Monaco's Prince
Limits Questions To Those He
Funds, No Disclosure or Q on
Marine Protected Areas
By Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS,
June 7 – When Monaco's Prince
Albert II held a press
conference at the UN on June
7, Marine Protected Areas were
mentioned and Inner City Press
went to ask him about the MPAs
which offer little to no
protection, see below. But as
it turned out at the press
conference, the questions were
given to a group which the
Prince gives money to - this
was not disclosed - and the
questions not surprisingly
were softballs, repeated
requests to defend the Paris
Accord and sing the praises of
the Prince's relatives and
diving. To this has the UN
descended: faux press
conferences by royals, with
the fact that those called on
for questions are fundees not
disclosed. To those the Prince
- or his subjects - funds, an
embargoed copy of his
self-promotion was provided (a
disgusted member of the group
provided it to Inner City
Press). The group, as the
Prince should know, operates
to get thrown out of the UN
investigative Press. There was
giggling, and some embarrassing
wire service pick-ups, when
the Prince "got naughty" and
ostensibly stood up to power.
At the end no question about
Marine Protected Areas was
permitted. There was applause,
and the question, We'll see
you tonight, won't we? There
will be more faux prizes. To
this has the UN descended.
When the Montreal-based
Executive Secretary of the
Convention on Biological
Diversity Cristiana Pasca
Palmer held a press conference
at the UN on June 5 about
Marine Protected Areas, Inner
City Press as the only media
to ask a question raised
criticism about Canada's
proposed Laurentian Channel
Marine Protected Area. It was
shrunken to avoid key fishing
grounds, it allowed oil and
gas exploration. But Palmer,
and the first expert they
referred to, weren't aware of
it. Another more voluable
responder from the back of the
room said maybe oil and gas
exploration weren't bad, or
the purpose of the Marine
Protected Area. Apparently
not. But shouldn't UN agencies
be aware of such controversies
in their host countries? As
the Ocean Conference started
at the UN there were corporate
exhibits including a large one
by Suez Environmental, a firm
much protested for its role in
water privatization. Inner
City Press asked the UN
Department of Public
Information, which is
sponsoring press conference
complete with corporate
moderators asking softball
questions to supermarket
chains, who in the UN is
vetting these corporate
commitments. You'll have to
wait until the end of the
week, was the answer. But the
corporations are already
getting blue washed in the UN
website and hallways, just as
UN Secretary General Antonio
Guterres reflexively offered
praise to Citigroup last week,
while his Global Compact
covered up for a company
exploiting the natural
resources of Western Sahara.
Meanwhile another topic Inner
City Press started asking
about last week, fisheries
subsidies, will not be acted
on in the Ocean Conference but
rather, if at all, in the
World Trade Organization at
the end of the year. We'll
have more on this.
***
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