The three-day event entitled "The Role of Universities in a Smart Response to Climate Change" attracted more than 200 representatives.
Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Nguyen Van Duc said Viet Nam, like many other countries in the Asia-Pacific region, was increasingly suffering from the effects of climate change.
"Having recognised the seriousness of climate change on the country's sustainable development, the Government has ratified the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Kyoto Protocol," Duc said.
He said first and foremost scientific institutions needed to build a knowledge base on climate change and natural resources, while developing sound ways to mitigate the effects of global warming.
"Not only with training, education and research but also with spreading awareness about climate change among the community to help address the problem and promote sustainable development," he said.
He added that global warming would lead to increasing temperatures, rising sea levels and more severe natural disasters, which would put stress on the socio-economy and political system.
Mai Trong Nhuan, president of the Viet Nam National University and president of the Association of Southeast Asian Institutions of Higher Learning (ASAIHL), said climate change was not a problem that should be tackled exclusively by the natural sciences but by the whole of mankind.
Universities have to renew their mission of becoming more interdisciplinary in their focus, while getting closer to communities," Nhuan said.
Universities needed to invest not only in training and research, but also in building a sustainable structure, while improving relations between scientific and political policies.
Prof Nobuo Miruma, assistant vice president and director of the Institute for Global Change Adaptation Science at Ibaraki University, said close collaboration between higher education and research was important to tackling the problem of global warming.
"By conducting research, students can understand the problem more deeply and improve their capacity to tackle the problem," he said.
He added that awareness of the problem should be promoted among decision makers in the environment ministry and planners at the United Nations.
"Universities have three major tasks – education, research and communicating the results of that research," said Nils Roar Saelthun, from the department of Geosciences at the University of Oslo. She said climate change was one of the main challenges affecting modern society. Universities therefore needed the training, tools and knowledge to disseminate information about global warming.
"They have the challenge of integrating training in public communication with outreach in their research education," she said.
Pham Van Cu, director of the International Centre for Advanced Research on Global Change, said higher education was recognised by the international community as an important instrument for finding ways to cope with climate change.
Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Nguyen Van Duc said Viet Nam, like many other countries in the Asia-Pacific region, was increasingly suffering from the effects of climate change.
"Having recognised the seriousness of climate change on the country's sustainable development, the Government has ratified the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Kyoto Protocol," Duc said.
He said first and foremost scientific institutions needed to build a knowledge base on climate change and natural resources, while developing sound ways to mitigate the effects of global warming.
"Not only with training, education and research but also with spreading awareness about climate change among the community to help address the problem and promote sustainable development," he said.
He added that global warming would lead to increasing temperatures, rising sea levels and more severe natural disasters, which would put stress on the socio-economy and political system.
Mai Trong Nhuan, president of the Viet Nam National University and president of the Association of Southeast Asian Institutions of Higher Learning (ASAIHL), said climate change was not a problem that should be tackled exclusively by the natural sciences but by the whole of mankind.
Universities have to renew their mission of becoming more interdisciplinary in their focus, while getting closer to communities," Nhuan said.
Universities needed to invest not only in training and research, but also in building a sustainable structure, while improving relations between scientific and political policies.
Prof Nobuo Miruma, assistant vice president and director of the Institute for Global Change Adaptation Science at Ibaraki University, said close collaboration between higher education and research was important to tackling the problem of global warming.
"By conducting research, students can understand the problem more deeply and improve their capacity to tackle the problem," he said.
He added that awareness of the problem should be promoted among decision makers in the environment ministry and planners at the United Nations.
"Universities have three major tasks – education, research and communicating the results of that research," said Nils Roar Saelthun, from the department of Geosciences at the University of Oslo. She said climate change was one of the main challenges affecting modern society. Universities therefore needed the training, tools and knowledge to disseminate information about global warming.
"They have the challenge of integrating training in public communication with outreach in their research education," she said.
Pham Van Cu, director of the International Centre for Advanced Research on Global Change, said higher education was recognised by the international community as an important instrument for finding ways to cope with climate change.
No comments:
Post a Comment