Dubai: The Museum of the Future, in collaboration with Dubai-based interdisciplinary think tank Fiker Institute today concluded the inaugural ‘Climate Future Week’ with more than 6,300 government officials, industry leaders, futurists, academics, and senior delegates in attendance.
Climate Future Week was held from September 26 to 30 at the Museum of the Future in Dubai. The last day of the event - Saturday - began with a ‘Countdown to COP28’ discussion between COP28 President-Designate Dr Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber and UN Climate Change High-Level Champion for COP28 and International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) President Razan Al Mubarak. The session was moderated by Emirati author, Rhodes Scholar, and Founder of Fiker Institute, Dubai Abulhoul.
Dr Al Jaber said: “The UAE assumes the responsibility of hosting COP28 with humility and a deep sense of urgency to deliver a future-proofed world for us all. We live in a region where heat is extreme, water is scarce and food systems are fragile. And we also live in an ever-more interconnected world where the impacts of climate change anywhere will affect us everywhere.”
Action Agenda
He added: As hosts of COP28, we are guided by a single north star, keeping 1.5C within reach. We aim to do that with a four-part Action Agenda: fast-tracking a just and orderly energy transition, fixing climate finance, focusing on people, lives and livelihoods and underpinning everything with full inclusivity. We must now seize the opportunity of COP28 to unite the world and act together to deliver actionable solutions to the climate crisis.”
Razan said: “We need a whole-of-society approach to address climate change and drive a just systems transformation. This is why inclusion has been the cornerstone of the COP28 Presidency. In my role, I’ve been focusing on raising the profile of inclusion and nature in order to deliver on this goal.”
She added: “I have been engaging with businesses, investors, cities, regions and civil society to ensure they are a part of the dialogues and shaping the solutions. I have also been advocating for and mobilising nature-positive climate action. While we are seeing closer alignment between the climate and nature agenda, we urgently need to scale implementation. COP28 will be a pivotal moment to elevate nature as a critical lever to achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement.”
Start-up Majlis
The session was followed by a Climate Start-up Majlis that saw a line-up of entrepreneurs and business leaders present future-focused technologies including effective waste management solutions, innovations within smart farming and agri-tech methodology, moderated by Faisal Kazim, of ‘The Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution UAE’ (C4IR).
The Climate Startup Majlis featured Dr Saeed Al Khazraji, Professor at Khalifa University and Founder of Manhat; Lamis Al Hashimy, Co-Founder of Palmade; Dr Josef Schmidhuber, Chief Sustainability Office of Pure Harvest; Rabih Elchaar, Co-Founder of Nadeera; Onur Elgun, Co-Founder of CarbonSifir; whilst Lara Hussein was joined by Ceylan Uren, Co-Founders and Soil Builders at The Waste Lab. Entrepreneurs shared effective solutions to accelerate climate resilience including new technology bolstering climate progress and presented innovation solutions within smart farming, sustainable production and zero waste technology.
Climate Future Week took place as the country counts down to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change’s Conference of the Parties (COP28), to be hosted in Dubai from November 30 to December 12 at Expo City.
The final day of Climate Future Week concluded with an immersive workshop session on ‘Eco-poetry and Writing Nature’ hosted by Shamma Al Bastaki, Emirati artist and poet, sharing a call to action.
