RIYADH: Engaging young people in the business of finding solutions to global challenges like climate change is one of the key themes of the inaugural Future of Education, Science and Culture International Organizations Forum, which opened in Riyadh on Wednesday.
The topic of youth engagement is at the forefront of several panels at the two-day conference, including sessions on “The Future is Digital — Building Capacity in Organizations,” “Youth and Inclusion in the Education, Science, Technology and Culture Sectors” and “Greening the Agenda — Future of Education.”
“The global and regional organizations that have staged this forum have the same mandate across several continents,” Irina Bokova, from the International Science Council and a former director general of UNESCO, told Arab News.
“We have different challenges in achieving the same sustainable development goal, which is universal, not just for the Global South, but for everybody. While listening to the debate this morning, I am even more convinced that nowadays, we should go beyond our discussions about cooperation and collaboration. We need to find synergies.”
Bokova said that young people around the world were key to building such synergies and must be educated in the art of collaboration so as to bring people closer together, especially in scientific fields.
“I sincerely hope that concrete partnerships or ideas will emerge from this conference,” she said.
“Placing an emphasis on science and research is something that I want to happen, particularly in the Arab world because it can provide great access to education for young people as well as others," Bokova added.
“Technology is also crucial and we know that it is very unevenly distributed across the Arab region. I hope from this conference we can find ways to bridge the gaps.”
Dr. Christina Yan Zhang, CEO and founder of The Metaverse Institute in the UK, highlighted how new technology could help to boost youth engagement.
“I think all the latest technology to do with Web3 and the Metaverse can really provide an unprecedented level of opportunity for the younger generation to have greater and better opportunities to become involved in solving various key issues in society,” she told Arab News.
While policy decision-making had traditionally taken a top-down approach, with the help of new technology there was now the opportunity for other generations and segments of society to get involved in major decisions that affect our planet,” Yan said.
She cited the development of Smart Cities as an example.
“Our young people can actually see how their future city will look like in five and 10 years’ time by navigating the metaverse,” she said.
“They can also see if they will be able to reduce their own carbon footprint by 20 percent each day and how it will be visualized in 3D in their city to create a really sustainable future.”
According to the UN Development Program, 75 percent of the more than 120 countries that have signed up to its Climate Promise scheme now prioritize youth in developing their nationally determined contributions — the plans they have to reduce emissions and adapt to the impact of climate change.
