27-03-2009-
H.S.H. the Sovereign Prince was keen for the Principality to take part in the United Nations initiative “Earth Hour”, which involves turning off the lights for one hour from 8.30 p.m. to 9.30 p.m. on Saturday 28th March. An international campaign which will involve approximately one billion people in over 1000 cities.
To date, alongside the Principality, sixty or so countries and over seventy major cities have already agreed to switch off their lights. Major monuments including the world’s largest hotel tower in Dubai, the CN Tower in Toronto, the Sky Tower in Auckland, the Federation Tower in Moscow and the Sydney Opera House, will be plunged into darkness and in Paris the lights on two hundred monuments and buildings will be turned off. Behind the “Earth Hour” concept, the UN will be switching off the lights in all its offices worldwide.
Launched two years ago in Australia by the WWF, this year Earth Hour is aimed at rallying international public opinion to induce the governments expected to take part in the Copenhagen Summit in December 2009 to sign a new agreement against climate change. As the WWF mentions on its website, “2009 is a critical year for action on climate change, with the world’s leaders due to meet at the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen in December to sign a new deal to supersede the Kyoto Protocol. The scientific consensus of the IPCC, which met in Paris in 2007, stressed the urgent nature of implementing global policies to limit global warming to 2° in the course of the 21st century” explaining the foundations of the campaign.
At the request of H.S.H. the Sovereign Prince, the Principality of Monaco will fully take part in this operation by switching off the lights on its public buildings. The Prince would also like the population to make a contribution at the same time with a token gesture.
On Saturday 28th March between 8.30 p.m. and 9.30 p.m., at least for a few minutes, together, let us switch off the lights for the benefit of our planet.
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