(MENAFN- The Peninsula) fazeena saleem |
The Peninsula
Doha: The inaugural Earthna Summit kicked off yesterday, focusing on hot and arid environments and blending latest expertise with indigenous knowledge to identify climate solutions.
The opening ceremony of the Earthna Summit 2023 was held in the presence of H H Sheikha Moza bint Nasser, Chairperson of Qatar Foundation, at Msheireb Downtown Doha.
Sheikha Moza was joined by President of Zambia, H E Hakainde Hichilema; President of Sierra Leone, H E Julius Maada Bio; Minister of Environment and Climate Change, H E sheikh Dr. Faleh bin Nasser bin Ahmed bin Ali Al Thani; and H E Sheikha Hind bint Hamad Al Thani, Vice-Chairperson and CEO of Qatar Foundation, at the event.
Earthna Summit 2023 is being held under the theme 'Building New Sustainability Pathways for Hot and Arid Environments' and has brought together sustainability experts and policymakers, and indigenous peoples to exchange knowledge.
Following the opening ceremony, Sheikha Moza, Sheikha Hind and other dignitaries toured the 'Earthna Village' at Barahat Msheireb, a sustainability-focused exhibition showcasing indigenous and sustainable practices.
Earthna Summit 2023 aims to renew focus on examining ancestral solutions to climate challenges and how these may support current plans for advancing sustainability.
“The Earthna Summit 2023 will provide us with an opportunity to build a community of environmental stakeholders that will contribute to shaping the future of sustainability in hot and dry regions. The Summit provides us with a platform to highlight hot and dry countries that are often absent from global discussions related to climate change,” said H E Sheikh Dr. Faleh bin Nasser bin Ahmed bin Ali Al Thani.
“The Summit will also focus on the unique challenges faced by these countries with difficult weather conditions. And these are the challenges that Qatar is committed to addressing, and sharing the best solutions and practices on how to overcome them with neighbouring countries and other countries of the world.” Earthna is hosting a variety of sessions, workshops and panel discussions based on themes of food security adaptation; climate change and energy transition; resilient cities; and biodiversity.
“At this inaugural Earthna Summit, we have deliberately placed a significant emphasis on exploring indigenous practices, in search of the fountains of accumulated wisdom tucked away in ordinary places,” said H E Sheikha Hind bint Hamad Al Thani.
“The purpose of seeking out indigenous wisdom is for us to discern and choose wisely that which resonates in our local environment, so that we may adopt simple whole solutions instead of complicating things. And so that, when we adopt new policies, we can attack the root causes of our modern issues, instead of getting lost in the branches,” she added.
The first session at the summit discussed the importance of drawing knowledge from the past to build the future. With food security being a global concern, it is time to resort to indigenous methods coupled with modern technology to help inform agricultural policies.
During the session on Global Challenges in Food Security: Indigenous Knowledge Systems and their Applications, H E Hakainde Hichilema, President of Zambia, said“Our people knew how to manage land, how to read the weather, whether it would be a flood year or a drought was coming, which crops would survive in semi-arid areas.
“In our modern quest to produce more food and tackle the risks of climate change, we need to make space for this knowledge, and then we can adapt that history and heritage and apply our modern technology and volumes of production.
“Food security is national security, it is regional, continental, and global security, and without it we are courting instability the world does not need.” According to President of Sierra Leone H E Dr. Julius Maada, indigenous methods of agriculture retain value. However, he said,“We have forgotten or neglected this, or used new technologies which can destroy such methods. Technology can help us leapfrog to a situation where we produce huge sums of agricultural products without polluting our environment, but we also need to preserve indigenous methods.”
Throughout the two-day summit, public can visit the 'Earthna Village' at Barahat Msheireb; all sessions on day two of the Summit are open to the public.