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Day: 20 October 2021

Coral Reef Fund seeks advisory board

by: Cassandra Tanti
20/10/2021

A call for applications for advisory board members of the Global Fund for Coral Reefs, supported by the Prince Albert Foundation, is now open to scientists, government representatives and blue economy experts.
The Global Fund for Coral Reefs (GFCR) was launched on the sidelines of the 75th UN General Assembly in September of 2020 by a coalition of private foundations, Member States, UN agencies and financial institutions with the ambition to mobilise USD $625 million for coral reef conservation over the next decade.
In January 2021, the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation joined Germany and the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation in contributing more than €10 million to the Global Coral Reef Fund, kickstarting the unprecedented campaign.
The GFCR is the first UN fund dedicated to SDG 14, ‘Life Below Water’, and the only global blended finance instrument dedicated to coral reefs.  The GFCR leverages grants to incubate investable projects and unlock private sector investment in the blue economy to address local drivers of reef degradation and recovery for local communities.
The Fund promotes a ‘protect-transform-restore-recover’ approach concentrated on reef ecosystems with the greatest chance of surviving climate change. Programming has already launched in Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Kenya, Tanzania and the Bahamas and, by early 2022, is expected to begin in the Philippines, Solomon Islands, Belize, Mexico, Honduras, Guatemala, Indonesia, and the Maldives.
Three rotational seats on the advisory board will be held by scientists with extensive expertise on the disciplines of coral reef science, marine protected area management and socio-economic dynamics; three rotational seats will be occupied by representatives from national governments with ministries or public research institutions with conservation and sustainable development mandates to provide guidance on policy, planning, and stakeholder engagement; and three rotational seats will be held by blue economy experts with strong knowledge and practice in innovation and blended finance, and socio-economic issues in coral reef countries.
 
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“The system is weighted towards destruction, not preservation”

by: Stephanie Horsman
20/10/2021

In the run up to the COP26 climate change conference in Glasgow later this month, Monaco’s Jean Castellini joined finance ministers from around the globe to discuss challenges and plan strategies.
Climate change and finance may not seem like natural bedfellows, but future economies will either sink or swim depending on how the world’s financial leaders respond and adapt to climate change protocol.
To address the situation, the Coalition of Finance Ministers for Climate Action meeting was held on Tuesday 12th October. Jean Castellini, Monaco’s Minister of Finance and the Economy, participated in this conference which saw 65 developed and developing nations exchange and collaborate on economic tactics that take climate change challenges into account.
This group of countries accounts for 39% of greenhouse gas emissions and 63% of global GDP, making them a powerful force.
“As Ministers of Finance, you hold the key to success for COP26 and beyond,” UN Secretary-General António Guterres said in a video message for the meeting, held from Washington, DC. He went on to emphasise that countries must “swiftly close the emissions gap” as well as close the finance gap to keep climate change goals on track.
To highlight the efforts of the Principality, Minister Castellini recorded a video message underlining the importance of the ‘Monaco Sustainable Finance’ initiative, in coordination with professionals in the Monegasque market, as well as the growth of sustainable investments within the Constitutional funds reserve and its management according to ESG type objectives.
“Earlier this year, I mentioned to all members of the coalition the numerous achievements… for the fight against climate change around the world. They included broadening the scope of sustainable assets in our reserve fund and fostering sustainable impact innovation and technologies in all investments of the fund, but more broadly in the Principality and throughout the actions of His Highness’s foundation.
“Since then, two other steps were taken. Our reserve fund is in the process of setting up a Paris-aligned ambition for its investments with 10 specific actions which I will personally closely monitor and control.”
The fund the Minister speaks of today is over 50% invested with an objective of sustainability, with a marked increase expected by 2025.
When speaking of the Monaco Sustainable Finance Initiative, the second step the country is taking, he underlined “the strong mobilisation of our banking and asset management industry. They will offer sustainable products and investment policies and use simple metrics of reporting.”
Monaco is at the forefront of this kind of change, with the UN Secretary General calling on others to follow suit.
“Your representatives at the boards of multilateral development banks could request management to present as soon as possible a set of concrete measures, implementable by the end of next year at the latest, to address red tape issues and improve the speed and efficiency of systems and processes in all development finance institutions,” he said.
He also urged ministers to allocate more funds to support necessary policy changes in developing countries, as well as to alter how GDP is calculated to reflect how nature and natural resources are part of a nation’s wealth.
“Nature’s resources still do not figure in countries’ calculations of wealth,” said Mr. Guterres. “We need nature-based solutions for adaptation and mitigation. The current system is weighted towards destruction, not preservation.”
Hopes are pinned on COP26 to make these requests realities as climate change is affecting lives and livelihoods more with every passing year. The summit will run from 31st October to 12th November at the Scottish Event Campus in Glasgow.
 
