Commuters can expect to see changes this April on local trainlines, including the end of works on the Nice to Ventimiglia line and a price hike for tickets.
There was good news for rail travellers on 2nd April, as the Nice to Ventimiglia line returned to normal after extensive works. The project, which lasted eight months, caused considerable disruption as well as a much-reduced schedule.
During the renovations, train traffic was limited to a single track between Nice and Eze-sur-Mer. Additionally, passengers were using a single platform, whether boarding or exiting at the Nice Riquier, Villefranche-sur-Mer and Beaulieu-sur-Mer stations.
Representatives from SNCF said the works were necessary as a means of maintaining the lines so that speed limits would not be put in place, thereby increasing travel times.
The Cimiez tunnel saw mud and water-prevention measures installed, whilst the tunnel at Villefranche had reinforcements made to the 150-year-old vault. The grand total of the project came to €19.8 million.
That’s the good news. Now for the bad. From 1st April, prices on TER tickets rose for passengers in the area. The measure was voted on by the Regional Permanent Committee in late February and will see a nearly 3% rise in the cost of individual tickets. Subscribers will see a bigger 4.57% hike.
“The prices of regional unit tickets TER and LER have remained unchanged for four years,” said the Regional Committee. “Meanwhile, the prices of TER Zou subscriptions have been unchanged for seven years.”
In real terms, this means an increase of roughly 20 cents for a return trip between Nice and Monaco, 40 cents between Nice and Cannes, and up to €1.60 more for a return trip between Nice and Toulon.
Higher energy prices are also being blamed for the augmentation. A manager from the TER network in Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur told BFMTV, “Transport costs, including energy prices and rail tolls, have increased by 9% since 2018.”
As part of support measures for economic players in the Principality, the Prince’s Government and the Town Hall of Monaco have decided to renew the free Occupancy of the Public Road (OVP) for the terraces of shops and restaurants for the 1st quarter of 2022.
As in the months of January to September 2021, the Town Hall will therefore grant a 50% discount on the OVP, and the State, through the Support Commission for Economic Recovery (CARE), will cover the remaining 50%. The establishments will benefit from this aid without any action on their part.
“Through this measure, the Prince’s Government and the Town Hall of Monaco wish to continue to support local players in their efforts for economic recovery in this period of emerging from the crisis,” said the government in a statement.
Photo by Stephane Danna, Government Communication Department
AS Monaco picked up where they left off against PSG with a gritty win against Ligue 1 strugglers Metz on Sunday (1-2), potentially signalling a timely return to form for the European hopefuls.
Potentially is the operative word, however, for a side that, in beating Metz, registered only their third set of back-to-back victories in Ligue 1 all season. Having won three on-the-bounce in September and early October (against Saint-Etienne, Clermont and Bordeaux), they would not do so again until December. The second win in that particular run was against Sunday’s opponents, Metz, starkly highlighting the side’s inconsistency in the second-half of the season.
It is also the first time they have done so under Philippe Clement, who pre-match, sought to downplay the interruption that the recent international break played, highlighting instead the positive “dynamic” within the group. Perhaps it was this dynamic that got Monaco over the line against a battling Metz side, who remain rooted in the relegation zone following the defeat.
Trusting in the players that secured that emphatic 3-0 victory against PSG, Clement made only one change to that side, Vanderson coming in for his Brazilian compatriot Jean Lucas. Their first-half performance, however, was unrecognisable to the performance on that day in March.
As Monaco often do against low-blocking sides, they maintained possession for large swathes of the half without doing that much with it. Aleksandr Golovin, making consecutive starts for the first time in 2022, was brought in to unlock the key in the final third, but lacked the creative spark to do so. Although he was a tidy, metronomic figure in the final third, he did nonetheless look like a player trying to re-discover himself in what has been a heavily injury-hit season.
A change of personnel, and of formation, at half-time was what was needed to change the direction of a match that looked destined to be a repeat of Monaco’s numerous failed exploits against defensive, relegation-struggling sides.
Myron Boadu came on for Gelson Martins, joining Wissam Ben Yedder up front, as Clement’s side converted into a 4-4-2. That change reaped immediate rewards. Just 35 seconds after the break, Vanderson’s through ball was fortuitously diverted into the path of the lethal Ben Yedder by Dylan Bronn. First-time, the Ligue 1 top-scorer slotted past the stranded Metz keeper to open the scoring.
