Young Canadian diplomats fight to defend Afghan mission

Peter O’Neil , Canwest News Service
Published: Thursday, September 11, 2008

PARIS - Three young Canadian diplomats are on the front line of a fierce political battle to defend the Afghanistan counter-insurgency and reconstruction mission, which has been pummelled over the summer by a string of Taliban military and propaganda coups.

United Nations senior Afghanistan political adviser Chris Alexander and North Atlantic Treaty Organization spokesman James Appathurai - who met as 13-year-old schoolboys in Toronto - and their friend, Arif Lalani, who just left his post as Canada’s ambassador in Kabul, are all high-profile mission defenders in the Canadian and international media.

The trio acknowledge the job is getting more challenging.

Appathurai said this week he presented NATO ambassadors with a new communications plan to counter the surprisingly sophisticated Taliban tactics aimed at grinding down the morale of foreign soldiers, politicians and the public of the more than 40 countries with troops in Afghanistan.

He cited as a showcase example the Taliban ambush last month that left 10 French troops dead and 21 injured.

It was followed by a controversial photo display in the mass-circulation magazine Paris Match, where Taliban were photographed equipped with the uniforms, guns and equipment of the slain soldiers.

Many French were infuriated - with President Nicolas Sarkozy, the Taliban or Paris Match, depending on who was complaining - and it stoked a smouldering national debate over the mission.

Appathurai, spokesman and adviser to NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, acknowledged that soldiers are doing dirty and dangerous work. But he said Afghanistan’s fate could very well be won or lost in western democracies such as Canada, which has seen the deaths of 97 soldiers and one diplomat since 2002.

“I really believe that the battle for public understanding and public support is a strategic centre of gravity for this whole operation, as much as the military battle,” Appathurai told Canwest News Service.

“We will never lose a military exchange with the Taliban - even if they can inflict a lot of damage. But we can be outlasted if public support wanes in national parliaments and in general public opinion.”

The Taliban are exploiting their military successes, as well as civilian deaths caused by NATO and U.S. bombs, on their website, which communicates in five languages and is updated several times daily.

Appathurai is planning to expand NATO’s efforts to get its own “good news” message to Afghans, and to boost the ability of President Hamid Karzai’s government to take over from NATO as the main information source for Afghan journalists.

Alexander and Lalani, who is now on academic leave and is senior visiting fellow at the University of Toronto’s Munk Centre for International Affairs, take a similar approach.

Alexander, who helped convince the former Canadian government to send troops to the dangerous Kandahar region when he was ambassador in Kabul from 2003 to 2005, said he takes solace in comparing the current situation to what existed when he arrived - when there was no Afghan National Army and a relatively tiny foreign presence.

“It’s senseless violence, the very definition of terror, and it’s hard to take,” said Alexander, who took a leave from the Canadian foreign service to join the UN in 2005 and is now UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon’s deputy special representative in Afghanistan.

“But I only continue to believe that a better future is possible for Afghanistan, because I know what was close to the starting point.”

Because of their diverse backgrounds, the three friends collectively could be poster children for Canadian multiculturalism.

Alexander is a fifth-generation Canadian of Scottish, English and Irish descent. Appathurai is a first-generation Canadian whose parents immigrated from Sri Lanka.

Lalani came to Canada with his family as refugees in the early 1970s to escape crazed Ugandan dictator Idi Amin’s crackdown on the Ismaili Muslims there.

“People are seeing three very different faces of Canada,” said Lalani, 40, who until last month headed Canada’s fifth-largest embassy in the world, which oversees an annual aid budget in Afghanistan approaching $300 million.

“It’s kind of funny how it turned out, that we ended up in such prominent positions on the same file, but it’s good because we understand each other” and can reinforce each other’s public messaging, Lalani said.

Alexander and Appathurai, also both 40, first met as they entered their teen years at the University of Toronto Schools, a U of T feeder school for bright youngsters. They became friends with Lalani, a graduate of the University of B.C., when the three entered the Canadian public service in Ottawa during the early 1990s.

Lalani joined the Canadian foreign service in 1991 at the same time Alexander did. The two became fast friends.

Appathurai was a latecomer to the Canadian public service, joining the Department of National Defence as a policy officer in 1994. Four years later, Appathurai, who met Lalani through mutual friends in Ottawa, moved to NATO to become a speech writer.

