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Global leaders join forces to inspire youth

By The Nation

 

 

BOGOTA: -- A Nobel Peace Prize winner, a former United Nations chief and a legendary rockstar philanthropist have come together in expressing hope for young people of the world to “dream-think-act” to drive the world towards sustainable development.

As more than 1,500 young leaders from 196 countries, including 20 Thai representatives, descended on the Colombian city of Bogota for the One Young World Summit 2017 from October 4-7, Nobel Peace Prize winner Professor Muhammad Yunus expressed confidence in young people’s ability to improve this world.

 

“You are the most powerful generation in the entire human history because you come to this world with enormous technological power in your hands which no other generations before you had,” Yunus said.

 

“With all these technologies and all your creative powers, if you can put this power into action then all the problems that we see around us can be resolved.

 

“You will be imagining a new world of your choice, what you want not because something has been handed over to you. You want to create it in your own way. You can design this world anyway you want with your technology, with your creative power,”he said.

 

Among the young participants personally encouraged to act were 20 Thais - 15 young people from various business fields under the Charoen Pokphand Group and five young people from other organisations. They were sent to the Bogota event by Charoen Pokphand Group's project, “Just Believe in Your Dreams”.

 

During the summit, whose theme for this year was “Adapting the World for Sustainable Development”, issues were discussed in five plenary sessions covering poverty alleviation and economic development; education; peace and reconciliation; leadership and government; and the environment.

 

Yunus encouraged young people to create “a world of three zeros” : zero poverty, zero unemployment, zero net carbon emission.

 

“If we can create this world of three zeros, we have laid down the foundation of the new world completely,” he said.

Yunus also said the world was becoming more and more unlivable due to concentration of wealth among too few people.

 

“Just eight people in the world have more wealth than the bottom half of entire population, which is nearly four billion people.

 

“Not only that, that concentration becomes faster and faster... That is not the world we want, we can change that. All you have to do is the next impossible that you want to make possible next day. That is your power – use it, create it and be proud of it,” said Yunus.

 

Citing that a One Young World survey that found 60 per cent of the polled 2,000 youths worldwide lived in fear of terrorism, conflict, armed rage, polarisation and killing, former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said the root of much of today’s human suffering was violent conflict.

 

“Why does conflict occur? When we examine today’s global landscape we can see that political factors are often a major driver of armed conflict,” Annan said.

 

“Conflict is often caused by having unequal access to political power. Another driver of conflict is economic inequality. When resources are not equitably shared and opportunities are not made accessible to all. The gap between the rich and the poor has widened.

 

“These trends influence a third driver of conflict; social fragmentation. Polarisation in society is rising while trust in institutions is eroding. This fear rejects the ties that bind people across religious, national, racial, and class divides.

 

They undermine pluralist norms which can help maintain a peaceful, diverse, and flourishing society.”

 

The former UN secretary-general added that the confluence of these drivers of conflict was climate change, which was rendering social, political and economic challenges more immediate and more complex than before.

 

“The problems we face are global but they demand local solutions as well as international co-operations. The global and national responses to these pressures are also needed,” he said.

 

“We all want peace but peace is a complex process. I believe that lasting peace requires reconciliation – which is a process, an aspiration and an outcome, not a single event. It is the rebuilding and revitalising of relationships between individuals, groups, society and state.

 

“We must never lose hope. We need hope but also strong leadership,” he said, urging that all young people must play a role.

 

They could start by following the road map on how to go forward given in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Climate Agreement, he said.

 

Bob Geldof, musician and the founder of Live Aid, said: “Change can come from anywhere, it can be good or bad but it is only good when it meets the needs of and is balanced by the requirement of society.

 

“If ideas are the raw materials of change, you are the agent of that change. There is something better – peace.

Peace only works with the end of poverty. Poverty is the root of war, the root of famine, the root of corruption and the root of climate change.

 

“People in my generation might not see the end of this century but you will. If we are to survive it, you need to think.”

 

Geldof said: "Whatever you can do or dream you can – begin it; boldness has genius, power and magic in it. You have the power we need the magic to make changes.”

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/national/30329587

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2017-10-18

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