90s The tiny, uninhabited island of Rockall is just 29 metres high and measures just 31 by 25 metres. Despite its size, the UK, Ireland, Denmark (on behalf of the Faroe Islands), and Iceland all claim the rock because of the large amounts of oil and natural gas believed to be buried in the continental shelf, which could be worth as much as $160 billion US dollars. Greenpeace occupies the island - and also the Stena Dee BP oilrig in the northeastern Atlantic - as part of its Atlantic Frontier campaign to protest against the planned exploitation of new oil fields. Claiming Rockall as the ‘Republic of Waveland’, Greenpeace issues over 15,000 passports to supporters backing the campaign. The Kyoto Protocol to protect the climate is adopted by 38 industrial nations. Greenpeace and other environmental organisations criticise the protocol’s low carbon dioxide reduction goals as being insufficient.
main image The Greenpeace Pod, which will be ‘home’ to the activists during the occupation, is installed on Rockall inset image 1 Greenpeace activists Al Baker, Pete Morris and Meike Huelsmann raise the ‘Republic of Waveland’ flag on Rockall inset image 2 Helicopter setting down the Pod inset image 3 Rockall in low sun inset image 4 Greenpeace raises flags at the end of its occupation of the island. All images © Greenpeace / David Sims
108 THE GREENPEACE chronicles