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At the heels of the success of her first children’s book, Dutch Princess Laurentien is now hoping for a similar success for ”Mr Finney And The World Upside Down” in Spain. Her book, which focuses on environmental issues, will be published first in Catalan – the language of Cataluña – and then next year in Castillan Spanish in 2011. 
Laurentien was in Barcelona this week presenting her book and character to the local media.
“Finney was born in August 2007 when we saw the news that the Russians had placed a flag at 4,000 meters depth in the North Pole.,” she explained.
”For me, the world stood up and raised many questions as why we do this, is it an act of territorial claims in the Middle Ages?”
Her quest for answers came in the form of Mr. Finney, a half human, half fish character who is an ”excellent platform” to share such environmental topics. He will be “asking many questions about the way we live on our planet and how we manage it.”
Mr. Finney will realize that the ”sustainability of the world is everyone’s responsibility and that no one can be absolute master of nowhere.”
Laurentien admits it is “idealistic” because “a book will not solve the problems,” but is “a modest contribution to dialogue and better understand the world around us.”
The best compliment she had received for the book, said Laurentien, came from a politician who said: “We have to find Mr. Finney in all of us.”
“Mr Finney And The World Upside Down” is the first for the Princess’ series on the charcter. The first Dutch version was published in 2009. The second book, “Mr. Finney And The Other Side Of The Water” will come out in February 2011.
Source: EFE, Noordhollands Dagblad
On Wednesday, Monaco’s ruler Prince Albert II and his fiancee Charlene Wittstock, went to Japan together where the Prince took part in a couple of function regarding environmental issues. This was the first time the engaged couple went on an official visit together – something Charlene will do a lot of when she becomes a Princess next July.
 AP Photo/Itsuo Inouye In the city of Nagoya, Albert attended a dinner reception hosted by Japan’s Environment Minister Ryu Matsumoto for the ministeral segment of the 10th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity.
The next day, both Albert and Charlene went to the event, “Monaco and Marine Protected Areas” which was on the sidelines of the Conference. Senior officials from nearly 200 countries met to set new goals for 2020 to fight animal and plant extinctions after they missed a goal for a “significant reduction” in losses of biological diversity by 2010.
For Friday, the couple went to Tokyo, where they met with Princess Takamado at the BirdLife International banquet. BirdLife is an international organization for the protection of birds, their habitats and global biodiversity conservation.
It is believed the Prince and his fiancee will meet eventually with Empress Michiko. That may occur on the last day of their trip, Monday, November 1st.
Princess Takamado was born Hisako Tottori. She married Prince Takamado, a cousin of Emperor Akihito, in 1984.
Source: The Royal Forums
The sister of the King of Morocco, Princess Lalla Meryem, chaired the opening of the 7th annual Children’s Parliament this past Saturday. The event, held at the Kingdom’s Parliamentary headquarters, focused on the environment as this year’s topic.
 Maghreb Arabe Presse As part of the meeting, Lalla Meryem read a statement from King Mohammed VI to those in attendance. In it, the monarch praised the achievements from the past two years, through the regional sessions and the field studies held by the Children’s Parliament. Those studies were done by monitoring of the actual situation of children’s rights in all constituencies, in towns and villages across Morocco.
The King also commended the actions of the members of the Children’s Parliament, whom have raised environmental awareness through campaigns. He added that their actions would soon lead to the preparation of the National Charter for the environment and sustainable development.
After reading her brother’s statement, Princess Lalla Meryem received praise from Speaker of the House of Representatives Abdelouahed Radi, who applauded her initiatives and efficient approaches in the different areas.
“The Children’s Parliament has a become an institution focusing on the concerns and expectations of the upcoming generations in terms of a democratic participation based on citizenship, commitment to the rights and duties of human beings, and awareness of the virtues of dialogue, openness and tolerance,” said Radi.
The Princess received more praise when child MP Dinia Belmahjoub gave a speech where she hailed efforts made by Lalla Meryem to promote the situation of Moroccan children.
Next, Lalla Meryem began a question session with the ministries of Interior, Justice, Energy, Mines, Water and Environment, Health, National education and Moroccan expatriates.
Source: Maghreb Arabe Presse
Dutch Crown Prince Willem Alexander is currently spending three days in Japan, where he is doing his duty as a member of the UN Secretary-General’s Advisory Board on water and sanitation, a cause the Crown Prince is very active in.
