My traveling started early in 2009, returning from Quebec on 1 January
and leaving for England on the 2nd for the big Baha'i conference. I did
not take my camera on short trips for meetings and lectures in
Cambridge, Brighton, Rome, Berlin, Paris and Prague, but I did get some
pictures of the International Climate Change Science Congress in
Copenhagen, and of the beautiful city of Delft while attending a dear
friend's wedding. Other trips followed, including a vacation with my
brother and his family in Bulgaria, visits to Rouen, Bornholm, Malaga
and Croatia while speaking or teaching, and a wonderful celebration at
Windsor Castle of the launching of the Bahá'í International Community
Plan of Action on Climate Change. The year ended with the International
Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen.
I had to go to England for work at the University of Brighton in
connection with our values-based indicators project, but I was also
able to attend the regional Baha'i conference in London on 3-4 January
2009. There were over 3100 participants, mostly from the United
Kingdom, Ireland and Scandinavia. It was a very inspiring occasion.
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The enormous hall was packed with Baha'is from many backgrounds.
Workshops allowed participants from each country to plan their own
activities.
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Two representatives of the Universal House of Justice from the
International Teaching Centre addressed the conference
A choir assembled for the occasion by the Irish Baha'is provided the
finale.
The International Climate Change Science Congress in Copenhagen on
10-12 March was intended to summarise the latest scientific views
on climate change before the intergovernmental conference on climate
change in Copenhagen in December 2009. I attended for the
International Environment Forum, along with Sylvia Karlsson, the IEF
General Secretary. My presentation was
on "The response to climate change from the Baha'i community" and
featured the relevant IEF conferences and related events.
Over 2200 scientists participated in the congress with over 600
presentations. The plenary talks in particular were excellent but
depressing, as everyone said that climate change was preceding faster
than the worst predictions of the IPCC two years ago.
Plenary session
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Bella Centre where the congress was held, and where the December
intergovernmental conference will take place
Poster and exhibit area 
Sylvia Karlsson presenting her paper on energy governance
Panel with Sylvia Karlsson
IEF poster presented by Arthur Dahl
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Delft is a beautiful small city with canals through its historic centre
and some lovely old buildings. The following are some glimpses from a
stroll through the town centre, before walking to a park near to the
city
for Sylvia Karlsson's wedding in the afternoon.
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Old houses
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City hall and church at opposite sides of the central square
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Old farmhouse along canal 
Views in the park next to Delft where the wedding took place
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Wedding
of Sylvia Karlsson and Onno Vinkhuyzen
Delft, 21 March 2009
Dr. Sylvia Karlsson from Sweden, a long-time friend and General
Secretary of the International
Environment Forum, encountered Onno Vinkhuyzen, a Dutch member of
the European Baha'i Business Forum,
at the joint conference
of the two organizations last September. The relationship blossomed,
and they married on 21 March, the first day of Spring and Naw-Ruz
(the Baha'i New Year), in a small tea house in the park not far from
the centre of Delft.
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Wendi Momen presided
Some of the readers
Arrival of the
bride and groom
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The start of the ceremony
Witnesses signing the wedding certificate
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The rings
At the end of the
ceremony
Congratulations
of the bride's mother
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The first hug
Receiving the guests
Cutting the cake, and exchanging mouthfuls
Group photo of the wedding party
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With the mothers of the bride and groom
The happy couple
A walk through the park along the canal before the wedding dinner
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Grenoble and
Savoie, France
When a young Dutch intern, Lieuwe Vinkhuyzen, came to work with me for
two weeks in May 2009, I showed him some of the sights, including
Geneva and the Saleve (see the Switzerland
page) and my chalet (see the activities
page), as well as a visit to my good friend and island specialist
Christian Depraetere in Grenoble. We also drove through the Massif des
Bauges on the way back.
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Christian asked Lieuwe to make a traditional Dutch recipe for lunch
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Views from above St. Pierre d'Albigny (where we used to live)
and in the Bauges
In June 2009, I spent two weeks with my brother Greg and his family
(Emi, the twins Joyce and Gregory, and Mina) who live in Blagoevgrad,
Bulgaria.
They made it into a real vacation with some days in two different
mountain resorts hiking and swimming. Some of the pictures of Bulgarian
mountain scenery and streams can also be seen on my photo page.
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Traditional Bulgarian houses in the village of Dolen
Gregy liked to try to remove stones from
the road
In many places along the road, people split stones for the construction
industry, but with the recession, business was not good
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We spent a few days in the spa town of Devin, famous for its mineral
water. The hotel had a nice indoor pool, so we swam every day.
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Views from our hotel in the spa town of Devin, known for its
mineral water
The river above Devin winds through a rocky gorge, where the trail in
some places is suspended over the water on a boardwalk. We hiked up the
river, stopped for a picnic lunch, went as far as a farm above the
gorge where we stopped to play Rummy-o, and then walked back down
again, admiring wildflowers and butterflies, and taking many pictures
of the rocks and water (see my photo
page).
