Ruairi O'Connell

Earth Day

On 22 April, I took part in a Kosovo Government event to mark 'Earth Day'. My chief contribution was, with other diplomatic colleagues, to plant a new tree in one of Pristina's parks (see photo).

Earth Day, a celebration conceived by US Senator Gaylord Nelson, offers a chance to reflect on the core concept in 'globalisation'; that we are all effected by actions elsewhere in the world. Specifically, Senator Nelson's idea was to raise awareness of the need to protect the environment; over thirty years later, and thanks in part to his efforts, there is increased understanding of the impact of human activity on the climate (see the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change website at http://www.ipcc.ch/).

Environmental issues have, understandably, not been very high on Kosovo's political or social agenda in the last twenty years; the conflict has dominated public discussion and private thought. Yet, with independence, Kosovo has had a cathartic moment; many issues, once starved of oxygen, are finding room for expression. Protection of the natural environment is one of those.

Kosovo approaches this issue from a specific perspective. In the UK, we are increasingly aware of the longer-term, global impact of human behaviour. For Kosovo, environmental issues are more immediate and tangible. A newly-independent, economically under-developed state, Kosovo will rely on agriculture and natural resources heavily in the coming years. These issues increasingly will be the focus of 'patriotic' politics here; in the words of one Kosovo politician, "why should we worry about negotiating a few hundred hectares with Macedonia, when our behaviour costs us tens of thousands of hectares in potential agricultural land annually". Earth Day also saw one of Kosovo's first environmental demonstration - by villagers living downwind from the (heavily-polluting) coal-fired power station.

So Kosovo comes to these issues from a heavy 'national interest' point-of-view. But this is welcome; indeed, our efforts to galvanise international action against climate change benefit if more countries begin to see environmental concerns as central to their natural interests.

Posted at 16:00 02 May 2008 by Ruairi O'Connell  |  Comments[1]