NEWS
The 3rd International Conference on Resilience and Sustainability Kicks off at the University of Bahrain .. Dr. Al-Mudhahki Calls for the Promotion of Innovative Scientific Solutions to Reduce the Impacts of Coronavirus Pandemic.. Craig Leeson: Plastic Pollution and Climate Change Are Affecting the Ecosystems .. Professor Al-Nasser: High Temperatures Will Lead to Disappearance of Artificial Islands
Sakhir – University of Bahrain (Ali Al-Sabbagh and Khadija Abdul Salam)
November 15, 2021
The President of the University of Bahrain, Dr. Jawaher bint Shaheen Al-Mudhahki, stressed the importance of the contribution of higher education institutions to reducing the impacts of the Coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic, by promoting innovative solutions and scientific research, and finding effective solutions compatible with local and global visions of sustainability.
Dr. Al-Mudhahki stated, in her speech during the opening of the 3rd International Conference on Resilience and Sustainability: Climate Change, held on Monday November 15, 2021, that with the near end of the Coronavirus pandemic that has created anxiety state in various regions, the responsibility towards finding solutions for the stability of financial systems is increasing. She stressed the importance of planning for the future, by taking advantage of the lessons learned from the pandemic that exposed businesses to risks and forced governments to spend and act flexibly to absorb new variables that have reshaped their priorities.
Dr. Al-Mudhahki added, “The global vision is increasingly focusing on the sustainability challenge of the cities that we have adopted as a theme for the conference. The University of Bahrain, being a leading educational institution and research entity in the Kingdom of Bahrain, is keen on addressing urban resilience and sustainability issues in many funded courses and research projects.” She stressed the importance of integrating science and research into planning policies and design applications.
The President of the University welcomed the keynote speakers from academia and industry in the two-day conference, held in collaboration with BNP Pariba, and thanked the speakers, participants, and the conference organizing team led by the Dean of Graduate Studies and Scientific Research at the University of Bahrain Prof. Mohammad Reda Qader.
The conference attracted researchers and experts from many countries, including Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, India, Morocco, Iraq, Pakistan, and Indonesia. It also attracted prominent supporters, including the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) as technical supporter, the Sustainable Smart Urbanism Lab, the Sustainable Energy Lab, and Itqan Development Company.
For his part, the Dean of Graduate Studies and Scientific Research at the university of Bahrain, Dr. Mohammad Reda Qader, indicated that the conference covers a wide range of new topics related to Bahrain Vision 2030 and the sustainable development objectives, through 130 scientific papers to be discussed by the participants.
Dr. Qader explained that the topics of the conference include biodiversity and the environment, building systems and processes, building assessment methods and tools, building information modeling systems, climate change, collaboration for sustainability in the Asian region, approaches to creative thinking and sustainability, disasters and conflicts, and sustainable investment, expressing his belief that scientific papers will be of great interest due to their novelty and richness.
For his part, the Dean of the Faculty of Science, Dr. Muhammad Mustafa Al-Helou, expressed his happiness that the university continues to hold in series of resilience and sustainability conferences, through partnership between the various colleges, stressing the importance of the conference topics, as this year Nobel Prize in Physics focused on the human role in climate change.
Dr. El-Helou confirmed that the conference topics and its research papers is a good opportunity for graduate students and professors, especially in the colleges of science, engineering, and business administration.
During the main session, the keynote speaker, Sustainability Partner at BNP Paribas, Craig Leeson, highlighted the importance of recognizing a threat to the planet, with the need for systemic change, noting that global warming is one of the biggest threats, as it exacerbates other problems caused by humans such as plastic pollution.
Lesson stated, “We can’t solve problems in isolation as we can’t fix just one part of the system without fixing the whole.” The famous TV director sounded the alarm about the world’s melting ice, as Craig noticed during his trip high in the French Alps that it wasn’t cold, and he heard from guides that temperatures have caused the melting of glaciers over the past 30 years.
Lesson stressed that plastic pollution and climate change are closely related, as their negative impacts harm biodiversity, ecosystems and marine life.
The second keynote speaker, Professor of Physics at the Arabian Gulf University, Prof. Wahib Issa Al-Nasser, gave a lecture entitled, “Why should we worry about climate change?”
Professor Al-Nasser stated, “After the United Nations Climate Change Conference 2021, the United Nations report predicted that about 14% of the world’s population will be exposed to severe heat waves, once every five years, if global temperature rise is maintained at 1.5 °C. Therefore, it is necessary that the temperature shall not exceed 1.5 °C.”
Professor Al-Nasser added, “The increase of 1 °C affects the average temperature of the Earth and leads to water evaporation, heat waves, droughts, snowmelt, massive fires, and sudden floods.” He noted, “in the event of an increase in temperature at rates in excess of that, many things can happen, including drought for a specific period, followed by thunderstorms for a specific period, and then an increase in rainfall by 10%, disappearance of artificial islands due to rising sea levels, leading to a decrease in biodiversity, and a host of health effects.
