COP-26 Rotary President speech
In a speech Nov. 10 at the UN Climate
Conference, and following Ocean Innovators’ Mangrove Restoration video, Rotary International President
Shekhar Mehta announced that mangrove
restoration will be a central focus of Rotary’s
environmental work in the year to come.
President Mehta Commits to Mangrove Initiatives
The opening for President Mehta’s roundtable featured Ocean Innovators’ video on the mangrove restoration project of the Rotaract Club of Malindi, Kenya. Ocean Innovators’ team spent six months documenting mangrove work by Rotarians and Rotaractors in Australia, Nassau, Kenya, and Mauritius. The films were shown at the Pavilion in collaboration with the Blue Charter initiative through which all 54 Commonwealth nations agree to partner on environmental initiatives. You can see Ocean Innovators’ Rotary mangrove videos online at Ocean Innovators.
COP-26 Rotary President speech and Roundtable
The High-Level meeting Ministerial meeting on mangroves hosted by President Shekhar Mehta and attended by Commonwealth Secretory General, seven Commonwealth Environment Ministers, and five experts.
President Shehkar Mehta with Barones Scotland Secretary General of the Commonwealth and Nicholas Hardman Mountford Head of Commonwealth Blue Charter – Credit: Judith Diment
President Mehta spoke at the beginning of the ministerial-level roundtable Nov. 10 at the Commonwealth Pavilion, after a warm welcome from Commonwealth Secretary General Baroness Patricia Scotland, QC, and ministers of the environment or forestry from the commonwealth nations of Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Papua New Guinea, Kenya, Pakistan, Seychelles, Maldives, and Tanzania, as well as the representatives from several global environmental organizations. Rotary of Great Britain and Ireland cited President Shekhar’s roundtable at COP26 as “the biggest showpiece event of his COVID-hit Presidential year so far.”
