Observer Report
The International workshop jointly organized by the Commission on Science and Technology for Sustainable Development in the South (COMSATS); The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS); and the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK), on ‘Learning about Sustainability, SDGs and Global Challenges’ successfully concluded in Gebze, Turkey.
The workshop was attended by 35 scientists belonging to Algeria, Botswana, Bangladesh, Benin, Burkina Faso, Congo, Italy, Kenya, Mali, Nepal, Niger, Palestine, South Africa, Senegal, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Togo, Turkey and Uganda. The major sponsor of the event was the SIDA. The event comprised four sessions covering various topics pertaining to the achievement of sustainable development goals. Each session included a plenary presentation by a resource person, followed by discussions in breakout sessions as well as presentation of recommendations by the groups of participants. The plenary presentations were made by Dr. Max Paoli (TWAS, Italy) on ‘sustainable development, SDGs, planetary boundaries’; Prof. BoudjémaSamraoui (University of Annaba, Algeria) on ‘biodiversity and the 6th mass extinction’; Prof. FehmiAkgün (TUBITAK Energy Institute, Turkey) on ‘the energy challenge: fossil fuel dependency and the future’; and Prof. Pauline Dube (University of Botswana, Botswana) on ‘greenhouse effect, climate change, future consequences.
