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Stories of females leading the way in climate and biodiversity from the Arab and Islamic world.

WIA Climate Week Session Agenda 300921

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Inside Expo_New

Inside Expo: The Brave Women

Women's Pavilion - Audio Guide

Women's Pavilion 1

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Discover positive contributions demonstrating that when women thrive, humanity thrives.

1403 Women's Pavilion - Immersion Introduction Section

Explore solutions provided by women and their ripple effect to create a better world.

1406 Women's Pavilion - Solutions Case Study Section

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Women make tremendous contributions to the world, yet many remain unknown or forgotten. The Women’s Pavilion in collaboration with Cartier at Expo 2020 challenges this imbalance by taking visitors on a journey through the remarkable achievements of women across the globe. Our showcase underscores the principle that “When women thrive, all of humanity thrives”.

The pavilion showcases the exceptional accomplishments of women, world-famous and unknown. Immerse yourself in the triumphs of women through history, discover the journeys women have taken to claim their equality and dive into the stories of the inspirational women shaping our future.


1404 Women s Pavilion - Achievements Section

Globe-spanning tour of women’s achievements and ongoing challenges

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Multisensory exhibition created by actor/artist Mélanie Laurent and Emirati artists

Highlight 3 WomenPavilion

Majlis-inspired social space for live conversations and events

Women's 

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Reflecting the UAE’s commitment to women’s empowerment and gender equality, the Women’s Pavilion serves as a catalyst for social transformation, both in Dubai and far beyond. By championing exceptional women, it aims to inspire dialogue, shatter gender misconceptions, and leave a lasting legacy of positive change for women worldwide.

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inspiring change

Championing women, 

Women's Pavilion 

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Climate and Biodiversity Week to spur the world into action to protect our planet

We stand at the brink of a crucial moment in time - a moment in which we must take decisive collective action to protect our planet, and the life it sustains, for future generations. It is an opportunity for us to take our place in history as the generation that stepped up to halt climate change, and transform human activity to operate within Earth's planetary boundaries. 

Expo 2020 Dubai's Climate & Biodiversity Week convenes government decision-makers, business leaders, youth advocates and our millions of visitors to address the greatest challenge of our time and generate solutions critical to the future of our civilisation and the health of our planet. 

What's your Promise to our Planet?

Climate and Biodiversity

How do we work together to better manage climate change and protect biodiversity? 

C&B week PPP info extract

Climate & Biodiversity Week Programme

Learnings and insights from the World Majlis conversations on Climate and Biodiversity

World Majlis: Insights from Climate & Biodiversity Week

Insight Report from Climate and Biodiversity Week

Natural Resource and Biodiversity Conservation

Program for People and Planet - Empowerment Workshop 

Conservation for Hope at Climate and Biodiversity Week

Cultures in Conversation Climate Change in the Classroom Living Room Street and Beyond event at Terra the Auditorium

Eleni Giokos with Sabrin Rahman and Erik Becker at the World Green Economy Summit 2021

Panel Discussion - Climate and Biodiversity Day 2

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Climate & Biodiversity Week

Expo 2020 Dubai Climate & Biodiversity Week

Explore how better we could advance gender equality and women’s empowerment in the Arabia and Islamic region to protect our planet:
• How does the history of Arab world and the understanding of Islmaic values help the us understand climate adaptation? What is women’s value and role in the process? 
• What practices demonstrate the rich tradition of Arab and Muslim world instilling sustainability in every day life? And how do we preserve this knowledge?
• What more needs to be done to put women at the center of climate change and biodiversity conservation in the Arab region and the Islamic world? 
• What is the link among the teachings of the Islamic religion, cultural heritage and every day practices in the Arab and Muslic world, which led to the formal adaptation of “the Islamic Declaration on Global Climate Change” in 2015 to call on Muslims all over the world to combat climate change?

Thuraya is a member in World Commission on Protected areas, MEWA-EAGL and Marine Turtle Specialists Group in IUCN. Chair for the technical team for managing the project of transplanting 10 million wild trees in Oman and chair for technical team for developing Oman Environment Strategy 1st Coherent of National 
Leadership and Competitiveness program and Chair for West Asia Arabian Plant Specialist Group (SSC_ IUCN) She Joined the Ministry of Environment and Climate Affairs in 2000 as an environmental specialist .From 2005-2010 I was a director of Marine conservation department and from 2010-2015 Director of Biodiversity Department. From Mid-2015 until recently she is working as an assistance director general of nature conservation.

