Saja attended #COP28 in Dubai and shared his thoughts in a distinguished panel on ‘Empowering Equitable North-South University Collaborations’ – Unpacking the education sectors role in climate action for a sustainable future at the The Commonwealth Pavillion, COP28 UAE held on 04 December .
2023.

He shared his thoughts as one of the penalists representing the Commonwealth Futures Climate Research Cohort along with two other cohort fellows from Kenya and South Africa.

Some key points:
± More efforts and resources are required to advance the North-South-South university collaborations and equitable partnerships to address the emerging climate change issues.

± Universities need to play a key role in supporting the climate change policy formulations and evidence based decision making in climate change actions.

± Co-creation of climate related research themes with communities and local stakeholders needs to be promoted. Action-oriented research projects need to take the priority.

± Need a shift towards more systemic integration of climate research in higher education through crossdisciplinary approaches

COP28 UAE The Association of Commonwealth Universities UNFCCC UN South Eastern University of Sri Lanka

Thanks to Annabel Boud and George Lakey for the opportunity.