Multicultural Environmentalism At Work – The Preeminent Green Royals of Morocco, Monaco, and the Middle East!

There are a handful of royals right now who are using their unique sovereign status to draw attention to a variety of eco-causes. And in this article, we shall look specifically at the “Green Royals” of Monaco, Morocco, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia who are making a difference in “greening” their homelands – homelands with such allure and exotic fascination that many an old Hollywood movie has been aggrandized by using these places as the centerpiece of their story.

One of my favorites is “Casablanca”, a stirring wartime romance and adventure film set in northern Africa in 1942 featuring acting celebrities Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman. Today, however, the city of Casablanca is now independent of French rule in the Kingdom of Morocco and its current king is Mohammed VI. And since 1999, his sister, HRH Princess Lalla Hasna, has been presiding over many an environmental initiative including the national campaign to protect the country’s 3,500 kilometers of Atlantic and Mediterranean coastline and most notably as Chairwoman of the “Mohammed VI Foundation for the Protection of the Environment” – the rehabilitation and reopening of “Hermitage Park” in Casablanca last year.

And for those of you who are adventure-loving moviegoers, who can forget the final climatic scenes of the action-packed 1989 Steven Spielberg film, “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade” featuring the ancient cliff-carved monastery at Petra, Jordan? Lost for centuries, this rose-red colored city of stone is now a UNESCO World Heritage site. But not lost in the environmental annals of achievement is the present-day royal family of Jordan, five of whom are major players in the sustainable development of Jordan’s eco-tourism attractions and energy independency:

1) His Royal Majesty Abdullah II bin Al-Hussein is currently involved in one of the most ambitious eco-projects in world history called the “Sahara Forest Project” – an ambitious project to turn the deserts of Jordan into a verdant oasis utilizing saltwater-cooled greenhouses, a solar panel plant, algae cultivation facilities and halophyte or salt-loving plant cultivation units.

2) The king’s wife, Her Royal Majesty Queen Rania Al Abdullah, is both the Founder and Chairwoman of the “Jordan River Foundation” which empowers Jordanians – especially women and children – with economic opportunities realized thru the promotion of native eco-handicrafts i.e. baskets, mats and native furniture made of local banana leaves and cattail reeds. She is also a strong supporter of organic farming and her country’s plan to convert up to 5% of Jordanian farms by 2014.

3) The king’s step-mother, Her Royal Majesty Queen Noor, is the Co-Founder and Patron of “The Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature” (RSCN) whose mission is to bio-manage the natural resources of Jordan and protect its wildlife species and the biodiversity of the wilderness regions of the kingdom. Her environmental achievements are many – 1) the establishment of twelve nature reserves, 2) the creation of more than 500 environmental school clubs throughout Jordan’s school system, 3) the integration of biodiversity concepts into school curricula, and 4) the socio-economic development of rural communities by creating job opportunities through eco-tourism, craft production, and other nature-based businesses. She also founded the “Aqaba Committee for the Protection of the Environment” and helped establish the Gulf of Aqaba’s Marine Science Station which houses an aquarium and carries out education and research projects. Internationally, the Queen is Patron of the IUCN, (the “International Union for Conservation of Nature”), the oldest international conservation organization in the world, and a board member of the WWF, ( the “World Wildlife Fund International”), the largest, privately supported international conservation organization dedicated to protecting the world’s wildlife and wildlands. In addition, Queen Noor is the Founding President and Honorary President Emeritus of “BirdLife International”, and Trustee Emeritus of “Conservation International”. Here in the USA, she is a director on the global board of “The Hunger Project” and an Ambassador for “Future Harvest CASA”, (the “Chesapeake Alliance for Sustainable Agriculture”) which promotes “profitable, environmentally sound and socially acceptable food and farming systems that work to sustain communities.”

4) The king’s uncle, Prince Hassan bin Tala, is a big supporter of a massive renewable energy project called “Desertec” which calls for the building of massive solar arrays throughout the Middle East and North Africa which could supply one-sixth of the European Union’s electricity needs. His aim is to seek energy independence for Jordan and to transition its people away from a fossil-fuel civilization to a solar-energy civilization.

5) The king’s aunt, Princess Basma bint Talal, is the Founder of both the “Royal Botanic Garden of Jordan” whose mission is “to preserve native plants and ecosystems, and promote biodiversity research and environmental learning” and the “Royal Marine Conservation Society of Jordan” whose mission is “to contribute to the conservation and sustainable use of the marine environment in Jordan through conservation programs, advocacy, education, outreach and empowerment”. She is also the chair of the Jordan Royal Ecological Diving Society and the National Environment Wildlife Society.

And who can forget acting royal, Grace Kelly, in Alfred Hitchcock’s memorable romantic thriller, “To Catch a Thief”, set in 1955 along the French Riviera? Today her son, Prince Albert II Grimaldi, better known as the “Green Prince”, is the Founder of the “Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation” whose commitment to sustainable and ethical projects around the world is reflected in his foundation’s mission: to combat climate change and develop renewable energies; to combat the loss of biodiversity; to combat desertification in Africa and improve universal access to clean water. Closer to home, one of the aims of the “Green Prince” is to have all future car races in the “Monaco Grand Prix” be fueled by biofuels and not gasoline. Towards that end, Monaco now has the highest state subsidies in the world for electric vehicles and hybrids as well as the highest concentration of electric-charging stations in the world for its land mass area of .7 square miles (or the size of New York City’s Central Park): 333+ stations for four-wheeled vehicles and 145+ stations for two-wheeled vehicles. Another innovation in new environmental technology applications that has come about under the auspices of Prince Albert is the Monaco-made invention of “Seawater Heat Pumps” which today produce 17 percent of the total energy consumed in the Principality of Monaco as well as the world’s first official fleet of electric “Smart Cars”.

And lastly, who can forget the Hollywood 1962 film classic, “Lawrence of Arabia”? Although Director, David Lean, shot this epic adventure in Morocco and Spain, the spectacular sand dunes shown across the big screen might as well have been the Arabian desert of Saudi Arabia in the eyes of many a westernized viewer. Today Saudi Arabia is proudly ruled by King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz al Saud, who two years ago, decreed that a new renewable energy city be built called the “King Abdullah Economic City” along with the “King Abdullah University of Science and Technology” whose prestigious research facilities are focused on both solar and nuclear technologies and environmental issues.

Thus finding innovative solutions to key environmental and energy-related problems now has “royally green ambassadors” actively committed to ecologically-responsible alternatives.