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Day: 28 January 2020

Clean Equity team announces two new collaborators

by: Stephanie Horsman
28/01/2020

The sustainable technology innovation forum, Clean Equity Monaco 2020, will kick off its 13th edition at the Fairmont Monte-Carlo Hotel with some new faces as well as continued commitment from old partners. 
Co-founded by HSH Prince Albert II and the Chairman of London-based investment bank Innovator Capital Mungo Park, the Clean Equity Monaco 2020 conference will begin on 25th March with a roster of companies selected from over 600 applicants and chosen by the Clean Equity team and Innovator’s Capital (ICL).
Additionally, ICL has announced two new collaborations this year with BP Ventures and Earth Capital, who are both eager to be part of the show.
“Earth Capital has been attending Clean Equity Monaco since 2010 and for our 10th year we felt it fitting to increase our support and commitment to this first-class event that brings together the brightest entrepreneurial minds and leading investors completely focused on sustainable technology,” Gordon Power, CIO of Earth Capital said.
BP Venture’s Managing Director for Europe and the Middle East, Nacho Gimenez, sees the expanded potential of the new partnership both in financial and environmental terms, saying that “BP Ventures is delighted to be joining Clean Equity Monaco 2020. We are looking forward to meeting innovators and investors in game-changing technologies. Venturing plays a key role in BP’s strategy to tackle the dual challenge of meeting the world’s need for more energy, while at the same time reducing carbon emissions. Through venturing, we are developing and growing new energy businesses that could help us achieve our low carbon ambitions.
The forum was started as a way to offer companies whose focus is sustainability and resource efficiency with a platform to become self-sufficient. Selected companies present their ideas and have a chance to meet and greet with other like-minded people, as well as speak with prominent government officials, end users, international trade media consultants, and financial, strategic, corporate, and family investors.
The event also offers a selection of workshops and talks with highly-placed and well-respected speakers from universities, the business world and the political realm. Last year, former United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon attended as a guest speaker.
Attendees are also invited to join in special events, including an exclusive CEO dinner on the 25th, a gala dinner on the 26th, and the award ceremony with the Sovereign Prince.
 
Photo: Prince Albert II of Monaco with winners of the 2019 Clean Equity Awards, courtesy Clean Equity Monaco 

Turn unwanted children’s items into donations for a good cause

by: Stephanie Horsman
28/01/2020

Wondering what to do with all that baby and kid’s stuff you no longer need? The upcoming edition of Monaco is committed against waste… is focusing on baby, childcare and early childhood equipment and donations are being accepted next week.

Collections of unwanted baby and children’s items are taking place at the Espace Leo Ferré on 4th and 5th February from 1pm to 6pm by the City of Monaco and the association Monaco Développement Durable (MC2D).  

Donations of articles such as changing tables, highchairs, car seats, prams, early childhood awakening toys (0-3), food processors, baby scales, baby pens and mats and bouncy chairs are being accepted, as well as unused packages of nappies, wipes and powdered baby formula, and foods that are not past sell-by dates.

The organisers ask that the items being brought in are clean and in good to excellent condition.

The Monaco is committed against waste… programme was started as a way for the people of the Principality to dispose of unused or unwanted items whilst creating a circular economy and encouraging recycling. Previous drives have collected electronics, textbooks, toys, electrical appliances and food. The contributions go to charitable causes that provide assistance to the region’s most disadvantaged.

All donations of childcare items will benefit the organisations Mission Enfance and MIR Nice/Monaco.

 
Photo: Pixabay
 

The Princely Family celebrates Saint Dévote

by: Stephanie Horsman
28/01/2020

HSH Prince Albert II, Princess Charlene and the twins were front and centre at the Saint Dévote celebrations held earlier this week, with Prince Jacques and Princess Gabriella sporting fashionable sunnies and charming the crowds.
The Palace released a series of photos on social media showing the Grimaldi family, along with high-ranking representatives from Monegasque institutions, attending the traditional Sunday evening mass at the Church of Saint Dévote on the 26th followed by the symbolic lighting fire to a wooden boat in the courtyard, a tradition that has endured since 1924 when Prince Louis II first introduced it.

The twins were spotted whispering to one another during the festivities, and the little princess was often seen hugging her brother in a clear show of solidarity.
The following day, as the Princely family were being photographed on the balcony of the palace whilst watching the processional, the adorably animated twins waved and smiled at the enchanted crowds, though admittedly the five-year-olds seemed a bit preoccupied at times. Prince Jacques was seen clutching his trademark tiny toys and Princess Gabriella played with a small donut which appeared to double as a peep hole in a pinch.

