Oslo's environmental, feminine choice, 20 years later - opinion

The conference is an initiative in the framework of which an award is endowed to young women around the world for their activities in various fields to promote peace in areas of conflict and war. Most of its participants are researchers and activists in conflict zones, as well as the representatives of the donor countries and the representatives of diplomatic delegations in Yerevan.

Due to the holidays and the war in our region, I preferred to participate remotely. In my speech, I have chosen to focus on the Oslo Accords.

The process of forming the historic agreement, which took place in the early phase secretly in the Norwegian city, led to the signing of an agreement with the head of PLO on the lawns of the White House 31 years ago, despite the doubts the Israeli prime minister had. The Oslo Accords were also a great promise to a large part of Israelis and laid the foundations for a two-state solution and to end the occupation.

But it also led to the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and has since been identified by the right side of the political map in Israel, the supporters of the settlements and the continued occupation, as a disaster and as an act of treason. The Oslo Accords, since then, have become a traumatic concept in Israeli society.

A little over 20 years ago, on October 8, 2004, a committee sitting in Oslo debating who to award with the Nobel Peace Prize announced Mrs. Wangari Maathai not only as the first African woman to become Nobel Peace Prize laureate but for the first time ever, for her work in the field of environment.

Even before the laurel leaves decorated on Mrs. Maathai's head had dried, voices of criticism were heard in the conservative part of Oslo and outside, arguing against the awarding of the Nobel prize to Mrs. Maathai. 

"Giving the prize to an environmental activist at a time when the world is troubled by wars in the Middle East, global terrorism, and the proliferation of nuclear weapons is a mistake," and "expanding the scope of the prize for peace undermines the essence of the prize" are among the references cited the day after the event by senior Norwegian government officials, including the former prime minister and others, and in a number of respected media outlets, including the New York Times, Norway Globe, BBC, and more.

Moreover, even among those who thought that environmental issues and human rights are important, claims have been made that the issue is not connected with the Nobel Peace Prize. Is that true?

At the conference, I raised this question about the connection between environmental activism and the Nobel Peace Prize, or, more precisely, the connection between the environment, peace, and women's activism. As an introduction, I read out Mrs. Maathai's own words after her controversial award win:

"In this year's prize, the Norwegian Nobel Committee has placed the critical issue of the environment and its linkage to democracy and peace before the world. For their visionary action, I am profoundly grateful. Recognizing that sustainable development, democracy, and peace are indivisible is an idea whose time has come."

To the question, "What about planting trees and peace?" it seems that Maathai's impressive résumé is a sufficient answer. Maathai founded the Green Belt movement almost 50 years ago, whose main activity is forestry in large parts of rural Africa. As part of its activities, about 40 million trees were planted. These trees are intended to stop soil erosion, allow agriculture, and supply wood for cooking. 

A UN report estimated that in Africa, only nine trees are replanted for every 100 trees that are uprooted and cause serious environmental problems besides soil erosion, including water pollution, difficulties in finding wood for cooking fire, lack of food for the animals, and more. The program initiated by Maathai is carried out mainly by women in the rural areas of Kenya. By protecting the environment and being paid for this activity, rural African women can provide a better life for their children and ensure a sustainable future for their families.

Human history shows that in many parts of the world, destructive environmental processes and climate change have worsened the living conditions of hundreds of millions of people, led to hunger and shortages, and created tensions between population groups and countries. As we know, women and children are the first to be affected. For example, in the field of severe climate migration against the backdrop of the climate crisis, the figure most commonly cited is that about 85% of climate victims are women.

So, how can sustainability and resilience be achieved in conflict regions amplified under climate crisis threats, such as in the Middle East?

An inverse correlation was found between a country's military expenditure and environmental performance resilience. The analysis was carried out per country, between groups of countries in Northern and Western Europe (Germany, Sweden, Norway, France, and Belgium), the Middle East (Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia), and Western Asia (Turkey, Armenia, Russia, and Ukraine).

Not surprisingly, Ukraine is prominently and high above the other countries in expenditure on the military as of GDP (37%). The expenditure on the military in Western European countries is relatively small, while environmental performance is high (the highest in the world). The environmental performance is calculated by using 40 indicators across 11 categories, providing a way to spot problems, set targets, track trends, identify best policy practices, and, in our case - offer a policy tool in support of efforts to meet the targets of the UN SDGs and to move society towards a sustainable future.

So, in 2004, Oslo's non-traditional and least-expected choice was Wangari Maathai. Twenty years later, in the wake of the current war, it seems like a good opportunity for the Middle Eastern countries to understand the connection between the physical standard of living and issues of rights, including women's rights and democracy, in the face of security threats.

Therefore, following this approach, Oslo is not only identified with the failure to achieve peace in the Middle East but precisely thanks to the awarding of the Nobel Prize to Maathai, with the ability of women to initiate long-term processes of economic stability and security in fair and safe environmental conditions for all.

However, all this environmental and climate justice activity, which has gained international recognition, does not occur in a vacuum.

But this is also a conference that chose to observe a minute's silence in memory of those killed in Gaza and Lebanon. Still, not those who were killed, murdered, and perished in Israel, which was mentioned countless times, but not even once was mentioned October 7, Hamas, or Hezbollah, and the other participants from countries in the Middle East stuck to the Palestinian narrative, out of a sense of victimhood, and against the backdrop of the severe humanitarian crisis, it was heard that the Oslo vision of environmental justice as a model for building cooperation is far from being part of the region agenda.

And yet, this is an important conference. My choice was to focus on the dynamics of the inclusion and involvement of women, not only in decision-making processes but also as leaders of initiatives in the field, the same those initiatives of economic development and environmental initiatives for energy and climate resilience that keep the promise to lead to prosperity and stability and hopefully leading the peace processes.

Carmit Lubanov is an expert on climate and environmental policy from the perspective of reducing economic and social disparities and promoting democracy and equality among disadvantaged communities, aiming to promote agreed solutions to achieve regional climate stability and economic prosperity in the social and geographic periphery. She is a member of a few international working groups on climate change and environmental justice and is included on the UN's expert list. She co-founded the Tahadhari Center for Climate and Migration in Euro-Med, acting in Brussels and targeting the climate crisis from a regional perspective.