#TheGretaEffect - Another World is Possible

The 19th Global Development Conference took place in Bonn, Germany, from 23-25 October 2019 under the theme ''Knowledge for sustainable development: the research-policy nexus''. Hosted by the Global Development Network (GDN) and its partners, the conference aimed to facilitate the research-policy interface in pursuit of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and also marked the 20th anniversary of the GDN, since its launch in 1999. This episode focused on how intergenerational collaboration can truly contribute to science and research for making sustainable development works. Collaboration across generations is crucial when it comes to addressing climate change. The #GretaEffect shows us exactly how this works: on one hand senior experts and scientists from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) came up with the Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5 °C (SR15), on the other hand, young people go on the streets and engage with the media to raise awareness and ask for stronger political commitment to tackle global warming, using science-based evidence from the IPCC report. Therefore, when the elders work together with the younger generations, they can increase their power as citizens to make the world a better place by getting their message out! Do science and research constitute a significant part of Greta's message to making climate action and sustainable development effective in our world? Without hesitation, we can say that it is the case. In this episode, I had the opportunity to talk to the Chair of the Global Development Network (GDN)'s Board and to the Co-Chairs of the Working Group on climate change and disaster risk reduction of the Global Young Academy (GYA). They all played a key part in the #K4SD conference where I met them. You will learn about their work as well as explore their motivations to collaborate across generations in tackling climate change and enabling global sustainability in their fields of expertise. I am pleased to introduce to you: Khamarrul Azahari Razak is from Malaysia. Holder of a Ph.D in geosciences from the University of Utrecht, he currently serves as a senior lecturer at the Razak School of Engineering and Advanced Technology, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM). In 2013, he was awarded the Top 11 Young World Geomorphologist given by the International Association of Geomorphology in Cite des Science de La Villette, Paris, France. Khamarrul has published many research and technical articles at international and national levels.  Shabana Khan is an Indian citizen. Fellow of the World Social Science on Risk Interpretation and Action with the International Social Science Council, Shabana is pursuing research on water issues in megacities, and communications in disaster recovery and reconstruction in her home country. Her previous research has looked into water-related hazards, vulnerability and governance in Dwarka as part of the EU-funded project ''Chance2Sustain''. She has worked as an assistant professor at the University of Delhi, Department of Geography. François Bourguignon, a French national, is the Chair of the GDN Board. Emeritus Professor at the Paris School of Economics where he has served as Director. As a former Chief Economist and Senior Vice President at The World Bank, François holds a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Western Ontario in Canada. His fields of research include income distribution, inequality and poverty, redistribution, economic development and he has authored a number of books related to these issues. François has received several awards and merits for his works. Thank you for listening!

The 19th Global Development Conference took place in Bonn, Germany, from 23-25 October 2019 under the theme ''Knowledge for sustainable development: the research-policy nexus''. Hosted by the Global Development Network (GDN) and its partners, the conference aimed to facilitate the research-policy interface in pursuit of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and also marked the 20th anniversary of the GDN, since its launch in 1999. This episode focused on the importance of science and research for achieving sustainable development around the world, with a particular emphasis on the role of young scientists and researchers in these fields. In fact, making climate action possible requires scientific access to accurate scientific data and availability of research which can inform and drive concrete and innovative solutions. When looking at the #GretaEffect, we can refer to the major role played by the Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5 °C (SR15), which was published by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) on 8 October 2018. It is clear that Greta's message gains high attention to climate because it is aligned with science-based evidence related to climate change coming from that report. In that sense, science plays a key part in making Greta's message clear, efficient and outstanding for millions of people worldwide. Can we, therefore, ignore the power of science and research in making climate action and sustainable development work? Certainly, we cannot! My two guests in this episode are from Romania and India. They have participated in the #K4SD conference in Bonn where I had the opportunity to meet them. While one is actively involved in the GDN operations, the other is a young researcher whose work has shown positive results so far and deserves more attention. You will learn more about their work and achievements, and additionally, discover what can motivate citizens to engage in science and research when looking at opportunities to contribute to a low-carbon and sustainable-oriented future. I am pleased to introduce to you: Ramona Angelescu Naqvi served as the  Director of the #K4SD conference. She is GDN's Director of Strategic Partnerships, responsible for the coordination of the network's diverse partnerships across the globe, including donor relations, she also leads the communications unit and oversees GDN's monitoring, evaluation and learning activities. She has previously served as Director of Programmes at GDN, overseeing the global portfolio of research and capacity building and collaborative research programs. Ramona has also written on governance, migration and capacity building, and she holds a Masters in Political Science from Northwestern University, USA. Rishikesan Parthiban is a Ph.D. student on management information systems at the Indian Institute of Management (IIMCAL) based in Calcutta, India. He has also completed a Bachelor's degree in electrical and electronics engineering in 2013. Previously, Rishikesan has worked in the very-large-scale integration (VLSI) industry for a couple of years, with a focus on front end design and very-large-scale design verification. At the #K4SD conference, Rishikesan and his institute won the second prize of the Global Development Awards Competition, for their work on the ''Effective use of social media to produce, disseminate and enhance uptake of development research: a multi-method study''. This is the #GretaEffect. Thank you for listening! Jean Paul

From 9 to 12 October 2019, the city of Copenhagen, in Denmark, hosted the C40 Mayors Summit (https://c40summit2019.org) under the theme #TheFutureWeWant. The summit brought together thousands of delegates, including mayors, innovators, politicians, world leaders, entrepreneurs, and an impressive number of young people such as leaders of the #FridaysForFuture movement. In Copenhagen, they all joined forces to build a global coalition of leading cities, businesses and citizens that rallies around the ambitious climate action our planet needs. The summit has included a youth takeover session which highlighted how young people can help to shape our cities and contribute to delivering on their strong commitments and accelerate the bold climate solutions needed. Johanna Schäfer, CEO of BonnLAB and citizen of Germany, is my guest in this episode. As one of the young people who attended the C40 Summit, she is sharing her personal experience on her work and her takeaway from the event. In addition, she tells how her home city, Bonn, could learn from the C40 network to take bold climate action and build a healthier and more sustainable future for the citizens. To know more, follow her on twitter: @joscchh (https://twitter.com/joscchh). Thank you for listening! Jean Paul

Welcome! :-) My podcast #TheGretaEffect - another world is possible! is about the power of unity and collective leadership. It is about how we can all unite behind the science or any other common goal like Greta Thunberg made us aware with climate change, in order to demand justice, equity, concrete actions, and responsible leadership. It is about the power that can unite us, starting from the little things. Let's join forces and discuss #TheGretaEffect! Because alone, Greta can only go fast, but together we can all go very far. Thank you for listening!