Their bemused parents looked on lovingly, as did the crowds, who can’t get enough of the pint-sized royals.
Prince Jacques had on a sombre dark coat to mark the occasion, and Princess Gabriella sported a stylish grey jacket covered in pretty spring flowers.
The family also attended the customary religious ceremony at the Cathedral, followed by a procession of penitents from the Archconfrérie de la Misericorde who presented relics to the Soveriegn Prince and his family on the Place du Palais.

A large crowd who had come to join in the celebrations were thrilled when the Princely family greeted them, the twins performing their duties spectacularly.

Saint Dévote was a 4th century Corsican martyr and is the patron saint of Monaco. Her lifeless body drifted from Corsica to the port of Monaco, where she was then properly interred. Since then, legends of flowers blooming before their season at the site of her tomb has flourished, adding to the mystic of her legend.

© Photos: Eric Mathon / Palais princier

The world is your oyster

by: James Wren
28/01/2020

James Wren, ZSL’s Executive Vice President of Global Resources, shares his concerns for globally declining oyster populations and how you can help save this important species.
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Our oceans play a vital role in regulating our climate and recycling nutrients, and we are dependent on them for clean water and for food.
Last week H.S.H. Prince Albert II of Monaco joined a panel of experts at the World Economic Forum to discuss our oceans and what’s at stake, as corals continue to bleach and overfishing is maintained at unprecedented levels. He said, “the ocean has been a victim” of man-made climate change, a powerful statement that we at ZSL, support.
We’re working around the world to protect ocean species and habitats, including an ocean ecosystem that’s on the doorstep of our headquarters in London, UK.

Over the last two decades, 85% of global oyster reefs, a precious ecosystem not dissimilar to corals, have been lost. In Britain alone, the native oyster has been driven to the brink of extinction with populations dropping by 95%.
The loss of any species is devastating, but these statistics are even more troubling when the important role of oysters and our oceans is understood. For example, oysters are key to maintaining clean and healthy marine habitats, far more than an edible delicacy.
Sometimes referred to as the vacuum cleaners of our waters, oysters filter particles such as nitrogen to clean water. A single oyster can filter up to 200 litres of seawater daily – quite impressive work for such a small animal.
As well as relying on oysters to maintain optimal water quality, many small marine species use oyster reefs – formed when oysters cluster together on hard surfaces under the water – as shelter for juvenile fish, for spawning and as a protective habitat for animals such as mud crabs and juvenile eels.

Overfishing has played a huge part in the dwindling numbers. Humans have been harvesting oysters for thousands of years. Oysters quickly became a luxury pushing demand which lead to catastrophic overfishing.
Alongside overfishing, habitat loss, pollution and the introduction of diseases hindered the oyster population and it can no longer naturally replenish. Now human intervention is its only hope.
In 2019, ZSL announced the beginning of the biggest restoration of Britain’s largest protected area for native oysters.
Working in the only Marine Conservation Zone (UK marine protected area) in England for native oysters, ZSL – a coalition of oystermen, local communities, NGOs, universities and the UK Government – have begun creating the habitat required for an Oyster Sanctuary, replenishing the estuary’s lost oysters.

One of the ways we restore the population and create new habitats is by using ‘recycled’ shells from oysters bred on the coast of England and sold in one of London’s busy markets. They have been used to “lay the cultch” – a term used to describe the process of laying crushed shells and stones onto the estuary floor. This step is needed, as oysters require a hard surface to grow on, which is not naturally found on the muddy estuary beds on the UK’s coast.
Now, together with ZSL partners, we are creating a ‘Mother Oyster to kick-start a self-sustaining population of the species, involving volunteers, local businesses and youngsters with disabilities and special educational needs.
Quite rightly, we are thrilled to be leading this project, which embodies one of ZSL’s core aims: bringing wildlife back from the brink.
ZSL is still working to save the much-loved oyster and protect our oceans.
Please do what can you do to protect oysters. Here are a couple of ideas:

  • Donate to ZSL to support our continued work to create a world where wildlife thrives. As H.S.H. Prince Albert II of Monaco said last week, “funding of marine protected areas is crucial” and can enable us to continue to make change.
  • Do you know where yours have come from ? Learn more about the oysters you eat and choose certified fish and oysters that can be traced back to their source. You can check websites such as the Marine Conservation Society to find out more.

Working together, we can create a world where wildlife thrives; to find out how you can support us, please visit zsl.org to learn more.
 
