December 18, 2023
Lord Zac Goldsmith, environmental campaigner and former UK Minister in DEFRA, hosted a dinner for who he called ‘Nature Champions’ last week as a side event of COP28. Around forty people who are prominent in environmental work worldwide were handpicked to attend the event at Goals House in Alserkal Avenue in Dubai.
Gibraltar’s Minister for the Environment Prof John Cortes, who was as COP28 as a Party Delegate for the UK, was one of those invited to the dinner, together with prominent environmentalists including the United Nations Secretary-General's Special Envoy for the Ocean Peter Thomson, CEO of Fauna & Flora International Kristian Teleki, Strategic Adviser to the World Resources Institute Justin Mundy, Head of Oceans and Natural resources at the Commonwealth Secretariat Dr Nicholas Hardman-Mountford, and Head of Ambassadors and Fellows at WWF Karen Bearman.
The Minister for the Environment, the Hon Prof John Cortes, said: “It was an honour for me, and I think especially for Gibraltar, and quite humbling, to have been invited to this event. There is clear recognition internationally for the work that we have done and are doing in Gibraltar in environmental protection. We will continue at it, to retain the respect of the International Community."