All three talk about adrenalin-charged “public service moments” where they feel they’re influencing international developments.

Appathurai mentions the time he played a role in NATO’s decision to help airlift African Union troops to Darfur, while Alexander and Lalani regularly stress what they consider under-reported success stories in areas such as education, health and agriculture.

“You can get a true satisfaction from public service that you simply cannot get at an investment bank,” Appathurai said.

“Many of my friends are in investment banks. Even they recognize (there is) a hollow element to their jobs.”

While no one challenges their qualifications for the NATO and UN posts, Lalani said both Appathurai and Alexander might have had a tougher time getting those positions had Canada stayed on the sidelines in Afghanistan.

“It does reflect that they (NATO and the UN) take Canada seriously,” Lalani said.

But NATO chief Jaap de Hoop Scheffer bristled at the suggestion Canadians might get an advantage in competing for top diplomatic posts against candidates from countries not pulling their weight.

“James and Chris Alexander are A-1-class diplomats, and they’re both outstanding guys,” he told Canwest.

“I think they were chosen based on their individual qualities and not because their nation participates in such an excellent way as Canada does in Afghanistan.”

Name: Arif Lalani

Born: Oct. 22, 1967, Mbarara, Uganda

Education: BA, University of B.C., (international relations), 1989.

In his own words: “For a kid who, at five years old, had to leave a country because of war and come to Canada, it always kind of gets to me when we’re able at least to look for that one kid whose life we changed because we managed to rehabilitate his school. It’s very personal. And this job allows you to do that.”

Name: James Appathurai

Born: Aug. 7, 1968, Toronto

Education: BA, University of Toronto, (history/political science), 1991. University of Amsterdam, MA (international relations), 1993.

In his own words: “This is always where I wanted to be. My mother was very surprised, and frankly slightly horrified, when I told her when I was 14 I wanted to go to NATO.”

Name: Chris Alexander

Born: Sept. 9, 1968, Toronto

Education: BA, McGill University, Montreal, (history/political science), 1988. MA, Oxford University, England, (philosophy, politics and economics), 1991.

In his own words: “It’s very surprising to see the three of us connected to this story, and I think that says a lot about what Afghanistan has become, in terms of the importance that is attached to it for the UN, for NATO, and for countries like Canada.”

Source: http://www.canada.com/topics/news/world/story.html?id=95ebba40-46d1-4f44-8241-b384a2b494d1

Aga Khan university signs agreement with Syria

Dr Ghiath Barakat, Syria’s Minister of Higher Education (right), and Mr Firoz Rasul, President of Aga Khan University (left), sign an agreement to further develop the healthcare sector in the country. The signing of the agreement was witnessed by the Aga Khan (centre) and Prime Minister Muhammad Naji Al-Otri (standing right). Photo/AKDN, GARY OTTE

DAMASCUS, Sunday - The Ministries of Health and Higher Education of the Government of Syria and Aga Khan University have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to enhance capacity in the health sector

The agreement was signed at the Office of the Prime Minister in Damascus and witnessed by Syrian Prime Minister, Mr Muhammad Naji Al-Otri and the Aga Khan, Imam (spiritual leader) of the Shia Ismaili Muslims.

The Aga Khan is the founder and Chairman of the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN) and the Chancellor of the Aga Khan University.

He was in Syria on a six-day official visit.

The memorandum, which provides a framework for cooperation in nursing education and hospital quality assurance, was signed by Dr Maher Al-Husami, Minister of Health, Dr Ghiath Barakat, Minister of Higher Education and Mr Firoz Rasul, President of AKU, witnessed by Mr Mohamed Seifo, AKDN Representative in Syria.

The signing of the memorandum marks the expansion of an existing, successful partnership between the Government of Syria and the Aga Khan.

Source: http://www.nation.co.ke/News/world/-/1068/468308/-/rxmnfd/-/

Aga Khan’s visit to Syria witnesses signing agreement between AKDN and Syrian Government

His Highness the Aga Khan completed a six-day official visit to Syria from 24 to 30 August, at the invitation of the Syrian Government.

During his visit to Syria, the Aga Khan met with H.E. President Bashar Al-Assad, and government ministers, and witnessed the signing of a number of agreements between various agencies of the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN) and the Syrian Government to further strengthen collaboration in the areas of healthcare, microfinance, cultural restoration and tourism.

