Maritime expert recognised for contribution to Nobel prize win

David. J. Attard, director of the International Maritime Law Institute of the University of Malta, has won recognition for his valuable contribution to the work of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize last year.

"The credit for the Nobel Peace Prize which was bestowed on the IPCC last year goes to him and other colleagues who have contributed so admirably to the work," IPCC chairman Rajendra Kumar Pachauri told Prof. Attard.

Prof. Attard has been presented with a copy of the award certificate for the Nobel Peace Prize 2007, which was given "only to those who have contributed substantially to the work of the IPCC over the years since the inception of the organisation".

The International Maritime Law Institute said it was Prof. Attard who in August 1988 proposed to the Prime Minister of Malta the need to take global action to protect global climate.

The government took the initiative which led to the unanimously adopted UN General Assembly Resolution entitled Protection Of The Global Climate For Present And Future Generations Of Mankind.

In the resolution, the assembly requested the secretary general of the World Meteorological Organisation and the executive director of the United Nations Environment Programme, utilising the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, to immediately initiate action leading, as soon as possible, to a comprehensive review and recommendations.

The Maltese proposal culminated in the 1992 UN Convention on the Protection of Climate adopted at the Rio conference on Environment and Sustainable Development.