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Joyce, Mina, Emi and Gregy, and the picnic lunch by river
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The Dahl family, and Greg taking pictures
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The farm above the gorge where we stopped to play Rummy-o, and a
butterfly landed on Joyce
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From Devin, we made an excursion to Yagodina, with a spectacular gorge
and caves with beautiful stactites and stalagmites.
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We stopped for a night in the ski resort of Bansko where the kids had
gone for a school outing. A spring-fed stream gushed through the forest.
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Mina and Joyce in the forest
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Greg and Emi, and Gregy
At the beginning of August 2009, I went to the Danish island of
Bornholm in the Baltic, to teach at the Danish Bahá'í
Summer School. The school was a short walk from the beach, and we also
had a day of rest in mid-school to visit some parts of the island,
which is also an artists' colony.
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The school buildings, and the Danish Bahá'í Summer School
View from centre of Bornholm
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A solar oven made in a practical workshop (left); From the
highest
point on Bornholm where a tower has been built, you can barely see the
sea (right)
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Windmill in Svaneke, now an ecological centre and restaurant,
and old chimney for smoking fish
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View from the windmill; some Bahá'ís at lunch
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Coastline and houses at Gudhjem, on the north side of the island
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Harbor at Gudhjem
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Norresan, artist Oluf Hřst's home and now gallery; Ole, Jane and
Gird, who took me around the island
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Medieval round church, Rundkirke, in Osterlars, that also served as a
defensive tower and refuge from invaders
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Path from the school to the beach
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Beach near Ronne, and Ronne harbor in the distance
On 13-16 August 2009, the International Environment Forum held its 13th
Conference in Washington, D.C., in association with the annual
conference of the Association for Bahá'í Studies - North
America. There were nearly a thousand participants. A full report is on the IEF web site.
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The plenary hall; an IEF exhibit
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I gave the opening keynote on "Transforming environments from
the inside out"
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IEF paper sessions
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Speakers Larry Staudt (left) and Samuel Benoit (riight)
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Speakers Tahirih Naylor-Thimm (left) and Carol Curtis (right)
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Workshops
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Workshops (left); new IEF board members Emily Firth and Diana
Cartwright (right)
After the IEF conference, I stopped for a few days in Quebec to visit
my son Alex and his family. The time was too short for many pictures,
but I did get one of my granddaughter Alie, and my step-grandson
Jérémie and a friend stenciled a t-shirt especially for
me.
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My granddaughter Alie (left); my step-grandson Jérémie and
friend custom stencil me a t-shirt (right)
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In October 2009, I took the train to Rouen and Caen in the north of
France to speak on climate change and its ethical implications for an
inter-faith group in Rouen and some environmental associations in Caen,
both organized with the collaboration of local Bahá'ís.
There was a little time to walk around Rouen and see some of the
architectural beauties of the capital of Normandy.
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Architecturally stunning market and church
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Next to the market (right) is the spot where Joan of Arc is
supposed to have been burned at the stake
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Old houses and businesses
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Clock tower and gate with sculptured ceiling
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Rouen Cathedral
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One of many old churches
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The Palace of Justice, badly damaged during the war and under
restoration for 50 years
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Palace of Justice, with a restored gargoyle
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Narrow streets in the old centre of Rouen
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The Chamber of Commerce, and interesting architectural details
everywhere
On 27 October I traveled to Rovinj, an historic city on the Istrian
Peninsula of northern Croatia, as the emissary of a large number of
former colleagues and admirers of Stjepan Keckes, founder of the
Regional Seas Programme of the United Nations Environment Programme,
the Mediterranean Action Plan and Barcelona Convention, and many other
regional action plans and conventions. I had been Stjepan's deputy for
a few years in Nairobi and consider him one of the most outstanding
people I have had the pleasure to work with. Stjepan has always refused
any awards or credit for what he has accomplished, so through a
world-wide conspiracy of his many friends, we created a unique award in
his honour, the Siren Award 2009, as well as a web site with tributes
from most of his friends and colleagues over the last 50 years. It fell
to me to surprise him with the presentation of this award.
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Presenting the Siren Award 2009 to Stjepan Keckes
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Showing Stjepan the web site created for him by his many friends
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Lunch with Mera Keckes and Stjepan by their beautiful garden
(photos by Stjepan Keckes)
Stjepan and his lovely wife Mira hosted me for the night at their
beautiful house with a lush garden and view of the Adriatic Sea, fed me
Croatian delicacies, and left some time for me to visit the old city of
Rovinj.
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The old city of Rovinj is on the end of a peninsula. The plaza by the
port has popular bistros where Stjepan waited for me
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Having a juice with Stjepan (he had something stronger).
Polished stone streets, and the church on the hill
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The gate to the old town; narrow streets and doorways
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City Hall, old tobacco factory, now a university centre, and the
church on the top of the hill facing the sea
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Views from the front of the church
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The port full of fishing boats and pleasure boats
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The market
Stjepan then drove me to Pula to catch the boat to the Brioni Islands.
