GEMS Students Voice Their Concerns at SCOPE 2023 Climate Conference

Students, teachers and climate change experts gathered for a special climate change conference in GEMS Legacy School, Dubai.

Guests from around the world joined GEMS Education school leaders, educators, and students for a special climate conference held as part of the fourth edition of the School Conference of Parties Exposition (SCOPE) hosted by GEMS Legacy School in Dubai. Attendees discussed many vital topics including the causes of climate change.

The SCOPE 2023 Climate Conference, titled ‘SustainXchange: Dialogues for a resilient planet’, was the showpiece of the now annual SCOPE event first launched by GEMS Education in 2020.

A celebration of student agency against climate change, SCOPE brings together pupils from across the UAE as well as educators including UN-certified Climate Change Teachers and prominent guest speakers.

• Fourth School Conference of Parties Exposition hosted by GEMS Legacy School
• Event includes speeches by high-profile speakers from UNITAR and Race4Good
• Students voice their concerns and hope for urgent action to combat climate change

“The world has come alive to the issue of the climate crisis. We have a global climate change consciousness today, and this shows the power of the world coming together. Through the work that GEMS has been doing, you’ve become a hub for climate change literacy. So, my message to you is to congratulate you for standing up and making a difference.”

Angus Mackay – Director of the Division for Planet and Manager of the Climate Change Programme at UNITAR

It was six-year-old GEMS Legacy School kindergarten students Muneer Mohamed Rashid Saad and Eeshvi Lama Gurung who stole the show at the event.

“Do you know that as per the scientists, by 2030 climate change will be irreversible?” asked Eeshvi. “I wonder, when we grow up, will we still have a good earth to live on?”

“It is frightening to even think about it,” replied Muneer.

Both were joined by Michelle Liz Dennis, a GEMS Legacy School student in Grade 7, who asked the adults in the audience: “The pressing question is, how much longer will we delay action? Is this the future you leave for us?”

Over the years, SCOPE has seen the voices of its participating youth get stronger and louder as more and more young people rightly claim their role as important players in the global climate change policymaking process.

The first SCOPE was held virtually in October 2020, involving students from schools across the world. The event empowered participants with high levels of climate change awareness, deep climate change research, and collaborative global problem-solving skills.