Man and Biosphere Reserves Council and Natural Expert in World Heritage Commission in UNESCO, Oman

Thuraya Said Al Sariri 

Dr. Lourdes F. Vega is a Member of Emirates Scientists Council, of the Mohammed Bin Rashid Academy of Sciences and of the Academy of Mathematics, Physical Chemistry and Natural Sciences of Granada. In 2020 she received the Mohammed Bin Rashid (MBR) Medal for Scientific Distinguishment for her contributions in clean energy and sustainable products. She is also the President of the Association of Spanish Scientists and Researchers in the UAE. With more than 220 publications and 5 patents under exploitation, Prof. Vega is an internationally recognized expert in clean energy and sustainable products. The recipient of several international awards, she is listed top 2% most cited worldwide scientist in Chemical Engineering. One of her passions is to mentor young females to develop their full potential.

Professor in Chemical Engineering, Director of the Research & Innovation Center, Khalifa University

Lourdes Vega

Graduated from the Institute of Applied Technologies in Business Management, Ms. Idbourrous is the Director of the Union of Women's Cooperatives of the Arganeraie UCFA Tissaliwine. She is also the founder and president of the National Federation of Women in the Arganeraie Sector FNFARGANE. She has been the winner of the COP22 gender and climate award; she founded the first female cooperative by young girls graduated in the renewable thermal energy sector. She supports pre and post creation of new informal cooperatives towards the form and encouragement of young girls graduates and non-graduates for the transfer of technology and the preservation of ancestral know-how related to the production of argan.

Panelist Manager of the Arganeraie Women's Cooperatives Union UCFA, Tissaliwine

Jamila Idbourrous 

Degan is the Executive Director of Adeso, a development organization that is changing the way people think about and deliver aid in Africa. Degan has been leading the decolonization development movement and was the architect of the Grand Bargain commitment of 25% of funding to go directly to local organizations. Degan also co-founded the Network for Empowered Aid Response, a Global South civil society network trying to transform the current humanitarian and development system. Since 2020 she founded a consultancy firm, DA Global, and has worked with organizations like Sesame Workshop, British Red Cross  on issues around Decolonizing Aid and how to transform organizational strategies to be aligned with anti-colonial and anti-racist principles. Her methodology  have been featured in the New York Times, Al Jazeera, etc.


Executive Director of Adeso (formerly Horn Relief)


Degan Ali

Bouchra Baibanou, the first Moroccan to climb the seven summits. She is also the first Moroccan and North African women to climb Everest, the highest summit in the world 8848m. She is married and mother, engineer. She is the chief of women commission in the federation Royale Moroccan of ski and 
mountain sport. She is an inspirational and motivational speaker, inside and outside Morocco. She is also a life coach. She received many awards from the King of Morocco and from many organizations. She participated in many festivals in the world and TEDx. Bouchra is a positive role models for young women in Arabic country and especially in Morocco; she did many activities in Morocco to empower girls and help them to success in life through sport.

Bouchra Baibanou

Women of Arabia and Islam | Stories of Sustainability from the Muslim World 

World Expos have always been meeting places for people across cultures and geographies; an opportunity to come together and celebrate human ingenuity and forge meaningful human connections. As the first World Expo to be held in the Middle East, Africa and South Asia (MEASA) region, and with the participation of more than 192 countries, Expo 2020 Dubai looks to take this legacy even further. The Build Bridges track of Expo 2020 Dubai’s Programme for People and Planet features a tapestry of event series and experiences that celebrate our common humanity and the vital connections that can help us prosper together as a worldwide community.

Knowing One Another Better

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Build Bridges 

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Women are frontrunners in climate awareness, a result of their energy-efficacy consumption patterns and daily habits; their carbon footprint is 20% smaller than that of men. The extended connection between the women and planet means that they possess specialized knowledge of various local and neglected species. Research shows that nations where women have higher political status tend to have lower CO2 emissions per capita, and yet women only comprise less than 30% of world’s climate and biodiversity researchers.

This event will spotlight ways in which we can ensure women’s participation and leadership in environmental governance. In addition, it will explore how we can record, distribute and celebrate women’s knowledge and contribution to biodiversity conservation.

Women are the “greener” gender and yet they are too often under-recognized.

Women’s Pavilion Programme | Women’s World Majlis: Mother Nature First Defenders: Women Leading the Fight to Save our Planet

Thought leaders and changemakers discuss how women are leading the fight to save our planet. 

WWM Climate Session Agenda 270921

WWM_C&B_Agenda_Sep30

Biodiversity Conservation through a Gender Perspective

Interactive Q&A with Global Thought Leaders

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Her Excellency Dr. Nawal Al-Hosany is the Permanent Representative of the UAE to the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) since April 2018. Prior to this, she was Executive Director of Sustainability at Masdar, Abu Dhabi’s renewable energy company, and the Director of the Zayed Future 
Energy Prize, the UAE’s annual global awards for renewable energy and sustainability. She also served as the Deputy Director General of the Emirates Diplomatic Academy (EDA).
She sits on several advisory boards and panels, including those of National Geographic, the Payne Institute at the Colorado School of Mines, the Momentum for Change initiative of UNFCCC, and Sustainable Energy for All’s (SEforALL) Leadership Council, a group of global leaders with the mission to accelerate action on SDG7 and the Paris Climate Agreement.

