SYNOPSIS

From the daily headlines that we see today, on the issues of climate change, world poverty and food safety, it is without a doubt that global sustainability is starting to gain significant attention from the major media around the world. This sentimental reaction on the issues of sustainable development is the consequence of the misalignment of the world’s global economy in relation to the expectations and needs of today’s communities i.e. community well-being. The rapid expansion of industrial activities and the traditional governmental policies which both focus more on the economic bottom line at the expense of environmental and social obligations is a major catalyst for such misalignment. As a consequence of this mind-set, irresponsible practices such as uncontrolled pollution and indiscriminate use of natural resources have occurred freely resulting in wide spread degradation of the environment. This has also caused the lack of social cohesion to occur due to the unfair distributions of wealth and benefits widening the gap between the rich and the poor. How can we resolve these issues? What needs to be done? Who should be responsible to resolve these issues? These are compelling questions that need to be answered. If one would to look back at the engineering profession of yesteryears, we would find that engineers have always played a pivotal role in our lives. They have provided us with many great inventions that have enhanced and improved our quality of life. In light of this, engineers need to take up the responsibility to resolve these global sustainability challenges to help protect the well-being of the present and future generations to come. This presentation deliberates on how engineers can take a leadership role in addressing these global issues on sustainability.


BIODATA OF SPEAKER

Ir. Dr. Aidil Chee Tahir has more than 15 years experience working in the corporate sector of Malaysian GLCs focusing on areas of corporate sustainability and corporate strategy. He obtained a Doctor of Philosophy in the field of sustainability metrics from the Engineering Science Department at the University of Oxford and read a degree in Mechanical Engineering at Imperial College London. He is a certified Professional Engineer by the Board of Engineers Malaysia and a corporate member with the Institution of Engineers Malaysia (IEM). He also serves as the Secretary/ Treasurer of the Mechanical Engineering Technical Division and as a committee member on the Membership Drive and Promotions Committee of IEM.