Spaces began to appear where previously there had been none. Monaco had chances to double their lead, but to the surprise of many, it was Metz who got the game’s second goal. Ibrahim Amadou spectacularly latched onto Farid Boulaya’s corner, rifling a spectacular overhead kick past a helpless Alexander Nubel.
Monaco needed to dig deep to prevent another failed exploit at a lowly Ligue 1 side, and it looked as though a Boadu tap-in had restored the away side’s lead. A VAR check, however, rightly ruled it out for offside.
The Dutch striker wasn’t deterred, and his impressive cameo would yet yield a goal. Just minutes later, he latched onto a tantalising in-swinging cross from Caio Henrique, his diving header at the back-post too strong to be kept out.
Metz pushed for a winner, but Monaco held firm to see out the victory (1-2), and ensure a winning return following the international break.
Post-match, Clement praised his side’s mentality. “We believed in ourselves. It’s never easy to come here and win, and never simple to face teams that are battling to stay in the division. It was therefore very important to take the three points, and I think we amply deserved it.”
The hope going forward is that these dominant performances turn into wins, and give momentum for a push to the European places that will likely go to the wire. “We are regularly above our opponents in terms of statistics, and it is important that that materialises in the table,” said Clement.
A likely statistical dominance against Troyes next weekend will count for nothing if it isn’t converted into three points, with sterner, potentially decisive tests against fellow European chasers Rennes and Nice to be overcome in the coming weeks.
The Scientific Centre of Monaco has been awarded a spot on the prestigious Global Virus Network, a conglomerate of experts from 37 countries who work with every class of virus that causes human disease.
Representing 69 Centres of Excellence and 11 Affiliates, the Global Virus Network was founded in 2011 as a defense against viral diseases. Their work is dedicated to “understanding, preventing and eradicating viral disease threats to mankind” as well as to learn more about how viruses make people sick and to use that knowledge to develop drugs and vaccines against them.
Now, the Scientific Centre of Monaco (CSM) is joining them as their newest affiliate.
“Just last year, we co-hosted a significant international meeting with Monaco to help curb the Covid-19 pandemic, particularly in developing nations, and focus on establishing innovative platforms for the diagnostics of key human pathogens and drive innovative public health strategies to monitor the efficacy of vaccines against Covid,” said Christian Bréchot, President of the GVN. “I look forward to working with the Scientific Centre of Monaco and its partners in the Principality of Monaco to build global collaboration efforts to identify cutting-edge technologies, integrate the impact of environmental changes on biodiversity and nutrition and prepare for future pandemics.”
CSM is more broadly known for their work in marine and polar biology research but has increasingly added human research in the last decade to their studies. Since 2013, the Department of Medical Biology has been advancing research programmes such as the mechanisms of innate immunity involved in the defence against infections affecting invertebrates and humans, cell metabolism and abnormal proliferation of tumour cells. The department also develops translation studies designed to transmit laboratory data as quickly as possible to patients suffering from cancer or muscular pathologies. The team has been dedicated to the management and financing of clinical research programmes that contribute to medicine, through the development of new therapeutic approaches.
“CSM looks forward to the exchange and synergy of scientific research projects with teams from the GVN,” said Dr Thomas Althaus, Public Health Expert at CSM. “While Monaco has its own national agenda, we aim to meet worldwide challenges like the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. We see terrific potential for collaborations with GVN to improve diagnosis, treatment, prevention, and surveillance of public health global threats.”
“Ocean rights, like human rights, is about shifting our core values”
Efforts are underway to create a Declaration of Ocean Rights, similar to the concept of Human Rights and the Rights of Nature, giving the ocean legal status and the fundamental right to be protected. Michelle Bender, Founder of the Ocean Rights framework, tells us exactly how the declaration will work.
It was during Monaco Ocean Week, on Thursday 24th March at the Yacht Club of Monaco, that Relay4Nature was held, organised by the Ocean Race.
The issue on the table: Why do we need to give the ocean legal rights, and what does a Declaration of Ocean Rights actually look like?
“We have to talk about rights because of the way our western system is constructed,” says Michelle Bender, founder and creator of the Ocean Rights framework. “It’s a rights-based system and, unfortunately, if something is rightless, it is an object, a resource, property or utility. We have to shift how we value and treat nature, and rights is one way to do that.”
Bender is an environmental law and policy specialist at the Earth Law Centre in America. She also serves on the Executive Committee for the Global Alliance for the Rights of Nature, a network of organisations and individuals committed to advancing this new paradigm internationally.
