Dr Shankar Sankaran, Senior Lecturer in the Department of Management and based in Dubai, guides the debate during the first of the newly launched Strathclyde Dialogues in the UAE.Dr Shankar Sankaran, Senior Lecturer in the Department of Management and based in Dubai, guides the debate during the first of the newly launched Strathclyde Dialogues in the UAE.
Strathclyde played host to four experts on Sustainability at its Abu Dhabi centre on March 1 as part of the newly launched 'Strathclyde Dialogues' series in the UAE.
It was a hugely successful event, with an audience of more than 120, comprising alumni, current students and invited guests, from Government, voluntary groups and business, at the CERT-HCT premises.
The dialogue covered the three pillars of sustainability: economic, environmental and social. Speakers were: Eva Ramos, senior sustainability specialist, Abu Dhabi Sustainability Group; Dr Mazen Ramsay Najjar, Principal at Booz & Company based in the Middle East; Dr Richard Perry, programme manager for the Abu Dhabi Environment Vision 2030 with the Environment Agency, Abu Dhabi; and Ruba Yousef Al Hassan, social development advisor, Strathclyde and Policy Planning Division, Abu Dhabi.
The event started with an introduction by Ms Ramos outlining the current tensions in the sustainability dialogue. She pointed out how the various institutions of society all over the world have been working rather separately and called for inter-sectoral dialogue such as that evening's debate.
Dr Najjar outlined what economic sustainability was about, pointing out that economic sustainability requires diversity in the economic activities of nations, prudent fiscal and monetary policies and the right industrial climate for the development of a desirable mix of industries.
Dr Perry showed how the existing practices of humans requires resources equivalent to five 'Earths'.
Finally, Ms Al Hassan, representing sustainability dialogue's "social" angle suggested that the idea of social sustainability, which she defined as the well-being of people, was indeed an important aspect of sustainability. She pointed out various options that humans have and suggested that social sustainability should be the pivot for the overall sustainability dialogue.
One alumnus said, "It was informative, provocative, interactive and, above all, a wonderful way to spend the evening."