Beijing - The Taihe Young International Scholar Alliance, an exciting new platform for academic exchanges among international young scholars, held its June 2021 seminar.
Hosted monthly in Beijing, the featured topic addressed the global climate change issues with particular emphasis on the current status and corresponding environmental protection policies in different parts of the world. The TYISA seminar attracted a wide-ranging online audience participation from different countries and continents, including Pakistan, Tajikistan, Algeria, Afghanistan and Iran.
Munawar Ali, a researcher from Pakistan and Yasin Rahim, a geoscientist from Pakistan, were the invited speakers.
Ali earned his Masters of Science's degree in Ecology from the Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing. He is also a lab member affiliated with the Key Laboratory of Alpine Ecology, Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research. His research activities focus on explaining the impact of climate change on high-altitude forests.
Yasin is currently a PhD Scholar at the Institute of Geochemistry, School of Earth and Space Sciences in Peking University. He is also an expert on earth sciences, natural energy resources exploration and geo-hazards mitigation. He has in-depth experience in areas such as oil and gas exploration, mineral exploration, geo-tech and disaster management.
The webinar began with a presentation session by Munawar Ali. He provided a detailed analysis on the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) - a flagship project of the Belt and Road Initiative - focusing on clarifying existing and potential environmental ramifications and challenges to biodiversity along the CPEC route. His presentation also explored domestic and cross-border solutions and said, “adherence to sustainable development goals (SDGs) is the key to a sustainable economic and green future ".
Ali added that Belt and Road Initiative corridors overlap with the range of 265 threatened species.
Stressing, "climate change is a reality", Yasin explained that we are “facing global warming, which is causing a series of related climate changes, including extreme weather, contaminated air, glacier retreat and sea ice loss and imperiled ecosystems”.
He cited the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Paris Climate Agreement as examples of specific international community efforts for reducing emissions of carbon dioxide and meeting long-term temperature goals.
As for climate change solutions, Yasin said scientists “need to tackle its root causes and shifting away from fossil fuels towards cleaner, smarter energy”.
Rising seas (estimated to be 1-4 feet higher by 2100)
During the TYISA webinar discussion session, Dr. Amirhamza Murodov from the Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Dr. Aamir Latif from the Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Dr. Wasiq from Peking University and other participating scholars offered timely and insightful comments.
With a forward-thinking and aspirational mission, TYISA will continue to organize monthly seminars and activities, focusing on social hot topics and the core research themes of academia to provide a platform for interaction and exchange among young scholars and to help young people develop their leadership skills with a view to playing an important role in international affairs.
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