Greenpeace's flagship vessel to sail across Indonesia
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E-mail Xinhua, May 8, 2013
The iconic flagship vessel of the international environmental organization Greenpeace, Rainbow Warrior, is set to sail across Indonesia from May 9 to June 10 in a sail program entitled "100% Indonesia: protecting our forests and oceans together", a Greenpeace senior official said here on Tuesday.
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The Rainbow Warrior [File photo] |
"Indonesia is home to some of the world's richest oceans and most pristine forests. This year, the Rainbow Warrior III will sail on a journey to tell the whole world about the beauty of Indonesia, and the need to protect our natural assets," Longgena Ginting, head of Greenpeace Indonesia told a press conference here. Its sail program in Indonesia was scheduled to embark from Papua on May 9, to Jakarta on June 10.
The Rainbow Warrior III is the third of Greenpeace's legendary flagship, claimed as one of the most environment-friendly vessels ever constructed in the world.
The first Rainbow Warrior which set sail in 1978, was bombed in 1985 by the French government over protests against French nuclear testing in the Pacific.
The second Rainbow Warrior was inaugurated in 1989 and campaigned for 22 years to prevent environmental destruction in every corner of the globe.
"The Rainbow Warrior has been the heart and soul of Greenpeace global campaigning for over 30 years. It has been raided, rammed, shot at and bombed but the spirit of the Rainbow Warrior is as strong as ever," Longgena Ginting added.
The second Rainbow Warrior had visited Indonesia in January 2004 during the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) campaign in the region. In 2005, it helped medical aid organization Mdecins Sans Frontires (MSF) deliver relief supplies to parts of Indonesia devastated by tsunami.
In December 2007, it sailed with a flotilla of hundreds of local fishing boats in Bali to promote forest protection during the 13th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP13) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
On its arrival in Jakarta, Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is expected to visit the ship. The invitation was accepted by the president in a meeting in Jakarta with Greenpeace International Executive Director Kuni Naidoo last June.
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