Presentation of the Prize for Environmental Law and Award for Environmental Diplomacy

摘要

Gathering together on 15 November 2013 at the Hotel Alpenhof in Murnau (Germany), the ceremony to celebrate the 2012 Laureates was the opening event of the Third International Symposium of Laureates of the Elizabeth Haub Prizes for Environmental Law and Diplomacy. In the midst of many friends and family, Helga and Erivan Haub welcomed 28 Elizabeth Haub Laureates, the Members of the International Juries and more than 30 guests to celebrate with them. The ceremony proceeded as follows:"I welcome you all to Murnau and I hope you enjoy your stay here with us. Allow me to express some thoughts that are very important for me tonight and that is thinking of my wonderful mother-in-law, Elizabeth Haub, who I really adored and for whom I hadtremendous esteem. Thinking of her tonight, I realised that it was an amazing idea, in the late 1960s, to establish a foundation to explore environmental law. And I will never forget the day when she told me she was intending to do that. I was thinking,'Environmental law, I've never heard about it'. She said, 'Well, we have the World Wildlife Fund but we don't have laws to build up the ideas'. And that's why she established the Karl-Schmitz-Scholl Fund in honour of her late father's 100th birthday. That's how it all started and she immediately said, 'Helga, when I'm gone you have to do it'. I think of myself, especially as a mother of three sons and with nine grandchildren, and I'm extremely happy to report that not only have my husband and I followed- he started very early with the company to support the foundation, but now our sons are vigorously living what they now call "sustainability". And I'm happy to especially welcome my family here. I have two daughters-in-law here tonight, our son Georg and his youngest child Serena. So we have three generations and, of course, my wonderful husband Erivan."Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, good evening.