Prince Albert of Monaco has joined the likes of Joanna Lumley and Jason Momoa in backing calls for the Great Barrier Reef to be placed on a list of world heritage sites in danger.
The list includes an international line-up of actors, conservationists and scientists including activist Lumley, Aquaman actor Momoa, Australian singer Cody Simpson, former lead UN climate negotiator Christiana Figueres, and oceanographer Philippe Cousteau, the grandson of French diving pioneer Jacques Cousteau.
“The scientific evidence is beyond doubt: the Great Barrier Reef is in danger and it is time to act,” the group said in a global statement.
It follows a recent recommendation from the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco) that Australia take “accelerated action at all possible levels” on climate change, citing global heating as the cause of mass coral bleaching in 2016, 2017 and 2020.
Later this week, the world heritage committee will be asked to put the world’s biggest reef system on its danger list. If Unesco follows the recommendation, it would be the first time a natural world heritage site has been placed on the “in danger” list mainly because of impacts from the climate crisis.
The statement that Prince Albert co-signed was organised by the Australian Marine Conservation Society (AMCS), who says: “The reef belongs to the world and, as its custodian, Australia must show global leadership on climate action to preserve its future.”
Coral reefs are considered one of the world’s most at-risk ecosystems from the climate crisis due to their sensitivity to warming oceans.
A Unesco report said that despite efforts and achievements by the state and federal governments in Australia, key targets on improving water quality had not been met.
“The plan requires stronger and clearer commitments, in particular towards urgently countering the effects of climate change, but also towards accelerating water quality improvement and land management measures,” it said.
Unesco is also asking Australia to link its policy to protect the reef to the Paris climate goals to keep heating to 1.5C.
A consultant to the AMCS, Imogen Zethoven, said Australia’s climate policies were “more consistent with a 2.5-3.0C rise in global average temperature – a level that would destroy the Great Barrier Reef and all the world’s coral reefs.”
The high-profile statement comes amid backlash from Australia’s Scott Morrison government, who is calling the Unesco decision political and lead by China. Australia’s Environment Minister Sussan Ley is also in Europe lobbying countries against the danger listing.
Photo of the Great Barrier Reef by Nico Smit on Unsplash
The circulation of Covid-19 throughout Monaco continues its worrying upward trajectory, as France declares that the “fourth wave has begun”.
The latest figures released by the Monaco government on Monday show that, in the seven days to 18th July, the incidence rate had jumped to 156, up from 91 the previous week, and 42 the week before that.
The incidence rate refers to the number of positive people in a population of 100,000, and the alert threshold is normally set at 50. The incidence rate had dropped to as low as 8 in the Principality at the end of May. From then, it has almost doubled week-on-week.
It is a similar situation in the neighbouring Alpes-Maritimes department, where the incidence rate as of Monday 19th July was 163, compared to a national average of 74.6.
During a press conference on Monday, French government spokesman Gabriel Attal declared, “We have entered the fourth wave of the epidemic.” He had just come from a meeting with the French cabinet to approve a bill that would extend the use of health passes to incite people to get vaccinated against Covid.
“We are observing a faster wave with a steeper curve than before. It can go up very fast and very high,” said Attal, attributing the rise to the more contagious Delta variant.
Health Minister Olivier Veran has said that nine out of 10 newly infected people in France are unvaccinated. The impact of holiday travel
With PCR tests mandatory for the majority of international travel, the number of PCR tests in Monaco has unsurprisingly increased by almost a thousand in a week, going from 3,432 PCR and antigen tests in the first week of July, to 4,341 tests the second week.
The positivity rate among those tests has also seen a large increase, from 0.6% to 4% – a figure once again reminiscent of the end of March.
The Alpes-Maritimes has a positivity rate of 2.9% Who is testing positive?
It is important to keep in mind that Monaco’s figures are based on the test results of both residents and non-residents of Monaco. In terms of hospitalisations, the number still remains manageable at the Princess Grace Hospital Centre, which is currently caring for three non-resident patients, and one non-resident in ICU.
72 residents with mild symptoms are being cared for by the Home Monitory Centre.
ICU occupancy in the Provence-Alpes-Côte-d’Azur (PACA) region is 22% Vaccinations
As of 15th July, the number of people in Monaco to have received their first vaccination stood at 21,144, or 61.41% of the eligible population over 12. Of those, 88% had also received their second injection and are fully vaccinated.
