World Engineers Call For Int'l Development Agreement To Tackle Disaster Risk

The 2019 World Construction Forum ended in Ljubljana Slovenia with a call for heightened support for international development agreements especially the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the 2018 Paris Agreement on Climate Change and the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction.

The Forum was convened in collaboration with the World Federation of Engineering WFEO in commemoration of the 100th Anniversary of both the Slovenian Chamber of Engineers and the University of Ljubljana.

Participants pointed out that Engineering related activity is an important driver in different economic environments directly contributing to GDP.

Participants further pledged to support the strategic goals of WFEO to advance the UN SDGs through engineering highlighting SDG#6-CLEAN WATER AND SANITATION, SDG#7 AFFORDABLE AND CLEAN ENERGY, SDG#9- INDUSTRY INNOVATION AND INFRASTRUCTURE, SDG#11- SUSTAINABLE CITIES AND COMMUNITIES, SDG#13 - CLIMATE ACTION and SDG#17 - PARTNERSHIPSFOR THE GOALS.

The Declaration adopted after the conference made the following recommendations;

- That to cover increasing global energy demand, smart power grids from more renewable and environmentally friendly sources should be increased with less dependence on fossil fuels.

- Construction should embrace the digital revolution by creating high quality inexpensive, sustainable, smart interconnected and customized products for the end user. The backbone of a digitally engineered built environment is Building Information Modelling BIM that supports the evolution of real-time sensing and analysis of structural and environmental data to improve the capacity and resilience of buildings and infrastructure.

- Developing structural design codes, integrated tools for quantitative risk and resilience assessment and policies for retrofitting and upgrading the built environment.

- STEM education at the at the primary and secondary level is vital for creative and breakthrough thinking of the young generation and must provide a solid foundation for lifelong continued education to respond to the fast paced digital revolution the world is experiencing.

The Ljubljana Declaration was signed by Dr Marlene Kanga WFEO President, Dr. Peggy Oti-Boateng UNESCO, Prof Matyaz Mikos University of Ljubljana and Ing. Crtomir Remec President Slovenia Chamber of Engineers.

Ghana was represented by Ing. Mrs. Carlien Bou-Chedid President-Elect FAEO and Ing. Kwabena Agyei Agyepong Executive Director WAFEO.