According to the Rights of Nature doctrine, an ecosystem is entitled to legal personhood status and, as such, has the right to defend itself in a court of law against harms, including environmental degradation caused by a specific development project or even by climate change.
The Rights of Nature framework recognises that an ecosystem has the right to exist, flourish, regenerate its vital cycles, and naturally evolve without human-caused disruption. Furthermore, when an ecosystem is declared a “subject of rights”, it has the right to legal representation by a guardian who will act on their behalf and in their best interest.
“We are really building upon a global momentum,” says Bender. “Rights of Nature is now in over 20 countries in some shape or form – at the global level, as well as the national, constitutional, and even parts of the judicial level. It’s this understanding that human wellbeing and human rights are embedded within and dependent upon nature – the air, clean water, jobs, our livelihoods. Rights of Nature is about recognising this reality in the legal system.”
The Relay4Nature discussion panel featuring former Ambassador to the UN for the Seychelles Ronny Jumeau, Ocean Campaign Director Michelle Bender, and Marine Biologist Dr. Antonio di Natale. Photo: Monaco Life
Michelle Bender points to Ecuador, which in 2008 became the first country in the world to recognise the Rights of Nature in its constitution, and the right of its citizens to defend and protect nature.
“We are learning a lot from Ecuador because it has been over a decade since the Rights of Nature were included in its constitution. To be honest, there are some challenges with implementing this, as we see with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. We have these aspirations, but in order to put them into practice, we have to look at how we can implement their enforcement within national policies, the judicial system… Ecuador is showing us how we can construct these standards of decision making and principals for governance.”
Bender gives an example of the precautionary principle, which she says is a staple of environmental law. “Within Ecuador’s environmental code, they have evolved this principle to ‘in dubio pro natura’, from ‘When in doubt, err on the side of caution’, to ‘When in doubt, err on the side of nature’. It’s an evolution of the principle, saying that, in the absence of scientific certainty, we have to take preventative and restrictive measures.”
The second issue to consider is the standards: What is a healthy ocean? What is significant adverse harm? “We have to look at how to define what a healthy ocean is, based upon what the ocean needs to be healthy. It must be able to restore and have integrity.”
Finally, says Bender, the ocean needs to be given a voice and a seat at the table. “More than 20 ecosystems have already been taken out of normal property and designated as legal entities subject to rights,” says Bender. “Much of this has been in Colombia – the rivers, national parks, and the Colombian Amazon, but also in New Zealand – the Whanganui River, and the Ganga and Yamuna rivers in India.”
The New Zealand case is unique because the Parliament finalised the Te Awa Tupua Act, appointing two guardians of the river: one representative of the Maori Indigenous people and one representative of the government, arguably reconciling two different worldviews.
By giving the ocean a voice, it creates new management bonds; it becomes the duty of its representatives to have respect for the intrinsic value of an ecosystem, and also to speak on behalf of that ecosystem’s interests and needs. “If we’re talking about equity for all stakeholders, representation of all to shape the future, the ocean needs to be one of those stakeholders,” says Bender.
Creating a Declaration of Ocean Rights
Using New Zealand as an example, Bender says the first step is the establishment of a scientific and technical body to review the decisions and impact assessments, and help decide what activity to allow, to what extent, and how to protect areas beyond national jurisdiction.
Indigenous peoples, small island states, and local communities who are on the frontline of the climate crisis, must be included in this group, she adds.
“The concept of ocean rights and rights of nature is something that they understand deeply,” says Bender. “They have a strong relationship with the ocean, it is a source of life for them, it is an ancestor. They have customs and customary law that recognises their responsibility to be stewards and custodians of the ocean, and this has helped guide local governance of human activity in more of a reciprocal and harmonious manner. We can learn a lot from them, but we must do it in a very ethical way, being careful not to appropriate the knowledge.”
Photo by Rishi, Unsplash
She adds, “We are really likening it to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights or the Universal Declaration of Indigenous Peoples because we have these first and foremost rights, but they are also aspirations and understandings. Focussing on rights is really about what our values are and the shifting of our core values. One way to look at that is in principles – what principles are we going to have for governance that will hold us accountable?”
Granting the ocean legal rights might help arm it against injury under the law, but how does that translate into reality? Giving legal status to ecosystems has so far been mostly symbolic, and the success of a lawsuit is largely based on how a case is framed and the interests of the claimants. But as the number of lawsuits grows, a precedent will hopefully be set for national and local governments to act on biodiversity conservation by opposing projects that might prove destructive to a particular ecosystem.
What about the Law of the Sea?