 
Photo of Iceland by Stephen Leonardi on Unsplash
 
 
 

Hélène Pastor assassination: retrial begins

by: Cassandra Tanti
20/10/2021

After countless delays due to the Covid pandemic, the appeal trial of Wojciech Janowski, convicted of ordering the murder of Monaco’s richest woman Hélène Pastor, has begun in an Aix-en-Provence court.
On 6th May 2014, 77-year-old Hélène Pastor, heiress of a real estate empire estimated at €12 billion, was fatally shot along with her Egyptian driver Mohamed Darwich, 63, as they left a Nice hospital where she had visited her son, Gildo, who had suffered a stroke.
Four years later, her son-in-law Wojciech Janowski was sentenced to life imprisonment for ordering the assassinations.
Now, the 72-year-old Polish native is appearing before the Appeals Court of Bouches-du-Rhône where he is once again proclaiming his innocence, shouting out “conspiracy” to the court on Monday, according to a report by AFP.
On Tuesday, the court heard the testimony of judicial police officer of Nice Catherine Messineo, who, in the early stages of the investigation, went to Helene Pastor’s bedside on 17th May 2014.
“I discovered her horribly injured,” the officer reportedly told the court, adding that the victim was disfigured and her speech hampered by a tracheotomy. “It was a very complicated hearing to do.” The investigator added that Hélène Pastor “said that she saw a black man appear who fired two shots, the first on her, the second on Mohamed Darwich. She believed that the intention was to shoot two people.”
The court heard that Hélène Pastor had not received a death threat, that she had not changed her will, which still left her fortune 50/50 to her two children Sylvia and Gildo, and that she had not taken out life insurance for a third beneficiary. The billionaire also carried a will on her at the time of the attack. Hélène Pastor, said the investigator, closed her statement with these words: “I’m afraid, I have other things to say”. “I promised to see her again as soon as I received the green light from the doctors,” said the police officer, but “five days later she died.”
Present in court for the trial are the victim’s daughter Sylvia Ratkowski-Pastor, partner of Wojciech Janowski for 28 years, and her son Gildo Pallanca-Pastor, who has engaged in a media showdown leading up to the trial, saying that “everything has not been said” and openly suggesting that his sister may be complicit in the assassinations. The pair reportedly are no longer on speaking terms.
Joining Wojciech Janowski in the dock is Pascal Dauriac, sentenced to 30 years’ imprisonment. “I take responsibility for everything I have done,” he said on Monday. Dauriac claims that Janowski ordered him to have the billionaire killed and organise the theft of her purse to make it seem like a robbery.
Also in the dock are Al-Haïr Hamadi and Samine Saïd Ahmed, one convicted of being the lookout and the second the perpetrator of the shootings. They were sentenced, like the son-in-law, to life imprisonment in 2018.
Al-Haïr Hamadi admitted Monday to being the lookout. Samine Saïd Ahmed did not make a statement. Omer Lohore, a relative of the lookout and initially acquitted, has always claimed his innocence.
The appeal trial, involving all five of the accused, is due to last until 19th November.
 
Photo of Helene Pastor by Claudia Albuquerque Best Image
 
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More than 600 new homes by end of 2023

by: Stephanie Horsman
20/10/2021

Monegasque Councillor Balthazar Seydoux has confirmed to the National Council that there will be a total of 612 new apartments built in the Principality by the end of 2023, easing Monaco’s housing shortage.

During a National Council meeting on 7th October, Councillor Balthazar Seydoux, who is also Chairman of the Finance and National Economy Committee, revealed details of the hundreds of new appartments that are currently being built or that will be built in Monaco by the end of 2023.

