The FAMU School of the Environment recently announced that it will hold its 2024 EnergyWaterFoodClimateNexus International Summit in Durban, South Africa this summer. The Summit is planned for July 1-4, 2024, and will be held at Mangosuthu University of Technology (MUT).
This is the sixth EnergyWaterFoodClimateNexus International Summit FAMU has hosted it. This year's event will focus on the theme “What We Want Is Possible.” And planners expect it to be a call for action to recruit and train a new generation of student and scientists who are ready to provide solutions to the vexing challenges facing our environment.
FAMU School of the Environment Dean Victor Ibeanusi, said “the nexus of Energy, Water, Food, and Climate presents new opportunities to advance a science-based enterprise, aiming at sustainable solutions for safe water, sustainable energy, food security, and climate resilience.
“We typically have the world come to us for the Summit, now we are taking it on the road,” said FAMU President Larry Robinson.
The 2022 Nexus Summit was held on the Tallahassee campus. Future Nexus Global Summits are planned for Miskolc, Hungary, in 2025 and Asia in 2026.
“The solutions addressing the pressing environmental challenges on climate, food security, energy, and water are possible. It will spur new scientific inquiries and recruitment of our students and scientists to build a strong and sustainable foundation for economic growths in Africa,” said MUT Director of Communications Mbali Mkhize.
The Summit comes on the heels of Earth’s hottest year in recorded history, one characterized by dangerous heat waves, intense storms and historic wildfires.
A survey conducted last year by the Pew Research Center found that two-thirds of adults in the U.S. support prioritizing the development of renewable energy sources over fossil fuels, though Americans were generally reluctant to completely phase out the use of oil, coal and natural gas.
A recent study by researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder found that around two-thirds of Americans rank climate change as an important issue.
A majority of Americans in all but six states — Indiana, Kentucky, North Dakota, Oklahoma, West Virginia and Wyoming — think that global warming is mostly caused by humans, but many states lagged behind the national average.
Also trending upward was Americans’ support for climate policies such as tax rebates for solar panels and energy-efficient vehicles.
Experts suggest, that while "everybody’s crystal ball is very cloudy”, one thing is for sure it is clear that we must began to address some of the issues of our climate.