In France’s PACA region, 2.69 million people have been vaccinated.
"Electric motorcycles and high tech wearables – this is lifestyle"
It’s a story that began in 1903, when aristocrat Marquis Ricardo Soriano Scholtz von Hermensdorff II invented a racing engine far ahead of its time. Throttle forward a century and that pioneering spirit continued through the bloodline to Economist Marco Antonio Soriano IV, who is rebooting the Soriano family legacy in Italy with an all-electric motorcycle and a game changing global business model. Monaco Life caught up with Marco Antonio after he spoke at this year’s Energy Boat Challenge at the Yacht Club of Monaco. Monaco Life: Can you tell us about where it all began for the Soriano family?
Marco Antonio Soriano IV: In the early 1900s, the Sorianos started manufacturing the first racing cars in France, piloted by the British race car driver Jean Graff in competitions like Le Mans. Then in the mid-30s we decided to move to Spain where we became the first manufacturer of motorcycles.
Soriano motorcycles pioneered the whole industry. We even created a line of scooters towards the end of the 50s. Engines were the primary focus of the family business, then it started merging into hospitality. Where is the family, the company and yourself positioned today?
The Soriano family was everyone – my great grandfather and all his siblings – and I am the fourth generation of the family office. What tends to happen is, when there is second and third generation wealth, family members live the life of a rock star but they don’t want to work or bring any value to the family business. So, I became the black sheep and started cutting people out who were draining what had been built in wealth over time but were not producing. I restructured during the financial crisis in 2009 because we were facing a very hard time, particularly my generation which is 50 family members. This fifth generation now has been narrowed down and structured to what the Soriano family office is today – our brand. Left to right: Sergio Moroni, CEO Soriano Motori Corporation, Francesco and Filippo Micchelaci, 3rd generation brothers in fashion and Lead Directors of Fashion Design and Production in Florence, and Marco Soriano, Founder and Chairman of Soriano Motori Corporation. You’re also a specialist in wealth management, which I am sure has contributed to the success of the company and the family office. So, why electric motorcycles?
Having a motors company history, I saw the opportunity to rebirth the family brand with a new vision, the electric vehicle (EV) global platform. Having a narrative allows you to be heard, and then once you are heard you have to create your own legacy. So, we did. In 2019, I started drafting on a napkin the first lines of the kind of motorcycle I would like to create. I took that to a designer and engineers in the US, and then I went to Italy – because Italians have a very keen eye for beauty and design. I am also part Italian myself.
We were the first in the world to build an electric vehicle with shift gears, which allows you to conserve energy and boost performance as you ride the hills of Europe.
We patented the technology and we now have a modular system that we can use in any other vehicle in the world. When can we see the first prototype?
This November at EICMA in Milan, the world’s largest motorcycle trade show, we will present two cruisers, one Enduro model, and possibly a couple of our new EV scooters as well. We presented the specs for the first prototype in November, but they were pandemic times so this will be the real worldwide reveal. We will also present the motorcycles at Art Basel in Miami and at the Fashion Week in Tokyo, Japan this December. What sets this EV apart from other electric motorcycles that are currently on the market?
A regular rider wants the traditional sound and motion of a motorcycle, so that’s what we have done. You can’t even tell the difference between an ICE combustion engine and the EV, it is the same feeling. We added the component of shifting gears to conserve energy and to add torque, while the ABS braking system that we created also allows you to conserve energy and recharge the battery during that process. Battery options range from 15kWh to 20kWh, both lithium-polymers. The motorbike’s range is 200km, maximum velocity 260km per hour.
The motorcycles can be customised and we are taking pre-orders now at www.sorianomotori.com. They will be built in limited-edition capacity and I will laser sign each one. We can produce about six per day, but we do have a 10,000 units manufacturing capacity per annum. This can be scaled up very quickly, but I am not interested in creating oversupply and a sub market. Where are they made and what kind of prices are we talking?
The EVs are made in Italy in two state-of-the-art facilities in Oggiono and Intrubio in the Lecco Province of the majestic Lake Como. Costs range from around €25,500 for the V1R to €32,500 for the V1 Gara. We also accept payment in mainstream cryptocurrencies like Ethereum and Bitcoin. You also say that you are reinventing the business model of the motorcycle sector. What do you mean by that?
