I was excited when Richard Schirres came to talk to us about the United Nations’ (UN) role in driving forward ecological awareness and action, on Friday 28 September.

My mother works for the UN, so I have, from a very young age, been aware of and exposed to the political efforts of the international giant, and its work in promoting global peace.

As much as I knew that the UN was involved in ecological missions, it was an interesting opportunity to learn about the steps taken by the institution to gradually include the environment in its responsibilities, and its more recent actions in terms of environmental protection and awareness.

Most importantly, the role of the UN and other large supranational institutions such as the European Union is to coordinate global action and set goals for countries to follow, in an effort to spurn enthusiasm, or, if that fails, to pressure reluctant states into falling in line with ecological guidelines. Given the urgency of the present situation, with climate change impacting ecological processes globally and the onset of a mass extinction, it is vital for organisations to generate the potential for change and create a united front. However, as highlighted by the seminarist, the UN, as other large institutions, are often slow moving and must sometimes make large concessions, which reduce the scope of their actions. It is therefore important to promote ecological advocacy at smaller scales and ensure efforts are led by enthusiastic and dynamic groups.

Involvement in the ecological sphere was not a priority upon the UN’s creation. The main drive was political, but concerns for the environment soon arose in close contact to political issues. Indeed, the UN tasks itself with the “prevention and removal of threats to peace”. Climate change, and the issues it brings with it, such as rising sea levels or desertification, poses a major threat to populations all around the globe, as shown by the numbers (current and projected) of climate refugees. There is direct link between maintaining world peace and protecting of the environment. It is now more obvious than ever to me that politics on the world stage are closely paired to the issues of environmental health, as are economics, through sustainable development. From the creation of the UNESCO in 1946 to include educational, scientific and cultural advancement in the scope of the UN, to the recent Paris agreements (COP 21) of 2016, it is clear that the UN has a leading role in ensuring the protection of the environment.

I had never thought of the UN as a possible career path, because it had never really for me been associated to ecological action. Now, despite Schirres’ somewhat poor delivery, my interest for the subject has been spiked and I now see working on the political side of environmental protection as a valid option.