Sheikha Shamma champions visionary stewardship at Forbes Middle East Sustainability Summit
The Chairperson of Sheikh Mohammed bin Khalid Al Nahyan Cultural and Educational Institutions delivers a compelling address on generational responsibility and the UAE's enduring legacy of foresight.
At the closing day of the Forbes Middle East Sustainability Leaders Summit 2026, Sheikha Dr. Shamma bint Mohammed bin Khalid Al Nahyan, Chairperson of the Board of Directors of Sheikh Mohammed bin Khalid Al Nahyan Cultural and Educational Institutions, delivered a profoundly moving address on the imperative of safeguarding the future for generations yet unborn.
Drawing upon the wisdom of the UAE’s Founding Father, the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, Sheikha Shamma articulated a philosophy of enduring stewardship that transcends the immediate present. She evoked the ancient aflaj irrigation systems, those magnificent feats of engineering that nourished communities across generations long after their construction, exemplifying how the measure of what humanity builds should never be confined to a single lifetime.
With elegance and profound insight, she invoked the UAE’s storied pearl diving heritage, recounting the essential partnership between the diver and the Seeb, the trusted guardian aboard the vessel who maintained an unyielding grip upon the rope connecting diver to safety. In this timeless image, she perceived a metaphor of contemporary responsibility: whilst the diver seeks treasure beneath the waves, the Seeb holds fast to the line, safeguarding the diver’s return. Today’s generation, she suggested, holds the rope for future divers, for those who will inherit the world we shape.
Sheikha Shamma extended this profound metaphor into the modern age, illuminating the unprecedented responsibility that artificial intelligence and emerging technologies present. These systems, she cautioned, learn from the data and values embedded within them today, carrying forward into future decades the priorities and consequences of present decisions. Should contemporary society privilege immediate returns above long-term stewardship, such choices risk becoming crystallised within the very technologies that will define the world of tomorrow.
She afforded particular commendation to President His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, whose far-sighted vision exemplifies the quality of leadership that recognises the intrinsic value of the future and connects the threads binding past, present and generations yet to come.
In a moment of solemn reflection, Sheikha Shamma invited summit participants to observe twenty seconds of silence, not in remembrance of those who have departed, but in contemplation of those not yet born, specifically invoking a child destined to be born in Abu Dhabi in 2071, who will inherit the consequences of today’s collective decisions.
The address served as a clarion call to all participants, urging them to maintain an unwavering focus upon the obligations owed to future generations throughout the summit’s discussions and recommendations, emphasising the profound shared responsibility to protect and nurture the future.
Source: WAM