The European Center for Peace and Development, associated with the UN
University for Peace, invited me to its 5th International Conference on
National and Inter-Ethnic Reconciliation, Religious Tolerance and Human
Security in the Balkans, where I gave a paper on "Human Security and
Climate Change - the Ethical Challenge".
The conference was held on the Brioni Islands off the Istrian Peninsula
near the city of Pula, Croatia, in a hall previously used by the
Central Committee of the Communist Party in Yugoslavia. A little time
was set aside to visit the main island, which had been developed as a
resort by an Austrian industrialist early in the 20th century, before
becoming the main residence of Marshall Tito, where he governed
Yugoslavia and received many heads of state and celebrities. The
islands are now a national park open to the public, except some houses
reserved for government use.
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Map of the National Park, and the hotel where our conference
took place
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The harbour, the old boat house from the Austrian period, and a
chapel dating from Venetian times
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The island has been reforested, but numerous deer keep the
vegetation clear and mow the golf course; one of the swimming beaches
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There is a safari park and former zoo where Tito kept the
animals he received as gifts; one olive tree is 1,600 years old
On 2-4 November 2009, I went to Windsor, United Kingdom, where
representatives of nine major faiths gathered to celebrate their
long-term action plans for a living planet, addressing climate change
and the environment. The International Environment Forum had helped the
Bahá'í International Community in the preparations, and I
was one of two BIC representatives for the launching of the Bahá'í International
Community's Seven Year Plan of Action for Climate Change.
The event was organized by the Alliance of Religions and Conservation
(ARC) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). His Royal
Highness the Duke of Edinburgh received us at Windsor Castle on 3
November, together with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, and both
presented us as representatives of the Bahá'í
International Community with certificates of appreciation from the
United Nations and from ARC for the action plan. A full report
is on the IEF web site, and the web site of the celebration is http://www.windsor2009.org/index.htm.
(Photos courtesy of ARC/Richard Stonehouse)
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We made a procession to and from Windsor Castle, with banners for all
of the faiths (left). HRH Prince Philip and Ban Ki-moon with the
certificates (center). The celebration was held in the Waterloo Room,
with over 200 representatives of religions and secular environmental
groups in attendence. Since Bahá'í comes first in
alphabetical order, the BIC representatives are first row center
(right). There were 31 faith-based action plans launched in Windsor,
and 6 more announced to come later.
We were the first to receive the certificates of appreciation while a
summary of the action plan was read out. From left to right, Arthur
Dahl and Tahirih Naylor representing the Bahá'í
International Community, Prince Philip, Martin Palmer
(Secretary-General of the Alliance of Religions and Conservation), and
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
Bahá'í International Community representatives Tahirih Naylor
and Arthur Dahl
The dignitaries of nine religions launching their action plans
at Windsor, with Prince Philip and Ban Ki-moon
(I am in back, third from the right)
After the presentation of the certificates and a keynote address by Ban
Ki-moon, we had the first all vegen banquet in an English royal
residence in the hall of the Knights of the Garter, followed by a
musical/theatrical performance drawing on all the faith traditions.
There were also workshops on the days before and after the ceremony
where we could exchange experience among the religions and with secular
environmental organizations.
After the Windsor event, I went to the University of Brighton, which
has now made me a Visiting Professor, to chair the consortium group
meeting of the EU-funded project on values-based indicators of
education for sustainable development. We took a break the evening of
Guy Fawkes' Day to watch the torchlight parades, bonfires and fireworks
in Lewes, dramatic and rather pagan, with loud firecrackers thrown
everywhere. On the weekend I returned to London to speak for the
Bahá'í community of Barnet at its Dignitaries Meeting,
and went back to Brighton for a talk on coral reefs at a
Bahá'í fireside and two more days work at the university,
before returning to Geneva.
On 19-22 November I went to Malaga, Spain for the International Union
on Conservation of Nature (IUCN) for a global meeting on islands.
Because of the importance of islands for evolution and the conservation
of biological diversity, IUCN has launched an Islands Initiative with a
full-time programme officer, and is hosting a coordinator for the
Global Islands Partnership (GLISPA). I have been asked to lead a
thematic group on island ecosystems with experts from the IUCN
Commissions in support of this initiative. This was my first time to
visit Malaga since I passed through over Christmas vacation in 1961,
when I was a student in France. We were staying close to the cathedal,
so I snapped a few pictures in the neighborhood.
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Map of Malaga, with its castle on a forested mountain, and the
sea port to the south. The cathedral doors are ornate
The cathedral shows the wealth that came with the Spanish empire in the
New World
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The chathedral is surrounded by buildings and hard to
photograph. Its right tower was never finished. Even the side door is
elaborate
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A small garden to the side of the cathedral. The
bishop's palace. A square on the main thoroughfare
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Street scenes. A pickpocket nearly took my wallet while I was
taking one of the pictures.
For my trip to Copenhagen 2-19 December 2009 for the International Climate
Change Conference, see the report with pictures on the International
Environment Forum web site at
http://www.bcca.org/ief/activities/COP15/COP15.html.