Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- World-famous scientists and public figures were looking for answers to global challenges together with youth from five continents

On 16 December, Sochi hosted the NEXT 75 International Youth Conference, dedicated to the main problems that determine the future of civilization. Climate change and depletion of natural resources, the threat of overpopulation and new epidemics, the prospects for clean energy and the possibilities of advanced technologies were the main topics of the conference. Speakers of NEXT 75 believe that everyone needs to solve global problems together and immediately, before it is too late.

The world today is changing rapidly, but progress has a downside: the human influence on the planet’s ecosystem is enormous and, unfortunately, mostly negative. In order for humanity to use the chance to change the future, it is necessary to find the pain points of civilization and respond to them now. This is a common task for all generations, and today’s schoolchildren and students, who will have to determine the fate of the world tomorrow, cannot stand aside.

The leading experts gathered at the conference - world-renowned ecologists, virologists, biologists, anthropologists, power engineers - identified problems and pointed out the most effective ways to solve them. It is impossible to stop the growth of the world’s population, but it is possible to prevent a crisis of overpopulation and the struggle for rapidly dwindling resources by fighting poverty, said Dr. Tejbir Singh Rana, professor at the University of Delhi. It is difficult to accurately predict the emergence of new epidemics, but every nation must be ready to immediately take the most stringent measures and prevent a chain reaction of the spread of infection outside the country, bearing responsibility to all of humanity, the famous virologist Oewale Tomori is sure. To solve environmental problems, it is necessary not only to use carbon-free energy sources, but first of all to develop the most powerful type of generation - nuclear energy, otherwise wind and solar power plants will have to occupy huge areas, explains Thomas Blies, author of the book "Medicine for the Planet".

The conference was also attended by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Rodney John Allam, renowned ecologists Miguel Brandao and Karl Safina, ethologist and anthropologist Jane Morris Goodall and other scientists. Oliver Stone, a famous film director, winner of three Oscars, shared their emotional vision of the situation; aeronaut, UN Goodwill Ambassador Bertrand Piccard; actor and director Danila Kozlovsky.

Participants in the conversation about the fate of the planet were 500 active and talented youth representatives who were personally present in the modern conference hall "Atom" in the Park of Science and Art "Sirius" or connected remotely. All of them had the opportunity not only to receive first-hand information, but also to actively participate in the discussion, ask questions to speakers and express their opinion.

Special guests of NEXT 75 were Elena Shmeleva, head of the Talent and Success Foundation and Alexey Likhachev, General Director of the State Atomic Energy Corporation Rosatom. Alexey Likhachev summed up the results of the conference, stressing: “Everything that happens in the most remote corner of the Earth will sooner or later affect each of us, which means that our common task is to find a joint solution to prevent challenges and threats. We care about the future of our planet. I am sure that today’s conference allowed us all to take a step towards understanding what needs to be done now to make life on the planet better and safer in the next 75 years. I am sure that together we will change the world for the better, because the future has already begun, and what it will be depends only on you and me. "

Students of the Tashkent branch of NRNU MEPhI also took part in the conference online. The second year student Aleksey Kotov shared his impressions of the event: “I was very glad to have the opportunity to participate in the NEXT 75 conference, and also surprised by its unusual format. I learned a lot of new and informative things. The speakers spoke in an accessible language about global problems that need to be worked on. I especially liked the speeches of the chairman of the board of directors of the partnership fund Daniel Flang and the Nobel laureate Rodney John Allam. "

His words were supported by fellow student Nodirjon Sohibov: “First of all, I would like to thank the organizers for the opportunity to take part in an event of such a scale. It was interesting to watch the 3D graphics that were used for the online broadcast. Each speaker had his own approach, and each speech was unique in its own way. Most of all I liked the presentation of the anthropologist and UN Ambassador for Peace Jane Morris Goodall, in particular, her story about life in the jungle and the study of primates. "

The name NEXT 75 is far from coincidental. The conference has become a bright final chord of the jubilee program dedicated to the 75th anniversary of the nuclear industry. The organizer of the conference, the state corporation Rosatom, as a global company and a technology leader, understands its responsibility to future generations: nuclear scientists must look far ahead and plan for decades, preventing all possible threats and challenges.

NEXT 75, watched live by 400,770 people around the world, is also a contribution to the future of the planet. The recording of the broadcast is available for everyone on the Rosatom channel on Youtube, as well as on the pages of the state corporation on the social networks Facebook and Vkontakte.