Japan (ICR) vs. Sea Shepherd Conservation Society

According to media reports, Japanese whalers filed a lawsuit on December 8 in the US District Court of Seattle to prevent "acts of violence" by Sea Shepherd activists during this year's whaling operations in the Antarctic. In a statement, Japan's Institute of Cetacean Research (ICR), and Kyodo Senpaku Kaisha Ltd, which operates the whaling vessels, said they had filed the lawsuit to establish legal protection of their ships and crews. A spokesman for the whalers said the lawsuit would only target violent activities and did not seek monetary compensation from Sea Shepherd, but did seek a permanent stop to the activists' actions. Sea Shepherd founder, Paul Watson, said the ships his organisation used in past years were not owned by Sea Shepherd USA, nor were they US-flagged vessels and thus, the US government and courts have no authority over the ships.

Joint Press Release from Japan's Institute of Cetacean Research (ICR), and Kyodo Senpaku Kaisha Ltd

Japan: Preparations for Rio+20

According to an announcement on the website of the UNCSD Secretariat, Japan has launched a National Preparatory Committee for UNCSD (Rio+20). The Committee held its first meeting on 13 July 2011, and will meet again on 23 August 2011. The Committee also plans to hold two workshops, the first on 1 September 2011 to collect a wide range of stakeholders’ opinions.

WTO: Renewable Energy Arbitration

The WTO Dispute Settlement Mechanism has established a Panel to arbitrate in the Japan vs. Canada case on measures applied to Canada's renewable energy sector. It will examine the case "Canada - Certain Measures Affecting the Renewable Energy Generation Sector" to determine whether Ontario's feed-in-tariff programme violates WTO law when providing guaranteed long-term pricing for the output of renewable energy generation facilities that source up to 60% of their inputs from Ontario. Domestic content requirements are not permitted under WTO law, although exceptions may be accepted for environmental purposes, if certain specific conditions are met.

GEF: Nagoya Protocol Fund

The GEF Council, on 26 May, approved the role of the Secretariat as operator of a new voluntary fund to assist developing countries to ratify and implement the Nagoya Protocol under CBD. Japan reaffirmed its pioneer contribution of 1 billion Yen (approximately US$12 million) and additional declarations of support were made by France, Norway and Switzerland. See the decision on Agenda Item 16 in the “Joint Summary of the Chairs”.

ICJ: Australia v. Japan

The International Court of Justice has fixed time-limits or the filing of the initial pleadings in the case concerning Whaling in the Arctic (Australia v. Japan). Australia has until 9 May 2011 to file a Memorial and Japan will have until 9 March 2012 to file a Counter-Memorial. The history of the proceedings can be found in Press Release No. 2010/16 of 1 June 2010 at www.icj-cij.org.

ICJ: Whaling in the Antarctic

Australia instituted proceedings before the ICJ on 1 June, 2010 alleging that:

“Japan's continued pursuit of a large scale programme of whaling under the 2^nd Phase of its Japanese Whale Research Programme under Special Permit in the Antarctic (“JARPA”) [is] in breach of obligations assumed by Japan under the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling (ICRW), as well as its other international obligations for the preservation of marine mammals and marine environment.”

See press release No. 2010/16 at www.icj-cij.org for more details.