Nobel Peace Prize Recipient Kailash Satyarthi and Jane Goodall at Open Forum in Davos

· The Open Forum Davos 2019, part of the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2019, is hosting a series of panel discussions from 22-25 January, which are open to the public

· Panellists include the Nobel peace prize recipient, Kailash Satyarthi, Jane Goodall, the world’s foremost expert on chimpanzees, Hindou Oumarou Ibrahim, President of the Association for Indigenous Women and Peoples of Chad, Denis Mukwege, a Congolese gynaecologist and human rights activist and Ricken Patel, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Avaaz.org, a global civic organization with the world’s largest online activist community.

· Topics include environmental questions, bridging science and society, violence against women and addressing loneliness.

· The public is invited to join the sessions in Davos or via webcast at: www.weforum.org/open-forum.

Sessions on escaping extinction and tackling plastic pollution plus the Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Kailash Satyarthi’s special screening of the documentary, The Price of Free, which portrays the rescue of 80,000 child factory workers in India, are among the events open to the public, on a first come, first served basis at the Open Forum Davos 2019.

Fareed Zakaria, the host of CNN’s Fareed Zakaria GPS will be joined in conversation with Jane Goodall during which they will discuss her life’s journey through the world’s last forests and her work with great apes, humanity’s closest relatives.

Extreme swimmer from Davos, Ernst Bromeis, will discuss his journeys across the waters of Europe and what it takes to protect our planet’s most important resource. There will also be a special performance and dialogue with a quartet of the Sphinx Virtuosi chamber orchestra, which comprises some of the most talented young African-American and Latino soloists in the United States, highlighting how increasing diversity in classical music benefits everyone.

The Open Forum Davos, now in its 17th year and with a fresh new look, will open its doors to the public from 22 to 25 January in Davos, Switzerland. Leading personalities from business, government, academia and civil society, as well as young people, will discuss and interact with the Swiss public on critical – and, at times, controversial – subjects, opening a unique window onto the most challenging debates of our time.

Panellists at this year’s Open Forum Davos comprise public figures, chief executive officers, representatives from civil society, experts and academics from Switzerland and around the world, including:

· Jane Goodall, Founder, Jane Goodall Institute

· Peter Thomson, United Nations Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for the Ocean, New York

· Marco Lambertini, Director-General, WWF International

· Denis Mukwege, Founder, Panzi Hospital and Foundation

· Hindou Oumarou Ibrahim, President, Association for Indigenous Women and Peoples of Chad

· Kailash Satyarthi, Founder, Kailash Satyarthi Children’s Foundation

· Pascale Baeriswyl, State Secretary for Foreign Affairs of Switzerland

· Heather Koldewey, Fellow, National Geographic Society

· Ernst Bromeis, Water Ambassador, The Blue Miracle

· Marietje Schaake, Member of the European Parliament, European Union

· Roger Köppel, Member of the National Council, Swiss Parliament

· Ricken Patel, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Avaaz.org

· Rachel Haas, Managing Director, NO MORE

· Martina Hirayama, State Secretary for Education and Research and Innovation of Switzerland

· Sarah bint Yousif Al Amiri, Minister of State for Advanced Sciences of the United Arab Emirates

· Laurie Santos, Professor of Psychology; Head, Silliman College, Yale University

· Karan Johar, Head, Dharma Productions

· Cristiana Pasca Palmer, Executive Secretary, Convention on Biological Diversity

· Jeremy Farrar, Director, Wellcome Trust

Open Forum Programme

Tuesday 22 January

09.00 - 10.00 Water for Life

12.30 - 14.00 Plastic Pollution: And End in Sight?

18.30 - 20.00 Averting “Peak Europe”

Wednesday 23 January

09.00 - 10.30 Escaping Extinction

13.00 - 14.00 An Insight, An Idea with Jane Goodall

18.30 - 20.00 Violence against Women

Thursday 24 January

09:00 - 10:00 An Encounter with the Sphinx Virtuosi

12.30 - 14.00 Loneliness: An Epidemic?

18.30 - 20.00 The Price of Free

Friday 25 January

09.00 - 10.30 Bridging Science with Society

The Open Forum will be held at the Swiss Alpine Mittelschule, Guggerbachstrasse 3, Davos Platz, Switzerland. Although no registration is required, those wishing to participate are encouraged to arrive early as the maximum capacity of the auditorium is 300. For those unable to take part, all ten sessions will be livestreamed on www.weforum.org/open-forum.

Follow the debates using the Open Forum Twitter account: @openforumwef #WEF #openforum. All sessions will be livestreamed on the Forum’s website, available on YouTube after the event too; and some will benefit from social media integration, which offers deeper engagement and analysis to a global audience.

Notes to editors

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