This year’s Nobel Peace Prize could go to green campaigner Greta Thunberg and the Fridays for Future movement to highlight the link between environmental damage and the threat to peace and security, experts say.
The winner of the $1 million prize, arguably the world’s top accolade, will be announced in Oslo on Oct. 9 from a field of 318 candidates. The prize can be split up to three ways.
The Swedish 17-year-old was nominated by three Norwegian lawmakers and two Swedish parliamentarians and if she wins, she would receive it at the same age as Pakistan’s Malala Yousafzai, the youngest Nobel laureate thus far.
Asle Sveen, a historian and author of several books about the prize, said Thunberg would be a strong candidate for this year’s award, her second nomination in as many years, with the U.S. West Coast wildfires and rising temperatures in the Arctic “leaving people in no doubt” about global warming.
“Not a single person has done more to get the world to focus on climate change than her,” Sveen told Reuters.
The committee has given the prize to environmentalists before, starting with Kenya’s Wangari Maathai in 2004 for her campaign to plant 30 million trees across Africa, and in 2007 to Al Gore and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
In the era of the coronavirus crisis, the committee could also choose to highlight the threat of pandemics to peace and security, said Dan Smith, the director of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.
“There is a relationship between environmental damage and our increasing problem with pandemics and I wonder whether the Nobel Peace Prize Committee might want to highlight that,” he told Reuters.
If the committee wanted to highlight this trend, he said, “there is obviously the temptation of Greta Thunberg”.
The Fridays for Future movement started in 2018 when Thunberg began a school strike in Sweden to push for action on climate. It has since become a global protest.
Thunberg and her father Svante, who sometimes handles media queries for her, did not reply to requests for comment.
Many were sceptical when Greta, as she is often referred to, became the bookmaker’s favourite to win last year’s Nobel Peace Prize, especially with regards to her age, but her second nomination could strengthen her chances.
“Greta is re-nominated, which was the case for Malala. I said Malala was young when she was nominated the first time and I said Greta was young the first time she was nominated,” Sveen said.
Yousafzai won in 2014.
NOT TRUMP
Other known candidates included the “people of Hong Kong”, NATO, Julian Assange, Chelsea Manning and Edward Snowden and jailed Saudi activist Loujain al-Hathloul.
Other possible choices are Reporters Without Borders, Angela Merkel and the World Health Organization, experts said, though it is unclear whether they are nominated.
Nominations are secret for 50 years but those who nominate can choose to publicise their choices. Thousands of people are eligible to nominate, including members of parliaments and governments, university professors and past laureates.
It is not known whether Donald Trump is nominated for this year’s prize, though he is up for next year’s award after a Norwegian lawmaker named the U.S. President for helping broker a deal between Israel and the United Arab Emirates.
He is unlikely to win, Sveen and Smith agreed, not least for his dismantling of the international treaties to limit the proliferation of nuclear weapons, a cause dear to Nobel committees.
“He is divisive and seems to not take a clear stance against the violence the right wing perpetrates in the U.S.,” said Smith.
“And that is just the first list.”
Reuters
Thu Sep 17 2020