Nawal Al Hosany

Permanent Representative of the UAE, International Renewable Energy 
Agency (IRENA), UAE 

H.E. Dr. Nawal Al-Hosany

Christiana Figueres is an internationally recognized leader on global climate change. She was Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Assuming responsibility for the international climate change negotiations after the failed Copenhagen conference of 2009, she was determined to lead the process to a universally agreed regulatory framework. She directed the successful Conferences of the Parties in Cancun 2010, Durban 2011, Doha 2012, Warsaw 2013, and Lima 2014, and culminated her efforts in the historical Paris Agreement of 2015. She brought together governments, corporations and activists, financial institutions and communities of faith, think tanks and technology providers, NGOs and parliamentarians, to jointly deliver the unprecedented climate change agreement.

Christiana Figueres

H.E. Natasa Pilides was appointed Minister of Energy, Commerce and Industry on July 10th 2020. Previously, on March 1st 2018 she had been appointed as the first Shipping Deputy Minister of the Republic of Cyprus, heading the strategic development and promotion of Cyprus as a world class, integrated, maritime cluster. From April 2016 to March 2018, Ms Pilides was Director General of the 
Cyprus Investment Promotion Agency (Invest Cyprus), responsible for the design and implementation of Invest Cyprus’ strategy in investment promotion, investor support and facilitation of reform.

She graduated from Oxford University with a first-class honours degree, with distinction, in Modern Languages and Literature (French and Italian). 

Natasia Pilidou

Minister of Energy, Commerce and Industry, Cyprus

H.E. Natasa Pilides

A lawyer by training, Alexandra specialized in human rights. She began her career at a law firm and then worked for Amnesty International in Germany and at organizations specializing in diversity, change management and sustainability. In 2012, she joined L’Oréal as Chief Sustainability Officer and launched L’Oréal’s first sustainability program, with a set of objectives to be achieved by the end of 2020. In 2017, Alexandra was appointed Chief Corporate Responsibility Officer, becoming the Executive Vice President of the Foundation L’Oréal in addition to her role as head of the Sustainability Department. She became a member of L’Oréal’s Executive Committee two years later. In June 2020, L’Oréal launched its new sustainability program for 2030, L’Oréal for the Future.  

 

Alexandra Palt

Chief Corporate Responsibility Officer, L'Oréal; Executive Vice President of Foundation L’Oréal


Dr. Reem Al Mealla is the Research Manager at the Bahrain Institute for Pearls and Gemstones (DANAT) and a marine biologist by profession. She is the first Bahraini woman field ecologist and holds a PhD in Marine Biology from the University of Essex (UK) & a MSc in Ecology, Evolution and Conservation from Imperial College London (UK). She was awarded the Abel Imray Award (joint) from the University of Essex for the best outstanding research project of the year 2010 in an ecological based project and the M.E.I (Motivational. Empowering and Inspiring) Women's Award in 2017 by the University of Essex in celebration of International Women's Day. She specialises in coral reef ecology and has over 10 years of field research experience in tropical and sub-tropical environments.  

Reem Al-Mealla

Research Manager, Bahrain Institute for Pearls & Gemstones DANAT


Dr. Reem Al-Mealla

Dr. Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka has become one of the leading conservationists and scientists working to save the critically endangered mountain gorillas of East Africa. She is founder and Chief Executive Officer of Conservation through Public Health (CTPH), a 18-year-old non-profit organization that promotes conservation by improving the quality of life of people and wildlife to enable them to coexist in and around protected areas in Africa. She also founded a social enterprise – Gorilla Conservation Coffee to support farmers living around gorilla habitats. 

She became a National Geographic Explorer in 2018 and is on the Women for Environment Leadership Council – Africa. She has recently been listed in the Avance Media 2021 100 most influential African women.

Gladys Kalema

Environmentalist and Founder, Conservation Through Public Health, Uganda

Dr. Gladys Kalema

McCloskey is the director of CASE, an industry-led sustainable energy research centre that bridges the gap between industry research needs and traditional academic research offerings. CASE provides access to research funding for industrial partners in Energy Systems, Bioenergy and Marine Renewables.

Sam McCloskey

Director, Centre for Advanced Sustainable Energy, UK

Women’s World Majlis: Mother Nature's First Defenders: Women Leading the Fight to Save our Planet

Back in 2015, United Nations unveiled the Sustainable Development Goals as a means to work towards a better future. Expo 2020 Dubai’s purpose embodies the two main pillars of these goals: sustainability and opportunity. The global COVID-19 pandemic has further proved the urgency of this global agenda. As this mega-event takes place, Expo 2020 Dubai will become the center of commitment and action in ensuring that no one is left behind. The Leave No One Behind Track of Expo 2020 Dubai's Programme for People and Planet features a tapestry of event series that spotlight the importance of opportunity for all, gender equality and much more.

