Bro. Ed Brink, SM, Vice President for Mission and Rector at Chaminade University of Honolulu sends us this update.
Chaminade University and the United Nations will host a ground-breaking regional sustainability conference this week at the university campus to discuss climate change and the potential impacts to the Pacific region. The “XIX Steering Committee Meeting Of The CIFAL Global Network” runs from Wednesday, November 30 to Friday, December 2, with the three-day conference bringing together world and local community leaders on goals, education and solutions to the global warming crisis. It will include seminars and workshops by experts from the United Nations and others around the world on climate change, global warming and sustainability.
This regional conference hosted by Chaminade University follows the UN COP 27 Climate Change Summit held earlier this month in Egypt, in which 200 participating countries came together to help resolve the climate change issue. Seminars and workshops will allow timely and important discussions on a variety of topics related to leadership, health and wellbeing, education, and sustainability in Hawai‘i as well as the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals. These goals include climate action, advocating for the oceans, reducing inequalities, and developing programs that pursue peace, justice and strong institutions.
Conference attendees will participate at this week’s Hawaii conference either in-person or virtually.
The conference will kick off with an evening reception on Tuesday, November 29 at the university with opening remarks by event co-organizers United Nations Assistant Secretary-General and UNITAR executive director Nikhil Seth and Chaminade University provost Dr. Lance Askildson. Hawaii Governor-Elect Dr. Josh Green is also scheduled to speak during the opening reception.
Earlier this year, Chaminade and the United Nations launched a new Pacific region training and research center to provide leadership development opportunities to tackle these urgent global issues. The university’s Centre International de Formation des Autorités et Leaders (CIFAL) Honolulu is the first and only one of 24 international United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) centers to represent the Pacific area.
The Pacific region training center will provide innovative leadership development opportunities and tackle issues such as climate change, poverty, clean water and energy and other urgent global issues. The university’s CIFAL Honolulu Centre is the only international United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) center located in the Pacific region.
“Our school is honored to partner with the United Nations in hosting this exciting, groundbreaking conference to deal with the critical and timely issue of climate change,” said Chaminade University president Dr. Lynn Babington. “Our state has been an amazing leader in studying climate change and in innovating solutions that include using indigenous knowledge and practices along with new technologies. Sharing these ideas with the rest of the world will only benefit all of us in dealing with this global crisis.”
Tuesday’s reception from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. and Friday’s sessions from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. are open to the public. To learn more about the new Chaminade United Nations learning center, go to: chaminade.edu/cifal-honolulu.
Dear Ed, I hope the Sustainability Conference animated the participants to continue the effort to save our planet! Thanks for your efforts and thanks to Chaminade University for hosting the event.
Very Impressive! Congratulations Ed and the entire Chaminade community!