Youths should focus on climate change: Sir Abed

Today's youth should be very concerned about climate change because it will heavily impact their future, said Sir Fazle Hasan Abed, founder and chairman of BRAC.

“Unless we change human behaviour in terms of consumption of resources, the future will not be sustainable. I would like to see more youth involvement with issues relating to climate change,” he added.

He made the remarks while speaking at the Frugal Innovation Forum at BRAC CDM in Savar yesterday, said a press release. BRAC organised the forum with the theme “scaling opportunities for youth.”

Frugal Innovation Forum is a platform for leaders from the global south to connect and explore solutions to the world's toughest challenges that feature development practitioners and funders, young change-makers and innovators to collaborate.

“The youth should understand the distinctions between government and policy and play a more engaging role in policymaking,” said Radwan Mujib Siddiq, trustee of Centre for Research and Information.

Asif Saleh, senior director of BRAC and one of the key organisers of the forum, said: “We are talking about the future of jobs, as youth problems are not limited to poverty anymore, it's about security as well. This forum is about real models of what is actually happening and which model is applicable.”

The conference kick-started with a day-long field visit, followed by two days of intense debates and plenaries on disruptive models and solutions.