Clouds as common heritage of mankind

My former philosophy teacher Karl Borg has turned his attention to clouds and is campaigning to get clouds declared as part of the common heritage of mankind.

..People may think that Mr Borg is a head-in-the-clouds idealist but his feet are planted firmly on the ground. His idea harks back to Malta Ambassador Arvid Pardo's proposal in 1967 to have the sea's resources declared the Common Heritage of Mankind, a novel principle at the time, adopted by the United Nations and later enshrined in international law. "Think about it: clouds are important for many aspects from shade to rain. Clouds roam freely and know no boundaries. Clouds are not a mere part of climate, they are an important aspect in climate change. And what's more, they are still unclaimed and that's how they should remain," Mr Borg says.

The idea started taking shape around three years ago, when Mr Borg started living in a boathouse at Marsascala and became fascinated by clouds. He photographed them as they changed shape, colour and form. Mr Borg now looks at clouds beyond their geographical significance. "I started associating clouds with inspiration and my background as a teacher and my studies of philosophy and what I had learnt about the educational system killing children's creativity inspired me to devise a project to empower children," he said..

"Clouds are still unclaimed territory. Clouds travel and are the best ambassadors; as postmen they can carry good news to so many from so many," he said..."Through this project I am also trying to convince European Union institutions and the United Nations to declare clouds as a non-claimed territory - thus remaining as they are, belonging equally to everybody," Mr Borg said. The Shab project has been launched together with Ir-Razzett tal-Hbiberija but there is interest in it from several countries within the EU and the Commonwealth as well as from Russia, China, Africa, the Balkan countries, Israel, Arab countries and India...