He also inaugurated the Aleppo Citadel Project, which marks the completion of the cultural revitalisation work on the Citadels of Aleppo, Salah ad-Din and Masyaf, carried out by the Aga Khan Trust for Culture (AKTC) in partnership with the Syrian Directorate General of Antiquities and Museums.

His Highness the Aga Khan inaugurated the medieval citadel overlooking Syria’s ancient city of Aleppo.

The ceremony marked the completion of cultural revitalisation work on the citadels of Aleppo, Salah ad-Din and Masyaf that once formed a system of fortresses in central-western Syria. The restoration work was carried out by AKTC in partnership with the Syrian Directorate General of Antiquities and Museums.

It was attended by His Excellency Mohamed Naji Otri, Prime Minister of the Syrian Arab Republic, the Governor of Aleppo, Dr. Tamer Hejjeh and the Aga Khan’s younger brother, Prince Amyn Aga Khan, as well as numerous government officials, faith leaders and partners in cultural restoration.

Speaking at the ceremony, the Aga Khan emphasised the importance of reviving the history of civilisations of the global Muslim Community, the Ummah, saying:

‘We don’t do enough to illustrate to the peoples of our world the greatness of the Islamic civilisations of cultures of the past.’

He also explained the purpose of the project. ‘The background to this initiative is very simple. It is to illustrate to the peoples of our world, the history of the civilisations of the Ummah,’ he said.

‘Because they don’t know our history, they don’t know our literature, they don’t know our philosophy, they don’t know the physical environment in which our countries have lived, they view the Ummah in terminology which is completely wrong,’ he added.

The Aga Khan also acknowledged that Syria, with its wealth of architectural and cultural treasures takes a unique position in the history of Islam. ‘My interest in working in Syria is to take the various lead countries of the Ummah and say, let’s start, let’s move together, let’s revive our cultures so that modernity is not only seen in the terminology of the west, but in the intelligent use of our past,’ he said.

Source: http://www.ameinfo.com/167974.html

Jubilee Holdings profits rises 35 p.c.

Composite underwriter Jubilee Holdings Ltd has reported a 35 per cent rise in its half-year pre-tax profit.

The profit hit Sh316 million compared to Sh233 million of first half of last year.

The insurer reported year-on-year premium growth of 57 per cent as the Jubilee Group marked its 70th year of operating in East Africa.

“Over the last 12 months Jubilee has made significant investments in people and systems to improve the underlying efficiency and profitability of its insurance operations and this has allowed the Group to post strong profits during a period of exceptional global market volatility,” group chairman Nizar Juma said.

Mr Juma noted the good performance had been achieved despite the company making ex-gratia payment to victims of the post-election violence.

Growth factors

Premium growth was well balanced in terms of class of business and territory.

General insurance experienced growth of 70 per cent year-on-year and significantly improved its underwriting profitability.

Medical business grew by 47 per cent maintaining Jubilee’s position as the market leader in the region.

Life business grew 44 per cent. Commenting on industry results recently released by the Association of Kenya Insurers (AKI) Mr Juma said, “We are delighted that during our 70th year, Jubilee is now the largest composite insurer in Kenya.

This is a great addition to the positions that Jubilee already holds - that is, the largest composite insurer in East Africa and the largest medical insurer in Kenya and East Africa”

Jubilee Holdings provides insurance protection to more than 125,000 clients across the East African region and is pushing to improve its reach for its existing and potential customers in the region.

Jubilee Holdings is the only ISO certified insurance-based financial institution listed on the Nairobi Stock Exchange, Uganda Securities Exchange and Dar es Salaam Stock Exchange.

The company is an affiliate of the Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development, the economic arm of the Aga Khan Development Network.

Source: http://www.nation.co.ke/business/news/-/1006/466582/-/jiyri5z/-/

Iraq and Afghanistan: Ready for Tourists?

By William Moss Wilson

Recent initiatives show signs of hope for reviving long-dormant tourist sectors in war-torn Afghanistan and Iraq.

The Swiss-based Aga Khan Foundation is contributing $1 million over the next three years to the Bamiyan Ecotourism Project in central Afghanistan. According to Sanjeev Gupta, a regional program coordinator for Aga Khan, the project’s goal is to develop tourist infrastructure, train sector-related employees, and raise awareness about the region.

The relatively safe Bamiyan province is home to the stunning mountain lakes of Band-i-Amir and also to the cliff-carved Buddha statues, unfortunately destroyed by the Taliban in 2001.

