Peace and the environment

On 5-6 June, there were even more crowds than usual at the Place des Nations in Geneva.  In order to celebrate World Environment Day, gates were opened wide for entrance into the Ariana Park at the Palais des Nations, also known as the European headquarters of the United Nations.  This area has for many years been closed to the general public, thanks in good part to the disastrous foreign policy practiced by the previous US Presidential administration, which did not make the world any safer for humans - or for the environment - at all.

Ariana Park is described as "an award-winning example of biodiversity in landscape management."  The 46-hectare park was bequeathed to the City of Geneva in 1890 by Gustave de Revilliod de la Rive, with three conditions:  first that the park always remain accessible to the public; that he be buried in the park; and that peacocks roam freely on its grounds, although this last condition is in dispute.  The City of Geneva granted the site to the League of Nations and later to the United Nations.  Peacocks do still roam there today, but it is a rare tour group that catches a glimpse of them because the official visitors' tours of the UN buildings and grounds have been scaled back a lot from when I first arrived in Geneva in 1994.

At the same time, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) also opened access to its observation deck from which one of the most spectacular views of Geneva can be had.   Facilities at the Regional Office of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and the International Peace Bureau (IPB) were also open to the public in order to celebrate both the environment and the centennial of the Nobel Peace Prize received by the IPB.

Geneva's international community comprises some 200 ambassadors serving at national missions to the United Nations and international organizations, 30 international organizations, 300 non-governmental organizations, some 35,000 jobs and contributes about CHF five billion annually to the gross national product of Geneva canton.   But international Geneva is more than these structures or individuals or their economic contribution to the Swiss economy.  It is a crucible in which the rules of social, commercial, sanitary, humanitarian, climate-related, technical and military governance are elaborated.  It is literally at the heart of multilateral diplomacy - one of the two or three world centers of "soft power."

I believe that is the principal reason why I not only enjoy living here but have done my best to stay here as long as possible.  In a world where military might, weapons and bad behavior are rampant, all too often trample roughshod over human rights and dignity and, by so doing, harm us all as well as the world we live in, it helps me to realize that there are indeed many who not only wear "white hats" but who continue with all the power at their disposal to help and encourage those who have been trampled upon.  That our progress is all too often one step forward and two steps back is not the point.  The point is that we continue, in spite of all, to speak out for the alternatives.  After all, someone must.