MANILA, Philippines - The World Economic Forum (WEF) is a Geneva-based nonprofit described as “an independent international organization committed to improving the state of the world by engaging business, political, academic and other leaders of society to shape global, regional and industry agendas.”
Say what? The only part I understood was “committed to improving the state of the world.”
Let me tell you a secret: I didn’t even know about the WEF until I was nominated to be part of the WEF’s Global Shapers Community (GSC). Launched only last year, the GSC was established to build a worldwide network of leaders between 20-30 years old and represent the youth in the WEF. I quickly learned that the WEF was best known for its Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland, which brings together some of the world’s top business and political leaders, journalists, artists and tech pioneers.
Seventy Global Shapers were invited to attend the high-level meeting for the first time. Three of them were from the Manila Hub: Eleanor “Lynn” Pinugu, founder of Mano Amiga, an international school for underprivileged children; Maria Carmela “Pie” Alvarez, 24-year-old mayor of San Vicente, Palawan; and yours truly, co-founder of Save Philippine Seas and Isko Cleans UP.
As someone who has no interest in business-as-usual and conventional economics, I was anxious about what I could contribute to the forum. When German Chancellor Angela Merkel delivered her speech at the Opening Plenary, my brain blanked when I heard phrases like “free market” and “volatile commodity prices.”
Fan Girl Moments
What thawed my heart in the midst of the below-zero weather in Davos were the many sessions and conversations on sustainability and resource management. The language of the trees and seas was something I was much more familiar with. On the first night of the Annual Meeting, I met Enric Sala, researcher-in-residence of the National Geographic Society, and my hero. I broke into a sweat when he first sat beside me, but when we started talking about our mutual love for sharks, I calmed down. Three days later, I was in a meeting room with him, Pie, and other global leaders, discussing the establishment of marine-protected areas in the Philippines as fish banks, a major project that Enric will be starting this year.
My favorite session was oceanographer Sylvia Earle’s talk called “Deep Sea Discovery.” I watched her TED Prize speech online last year and cried about half of the time. When I watched her presentation live, I was weeping from start to end. It took me a few hours to gather courage to introduce myself. “So much of your work inspired mine,” I told her while my chest went boom-badoom-boom. She looked me in the eyes, as if she could see my soul and sins, and said, “We have the power. We must use it.”
Outside the organized events, some of the best conversations Pie, Lynn and I had were in the shuttle to and from the Congress Center and the dorm we were staying in. During the short trips, we met CBS executive producer Jeff Fager, Dropbox founder Drew Houston and Professor Daniel C. Esty of the Environmental Law and Policy at Yale University. Jeff advised me to watch the 60 Minutes episodes on shark finning, I had a chance to tell Drew how his invention changed my life, and Dan told us about his visit to Palawan.
A festival of ideas
The Forum has been accused of being just a “talk shop.” I prefer to call it a “festival of ideas.” It’s not supposed to solve the world’s problems in one week; it’s a forum, after all; it’s a venue for multi-stakeholder dialogues that engage sectors that normally wouldn’t interact with another. For instance, I listened in on a session featuring the chairman of a multinational company and the head of an environmental NGO. This NGO has a media campaign accusing said company of environmental destruction. To my surprise, they were agreeing on how useless electric cars were!
The Forum proves that the triple bottom line of people-planet-profit is now passé. It appears that the way to go is a people-private-public-planet-profit partnership. The Annual Meeting provides a valuable opportunity to see where one sector is coming from and perhaps even change the way they perceive, approach, and react to an institution and/or person. No matter what part of the world we’re in or field we’re focusing on, we are all in this together: a commitment to improve the state of the world.