KHALED AL KHAWALDEH (DUBAI)
‘Futurists’ descended on Dubai on Tuesday for the opening of the annual Dubai Future Forum, seeking to collaborate, exchange ideas, and develop strategies that will inevitably shape the lives and landscapes of future generations.
“The first part of being a futurist, of course, is looking into the future and being able to envision the future,” Roberta Pesce, a strategist from the World Health Organisation told Aletihad on the sidelines of the forum.
“But I think the biggest part of being a futurist is the ability to convene a variety of different perspectives and voices as part of the conversation in order to envision a variety of possible futures.”
Held at the illustrious Dubai Future Museum, the event brings together representatives from over 100 organisations, including the UNDP, WHO and WWF, to collaborate on pressing topics ranging from environmental conservation to battling inequality.
Attending the forum for the second time, Roberta expressed her admiration for the diverse range of fields and nationalities represented, highlighting the increased presence and contributions of female participants.
As part of her role at the WHO, Roberta is focused on addressing global health threats, from widening inequities driven by AI to the complex challenges posed by political and environmental crises. She said only by connecting people in various fields can we hope to solve issues in health, which are inevitably interconnected with other problems.
“I think we need to shift towards a more integrated approach across different sectors, because everything is incredibly interconnected,” she said.
“If you look at sea level rise, it has huge implications on health and wellbeing. The same for migration and displacement and the way we build cities and our built environment.”
Roberta hailed Dubai’s role as a melting pot, bringing together experts from diverse fields to foster the interconnected approach needed to tackle these complex global challenges. This sentiment was echoed by Marissa Asen, Head of Exploration at the United Nations Development Lab accelerator lab, where she mostly works on development in Pacific nations, including her home country of Fiji.
“It's the first time I've been to the Dubai Future Forum and I had no idea people were so interested in what was happening in the Pacific,” she told Aletihad.
“I was just completely bombarded as soon as I got off the stage and it’s amazing that people really care about what's happening in countries where climate impacts are really felt at the forefront.”
Marissa shared her surprise at how much she had learned from the experienced speakers at the event, and, even more so, at the genuine interest many of them showed in her work. She said the experience made her more optimistic about the future and the humanity’s abilities to overcome its issues.
“We really need to think about how we are developing solutions that are really future fit, that work for every local context, and we can't do that without thinking about where we will be 10,20, 30 years from now,” She said.
“So, it's places like this where we meet people with the same mindset and also very different perspectives, where we can make things like this where you happen.”