Catalysing Opportunity for All

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Leave No One Behind

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With the ever-increasing complexity of our world, fostering innovative societies can be part of the solution to addressing global challenges. Governments have an important role to play in widening the lens around innovation and implementing systems that generate robust and creative communities.

As innovation ecosystems mature, there are exciting opportunities to create truly innovative societies where all sectors—governments, corporations, NGOs, academia, entrepreneurs and individuals—collaborate to solve complex societal challenges.

Governments have an important role to play in fostering creative and collaborative communities. They can move beyond a narrow sector perspective and "innovation for innovation’s sake", towards enabling environments—systems and culture—where cross-sectoral innovation is applied to major challenges and produce "innovation for greater good".

Mission-driven approaches can provide us with valuable models through focused, time-bound, and cross-sectoral approaches to innovation. These models help us harness our collective knowledge to address complex challenges such as climate change, pollution, well-being, digital ethics, and clean energy for all, and could light the way forward.

Innovation Nation: Creating Innovative Societies to Solve Humanity’s Greatest Challenges

Inno Nation Feb 4

Organized with Spain, this is the first of two sessions discussing how societies create innovative solutions to solve humanity’s greatest challenges. Stay tuned for the next session taking place on February 15.

Session agenda - Innovation Nation (Session 1)

Creating a Cultural Renaissance

EXHIBITOR Magazine Announces World Expo Award Winners

EXHIBITOR Magazine's World Expo Awards

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The Spain Pavilion at Expo 2020 is an open, eco-friendly exhibition that seamlessly blends ancient heritage and cutting-edge innovation.

An airy ground floor features several small, naturally cooled plazas that are ideal for relaxing or snacking on tapas. Venture underground into aroomy basement, and you’ll explore a “forest of the future” filled with thought-provoking exhibits on Spain’s contributions to global sustainability.


Spain logo

Inspired by Spain’s age-old links to the Arab world, the Spain Pavilion takes the shape of a lively field of sheer, conical towers in hues of brick, orange, and saffron yellow. Visitors venture under this vast canopy of peaks, built from reusable materials including wood, iron and fabric, to explore a series of breezy plazas. The underside of each airy dome is decorated with unique textures that reflect their exhibits: swirls of woven straw, a green canopy of plants, falls of digital water, and more. One dome also shelters a tasty tapas restaurant.

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Saeed Al Saeed, Science and Technology Advisor, Ministery of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation UAE speaks during the World Majlis Innovation Nation at the Spain Pavilion m43247

Prof Javier Garcia Martinez, President of the International Union of Pure Chemistry, Spain speaks during the World Majlis Innovation Nation at the Spain Pavilion m43257

Oscar Di Montigny, Ideator of the Humanovability vision, Italy speaks during the World Majlis Innovation Nation at the Spain Pavilion m43250

Arun Sundaraajan, Harold Price Chair in Entrepeneurship stern school of Buisness, New York University, USA speaks during the World Majlis Innovation Nation at the Spain Pavilion m43249

Amin Gafaranga, Founder, Atelier Design-Thinking Academy, Rwanda speaks during the World Majlis Innovation Nation at the Spain Pavilion m43262

Alya Al Mazrouei, Director, UAE Research Program for Rain Enhancement Science, UAE speaks during the World Majlis Innovation Nation at the Spain Pavilion m43258

World Majlis | Innovation Nation: Session 1

Explore a series of exciting conversations inspired by the theme of Expo 2020 Dubai. The World Majlis is a vibrant forum where diverse points of views are shared on important topics of our time. Each conversation brings together globally recognised thought-leaders who are invited for their exceptional contributions to the theme and their unique perspective on the topic. In each Majlis, students and members of the public are also welcome to contribute and engage.

World Majlis

Conversations on complex issues that bring together thought leaders, visionaries and changemakers.

Women of Arabia and Islam | Stories of Sustainability from the Muslim World

Speaker of the day

Speaker

Thuraya Said Al Sariri

Speaker

Lourdes Vega

Speaker

Jamila Idbourrous

Speaker

Degan Ali

Speaker

Bouchra Baibanou

Speaker

Thuraya Said Al Sariri

Speaker

Lourdes Vega

Speaker

Jamila Idbourrous

Speaker

Degan Ali

Event Information

Climate & Biodiversity Week.

This event is part of the
Build Bridges .

Speaker of the day

Event Information

Climate & Biodiversity Week.

This event is part of theBuild Bridges .

This event is part of the
Build Bridges .