Local infrastructure in Bamiyan has a long way to go. The 150-mile journey from Kabul to Bamiyan takes ten hours on tortuous dirt roads through the Koh-i-Baba mountains. The alternative route is thought to be under Taliban control.

In Iraq, where oil money is filling state coffers and civilian mortality rates are at their lowest since the beginning of the Second Gulf War, optimism seems to be gaining a foothold.

The Iraqi Ministry of Tourism held a tourism fair last month and sponsored a contest for local artists to design posters promoting travel to the country. Mohsen al-Yacoubi, head of the tourism board, delivered the results of the contest to a packed conference room at the al-Mansour Melia hotel, the site of a deadly suicide bombing last year. The ministry announced plans to open tourism offices in select European cities in 2009.

Outside investors are also placing bets on the improving security climate in Iraq. American investor Robert Kelley broke ground last month on a $100-million luxury hotel in downtown Baghdad.

“We think the Iraqi people want to get along with each other,” Kelley told the Associated Press.

For time being, travel is discouraged outside the heavily fortified Green Zone. No official timetable exists for the reopening of the Baghdad Museum. The museum is located outside the Green Zone and officials worry that it could become an easy target for suicide bombers.

Religious tourism is already on the upsurge, thanks in part to an $80-million renovation of a military airfield in Najaf. Iraq’s newest airport opened to commercial traffic on July 20. The airport provides access to several of the Islamic world’s holiest sites in Najaf and nearby Karbala. An investment group led by the Kuwaiti firm Al-Aqeelah plans to pump another $170 million into the project as traffic into the airport increases.

The consensus among travelers, from Lonely Planet’s Thorn Tree to Robert Young Pelton’s comebackalive.com, is that travel in Iraq south of Kurdistan remains a foolhardy endeavor. Both the US State Department and the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs strongly discourage unnecessary travel to any part of Iraq or Afghanistan. Their web sites warn of the familiar dangers, terrorism, rampant kidnapping, and widespread use of roadside bombs, as well as less obvious threats-the World Health Organization has confirmed Iraq as a site of human deaths from avian influenza.

Other countries, including the UK, Denmark, Japan, and Germany, have amended their travel warnings to note the higher security level in Iraqi Kurdistan.

Source: www.ethicaltraveler.org/news_story.php?id=1105

Ottri, Karim Aga Khan Discuss Joint Cooperation Agreements

Damascus, (SANA)- Prime Minister Mohammad Naji Ottri and His Highness Prince Karim Aga Khan, Head of Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN), on Monday discussed fields and prospects of cooperation between the Syrian government and the Network in the economic, social, cultural, development and tourist areas in light of the cooperation agreement signed between the two sides.

Both sides reviewed a set of projects which the AKDN intends to initiate in Syria, particularly rural development, broadening and expanding the program of funding the small-size projects and infrastructure services.

Premier Ottri highlighted the projects which that AKDN is carrying out in Syria, pointing out to its distinguished role in the field of restoration of ancient places and the revival of Arab and Islamic civilizations.

His Highness Prince Karim Aga Khan expressed his Network keenness on launching new social and development projects, underscoring the support given to its activities in Syria.

The meeting was attended by Minister of Tourism Dr. Sadullah Agha al-Qala’a and Mohammad Mufdi Seifo, AKDN Resident Representative in Syria.

Deputy Premier for Economic Affairs Abdullah al-Dardari also discussed with His Highness Karim Aga Khan the growing cooperation between his Network and Syria.

Mr. Dardari briefed Prince Karim on the situation of investment in Syria and prospects of big and diversified investment and the possibility of the Network’s funding of several development projects as well as the facilities given by the Syrian government to the investors.

Later, in the presence of Premier Ottri and Prince Karim Aga Khan, the Executive Order document to initiate small-size funding in Syria was signed between the Syrian Central Bank and Aga Khan Agency for Small-Size Loans, along with launching new tourism projects in Damascus.

Also a Memo of Understanding was signed between Aga Khan University and the Syrian Ministries of Health and Higher Education.

After the signing ceremony, Premier Ottri and Prince Karim Aga Khan exchanged friendly speeches, expressing common desire to enhance and develop the existing cooperation between Syria and the AKDN, highlighting the agreements signed today.

They also voiced willingness to establish new development projects in different fields.

