Chart out new plan to protect all from impending global disasters: Prof Yunus

Nobel Laureate Prof Muhammad Yunus yesterday called upon the academics around the world to chart out a new plan to protect human beings from the impending disasters on earth, saying the time is running out.

"We've to mobilise our all creative powers to make that happen and come up with a desired new path to avoid disasters," he said, highlighting the challenges the world is facing today including climate change issues.

Prof Yunus made the call while opening the two-day Social Business Academia Conference.

Hans Reitz, head of Global Social Business Summit and co-founder of Grameen Creative Lab, Lamiya Morshed, executive director of Yunus Centre, Prof Cam Donaldson, Pro vice chancellor of Glasgow Caledonian University and Yunus Chair in Social Business & Health, Glasgow Caledonian University, also spoke at the opening session.

Prof Yunus said human beings are not born to take defeat so easily but can find the way to become the master of the planet rather than being its "submissive passengers".

He laid emphasis on communicating the realities of the day to the rest of the world that they cannot just go and have fun in this "spaceship" as if nothing is going to happen. "We've to take notice of it. We need to be prepared for it."

He said the academic world is usually a tough path and not an easy world.

"Imagine you're within a spaceship. The planet is really a spaceship. It's floating in the space," Prof Yunus said adding that everybody is busy doing their own work, not thinking much in which direction things are moving on and why.

He posed questions, "Who're the pilots and crewmembers in the spaceship? We must push it in the right direction. So, we need academics. The fact is that we've very little time left."

Prof Yunus said the urgency has to be felt and required things have to be done very quickly. "We've to take action day after day."

He said all need to work identifying why these disasters are coming and from which direction they are coming. "We must protect ourselves from the impending disasters."

Mentioning plastic as one of the serious issues, Dr Yunus said this is going to kill all - fish are eating plastic and we're eating fish. "So, the plastic itself will be a killer."

Talking about wealth concentration, he said this is an issue that all will have to take very, very seriously.

Emphasising the equal distribution of wealth, he said there is a need to chart out a new path so that people do not fall into trouble.

Prof Yunus also talked about artificial intelligence, which will naturally replace human beings.

On that note, he said academics are the pilots, navigators of the spaceship and they have an important role to play to deal with the issues and challenges thus find the desired path.

Lamiya Morshed said the goal of the conference is to foster an inter-disciplinary and international academic and research community around Social Business, and generate more research and curricula in the field of social business.

The conference is a platform for networking of the growing network of Yunus Social Business Centres at universities around the world to share their experiences and future plans.

She said there are 64 Yunus Social Business Centres in 28 countries.

At this conference, 37 papers were selected from among 52 submitted covering Sustainable Development Goals, health, education and training, technology, marketing, financing social business, wealth concentration and other issues.