Greenpeace Environmental Protest Damages Peruvian World Heritage Site

Chuck Bednar for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online
A publicity stunt organized by Greenpeace at the Nazca Lines has officials at the environmental advocacy group apologizing and potentially facing prosecution for possible damage caused at the ancient Peruvian heritage site.
According to BBC News environmental correspondent Matt McGrath, activists from the organization placed a banner next to a hummingbird figure that was carved into the plains of Southern Peru more than 1,500 years ago. Greenpeace said it was hoping to put pressure on UN officials currently meeting in Lima, but government officials said that those involved will be prosecuted for the stunt.
“The ancient depictions of animals, including a monkey and a hummingbird… are a vital part of the county’s heritage,” McGrath said. “Visits to the site are closely supervised – ministers and presidents have to seek special permission and special footwear to tread on the fragile ground where the 1,500 year old lines are cut.”
Earlier this week, however, 20 Greenpeace activists from seven different countries not only went to the site without permission, but unfurled a banner reading “Time For Change! The Future Is Renewable” at a location described by BBC News as being “very close” to some of the lines. The group is being accused of entering and damaging a prohibited area, and Peruvian officials are threatening up to six years in prison for those responsible.
On a video produced by Greenpeace, one of the activists, Mauro Fernandez, said that the group wanted politicians “to understand the legacy we need to leave for future generations. It is not a legacy of climate crisis,” McGrath said. However, Deputy Culture Minister Luis Jaime Castillo told local reporters that it was a “slap in the face at everything Peruvians consider sacred,” telling The Guardian that it was done “without any respect for our laws.”
“It was done in the middle of the night. They went ahead and stepped on our hummingbird, and looking at the pictures we can see there’s very severe damage. Nobody can go on these lines without permission – not even the president of Peru!” he added. “It was thoughtless, insensitive, illegal, irresponsible and absolutely pre-meditated.”
Top officials from throughout the world are currently participating at UN climate talks in Lima, which is what spurred the environmental group’s actions, Dan Collyns of The Guardian said. A Greenpeace spokeswoman at the summit said that it was cooperating with the investigation and that she was not aware of any legal proceedings being brought against the organization.
Nonetheless, Greenpeace issued an apology, stating that it was sorry if the protest caused any “moral offense” to the people of Peru, io9 and the Chicago Tribune said on Wednesday. The group also said that it would no longer use the images as part of its promotional campaign, and said that Executive Director Kumi Naidoo would travel to Lima to apologize to the Peruvian government in person.
Even so, Arielle Duhaime-Ross of The Verge said that the damage caused by footprints left at the site could be long-lasting, with Castillo claiming that they could remain there for “hundreds or thousands of years. And the line that they have destroyed is the most visible and most recognized of all.”
“Without reservation Greenpeace apologizes to the people of Peru for the [offense] caused by our recent activity laying a message of hope at the site of the historic Nazca lines. We are deeply sorry for this,” a spokesman said, according to Collyns. “Rather than relay an urgent message of hope and possibility to the leaders gathering at the Lima UN climate talks, we came across as careless and crass.”
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