Congrats to the PM on her award from UNEP. We won't spoil things by asking too many questions about the price the economy is going to pay for this award.
This award, of course, will give Helen a new career opportunity post election (whether she wins or loses). As we have reported before she is well placed to become the new boss of the ILO, but the timing is a little tight.
But the UN Environment Programme is better timed. The job comes up on 15 June 2010. We had thought that UNEP was a pretty dreadful organisation, based in Nairobi. But on checking the website it doesn't look that bad. The next meeting is in a real hardship location - Monaco.
This has caused us to wonder if there is any coincidence between all this and the decision by Helen Clark's Government to host the UN World Environment Day in June. We had been thinking, before today, that this was simply about trying to take some more votes away from the Greens and National in election year. But maybe there is a wider agenda. This from the UNEP press release:
New Zealand will be hosting this year's World Environment Day - one of the principal vehicles through which the United Nations stimulates worldwide awareness of the environment and enhances political attention and action. The event will take place on 5 June 2008 with the slogan "Kick the Habit! Towards a Low Carbon Economy".