Ahmad Fathi ZAHRA

Source: http://www.sana.sy/eng/21/2008/08/25/189985.htm

Visalia Planning Commission approves Islamic center

Ali Muzzaffarag will soon no longer have to drive all the way to and from Porterville twice a day, six days a week, for prayer meetings and religious courses, thanks to action Monday night by the Visalia Planning Commission.

Muzzaffarag is a member of an Islamic religious sect known as the AGA Khan Shiaimami Ismaili Council for the Western United States, with a congregation of about 50 members in Tulare County.

“We are peaceful,” Muzzaffarag said. “It will be wonderful to not have to drive to Porterville for every meeting.”

The AGA Khan Ismailis follow the Islamic teachings of Karim Aga Khan, who started the sect in the 1940s, according to Web sites recommended by Muzzaffarag.

“It is worldwide,” Muzzaffarag said of the Ismailis. “India, Pakistan and many other countries, including the U.S.” AGA Khani Ismailis represent only about 0.1 percent of all Muslims, online sources say.

Planning Commission members voted 4-0, with member Larry Segrue absent, to allow the AGA Khan Ismailis to convert a 1,974-square-foot portion of an existing 6,426-square-foot building into an Ismaili worship and cultural center.

The building, located on the 1500 block of Lovers Lane near Tulare Avenue, is designed for three tenants. It currently houses one primary business — Mineral King Produce. The Ismaili center will be the second tenant, city reports show.

“Were neighbors notified?” asked Planning Commissioner and chairman Vincent Salinas.

“Yes,” answered Paul Bernal, associate planner for Visalia who prepared a staff report on the Ismailis’ proposed center. “There were community meetings and “they [neighbors] attended. There were no issues or concerns.”

The proposed center would be on the same block as a proposed Social Security Administration field office, the builders of which have been forced to seek an alternate site because of strong, organized neighborhood resistance.

However, the Ismaili center is a completely different idea, embraced by neighbors in the area, unlike the stormy, two-year-old Social Security building controversy, said group leader, area resident and Tulare teacher Kimberlie Tyler.

“This is very much within the designed use of that building,” Tyler said. Further, the Ismaili center does not require the construction of an entirely new facility as did the Social Security proposal.

Source: http://www.visaliatimesdelta.com/apps/pbcs.dll/
article?AID=/20080826/NEWS01/808260320/1002

Vancouver. Ismailis, Women to host walk for health research

The Ismaili Muslim Community of B.C. and the B.C. Women’s Hospital and Health Centre will host a walk in Stanley Park today to raise funds for women’s healthcare research.

The two groups have already raised more than $250,000 and hope to surpass the $300,000 target on walk day. All funds raised will go to the Women’s Health Research Institute at the B.C. Women’s Hospital and Health Centre.

The seven-kilometre walk will start at Lumberman’s Arch at 11 a.m. and run until 3:30 p.m. There is also a shorter 3.5-km walk for children and families with strollers.

For more info, visit www.ismailiwalk.bcwomensfoundation.org/ richmond

Source: http://www.canada.com/theprovince/news/story.html?id=
9e693763-81f3-4916-99bf-b40e53c053fd

Less inconvenience for public, promise sponsors

By By Azeem Samar
8/20/2008
Karachi

More than 200 national and international organisations dealing in defence related products and services will be participating in the fifth International Defence Exhibition and Seminar (IDEAS) 2008, to be held in November. However, the organisers are claiming that they are focusing on a host of measures in order to lessen the inconvenience that may arise for the general public in the five-day duration of the seminar.

Due to the extraordinarily heightened security during previous IDEAS events, especially the last one held from November 21, 2006 to November 24, 2006, the inhabitants of the areas in the vicinity of Karachi Expo Centre and commuters of the arteries around the exhibition venue had to face serious hardships. Reaching two important healthcare institutions of the city i.e. Liaquat National Hospital and Aga Khan Hospital virtually became a mission impossible due to the extensive closure of roads around the exhibition venue.

Citizens have serious reservations as why a venue in the virtual centre of Karachi, with a consistent track record of sabotage activities, was chosen for such a massive assembly of sensitive defence equipment, military hardware, mechanised weapons, and armed forces personnel from the country and abroad. “The IDEAS organisers have no right to virtually put on hold the life and business of the people inhabiting or owning shops near the Expo Centre,” said Naeem Qureshi who lives near Hassan Square on University Road just across the centre.