The ocean is not completely unprotected from a legal standpoint. There exists the Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), signed in 1982 by 117 States and entered into force in 1994. However, it is restricted to the geographic jurisdictions of coastal States and the rights and duties among those States in the use and conservation of the ocean environment and its natural resources.
According Michelle Bender, UNCLOS is an outdated reference that focuses on state sovereignty, the right to exploit, and freedom of the seas.
“Article 192 creates the obligation for States to protect and preserve the marine environment, but there is no framework to implement or enforce this provision, nor really hold States accountable, especially in areas beyond national jurisdiction. The negotiations to agree on a treaty to protect biodiversity on the high seas are underway and is going in the right direction, but we still see our effort as different.”
Monaco is part of this alternative push for a new treaty on the high seas. As a member of the intergovernmental conference, it contributed to the fourth and final session this month, finalising details for an international legally binding agreement for the conservation and sustainable use of marine areas beyond national jurisdiction (BBNJ).
Still, Michelle Bender sees the Declaration of Ocean Rights as a completely separate, and fundamentally essential, set of rules.
“A Universal Declaration of Ocean Rights would create a new overarching framework rather than be integrated into existing agreements like UNCLOS,” she explains. “Earth-centred governance places human society within natural systems. It would create a fundamental change in the values and ethics that underlie our legal, governance and economic systems. In this process, we are asking ourselves what the ocean needs to be thriving and healthy, and how we can better manage human activity in a reciprocal and ecologically sustainable way.”
The next steps
In order to define the principles of the Declaration of Ocean Rights, a series of innovation workshops are being held, gathering together stakeholders and representatives, including lawyers and scientists, but also community members, indigenous peoples, government members and officials, those who are actively involved in ocean conservation. The aim is for the principles to be agreed upon by September 2023.
Then, the declaration must be ratified by States at the UN level, ideally no later than 2030. It is the year when, hopefully, a campaign to protect 30% of the oceans comes to fruition. Currently, only 2.7% of the world’s oceans are completely protected from commercial fishing, mining, oil drilling and other destructive activities.
Michelle Bender acknowledges that the implementation of the Declaration of Ocean Rights, its enforcement, and defining the commitment of individual States, will be the most difficult aspect: “Just like with human rights, it will probably take some time. But we must put the ocean at the centre of governance, and ask ourselves: how can we transform our relationship with nature?”
Discussions will continue at the United Nations Ocean Conference in Lisbon on 25th June.
A phenomenal second-half performance from AS Monaco Basketball against Armani Milan on Thursday (63-72) leaves the side on the brink of achieving the unthinkable. A place in the play-offs beckons.
The decision to sack Zvezdan Mitrovic and bring in former coach Sasa Obradovic mid-season seemed a risky one. With Monaco now knocking at the door of the play-offs, a feat that seemed unimaginable in the closing stages of Mitrovic’s reign, that move has undoubtedly paid dividends.
Should Alba Berlin lose on Friday against Anadolu Efes, the Roca Team’s qualification will be assured. Regardless of what happens in that match, Monaco can be reasonably confident that they have done enough to secure that play-off position.
In defeating Milan away from home, they secured their sixth win in seven Euroleague fixtures, whilst in all competitions, they now have 13 wins in their last 15 outings. Momentum will be with the side going into the crunch part of the season.
Despite a difficult first-half, in which Monaco narrowly lost both quarters, they never lost sight of their opposition. Defences reigned for large swathes of the match, but an energetic Italian offence allowed the home side to steadily construct an advantage, which at one point grew to 10 points.
Monaco then began to fight back. A spirited Q3 performance completely changed the direction of the match, as Monaco registered 18 points with their opponents registering just one. Donta Hall (16), who has gone from a peripheral figure to a key-man in recent weeks, was once again prominent. His dunks not only a solid source of points, but also a symbol of Monaco’s dominance in that quarter (6-20), with Mike James (19) an integral part in facilitating opportunities within the key.
Monaco managed their lead in the final quarter to run-out 63-72 winners, to the delight of the revelling Monegasque crowd, many of whom had made the trip by bus to support their side.
Post-match, Obradovic said, “I am really very happy, the guys did a marvellous job in defence and accomplished some big things in attack.” And on the side’s play-off aspirations he added, “We deserve to qualify.”
Monaco next comes up against Orleans at the Salle Gaston Medecin in the Betclic Elite. Their next, and final, match of the Euroleague season is against Berlin Alba next Friday, by which point Monaco may have already qualified.
Photo source: AS Monaco Basketball
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