For the centenary celebrations of the International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics, at the headquarters of UNESCO in Paris, His Majesty the Prince Albert II, was the honoured guest and was awarded with the status of Member of Honour, and so he gave a speech.
United Nations General Assembly - 24 Sept. 2019
the principality committed to the climate
The Government of Monaco is committed to carbon neutrality and is giving itself the means to achieve it, declared Prince Albert II at the United Nations General Assembly. In his speech, the Sovereign also emphasized the role of forests and even more so that of the ocean. Monaco has “historically chosen to support science,” he added.
Climate change and the collapse of biodiversity, far from being isolated crises, are two alarming symptoms of the Antrhopocene that need to be addressed in synergy.
- Paris, UNESCO Headquarters - 29 July 2019
Centenary of the International Geodetic and Geophysical Union
The ardent need to protect the ocean has succeeded the time of discovery and knowledge of the seas, which was that of my great-great-grandfather.
Monaco strives to continue to follow his will and to make his legacy fruitful by updating his message.
Through its own initiatives as well as by proposing to its partners to relay and amplify their own actions, the Principality strives to be a “voice of the ocean”…
- Monaco Blue Initiative, 25 March 2019
opening of the MBI #10
There is a phrase by the great historian Jules Michelet that often comes to mind when I enter this Oceanographic Museum, which is right here on the Mediterranean.
“It is with the sea that all geography should begin”.
We also know that it is with the sea that all history must begin, for we know that we were born of the ocean and that our civilizations were born of the sea.
But it is also by the sea, more and more, that any economy should start.
I am sure that all politics, morals and philosophy will have to begin more and more with the sea.
- Monaco, Oceanographic Museum, 16 April 2019
Meeting of European Oceanography Centres
I think it is necessary, as you said, to develop a better understanding of the general public [sur les questions des sciences de l’océan]. People like information that tells a story, and if we can draw their attention to different ways of telling that story, and in a more engaging way, I think that would certainly help.
Listen to the recorded speech in English.
- Ecouter le discours (anglais) 00:00
- New York, UN Headquarters, June 2017
Speech on the Sustainable Development Goals for the Ocean
At a time when the international community is looking at the oceans and stating the principle of an essential collective responsibility towards them, I cannot help but think of the phrase attributed to Aristotle, with which we are all familiar: “There are three kinds of men: the dead, the living and those who go to the seas”, a phrase that sums up the situation of our seas, which for too long have seemed to escape the common laws of humanity.
- Marrakesh, 12 November 2016
COP 22 Meeting - Marrakesh
Since the world is now ready to be concerned about the seas, to invent a new way of living with them, it is our duty to propose concrete, useful and effective solutions, which alone will make it possible to preserve them, and thus preserve their indispensable capacity to mitigate climate change.
ALSO TO BE SEEN
Speech by H.S.H. Prince Albert II of Monaco, on the occasion of the 74th session of the Marine Environment Protection Committee, London – 13 to 17 May 2019, International Maritime Organization.
Address by H.S.H. Prince Albert II of Monaco to the Director-General of UNESCO at the First Planning Meeting of the UN Decade of Ocean Sciences for Sustainable Development