“It is a much advisable option that the event be relocated to a properly allocated space or exhibition area near Super Highway, Malir Cantonment, or even in the vicinity of Islamabad where the movement of VIPs and military hardware will not cause such unbearable and colossal discomfort to the masses for several days,” said Qureshi who also runs an event management firm.

The fifth IDEAS will be held from November 24 to November 28 this year including the day of the inauguration ceremony. The event organisers, however, will have a tough job selecting the chief guest for the ceremony as Pervez Musharraf will not be around to grace the occasion. He was the principal protagonist and patron of the arms and had attended every IDEAS exhibition since 2000. “It has been the affairs of only presidents and prime ministers to grace as chief guests at different IDEAS events. This time around again such VVIPs will be invited for the opening and proceedings of the exhibition,” said an associated event manager.

Captain Siddiq Akbar, a spokesman for the Defence Export Promotion Organisation (Depo) the organiser of IDEAS, said on Monday that so far no chief guest had been chosen for the inaugural ceremony. Dr Kursheed Nizam who is President of the E-Commerce Gateway, the event manager of IDEAS, told The News that almost 98 per cent of the stalls, pavilions, and other spaces available for the event had been reserved by the prospective exhibitors of armed and related products from the country and abroad. Some 65 per cent of the 200 participating companies whose military hardware and defence-related products will be on display during the exhibition, are of foreign origin.

The exhibitors of military equipment are from USA, UK, China, Turkey, South Korea, Italy, France, South Africa, Romania, Sweden, Belgium, Ukraine, Russia, Brunei, Thailand, Malaysia, and Canada. The Depo has sent invitations for official participation of the governments, concerned ministries, and departments of 80 countries, said Akbar.

In the 2006 exhibition, 221 defence manufacturing firms from 27 countries participated with 148 foreign and 73 domestic companies. Some 30,000 armed service personnel, concerned professionals, and analysts visited the fourth IDEAS exhibition inaugurated by the then president and chief of army staff Pervez Musharraf.

Mussadiq Aziz, who was himself involved in IDEAS 2006 as manager of the stall of an exhibitor, some two years back had to face serious inconvenience in reaching the Aga Khan Hospital where his wife was undergoing treatment. His ordeal started at least three days prior to the inauguration of the event, as he could not avail the normal passages through the Habib Ibrahim Rahimtoola Road or any road near the Civic Centre to reach the hospital.

“Such advance tools and systems of surveillance and security are now available in the country, that there is no need of the complete closure of roads in a radius of lets say five-kilometres around a high-profile exhibition area like that of IDEAS,” said Aziz who himself is experienced in event management. He said that during the fourth IDEAS exhibition, owing to a disruption in the shuttle bus service, the exhibitors, organisers, and visitors at times had to walk for 20 minutes from the National Coaching Centre where the parking facility was developed for the mega event.

In a written communication from the Depo Headquarters in Rawalpindi, the following measures have been taken for minimum disturbance to the people of Karachi when conducting the exhibition this year. The Depo is in liaison with the Karachi Traffic Police in order to maintain a smooth flow of traffic during the entire exhibition, with a minimum closure of roads in the vicinity of the Expo Centre.

The timings of the exhibition have been kept during the non-rush hours so as to avoid traffic gridlocks at Sharea Faisal. The Depo is also going to be in close liaison with the FM radio channels to give live updates to the public about closed routes and roads to avoid any traffic jams while suggesting alternate routes.

Source: http://www.thenews.com.pk/print1.asp?id=130977

Profile of Aga Khan’s Al-Azhar Park in Cairo featured on e2 series

“Season 3 of e2 design comprises six episodes: a profile of Aga Khan’s Al-Azhar Park in Cairo, a 500-year-old dump-turned-”urban lung”; Canadian architect Brian MacKay-Lyons, who applies Nova Scotia’s design pragmatism to projects around the world; Melbourne’s transformation from a tired, vacant city into a thriving, sustainable metropolis; the inspired efforts of world-class architect Renzo Piano to integrate the natural world into his design for San Francisco’s elegant, environmentally responsive natural history museum; the efforts to rebuild New Orleans’ Lower 9th Ward in a way that is environmentally, culturally and socially sustainable; and the visionary Amsterdam architects transforming recycled materials into modern design masterpieces.”

Look for the series to debut on PBS starting August 22nd. More details available here.