natasegara:

“SOCO International is a British company, so talk to your decision makers. . . . Talk to your own authorities, let them know how they feel about this issue. In terms of stages we have spent quite a long time building a campaign that goes alongside the film. You can follow that campaign on our official media and on our website.”

Gouby responded to a suggestion that if not SOCO, someone else would do the same thing:

“Total, the French oil company, has a similar concession north of the park, and they’ve promised they would not go into the park. So there is no evidence that any other company would do the same thing.”

Melanie Gouby, Journalist

“I thought the real heroes were the rangers,” said a member of the audience:

“I thought the contrast between the virulent racism of SOCO’s representatives against the brave and eloquent way the rangers spoke was extraordinary. I noticed that in SOCO’s rebuttal, they said nothing about the racism that was shown, that they should re-colonise the Congo.”

Another audience member offered SOCO the floor:

“If someone from SOCO is here who thinks we’ve been given the wrong impression, is there someone who’d like to correct that impression for us now?”

There was no one to respond.

Feel lucky to have seen such a powerful film & piece of journalism @virungamovie about @gorillacd at @frontlineclub #DRC #film #conservation

— Charlotte Minvielle (@Cha_Minvielle) May 15, 2014

The audience was full of praise for those involved in the protection of Virunga National Park and the local communities:

“How extraordinary the courage of everybody involved with film, particularly the Congolese, comes across in the film. And the amount of personal danger people put themselves into to bring across this message, and to congratulate and thank you for doing that.”

Asked about organisations that support the rangers, Natasegara said:

“You can donate directly to the park. The website is www.virunga.org/donate.

 

 

“They have a specific fund for the widows of those rangers. You can contribute directly to their livelihood. That would be a great thing to do.”

Went to the @frontlineclub this evening to see a preview of @virungamovie about @gorillacd such an incredible and inspiring documentary

— Elisabeth Phillips (@elisabeth_CiC) May 15, 2014

Von Einsiedel concluded with the optimism he had witnessed:

“There’s amazing optimism on the ground . . . that this place can be better, and the potential it has – that’s the reason the rangers of the park are out there every day, risking their lives. Because of that hope. Of what they believe the Virunga can do to the region.”

“It’s not going to Margate,” warned von Einsiedel as he encouraged everyone to visit the gorillas:

“The security situation has improved dramatically. So much so that gorilla tourism is open again. So you can all go and visit the gorillas, and you’d all be doing a massively good thing because that’s putting money into the local economy. I’d say go. It’s not going to Margate [laughs] but it’s safe enough to do it.”

For more information on future screenings, and how you can get involved:

Visit. virungamovie.com
Follow. @virungamovie
Like. facebook.com/virungamovie
Donate. virunga.org/donate

CBS News’ Elizabeth Palmer led an expert discussion at the Frontline Club on 11 September regarding the latest crush of violence in Iraq.

The panel painted a portrait of a country desperately in need of peace, independence, rule of law, reconciliation with its traumatic past, and unity amidst hardening divisions along ethnic, class, and religious lines.  Yet none of these needs are being met.

Professor Charles Tripp lamented Iraqis’ inability to trust their government, with a:

"Parliament that sat for 20 minutes in the whole of the year 2010 after being elected … a judiciary which seems to be completely in the pocket of the executive power, and of course a police that you have to be very wary of calling."

Tripp expressed sadness at a "hatred of the state" that he perceived fueling many Sunni and Shi’a attacks.

"The blowing up of people who are looking for employment … of a large number of people standing outside army recruiting or police recruiting. These are people who are just like [their killers] in some senses, these are, you know, sad people who are looking, desperate for employment."

Kamran Karadaghi, distinguished Kurdish Iraqi journalist, downplayed recent attacks as anything out of the ordinary.  

"This was something that was meant to happen," he said.  "There is always from time to time a wave of violence in Iraq …  Iraqi people are very violent.  Killing, getting rid of others, is something which sometimes is like a normal thing."

Different factions who make up the government, The Independents‘ Patrick Cockburn added:

"Sunnis, Shi’a, Kurds … none of these people like each other … [but] they all have quite a lot to lose if the present system collapses.  So despite the very high levels of violence … in a way it has a sort of grisly stability." 

Karadaghi agreed.

"Being an oil economy … everybody in Iraq wants to be a part of it.  So this is why, despite … all the animosities … nobody actually left the government.  They are all still in the government. This kind of arrangement will continue."

