Queen Rania Al Abdullah has been appointed as a Global Co-Chair for the World Economic Forum's (GAEA) initiative (Giving to Accelerate Earth Action) in New York. The Queen expressed her pride in joining the initiative alongside Professor Klaus Schwab, the Founder and Chairman of the World Economic Forum, stating, "We share a collective responsibility and possess the ability to achieve our climatic ambitions together."
She added that since the World Economic Forum announced its intention to launch the initiative during its annual meeting last January, the world has witnessed a number of natural disasters, including July of last year being declared the hottest month on record for the Earth. She remarked, "Temperatures in our Arab region continue to rise at twice the global average, and experts predict that extreme heat will render vast areas uninhabitable before the end of the century."
Queen Rania noted that less than 2% of global charitable funding goes towards climate and nature, emphasizing that "if the ultimate goal of charity is to make a difference, there is no better place to start than our planet."
### What is the World Economic Forum?
The World Economic Forum is an independent international non-profit organization aimed at improving the state of the world. It was founded by business professor Klaus Schwab in 1971 in Cologny, near Geneva, Switzerland. In 2006, it opened regional offices in Beijing, China, and New York, USA.
