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UNDP, UNEP and the Foundation Yves Rocher launch One Planet, One Chance: an exhibition showing ordinary people actively fighting climate change

Geneva: 27 October 2009 -- UNDP Geneva today launched an exhibition graphically depicting both the challenge and a source of sustainable solutions to climate change.  The opening of the exhibit, which was sponsored by the Yves Rocher Foundation, was attended by representatives of the UN community, government delegates and academia.  It was presided by Pierre Le Loarer, President, Cultural Activities Committee, and Chief Librarian UN Office in Geneva. Cécile Molinier, Director of the Geneva Office of the United Nations Development Programme, Gaetano Leone, Deputy Director, Regional Office for Europe for the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and Aurelia Carré, Director of the Yves Rocher Foundation.

On the challenge side, an exhibit of giant black beanbags (the Nine Planets Wanted! Installation), commissioned by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and originally designed for an international audience of decision and policy-makers gathering at the United Nations General Assembly in 2007, allows visitors to physically experience abstract data related to global warming and take measure of the inverse relationship between responsibility for climate change and vulnerability to its impact. Each of the bags represents a comparison of global carbon emissions among a select group of countries, from the United States to Burkina Faso.  It draws key facts and figures from the UNDP Human Development Report 2007/2008 in an unprecedented and provocative way.

In the original installation, visitors were invited to sit on the bags and read material related to climate change.  A portion of the exhibit is set up at the Palais de Nations in Geneva for two weeks.

“Here in this hall we can see the enormity of the challenge, caused by the carbon emissions, primarily from the industrialized countries,” said Molinier. “But we can also see the hope for a cleaner future in the faces of the men, women and children who are taking action to make a difference in their communities.”

On the solution side, 35 images from photographer Patrick Wallet portray individuals who are taking action to slow down the effects of climate change – by planting trees.  Through his concept of “Planters’ portraits”, Patrick Wallet presents portraits of men, women or children, from different cultures and countries, but all affected by deforestation and thus actors for replantation. 

“The story goes back to March 2007, in Nairobi,” said Carré.  “Jacques Rocher, President of the Fondation Yves Rocher – Institut de France met with Wangari Maathai, the first African woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize and a patron of a major worldwide tree planting campaign launched by the United Nations Environment Programme under the Plant for the Planet: Billion Tree Campaign.”

Jacques Rocher decided to support the initiative, which Carré said was aimed at planting at least one billion trees around the world each year, with the help of non-governmental organizations specialized in reforestation, selected on the basis of their practical experience and achievements on the ground.  “The campaign drew much attention from the public worldwide and, in a call to further individual and collective action, UNEP set a new goal of planting 7 billion trees by the end of 2009,” she said.

“There are now nearly 7.5 billion trees planted, with more than 9 billion pledged,” said Gaetano Leone, Deputy Director, Regional Office for Europe for the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). “We could not have done this without the active support of organizations like the Foundation Yves Rocher.”

By planting trees, Yves Rocher and the UNEP hope to demonstrate that it is possible to counter the negative effects of carbon emissions. Carré said the Foundation also organizes a major contest called "Terre de Femmes / Women of the Earth" in 15 countries (France, Canada, Belgium, Germany, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Spain, the Czech Republic, Russia, Poland, Sweden, Morocco, Portugal, the Ukraine and Finland), that is designed to provide financial assistance for activities carried out by women and connected to the botanical world: activities relating to plant protection or development or aimed at the reconciliation of people and Nature.

For more information: Adam Rogers / UNDP Senior Communications Advisor: adam.rogers@undp.org