The automobile industry does not have a true lifestyle around it, so we started to create our own kind of fashion and high-tech wearables using recyclables as well as photovoltaic undergarments. In some of our leather bags, for example, we are incorporating recharge capacities with small solar panels that connect to a battery system that can charge cell phones. We will also present these at EICMA Milan, Art Basel Miami, and Fashion Week Tokyo, Japan.
High-tech wearables, sustainable products, and motorcycles – the real lifestyle.
But I am crazy enough to do more. So, I am opening the Soriano Lounge Club in New York City where all members get full access to our factories, so when you buy a product, you can go to the factory to see the birth of your bike and form a real connection with it. It’s like those apps that pregnant women have, that compare the size of their baby to a walnut or avocado. With us, you are buying something that is customised, so you want to see this “baby” grow.
My slogan or tagline is: Where engineering meets fashion.
There is a reason why a Lamborghini and Ferrari are popular by word of mouth, and a Toyota is not. I want to unite that gap between engineering and fashion, between the US and Europe.
I also want to create the Soriano Foundation for the education of children, because they are the future. I’m intrigued by these high-tech wearables. Can you tell us more?
Smart wearables are, for example, elbow patches that a rider can put on their jacket that have a sensor that will vibrate when a car is coming through on their left or right, like the sensors that are in cars today. It will help to eliminate blind spots and the need for riders to turn their heads, when maintaining straight vision is critical for safety.
Helmets will also be able to connect to a mobile device, allowing the rider to know what is going on within their periphery, exactly the same way that cars today have 360° satellite vision when parking and driving.
We figured that a Ducati rider is not going to switch to buying a Soriano if it doesn’t have the same features or better. In style and design, you can almost compare us to Ducati, but we are a superior product because of the engineering thought behind it, including its unique international lifestyle. Is sustainability purely a business motivator for you, or do you feel a moral responsibility to take the company in this direction?
I am one of almost eight billion people in the world, and I am contributing my little grain of salt. I heard a story once: A father and son were walking on the beach when they came across all these star fish that had washed ashore. The child started throwing them back in the sea, and the father said, “What are you doing? There are thousands of them, that’s not going to make a difference”. The kid replied, “It is going to make a difference to the ones I am putting back in the water”.
So that’s my approach. I can’t take full responsibility for what is happening in the world, but I can add my grain of salt.
The government is allowing shops and restaurants to expand their services on to terraces free of charge through the month of September to help boost summer trade.
As the health crisis drags on into its second summer, the government, the National Council and Monaco City Hall had offered certain shops and restaurants the ability to expand operations onto the public roadway from January 2021. That has now been extended to include the month of September.
City Hall is granting a 50% discount on the Public Road Occupation (OVP) tariff, and the State, through the Commission for Support to Economic Recovery (C.A.R.E.), will cover the remaining 50% during this period.
The establishments do not need to do anything to receive this benefit and Municipal Services is due to keep them abreast of all information.
The measure was created jointly by City Hall and the government to provide additional support to local businesses who are still struggling from fallout due to the pandemic and the continued economic strife that it entails.
Normally, the right of public usage on roadways is only obtained through special permission and a fee must be paid by the applicant.
Photo by Michael Alesi, Government Communication Department
Reinforced Temporary Total Unemployment has been extended in the Principality until 30th September to assist in recovery during the summer season.
Reinforced Temporary Total Unemployment (CTTR), the exceptional situation which allows employers to temporarily suspend or reduce activity with pay in emergency situations such as the health crisis, has been extended for a few weeks, the government announced on Monday.
During this period, the normal rules have been slightly modified. Companies included in Annex A must now justify a 20% loss of turnover compared to 2019. This differs from the previous set up which exempted these companies from justification. Companies in the Annex B category will have to justify a 30% loss of revenue during the same period.
Additionally, for the months of August and September, the remainder payable by the employer increases from 20% to 30%. Those businesses that have been forced to shut completely through government decisions are subject to a 20% remainder charge.
CTTR covers employees of at least three months and employees on fixed-term contracts over three months, including apprentices and interns. Workers on sick leave, those who work full-time from home, temporary workers, casual staff and variable-hours employees are not covered. Workers who receive a daily stipend for looking after children at home are also banned from receiving CTTR.
Photo by Ibrahim Boran on Unsplash
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