Testimonio II will provide 181 apartments and are scheduled to be delivered at the and of 2022. The next phase is the Testimonio II bis project, which will add 167 homes by the last quarter of 2023.

A renovation and rehab project at Mélèzes will deliver 14 apartments by the first quarter of 2023 at a cost of €17 million, including the restoration of the building.

Palais Honoria will add 65 to the market at a cost of €85 million with an estimated completion date in the start of 2023.

There will also be an additional 25 apartments from the €36 million Villa Carmelha, which is set to be move-in ready by the middle of 2023.

Finally, there is the Grand Ida, which is set to be completed by late 2023, and will give residents 160 new apartments, costing €320 million.

“Allow me to express my satisfaction with the confirmation of the timely delivery of operations Testimonio II, Palais Honoria and Carmelha,” said Balthazar Seydoux. “These projects come under a crucial need: to enable all Monegasques whose situation justifies it to find proper accommodation in quality apartments. I will add to the satisfaction that of the confirmation that the apartments in the Testimonio II, Testimonio II bis and Palais Honoria buildings will be delivered with kitchens installed, which will greatly facilitate the installation of the beneficiaries, especially the youngest of them.”

The councillor also confirmed the construction of two short-term nursing homes, in Monte-Carlo and in the Annonciade district.

 
 
Photo of Villa Carmelha by Bellecour Architects
 
 
 

COP15 adopts declaration to “act urgently” to protect planet

by: Stephanie Horsman
20/10/2021

The COP15 Biodiversity Conference in China has urged Monaco and all participating countries to “act urgently on biodiversity protection in decision-making and recognise the importance of conservation in protecting human health.”
Over a hundred nations are taking part in the COP15 Biodiversity Summit in Kunming China, whose aim is to develop, adopt and implement an efficient global agreement, which they have called the Kunming Declaration, putting biodiversity and environmental recovery at the top of the priority list by 2030.
Monaco participated at home with the involvement of Céline Caron-Dagioni, Minister of Equipment, Environment and Town Planning, and on the ground with the participation of Marie-Pascale Boisson, Monaco’s Ambassador to China.
Ms Caron-Dagioni spoke of the Principality’s attachment to preserving biodiversity, both marine and terrestrial, and the need to recognise its essential contribution to the survival of mankind. This commitment was illustrated by some examples of concrete actions currently underway, such as the renaturation of the city.
She also iterated Monaco’s commitment to the adoption of the post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework and the objectives to be achieved to fight against the loss of biodiversity, which will be finalised in May 2022, with a conservation objective of 30% of the globe by 2030.
Signatory nations will also work towards the full realisation of the 2050 Vision of ‘Living in Harmony with Nature’, ensuring that post-pandemic recovery policies, programmes and plans contribute to the sustainable use of biodiversity, and promote inclusive development.
“The adoption of the Kunming Declaration is a clear indication of the worldwide support for the level of ambition that needs to be reflected in the post-2020 global biodiversity framework to be finalised next spring in Kunming,” Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity, Elizabeth Maruma Mrema, said.
Key elements of the accord include phasing out harmful subsidies and recognising the full and effective participation of local communities and indigenous peoples in helping monitor and review progress.
The European Union has doubled external funding for biodiversity and announced the creation of a coalition of financial institutions who are dedicated to protecting biodiversity with the aid of €12 trillion in assets and investments.
The conference has put a fine point on the dangers to human survival posed by the continued damage to biodiversity. Species are becoming extinct at a catastrophic level, causing disruptions to food chains that can create ripple effects up the ladder.
“Biodiversity loss and ecosystem degradation pose major risks to human survival and sustainable development”, Minister of Ecology and Environment of China, and COP15 President, Huang Runquiu said, saying that this moment “signalled renewed political will to boost ambition, enhance collaboration and maximise opportunities for synergies across other multilateral agreements.”
Participating countries are expected to adopt the proposed biodiversity framework by May 2022 which coincides with the next phase of Kunming meetings set to take place from 25th April to 8th May 2022.
 
 
Photo by Boris Smokrovic on Unsplash