On one topic, however, the panel found optimism, Kurdish independence.  

Karadaghi, as well as Tom Hardie-Forsyth, a senior adviser to the Prime Minister’s office, Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), Northern Iraq, both touted the transparency and success of recent Kurdish oil contracts, a more stable and prosperous way of life in the region, and a stronger sense of unity and purpose among Kurds.  

"They are the largest disenfranchised nation in the world.  They deserve [independence]," Hardie-Forsyth said.

But are they ready for it?  

Karadaghi smiled:  "Not yet, but like Andy Murray said, getting closer."

By Nicole Hunt

Russian President Vladimir Putin visits Israel on Monday, where he’s scheduled to attend the unveiling of a national memorial to Red Army soldiers killed during World War II. Putin is also due to meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is likely to raise concerns over Russia’s relationship with Syria. Putin also visits the West Bank and Jordan on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Catherine Ashton will be hosting a joint ministerial council of the EU and the Gulf Cooperation Council in Luxembourg, with talks focusing, once again, on Syria and Iran.

Monday may or may not be a momentous day in the US. The Supreme Court is due to sit for the final time this term, which means it should issue judgements on the cases it’s currently considering – namely, the two cases challenging Arizona’s controversial immigration law and President Barack Obama’s health care reform bill. However, if the Court has too many remaining cases to wrap up, it could opt to extend the sitting to later in the week (likely Wednesday or Thursday), with the health care judgement likely to be the last one issued.

The African National Congress opens its National Policy Congress on Tuesday, a conference held every five years ahead of its December electoral conference. Controversial proposals for the nationalisation of mines are due to be discussed, but following the expulsion of ANC Youth Leader Julius Malema, a major proponent of nationalisation, the proposals have lost a bit of their momentum. Of greater interest will be how President Jacob Zuma fares at the conference, with his reception seen as an indicator of whether he’ll be selected to run for a second term at the December conference.

The UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) publishes its annual World Drug Report, looking at consumption, production and trafficking across the world. The 2011 report found that cannabis remained by far the most widely-consumed drug.

The OECD has several high-profile reports on the agenda this week, beginning with the OECD-FAO Agricultural Outlook 2011-2020, a joint publication with the Food and Agriculture Organization looking at the market forces driving volatility in commodity prices. The Economic Survey of the United States, the OECD’s regular assessment of the US economy, is launched in Washington on Tuesday, followed by the OECD International Migration Outlook in Brussels on Wednesday.

The District Court of Assen in the Netherlands is scheduled to rule on an application by the Public Prosecutor on Wednesday to dissolve and ban the Martijn organisation, which lobbies for the social acceptance of paedophilia and sexual relationships between adults and children.

The UN Human Rights Council receives an update from the Commission of Inquiry on Syria in Geneva. The COI was set up following the Council’s emergency session on 1 June specifically to look into the 25 May Houla massacre.

The report comes the day before US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton begins a three-day visit to Russia on Thursday. While the trip has been scheduled for some time around the APEC Women and The Economy Forum, Clinton also has the opportunity to meet with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to discuss Syria. The meeting will be the first since Clinton publicly accused Syria of sending helicopters to the Assad regime, which Lavrov countered by accusing Washington of arming the opposition rebels.

Mongolians go to the polls to elect members to the State Great Khural, in an election which has been most notable for who’s not running. Former President Mambaryn Enkhabyar had been planning to head up a new party, but he was instead arrested, charged with corruption, and banned from standing for parliament. His 25-year-old son Batshugar Enkhbayar was also ruled inelgibile because he hasn’t yet served his two years of compulsory military service.

US financial sanctions on the Iranian oil trade, which were introduced as part of the National Defense Authorization Act in December, come into effect, meaning that banks in countries which have failed to ‘significantly reduce’ the volume of purchases of crude Iranian oil can be barred from doing business in the US financial market. The US has granted waivers to several countries, including India, Turkey, and South Korea, allowing them to continue imports for another six months because they’ve already reduced the amount of crude they’re importing.

Thursday also marks the deadline for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to apply to the European Court of Human Rights for an interim order to halt his extradition from the UK to Sweden to face questioning for alleged sexual assaults. If Assange has not applied by Thursday, his extradition window in the UK opens, giving authorities 10 days to arrange extradition. Of course, the whole matter is further complicated by Assange’s current residency at the Ecuadorian embassy, where he’s asked for asylum.