This year's Nobel Peace Prize could go to green campaigner Greta Thunberg and the Fridays for Future movement to highlight the link between environmental damage and the threat to peace and security - REUTERS
13 maut dalam kebakaran asrama di Almaty
Sekurang-kurangnya 13 maut akibat kejadian kebakaran asrama yang berlaku Almaty, Kazakhstan, awal pagi Khamis.
Penternak anjing protes berhampiran pejabat Presiden Korea Selatan
Kira-kira 200 penternak anjing di Korea Selatan menganjurkan protes berhampiran pejabat Presiden di Seoul, mendesak kerajaan membatalkan rancangan mengharamkan amalan kontroversi memakan haiwan itu sejak beberapa abad lalu.
Pemberhentian perang Israel-Palestin dilanjutkan sehari
Israel dan Hamas hari ini bersetuju melanjutkan pemberhentian perang selama sehari lagi, enam minit sebelum perjanjian pemberhentian perang selama enam hari sebelum ini tamat.
Tebusan warga Thailand tiba di Bangkok
Ketibaan 17 tebusan warga Thailand yang ditahan di Semenanjung Gaza tiba di Bangkok pada petang Khamis, disambut ahli keluarga yang menunggu kepulangan mereka.
Persidangan bermula, bincang pembiayaan projek iklim, nilai kemajuan
Persidangan Perubahan Iklim Pertubuhan Bangsa-Bangsa Bersatu (COP28) bermula di Dubai, Emiriah Arab Bersatu (UAE) bagi membincangkan isu mendesak berkaitan pemanasan global serta menilai kemajuan interim yang dicapai oleh masyarakat antarabangsa sejak Perjanjian Paris ditandatangani.
Delegasi, syarikat minyak perlu bekerjasama tangani perubahan iklim
Presiden COP28, Sultan Al Jaber menggesa pada delegasi untuk mencari titik persamaan dalam dasar bagi memenuhi matlamat iklim global.
Malaysia-India komited teroka bidang kerjasama baharu
Timbalan Menteri Luar, Datuk Mohamad Alamin mengadakan pertemuan dengan rakan sejawatnya, Menteri Hal Ehwal Luar dan Pendidikan India, Dr Rajkumar Ranjan Singh di Kuala Lumpur pada Khamis
Perdana Menteri terima kunjungan hormat Prabowo
Menganggap Prabowo sebagai sahabat lama, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim berkata, pertemuan itu membincangkan pelbagai isu terkait kepentingan bersama Malaysia dan Indonesia.
Malaysia pertama di Asia Tenggara guna rangkaian komunikasi 4G
Malaysia bakal melakar sejarah sebagai negara pertama di Asia Tenggara yang melaksanakan rangkaian komunikasi LTE-Railway (LTE-R) menggunakan 4G pada kereta api penumpang di Laluan Rel Pantai Timur (ECRL) sepanjang 665km.
Kibar bendera Israel, lelaki dipenjara 6 bulan, denda RM500
Seorang lelaki dijatuhi hukuman penjara enam bulan dan didenda RM500 oleh Mahkamah Majistret Marang atas kesalahan menggantung dan mengibar bendera Israel.

Bekas Canselor Jerman Angela Merkel terima anugerah tertinggi negara
Merkel memegang jawatan canselor dari 2005 hingga 2021.

Jerman hentikan operasi tiga loji nuklear terakhir
Jerman menghentikan operasi tiga loji tenaga nuklear terakhirnya pada Sabtu sebagai sebahagian daripada peralihan kepada tenaga boleh diperbaharui.

Canselor Jerman: Era pemerintahan Angela Merkel tamat selepas 16 tahun
Olaf Scholz secara rasmi dilantik sebagai Canselor Jerman yang baharu pada Rabu menggantikan Angela Merkel.

COVID-19: Jerman debat isu wajibkan vaksinasi
Pada Ahad, kes jangkitan koronavirus sepanjang tujuh hari lalu di Jerman meningkat ke paras tertinggi sejak wabak itu bermula untuk hari ke-14 berturut-turut.

COVID-19: Jerman bakal kenakan peraturan baharu
Peraturan baharu itu akan dibawa ke Parlimen untuk diluluskan hari ini.

COVID-19: Angela Merkel rayu rakyat Jerman segera dapatkan vaksin
Ini kerana, kata Merkel, kadar jangkitan COVID-19 di negara itu mencecah angka baharu tertinggi dengan bilangan korban turut meningkat.

Sekatan Jerman terhadap minyak sawit berdasarkan kepada maklumat palsu
Sekatan Jerman terhadap minyak sawit adalah berdasarkan kepada maklumat palsu dan secara sengaja tidak merujuk kepada fakta alam sekitar.

Parti Canselor Angela Merkel mula kempen pilihan raya secara rasmi
Parti Kristian Demokrat (CDU) yang kini dipimpin Armin Laschet berharap dapat terus mentadbir negara selepas Merkel umum mahu mengundur diri.

Berita antarabangsa pilihan sepanjang hari ini
Antara pelbagai berita luar negara yang disiarkan di Astro AWANI, berikut adalah antara yang paling menjadi tumpuan sepanjang hari ini.

Jerman bakal kenakan caj ujian COVID-19 kepada yang enggan terima vaksin
Tiada lagi ujian saringan COVID-19 percuma untuk golongan yang enggan menerima vaksin, kata Canselor Angela Merkel pada Selasa.