 REUTERS/Imperial Household Agency of Japan/Handout He arrived Monday and attended the Asahi Environmental Forum. Later in the evening, Willem Alexander met with Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko for dinner at the Imperial Palace.
At the Forum, the Crown Prince gave a keynote speech about the need for clean water and proper sanitation in developing countries.
“Water is life. Our life,” he said. “Water plays a vital role in almost every aspect of life. Our economy; our food; our safety; our health; our nature; our living environment; our culture. Water – or a shortage of it – is a decisive factor in all of them.”
“Nowadays, we take it all for granted: dry feet, clean water from the tap, being able to move around freely, and having enough food at affordable prices. But you only have to open a newspaper, or switch on the television to see the reality.
“This summer, millions of people in Pakistan lost their homes in devastating floods. Nearly 2,000 people were killed. The impact of the disaster is immense. Harvests have failed. Farmland is useless. Roads and railway lines have been destroyed. Schools and hospitals have been swept away. Infectious diseases are rife. There is no drinking water. It will take a very long time for the people in the stricken areas to get their lives back in order.
“The reverse happened in Russia this summer, with the worst drought in many years. Twenty per cent of the wheat harvest failed and devastating forest fires polluted the air in Moscow.
“We need to take account of changing weather patterns. Far more rain falling in some places, and far less in others. That applies to Japan and the Netherlands as much as to Pakistan and Russia.”
Willem Alexander then mentioned integrated water resources management.
“We have to link water to spatial planning, economic policy, agriculture, health and disaster prevention. We also have to join hands across national borders. The impact of climate change on the world’s shared freshwater resources makes the need for viable transboundary management instruments even more pressing.
“The UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, COP 15, focused attention on curbing greenhouse gas emissions. It is essential that we do so. But even if we manage to make crystal-clear agreements on that issue, we will still have to adapt to the demands water places on us. Water is after all the primary medium through which climate change influences Earth’s ecosystems and thus the livelihood and well-being of societies.”
Willem Alexander then highlighted the devastation of poor drinking water and sanitation in Third World countries.
“2.5 billion people still have no access to these basic facilities. The same people we expect to be working on their development – to be sending their children to school, and to be feeling responsible for the future of their country.
“But how can you work and learn properly without enough clean water, without even a toilet? Would you send your children to a school that had no toilets? 440 million school days are lost each year through illness caused by poor hygiene. Poor sanitation costs sub-Saharan Africa more money than all the development aid and debt relief going into the region put together.”
“Much has been achieved in the past ten years,” the Crown Prince said, switching to a more positive note.
“Figures from UNICEF and the World Health Organisation show that nearly 1.5 billion people have acquired drinking water from an improved source since 1990. We will very probably achieve the MDG [Millenium Development Goals] target for drinking water by 2015. I would ask all the sceptics who don’t believe in the power of international agreements to consider this enormous leap forward. At the same time, I must also point out that water quality is still an issue that warrants far more attention. If we supply people with water, it must of course be clean and safe to drink.
“Around 1.3 billion people have gained access to improved sanitation since 1990. That is very impressive. But even at this rate we will not achieve the MDG target. We could give up, and decide that it was simply not to be. But there are still five years to go. We can make a final sprint. We can achieve the target, but only if we give it everything we’ve got.”
With that, Willem Alexander closed his speech. “I have told you about water, my great passion: water that is all around us, the source of life, food, growth, development and health.
“Let us treat it accordingly. By including it in all our plans. By adapting to the demands it makes. By giving it a prominent place on the agenda at Cancún.”
To read more of his speech, click here
Monday marked the beginning of the 30th annual International Arab Children’s Congress, taking place in Amman. Started by the late King Hussein in 1980, the Congress seeks to discuss and bring about solutions to global issues young people are facing.
 REUTERS/Muhammad Hamed The King’s widow, Queen Noor, was at the Congress’ opening ceremony which featured Lebanese singer Nancy Ajram, who is UNICEF’s regional goodwill ambassador to the Middle East and North Africa.
Each year, the Congress focuses on a different issue. For 2010, the topic is the environment. During this week, 150 participants from 20 countries, between the ages of 14 and 16 will come up with ways to protect the planet, discuss how harming the environment harms its inhabitants and talk about alternative energy.
