"A trip for life, and for peace" is how Irving Stowe, one of the early co-founders of Greenpeace, described the plan to sail a boat to the Arctic Ocean to stop the testing of a nuclear bomb. Irving didn’t know it then, but the Greenpeace trip would last for decades. And it would change the world.;xNLx;;xNLx;This Timeline is best viewed on a desktop computer. Is there an event missing? Contact us at: [webmaster.int@greenpeace.org](mailto:webmaster.int@greenpeace.org)
After the first Greenpeace action in 1971, the US abandons nuclear testing grounds at Amchitka Island, Alaska
France ends atmospheric tests in the South Pacific after multiple Greenpeace protests at the test site.
After at sea actions against whalers, a whaling moratorium is adopted by the International Whaling Commission.
The Parties to the London Dumping Convention call for a moratorium on radioactive waste dumping at sea. As a result of Greenpeace's repeated actions against ocean dumping, this is the first year since the end of the second world war where officially no radioactive wastes are dumped at sea.
French nuclear testing in the South Pacific again becomes the subject of international controversy, particularly following the sinking of Greenpeace's ship, the Rainbow Warrior, by the French Secret Services.
Following at sea actions, and submissions by Greenpeace, a world-wide ban on incinerating organochlorine waste at sea is agreed by the London Dumping Convention.
A UN moratorium on high seas large-scale driftnets is passed, responding to public outrage at indiscriminate fishing practices exposed by Greenpeace.
Major German publishers go chlorine-free after Greenpeace produces chlorine-free edition of Der Spiegel as part of campaign against chlorine-bleaching.
Worldwide ban on high seas large-scale driftnets comes into force.
The 39 Antarctic Treaty signatories agree to a 50-year minimum prohibition of all mineral exploitation, in effect preserving the continent for peaceful, scientific purposes.
France cancels this year's nuclear tests at Mururoa Atoll, following the Rainbow Warrior visit to the test zone, and vows to halt altogether if other nuclear nations follow suit.
The London Dumping Convention permanently bans the dumping at sea of radioactive and industrial waste world-wide.
Greenpeace actions exposing toxic waste trade from Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) to non-OECD countries culminate in government negotiation of the Basel Convention banning this practice.
After years of Greenpeace actions against whaling, the Antarctic whale sanctuary, proposed by France and supported by Greenpeace, is approved by the International Whaling Commission.
Following a high profile action by Greenpeace, and public pressure, Shell UK reverses its decision to dump the Brent Spar oil platform in the Atlantic Ocean.
Greenpeace actions to stop French nuclear testing receive wide international attention. Over seven million people sign petitions calling for a stop to testing. France, UK, US, Russia and China commit to sign the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty.
Following a submission made with Greenpeace support, UNESCO designates Russia's Komi Forest as a World Heritage Site.
The Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) is adopted at the United Nations.
Greenpeace collects the UNEP Ozone Award for the development of Greenfreeze, a domestic refrigerator free of ozone depleting and significant global warming chemicals.
After campaigning for urgent action to protect the climate since 1988 by Greenpeace and others, ministers from industrialized nations adopt the Kyoto Protocol agreeing to set legally-binding reduction targets on greenhouse gases.
The Environmental Protocol to the Antarctic Treaty comes into force.
The oil company Shell finally agrees to bring its infamous offshore installation, the Brent Spar, to land for recycling. Greenpeace campaigned since 1995 to persuade the oil company not to dump disused installations in the ocean.
Logging giant MacMillan Bloedel announces it will phase out clearcut logging activities in British Columbia, Canada.
After 15 years of campaigning by Greenpeace, the EU finally agrees to phaseout drift net fishing by its fleets in EU and international waters by the end of 2001. France, Italy, the UK and Ireland, continued driftnetting in the North-East Atlantic and Mediterranean after Japan,Taiwan and Korea stopped driftnet fishing on the high seas when the worldwide ban came into force at the end of 1992.
A historic accord, the OSPAR Convention, bans the dumping of offshore installations at sea in the North-East Atlantic. The Convention also agrees on the phasing-out of radioactive and toxic discharges, as proposed by Greenpeace.
Japan is ordered to stop "experimental" fishing of Southern Bluefin Tuna by the International Law of the Sea Tribunal.
Nine countries ban the use of harmful phthalates in polyvinyl chloride (PVC) toys for children under three and the EU introduces an "emergency" ban on soft PVC teething toys.
It aims to protect the environment and human health from risks of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) by controlling international trade of GMOs. Greenpeace has campaigned to stop the irreversible release of GMOs into the environment and to protect biodiversity from genetic pollution since 1995.
An ever increasing and significant number of European retailers, food producers, and subsidiaries of multinational companies guaranteed to keep genetically engineered ingredients out of their products due to consumer pressure. Thanks to its consumer networks in 15 countries, Greenpeace tests products, collects information about food products and policies and exposes contamination cases.
Turkey's plans to build its first nuclear reactors at Akkuyu as part of a larger project to construct 10 reactors by the year 2020, is finally cancelled in July after eight years of campaigning by Greenpeace and others. The only remaining market for all major western nuclear companies is China.
Greenpeace lobbying, together with earlier expeditions to the Southern and Atlantic Oceans exposing flag of convenience (FOC or "pirate") vessels, are instrumental in the adoption of an "international plan of action" to combat illegal fishing in international waters.
Import ban is adopted on all bigeye tuna caught by FOC vessels in the Atlantic.
