Climate Change Opportunities: Gulf Cooperation Council, Middle East North Africa, & Africa

Abstract

This paper presents an introduction to Global Mana Foundation, which is based in Honolulu, Hawaii. Global Mana Foundation is an innovative cross-disciplinary not for profit with a global team that was founded by Mr. Patrick Furlotti, a well-known oceans and environmental advocate, professional surfer, and lifelong technologist.

We discuss our experience at Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week (ADSW) 2017 in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (UAE), where our team shot two documentary films and also liaised with global leaders in the climate change and clean energy movement. We then discuss Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) climate change opportunities, particularly in the broader context of the Middle East North Africa (MENA) region. We then discuss African climate change opportunities. We conclude with ways that we would like to follow up and collaborate with various stakeholders in (1) government, (2) the private sector, and (3) the nonprofit sector to launch climate change solutions. It is our firm belief that we must solve the climate change crisis within the next five years, and we are prepared to leverage our networks and resources to be at the front lines of this fight for our planet.

Keywords: climate change, green technology, carbon based systems, GCC, MENA, partnerships, philanthropy, impact investing, public private partnerships, disruptive technology