“[Environment] is a topic of critical importance to many of our countries, given the fragile nature of our geographies, the chronic shortage of water in many regions, and increasing population pressures,” Queen Noor said in a statement issued by the King Hussein Foundation’s National Center for Culture and Arts (NCCA)
“The goal of the congress is to raise awareness of this issue, and promote better understanding of the dangers we all will face if this threat is not tackled immediately and boldly. We hope to inspire our network of future leaders to clearly and courageously insist that in the future, the air that we breathe will be clear, the water we drink will not be contaminated, and the food that we eat will be safe,” Queen Noor added.
Originally meant for Arab children, the Congress expanded to include European and Asian youths in 2004 for its annual gathering.
Source: Jordan Times
Norway’s Crown Princess Mette-Marit was Britain’s Prince Charles’ host when the British royal heir traveled to Oslo Wednesday night.
 Gorm Kallestad / Scanpix Charles, who is very keen on environmental issues, was one of many world leaders and officials to take part in the Oslo Climate and Forest Conference which discussed preserving rain forests.
Mette-Marit was the royal host at the dinner where all those participating gathered. Besides the Prince of Wales, Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono was also there. Representing Norway was Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg.
Prince Charles praised President Yudhoyono for his dedication to saving his country’s rain forests, as did Prime Minister Stoltenberg.
As for the Prince, his speech brought up the idea of brokering a binding global climate agreement.
“In this period of increased stringency, governments will need to know that every dollar made available will be spent wisely in order to avoid any unnecessary duplication,” he said.
Crown Prince Haakon would’ve been the host for this event, but he is currently on his way to Shanghai to see Norway’s part of World Expo 2010.
Sources: Kongehuset.no, AP
Japan’s Crown Prince Naruhito arrived in the East African country of Kenya late on Wednesday, where he is to do a three day official visit. He was greeted by Vice President Kalonzo Musioka at the Jomo Kenyatta Airport.
 REUTERS/Mohamed Dahir Naruhito later met with Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki and discussed ways to strengthen the already strong ties between their countries.
“Japan is a true development partner. There are many projects that the Japanese government has funded, particularly in infrastructural development,” Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka said when he welcomed the Crown Prince.
Kibaki also had kind words to say about Japan, praising its “continued financial and technical support” notably in programs to combat climate change, a statement from the presidential office said.
On Thursday, Naruhito visited a Japanese school on the outskirts of Nairobi. There, he listened to the students sing songs in his native tongue.
Naruhito is expected to tour the Sweetwaters game reserve in the Rift Valley Friday, and plant a few trees before visiting an agricultural development institute in Mwea in central Kenya.
Lastly, on Saturday the Crown Prince will visit the national museum in Nairobi before leaving for Japan.
The King of Sweden was one of the several Baltic leaders to attend the Baltic Sea Action Summit in Helsinki Wednesday. A long time advocate for the environment, King Carl XVI Gustaf was a likely representative of Sweden there.
 Juhani Niiranen / www.hs.fi The summit focuses on saving the Baltic Sea itself. The sea is considered to be one of the most polluted spots in the world, and organizers of this summit said a range of companies, foundations and individuals have already made more than 130 promises of action to save the Baltic.
“We don’t expect any miracles, but serious work by all of us which may make a miracle,” said Finland’s President Tarja Halonen, who co-hosted the summit with Finnish Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen.
“Today, some of the richest and most environmentally conscious countries on Earth live on the shores of one of the world’s most polluted seas,” Halonen said. “Isn’t it a tragedy?”
Speaking to the summit, King Carl XVI Gustaf said the sea was a “precious resource” which countries “have to care of, and manage in the best possible way.”
“The Baltic Sea is in a very bad stage. We can read about it in the newspapers nearly every week,” he said. “Oil spills, uncontrolled coastal development, and pollution are just a few examples.”
Besides oil spills and pollution, the Baltic also suffers from the many World War II ships that are rotting away at the sea’s bottom. Furthermore, there’s eutrophication — the overconcentration of nutrients caused by sewage and agricultural run-off carrying fertilizers into the Baltic. The sea is so badly polluted, Greenpeace urges pregnant women not to eat its fish. But that’s also another problem: the Baltic is experiencing overfishing.
Tomorrow, the leaders and representatives of Finland, Denmark, Sweden, Poland, Germany, Russia, Latvia, Lithuania, Belarus, and Estonia will work on their commitments on the troubled sea they all rely on.
