The Centre for Climate Change & Environmental Research (C3ER) and Student Life department of BRAC University in collaboration with international environmental non-governmental organization DAEJAYON hosted a “Net-Zero Festival” on the university’s campus in Dhaka on 5 February 2024.
The festival featured a seminar and different activities by students of BRAC University alongside some who were visiting from Korea. It also encouraged students to set up an environmental club and informed of an opportunity to learn Korean language with funding from Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA). Moreover, a memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed between the C3ER and DAEJAYON for the expansion of the NGO’s Green School and Green Campus programs.
Registered with the Ministry of Environment of the Republic of Korea and a member of the International Union for Conservation of Nature, DAEJAYON works around the world for a sustainable green future. Its Green School and Green Campus programs aim, among others, to create environmentalists. The MoU outlines scopes for the C3ER and DAEJAYON to cooperate in promoting activities to protect the environment, save energy, restore ecosystems, respond to the climate crisis and create a safe and sustainable human society.
The seminar was titled “Importance of Net-Zero Solutions”, highlighting the goal of net zero, which was to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels as outlined in the Paris Agreement. The Korean students explained the net zero emission concept and how students of BRAC University could make their campus free from greenhouse gas emissions.
Addressing the event, Professor Syed Mahfuzul Aziz, PhD, Pro Vice-Chancellor and Acting Vice-Chancellor of BRAC University, expressed optimism that the festival had helped the students become more aware of climate change. He emphasized the necessity of increasing the adoption of solar energy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from conventional electricity generation systems and of setting up a sustainable waste management system on the university premises to prevent plastic pollution.
Afterwards the students crafted bags out of waste paper and leaflets and upcycled cinema posters into bracelets. They also engaged in learning how to design handkerchiefs, write Korean calligraphy, eat with chopsticks, play a traditional Korea board game called yunnori and wear traditional clothing of the Korean people called hanbok.