A historic agreement with logging companies is reached on the conservation of Canada's remaining coastal rainforest and approved by the government of British Columbia. This follows years of campaigning by Greenpeace, most recently targeting the trade and investments of companies involved in logging the endangered Great Bear Rainforest
After years of negotiations and pressure from Greenpeace, a global agreement for the elimination of a group of highly toxic and persistent man-made chemicals (Persistent Organic Pollutants or POPs), became a reality in May 2001 when a UN Treaty banning them is adopted.
The European Union, followed by Japan, ratifies the Kyoto Protocol on climate change. Intensive Greenpeace lobbying must continue because, for the protocol to enter into force, 55 parties to the convention must ratify it.
Greenpeace helps defeat a major drive by pro-whaling nation Japan and its supporters to re-introduce commercial whaling through the International Whaling Commission. The re-introduction would have been disastrous for whales, which are now protected under the 1982 commercial whaling ban.
Brazil declares a moratorium on export of Mahogany following revelations of the extent of illegal logging and timber trade.Greenpeace actions around the world help enforce the ban.
30 million people worldwide create the largest anti-war protest in the history of humankind.
McDonalds in Denmark bows to pressure and takes a leadership position in opening its first restaurants that use no climate-killing chemicals for refrigeration. A campaign by Greenpeace cyberactivists three years ago had led to a similar decision by Coca Cola to phase out HFC/HCFCs and adopt Greenpeace's innovative "Greenfreeze" technology.
A French court agrees to lift an injunction against Greenpeace for creating a parody version of the Esso logo. In July Greenpeace was ordered to remove the logo from its website. On appeal, the court agreed the depiction on a website branding the oil giant Environmental Enemy Number One was protected speech.
Intense lobbying efforts by Greenpeace and Global Witness results in UN Sanctions on Liberia for illegal logging.
A container ship currently heading from southern India to the US represents a small victory in the fight against corporate crime across the globe. The ship is carrying 320 tonnes of toxic mercury contaminated waste which comes from a closed plant owned by the Indian subsidiary of consumer products giant Unilever. Local environmental groups and Greenpeace first exposed the mercurydumping scandal in May 2001. Subsequent protests by locals forced theclosure of the plant but the contaminated waste was left littering thesite and surrounding area. Investigations by the pollution controlauthorities revealed the pollution to be far worse than the company hadadmitted with soil contamination 600-800 the legal levels and approximately 17 times more mercury was unaccounted for than the company estimates. The authorities ordered the company to clean up the site and safely treat the waste.
The Deni, indigenous peoples of the Amazon, celebrate the end of an 18-year campaign to mark their land as protected from logging. 13 Greenpeace volunteers, including a member of the cyberactivist community, used GPS technology and a helicopter for a month to create an "eco-corridor" around 3.6 million hectares of land.
Thanks to intensive lobbying by cyberactivists around the world, Greenpeace prevails against and attempt by Flag of Convenience States to remove the organisation from the International Maritime Organisation, the UN body charged with regulating shipping worldwide. Greenpeace action against unsafe oil tankers, such as the Prestige, had led to the ouster attempt on purported "safety" grounds.
Esso loses its court case against Greenpeace in France. As part of our "Don't buy Esso, Don't buy Exxon/Mobil" campaign, we developed a parody of Esso's logo with a double dollar sign: E$$O, which the oil giant (which trades under the name Exxon/Mobil in other parts of the world) attempted to censor. In a victory for freedom of expression on the web and for our campaign against the world's #1 environmental criminal, the French court defended the logo as an exercise in free speech.
The Stockholm Convention comes into force following years of lobbying by Greenpeace and other environmental organisations. A key feature of the Convention calls for the elimination of all Persistent Organic pollutants. They include intentionally produced chemicals, such as pesticides and PCBs, as well as by-products such as cancer-causing dioxins that are released from industries that use chlorine and from waste incinerators.
Following the controversial UK government approval of genetically engineered (GE) maize for commercial planting, the only company authorized to grow GE maize withdraws its application. In a victory for activists and consumers across Europe who lobbied for tougher legislation and boycotted GE products, Bayer Crop science, a German company authorised to plant an herbicide-resistant variety of maize known as Chardon LL, said regulations on how and where the crop could be planted would make it "economically non-viable." Chardon LL was the crop pulled up by Greenpeace UK activists in 1999. The activists were acquitted of charges of criminal damage when the court agreed they were acting in the interest of protecting the environment.
The UN International Maritime Organisation (IMO) designate the Baltic sea as a "Particularly Sensitive Sea Area," a decision which Greenpeace advocated for years. The IMO regulates shipping worldwide, and the new designation means tougher restrictions on oil tankers and other dangerous cargo vessels. The move was vehemently opposed by the shipping and oil industries.
Thanks to years of pressure from environmental groups, the consumers, our cyberactivists and Greenpeace, we can celebrate a victory for the environment following the announcement by Monsanto that it would suspend further development or open field trials of its genetically engineered Roundup Ready wheat. Monsanto stated that it was deferring all further efforts to introduce the crop and that it was discontinuing breeding and field-level research of the wheat. This follows a similar announcement in 2003 when the company announced its withdrawal from the development of pharmaceutical crops.
Iceland steps back from plans to kill 500 minke, sei, and fin whales over two years, announcing a quota of only 25 minkes for the year. Greenpeace web activists fueled domestic opposition by gathering 50,000 worldwide signatures to a pledge to visit Iceland if the government would stop whaling. With a potential value of more than US$ 60 million in tourist spend, against a whaling programme which generated 3-4 million in profits, the pledge dramatically illustrated that whales are worth more to Iceland alive than dead.
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