On Monday, royals from three countries were among the participants in the World Future Energy Summit, taking place in Abu Dhabi, UAE. Denmark’s Crown Prince Frederik, the Prince and Princess of Asturias, Spain and Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan took part in the event, which focuses on finding ways to create environmentally friendly products in an increasingly energy reliant world.
 Haider Yousuf/Getty Images Crown Prince Felipe of Spain gave a speech to open the summit. Before he went in depth on the event, he gave his condolences to the people of Haiti. “The sheer magnitude of tragic human loss and general devastation is very hard to conceive and makes for such a prompt and generous large scale multinational effort in emergency and humanitarian relief that is currently. We wish that this will be sustained in all fields to help Haitians regain hope and put their country back on its feet as soon as possible”
After paying homage to the founder of the UAE, Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan al Nahyan, the Crown Prince then discussed the summit and how the world could benefit from it.
“In the energy sector, interdependence has become an even more pressing issue. Major energy sources are geographically concentrated. Transport and distribution infrastructures often require transnational agreements. Moreover, greenhouse gases, wherever their origin, affect the environmental balance all over the planet.
“Such growing interdependence explains why international cooperation and, especially, multilateralism are so important in the energy sector; hence the high value of jointly analysing the energy challenges of the future at this Summit. Although interdependence means sharing our problems, fortunately it also means working together on to solve them.
“Therefore I am very pleased to underline how the development of renewable energy is offering the international community a course of action able to reconcile the demands of future economic growth with the necessary respect of the environment,” Felipe said.
 Haider Yousuf/Getty Images Next, Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark delivered his speech. He spoke out the environment and his account with climate change.
“The impact of climate change is global, but the signs are more evident in extreme climatic areas, for example, the Arctic,” he said. “Greenland holds a special place in my heart. From my first meeting with Greenland and the Greenlandic people to my 3 months expedition with dog sledges covering more than 2000 km along the northern and north-eastern coastline during spring. A grueling expedition that honored the way the Greenlandic people have always travelled and survived. Since then my visits have been regular, the last with my cousins and colleagues Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden and Crown Prince Haakon of Norway. A visit that again illustrated that Climate change is changing the way the Greenlandic people live. Hunting and Fishing are their primary sources of income and food and this is being threatened by rising temperatures. For me, this is a clear example of the necessity to adapt. How are we as a global community able to adapt in order to combat the negative impact of climate change? How can we adapt by rethinking our use and conservation of energy? Tough questions….questions that are to be addressed in the course of this Summit.”
Frederik than used his country as an example of how new forms of energy can be used.
“In Denmark the oil crisis of the ‘70s pushed us to search for alternative energy solutions. Over the last 30 years, we have had an economic growth of 78 %, but almost zero growth in energy consumption. And 28% of our electricity supply comes from renewable sources such as wind and biomass. It proves that economic prosperity and climate friendly solutions can co-exist.
“Denmark has shown that no country is too small to become a leader within green and clean technology and providing solutions to some of the world’s most pressing challenges.”
The royals were then given a tour of the many vehicles, computers and other products on display.
The World Future Energy Summit ended today. The royals involved left Abu Dhabi the day the summit began.
Wednesday night saw the royal family of the Netherlands award the Prince Claus Prize at Muziekgebouw aan ‘t IJ in Amsterdam.. The Prize is in honor of Queen Beatrix’s late husband, who died in 2002. It began in 1997, and has a theme every year. 
This year’s theme was culture and nature, and the winner was Colombian architect Simon Velez, who has been researching on how bamboo can be used as building material. Velez has designed buildings in the United States, Germany and China. In the Netherlands he will make a design for the stage in the new Tolhuistuin in Amsterdam-Noord, which will consist of a bamboo structure.
Upon receiving the award, Velez said to the audience, “Every construction which consists of concrete, steel or wood, bamboo can also be built.” He added there were doubts about his bamboo-design for the Indian pavilion at the Expo in Shanghai next year. “They wanted it would be steel. Once they heard I had won the Prince Claus Award, they gave permission to use bamboo.”
The nature and culture theme for this year’s Prince Claus Prize seems to coincide with the UN Climate Change summit in Copenhagen. Even some members of the Dutch royal family made comments on the environment.
“People seem to have forgotten to draw modestly against nature,” said Prince Constantijn, who presented the award. “The natural resources are being depleted and global warming threatens the delicate balance of our climate.”
The Prince Claus Prize is given to artists, thinkers and other innovators from Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean. Winners receive 100,000 euros as part of the award.
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