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Michelin Guide reveals new green label

by: Cassandra Tanti
28/01/2020

The world’s most renowned restaurant guide is now awarding chefs deemed to be producing “sustainable gastronomy”. The Michelin Guide on Monday released its 2020 edition and while there were no major announcements for Monaco, the introduction of this new “green” category came as a welcome surprise.
The 2020 edition of the French version of the guide features a new green leaf motif, awarded to 51 chefs whose establishment is also awarded with a Plate, Bib Gourmand, or 1, 2 or 3 stars. The new category is being touted by the guide as an important reform.
“The Guide is helping promote the chefs who have taken responsibility by preserving resources and embracing biodiversity, reducing food waste and reducing the consumption of non-renewable energy,” said Gwendal Poullennec, International Director of Michelin Guides.
These chefs and their sustainable initiatives will be highlighted on the various platforms of the Michelin Guide throughout the year.
“The ambition of our approach is to amplify the scope of the good and ingenious practices of chefs by putting them in the spotlight,” said Mr Poullennec. “The ideas, methods and know-how developed by these chefs will thus help raise awareness of an entire sector to its customers and the general population.”
The so-called “gastronomy bible”, which received a relatively low-key launch in Paris, contains 3,439 restaurant listings in France and Monaco, 628 of them starred. New three-star ratings went to Christopher Coutanceau, who has a seafood restaurant in La Rochelle, Kei Kobayashi, the Japanese-born chef at Kei restaurant in Paris, and L’Oustau de Baumanière, a family restaurant at Les baux de Provence that lost its third star in 1954.

La Table de l’Alpaga chef Anthony Bisquerra with Gwendal Poullennec, International Director of Michelin Guides.

There were 11 restaurants given two stars for the first time, including La Voile at Ramatuelle, where chef Éric Canino “composes tastes as a homage to his Var homeland”; La Table de l’Alpaga in Megève, where chef Anthony Bisquerra “gives mountain cuisine its acclaim”; and gourmet dessert restaurant Sarkara at the K2 hotel in Courchevel, where chef Sébastien Vauxion “shakes up the rules and transforms vegetables, fruit and other ingredients into incredibly light and sweet dishes.”
Meanwhile, Pure & V in Nice was one of 49 new one-star restaurants. Using 90% organic produce, the restaurant was awarded for its mystery menu delivered by a Danish chef and a young sommelier with a penchant for natural wines. The guide called it a “sleek, canteen vibe restaurant – in other words, flawless.”
According to Michelin, restaurants are selected on four criteria: the quality of the ingredients used, mastery of flavour and cooking techniques, the personality of the chef reflected in their cuisine, and lastly value for money and consistency between visits.
One star denotes “high quality cooking”, two stars “excellent cooking”, and three stars “exceptional cuisine”.
 
 

Pelagos Agreement meeting

by: Staff Writer
28/01/2020

The 12th Scientific and Technical Committee of the Pelagos Agreement, chaired by Alain Barcelo, has met at the Oceanographic Museum.
The meeting took place on Thursday 23rd January in the presence of representatives of the three member countries involved in the Scientific and Technical Committee – France, Italy and the Principality of Monaco. During the meeting, the work program and forecast budget for the 2020-2021 biennium were discusses.
The meeting was attended by many interested parties, including ACCOBAMS, WWF France, Legambiente Onlus, Tethys Research Institute, Souffleurs d’Écume, CIMA Research Foundation, Aire Marine Protégée de Portofino and GIS3M.
Meanwhile, a progress report was drawn up on international projects, funded by the Permanent Secretariat of the Pelagos Agreement, making it possible to identify management proposals for sanctuary areas that are at threat.
At the end of the meeting, the Scientific and Technical Committee formulated recommendations which will be submitted to the next meeting, which will be held this year in Italy.
The Pelagos Agreement, relating to the creation in the Mediterranean of a sanctuary for marine mammals, was signed in Rome in 1999 by Italy, France and the Principality of Monaco and entered into force in 2002. Its objective is to protect marine mammals and their habitats from all causes of disturbance. The Pelagos Sanctuary recently renewed its status of Specially Protected Area of ​​Mediterranean Importance (ASPIM) of the Barcelona Convention and represents the only international protected marine area in the Mediterranean dedicated to the protection of marine mammals.
 
Photo: Costanza Favilli, Executive Secretary of the Pelagos Agreement and Alain Barcelo, Chairman of the Scientific Committee © Directorate of Communication / Michael Alesi © Directorate of Communication / Michael Alesi