During the presentation
Dear Colleagues,
I write this from Helsinki. The stop in Finland en route to Beijing for a meeting of the IGU Executive Committee was made in order to present the IGU’s Planet and Humanity Medal to former President of Finland Martti Ahtisaari. President Ahtisaari, you will recall, received the Nobel Prize for Peace in 2008. Vice President Markku Löytönen and I presented the medal to Ahtisaari on the evening of 27 October in the Finnish Government’s Dining Building at a small dinner hosted by Finnish Minister of Education Henna Vikunen.
In my remarks at the presentation I highlighted Ahtisaari’s continued work for peace and reconciliation in a number of conflicts:
The award of this Medal to you, sir, celebrates your tireless and effective work in promoting growth in developing countries, negotiating compromises and peace among conflicting parties, and strengthening civil institutions and democratic practices in a number of conflict areas, including Aceh, Kosovo, and North Ireland.
A refugee from warfare in your youth, you have devoted your professional life to peace making and state-making. After your distinguished diplomatic career in the service of Finland and the United Nations, your election as President of the Republic of Finland in February 1994 might have been the capstone of an exceptional career for many individuals. But upon leaving office, you founded the Crisis Management Initiative, an independent non-profit organization that continues to work to resolve conflict and to build sustainable peace in many parts of the world. CMI’s assistance to the international community in improving preventive diplomacy, peacemaking, and post-conflict state building continues the work toward peace you have pursued throughout your career.
A refugee from warfare in your youth, you have devoted your professional life to peace making and state-making. After your distinguished diplomatic career in the service of Finland and the United Nations, your election as President of the Republic of Finland in February 1994 might have been the capstone of an exceptional career for many individuals. But upon leaving office, you founded the Crisis Management Initiative, an independent non-profit organization that continues to work to resolve conflict and to build sustainable peace in many parts of the world. CMI’s assistance to the international community in improving preventive diplomacy, peacemaking, and post-conflict state building continues the work toward peace you have pursued throughout your career.
In 1989-90 you played a significant key role in launching Namibia’s independence from South Africa. More recently you were instrumental in resolving the conflict between the Government of Indonesia and the Free Aceh Movement. From November 2005 through February 2008 you were the Special Envoy of the Secretary-General of the United Nations for the future status process for Kosovo. You are an outstanding international statesperson who has demonstrated the effectiveness of mediation in the resolution of international conflicts in Northern Ireland, Central Asia, and the Horn of Africa, in addition to the conflict areas noted earlier.
President Ahtisaari, all members of the IGU global community of geographers join me tonight in thanking you for your lifelong dedication to making our world a more peaceful and gentle place. Your quiet but forceful work—largely behind the scenes of bitter international conflicts—has enriched the planet and its peoples as well as our understanding of mediation and peacemaking processes. The IGU is honored to confer upon you sir its highest honor—The IGU Planet and Humanity Medal.
The Planet and Humanity Medal was inaugurated in 1996 to commemorate the 125th anniversary of the First International Geographical Congress held in Antwerp in 1871 by honoring individuals who have made outstanding contributions to resolving environmental and global problems. Prior recipients of the Planet and Humanity Medal are Gro Harlem Brundtland (Norway) and Al Gore (USA) in 1996; Christian Pierret (France), Mary Robinson (Ireland), and M. S. Swaminathan (India) in 2000; Nelson Mandela (South Africa) in 2002; and in 2004 Mikhail Gorbachev (Russia).
As always, many thanks to Giuliano Bellezza for assembling and distributing this issue of the IGU E-Newsletter and to Yves Bouqet for translating it into French.
Ron Abler
From left to right: IGU Vice President Markku Löytönen, Finnish Minister of Education Henna Virkunen, Former President of Finland Martti Ahtisaari, Mrs. Eva Ahtisaari, Barbara Abler, and IGU President Ronald F. Abler