«Protecting the Environment is a common global challenge that requires urgent and concrete actions». These stimulating words, by H.S.H. Prince Albert II of Monaco, express the core values on which it is based the strong commitment pursued by the Principality of Monaco and the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation (@FPA2) that, since its establishment in 2006, has been promoting specific measures aimed at countering worrying environmental phenomena in order to build a more resilient Planet. It is worth mentioning here the main goals devoted to raising eco-awareness, giving an eco-sustainable support to the Mediterranean Basin, the Polar Regions and the Least Developed Countries and establishing partnerships with authorities, NGOs and other stakeholders, both at local and international level and promoting highly qualified scholarships implemented through 420 ambitious international projects which go beyond the COP21 Paris Agreement within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), reached in December 2015.
All of this represents a crucial contribution in support of the safeguard of the Planet biodiversity, part of complex ecosystems, increasingly menaced by climate change, desertification, human exploitation of the environment and waste of water resources. Nothing far from the reality but the result of the joint undertaking of thousands of individuals and organizations who engage themselves every day towards the environmental protection with special regard to next generations. “We are honoured to be partner of major education and academic foundations aimed at transmitting a scientifically grounded knowledge, crucial to form future policy makers”, stressed H.E. Bernard Fautrier, Vice President of the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation.
From these premises, the Prince Albert II of Monaco Awards, since 2008, has been offering a remarkable opportunity to reward the exceptional promoters of priority eco-actions. The 2018 edition of these prestigious Awards took place in the Principality on the 22nd June 2018 turning the Grimaldi Forum in an environmentally friendly “Academy Awards” setting. “We are part of a unique system where everything is interconnected so that we cannot separate what belongs to Man and the Economic Development from what concerns Nature. Protecting the Environment means safeguarding human kind and our future”, pointed out H.S.H. the Sovereign Prince, President of the Foundation. It is not by chance that Monaco Explorations, a three-year campaign of scientific explorations at sea, was inaugurated in July 2017.
«I particularly appreciate the engagement of the Foundation to foster the protection of the resource Water, closely tied to all living beings, in the international political agenda, to turn theory into concrete actions», stressed Professor Victor Pochat, full member of the Argentine Academy of Environmental Sciences and President of the Argentine Institute of Water Resources who was awarded the ‘Water’ Award 2018.
«I would like to thank the many scientists, my colleagues, and students who are contributing to our research on the state of health of Coral Reefs, that plays a vital role in our ecosystem, and whose bleaching process, since 2010, has been seriously accelerating as a direct consequence of global warming and ocean acidification», stressed Professor Terry Hughes, Director of the Australian Research Council’s Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, who was rewarded the ‘Climate Change’ Award 2018.
«Since my wife and I started in 2003 our personal commitment in this organization, focusing on the preservation of Tenkile and Weinmang tree kangaroos as endangered species of the Torricelli Mountain Range Protected Area (Papua New Guinea), we have realized how important is to take action to protect every creature part of any individual ecosystem», underlined Jim Thomas, Project Manager and Director for the NGO Tenkile Conservation Alliance.
Therefore, eco-awareness has to be increased by using a qualified multidisciplinary approach as testified by the outstanding film-documentary directed by Luc Hardy, ‘Arktika Incognita’, projected in word premiere at the Grimaldi Forum. It describes the adventurous journey, in the footsteps of the American explorer Georges de Long, to the discovery of the Arctic wildlife, in the most remote Siberian islands, through the expedition’s evidence composed of international scientists, adventurers, artists and free divers.