Keeping with the legal theme, Rwandan opposition leader Victoire Ingabire is expected to find out on Friday whether she’s been found guilty or acquitted on charges of association with a terrorist group, propagating genocide ideology, revisionism, and ethnic division, for which prosecutors have requested a life sentence. Ingabire’s supporters say the charges, which she denies, are politically motivated.

George Zimmerman, the man accused of second degree murder in the 26 February shooting death of Florida teen Trayvon Martin, appears for a bail hearing in Sanford. Zimmerman had his bail revoked earlier this month when it emerged that he was in possession of a passport and had access to more funds than had been established at his initial bond hearing.

World Bank President Robert Zoellick’s five-year term expires on Saturday. Holding with the tradition that usually sees an American head the Bank while a European leads the IMF, Korean-American doctor and former Dartmouth College president Jim Yong Kim assumes the role on Sunday.

Icelandic President Olafur Ragnar Grimsson is looking to win a fifth term in presidential elections, though the vote will not be as comfortable as he’s accustomed to – incumbents traditionally run unopposed, but six other candidates have put their hats in the ring this time around. His toughest competition is journalist Thora Arnorsdottir, whose popularity in the polls slipped after she took some time off from the campaign to give birth to her third child.

Saturday has also been bandied about as the favoured date for a meeting of the Syria Contact Group – if the members of the group can actually agree on its existence. The UN (per its Special Envoy Kofi Annan), the UK, the US, Russia and France have all been generally supportive of the idea of a meeting, but have failed to agree on the sticking point of Iranian participation. Russia insists that Iran must be present and part of any international solution, while the UK and the US have said Iranian involvement is ‘unworkable’ due to Tehran’s support for the Syrian regime.

Traditionally quiet Sunday is anything but this week, with presidential and legislative elections in Mexico, parliamentary polls in Senegal, and the introduction of Australia’s landmark carbon tax just the beginning.

Sunday is the deadline for Israel to demolish five apartment blocks in Givat Ulpana, which the Supreme Court ruled on 7 May had been built illegally on private Palestinian land. While the residents and the government came to an agreement last week that should see them leave voluntarily, reports that some settlers have been barricading the area mean a peaceful departure is not guaranteed.

The EU’s embargo on Iranian oil, which was approved by Foreign Ministers in January, comes into effect. The sanctions prohibit the import, purchase and transport of Iranian crude oil and petroleum products, and come just days before technical teams are due to resume discussions on Iran’s nuclear programme in Istanbul.

View in iTunes

The Gulf of Mexico spill has put the spotlight on the oil industry and its practices to an unprecedented degree.

Join us at the Frontline Club where we will be discussing BP and the Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion that has resulted in between 67 and 127 million gallons spilling into the sea: what are the implications not only for BP’s future but also for the oil industry?

What does the "worst US environment disaster" tell us about the oil industry and our continued reliance on this dwindling natural resource? Have the risks the industry – and politicians – have been prepared to take to sustain the supply of oil been too great?

The discussion will also reflect on Nigeria’s experience: there have been ten oil spills in the Niger delta in the past two years that have been largely ignored. Two weeks after the Gulf of Mexico explosion, an ExxonMobil pipeline burst in Akwa Ibom, spilling more than a million gallons into the delta before it was repaired. Media coverage of the Deepwater Horizon spill, along with the daily speeches by President Barack Obama, who insists he will hold BP to account for the disaster, has been in sharp contrast to the experiences of Nigerians.

Should there be a global strategy to rein in the oil companies to protect further devastation to the planet?

With:

Dr Simon Boxall, lecturer in Oceanography at the University of Southampton, National Oceanography Centre (UK) who has been involved with oil spill monitoring and impact on a number of major European spills including Braer, Sea Empress, Prestige and Erika;

Dr Richard Pike, chief executive of the Royal Society of Chemistry who had an almost 25 year career in BP, during which time he held a number of technical and commercial positions;

John Vidal, the Guardian’s environment editor;

Ben Amunwa, a campaigner with PLATFORM, an arts and campaigns group that focuses on the oil and gas industry;

Chris Skrebowski, founding director of Peak Oil Consulting and the consulting editor of Petroleum Review, he has 38 years experience in the oil industry, starting work in 1970 as a long-term planner for BP.

Picture credit: [ Mooi ]

If you missed the talk or if you would just like another taster of some of his stunning pictures we have a slide show below of some of the best work from his book, Curse of the Black Gold.

