Strong Climate Dinner New York, September 2019

Luis was a friend and mentor to many of us, he was also a true leader and trailblazer for the environment. Indeed Maurice's work gave birth to a brand new era of international environmental diplomacy and governance at the 1972 Stockholm conference which saw the birth of the United Nations environment program. It was the first U.N agency to be headquartered in a developing country and it was Maurice who built up unit from the ground with its headquarters in Nairobi on what was then a very simple coffee farm on the outskirts of the capital city of Kenya.

Maurice convened the first ever International expert group meeting on Climate Change, a clear demonstration of how he was way ahead of the curve. He shepherded in a range of vital Global Environmental governance processes from the original Rio Earth Summit, Agenda 21 and the Rio Declaration, to the launch of the U.N Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). Crucially Maurice ensured the full participation of developing countries in these processes that included listening closely to those who were feeling marginalized, as well as indigenous people and those who were the poor in the world.

He was also a champion of Nature-based Solutions. He always saw the human species as part of the greater natural whole, and always identified the incredible capacity of nature to provide answers which even the most sophisticated technology and science still cannot match to this day.

It is also very welcome to see that leaders of the Travel & Tourism industry are getting behind the SUNx Malta initiative and are committing to Climate Friendly Travel, helping us to meet our climate goals. This is a step that I believe Maurice Strong would have welcomed.

Maurice will be forever remembered for placing the environment on top of the international agenda at the heart of development, with people on the planet being an integral part of that agenda. His courage, his entrepreneurship, his brilliance, will continue to inspire me personally, and I know many generations to come. It is on his legacy that many of us are building today with the hope that we can address the great challenges of the 21st century with the pioneering work that he was so much part of.

To all of you, and to all of us, thank you for being part of this continuing effort. At the 2014 U.N. General Assembly, Maurice Strong called on world leaders to rise to their historic responsibility as custodians of the planet and I quote: "To take decisions that will unite rich and poor, North, South, East, and West, in a new Global partnership to ensure our common future."

Source: SUNx Malta, Strong Climate Dinner, New York, September 2019 

Region: Global