MONACO -- In 1873, long before environmental and ecological issues became world headlines, Monaco’s Prince Albert I began cruising the world’s oceans, studying their inhabitants and pondering ways to preserve their beauty and vitality. A visionary scientist, His discoveries helped build the foundation of modern ocean studies – and led to the creation in 1910 of the Oceanographic Museum in Monaco. The facility, later renamed the National Oceanographic Institute, is still considered one of the premier ecological research facilities in the world, and was for many years headed by the late Jacques Cousteau.

For a principality roughly only the size of New York City’s Central Park, Monaco has reaped outsized benefits on the world’s natural environment. H.S.H. Prince Rainier III, great grandson of the man known as Prince Albert the Navigator, has continued and built upon his ancestor’s work over his 50 years of leadership. Under the leadership of this unbroken line of environmental stewards, Monaco has established a longstanding reputation for rising in the defense of the natural world.

Under the reign of Prince Rainier, Monaco has become the most environmentally sensitive country in Europe, if not the world. Recognizing its total dependence on a fragile natural environment, the Principality was one of the first nations to use reforestation to preserve its mountainous landscape. In 1976, the Principality brought together the countries of France and Italy at the Ramoge Convention to establish an agreement to protect the water that much of the Mediterranean region is dependent upon. The treaty set regulations on sewage treatment and instituted valuable research on the effects of rivers on marine pollution. The convention also worked to create a common, international policy regarding boating and ports operations. In order to demonstrate that the Principality was interested in more than discussion, Monaco created a water treatment system for the entire country to ensure that all water discharged into the Mediterranean was potable. "All countries are interdependent in their anti-pollution combat," Prince Rainier said.

More recently, Monaco designed and implemented systems to convert garbage into fuel which is used to produce energy for municipal needs, such as lighting in the Fontvieille section of Principality. It has also reduced automobile exhaust pollution by initiating special traffic lanes for public transportation, thus minimizing traffic jams, providing free public transportation to senior citizens, and created a system of public elevators to bring residents and visitors from sea level to mountainous elevations without the use of automobiles. Five million passengers use the 15 elevators each year. Many government agencies in the Principality, including the postal, telecommunications departments and the parks commission, have begun using electric vehicles for transportation. All postal carriers use electric cars which can travel for three days without recharging. To encourage use of the cars, recharging stations are free for public use.

Other environmental efforts on the part of Monaco have included Prince Rainier’s offering the Principality as the site for the marine laboratory of the International Atomic Energy Agency, and His creation of the European Oceanographic Observatory in 1990 for the purpose of identifying ecological problems and developing action plans to resolve them. Prince Rainier also presides over the International Commission for the Scientific Exploration of the Mediterranean, a group founded by His grandfather. Monaco also initiated PELAGOS, an international association of scientific, business and government entities devoted to developing Mediterranean economies in environmentally sensitive ways.