But this is modern day Peru. Protests in the country’s indigenous-majority north-eastern region were put down by armed police late last week. At least 22 police and nine protesters have died, the BBC reports. Indigenous leaders say closer to 30 protestors were killed and around 150 injured, many with bullets.

It’s not the first time this remote area has witnessed bloodshed. Fuel and transport blockades have disrupted Peru’s Amazon region for almost two months. The indigenous groups want lawmakers to repeal laws that encourage mining in jungle regions. Critics say that over two-thirds of the Peruvian Amazon territory is now leased for oil and gas exploration.

The case is not an isolated one. For a decade or more, local inhabitants have run an international campaign against US-based mining firm Newmont for alleged environmental destruction at its mine in nearby Cajamarca. Neighbouring Ecuador has faced similar protests by indigenous groups who oppose natural resource extraction in their native lands.

The Achuar people of the north-western Amazon demonstrate a new tack in indigenous campaigning. A warrior tribe by tradition, they have chosen to fight their battle in an environment that their corporate adversaries understand: the law courts. In 2007, the Achuar filed a class action lawsuit against oil giant Occidental Petroleum in Los Angeles. Their lawsuit alleges that the US company dumped around nine billion barrels of toxic waste water into streams and rivers over a three-decade period. The judge is still deliberating to to whether the case can proceed.

An increasing number of affected communities are seeking legal redress in the US. Last month, for example, members of Nigeria’s Ogoni people brought Anglo-Dutch oil company Shell before a US federal court in New York. They accuse the oil major of colluding with the Nigeria military junta in the 1990s and, by extension, for aiding and abetting human rights violations.

Two mains reasons explain this shift towards international cases of this kind. Firstly, the plaintiffs lack confidence that their national courts will provide them with a fair hearing. In corrupt corners of Latin America and Africa, their fears are well-founded. Secondly, thanks to some clever lawyering, such communities now have access to the US justice system for the first time. Litigators have unearthed a statute that has lain dormant for almost two centuries. Under the Alien Tort Claims Act, anybody can theoretically bring a case against a US-domiciled individual, government agency or company for gross human rights violations.

The Shell case promises to be a landmark. If the company is found guilty, a flood of similar cases against large companies can be expected to follow. Then the indigenous of the Peruvian jungle will have an alternative recourse to fighting it out with heavily armed police.

Due to the global recession, the six-nation Central African Economic and Monetary Community — Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo Republic, Equatorial Guinea and Gabon — is anticipating economic expansion of just 2.8 percent in 2009, versus 4.4 percent last year. That’s not bad, considering Germany could contract by as much as 7 percent, and the U.S. by around 3 percent.

But the apparently positive figures are misleading. Even at the best of times, these countries — many of them former French colonies — suffer some of the worst rich-poor divides anywhere. Four-percent growth does not mean that everyday Gabonese, for example, are any better off than they were a year before. The region’s oil (pictured), gold and timber is making the tiny ruling class fabulously wealthy, and seeding resentment deep in the hearts of working people.

At the height of Gabon’s oil boom in 2006, 40 percent of the population was unemployed, and 70 percent lived below the poverty line. Those figures have not improved.

“The rampant poverty is set against a per-capita GDP more than three-times higher than the sub-Saharan average, a paradox that is not lost on politicians opposed to the country’s president, Omar Bongo, West Africa’s longest-serving head of state,” IRIN reported.

The French police found that Bongo and his family owned some 33 luxury properties in France, including a $24-million villa in Paris, according to AFP.

“Our leaders live in style, parading with cars and big villas while the country is left utterly helpless,” said Vincent Ndomba, who works at the Gabonese Treasury.

Last month Paris froze nine of Bongo’s French accounts, containing millions of dollars, over a legal dispute filed by a French citizen who says he had to pay hundreds of thousands of euros to have a relative freed from Gabonese jail.

In a couple weeks, the U.S. Navy amphibious ship Nashville will visit Gabon to deliver free training and humanitarian assistance, a service Bongo’s government requested, despite the country’s strong growth compare to the U.S. I’ll be joining Nashville in the capital of Libreville.

While Gabon remains fairly violence-free despite the country’s social ills, that’s not always the case in such troubled countries. In nearby Chad, for instance, the same economic disparities have fueled one of Africa’s most persistent civil wars.

(Photo: via Univ. of Oklahoma)