From 15 to 17 May, the ERAIFT Director will participate in the international symposium of category 2 centres under the auspices of UNESCO in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. This international event, dedicated to advancing collaboration focused on sustainable development and science, provides an opportunity to coordinate and strengthen collaboration between UNESCO category 2 centres. It fosters the exchange of knowledge and promotes common goals and inspires collective action.

Several current topics in the environment and science field will be addressed by the participants, including: (1) Research, education and capacity building in water sciences, (2) Hubs for sustainability: UNESCO-designated sites and networks, (3) Open science, (4) Water and disaster risk reduction, (5) Managing global crises: Climate change and biodiversity, (6) Enhancing engineering capacity building for the SDGs, (7) The role of basic sciences in advancing emerging technologies and disruptive innovations, (8) Intersection of science and policy: transformative progress.

ERAIFT expresses its sincere gratitude to UNESCO for being associated to this important international event, which is very important for the visibility of its actions in the domains of research-action, training of African managers and support to society. It is also grateful to the European Union for its support.