Borrowed tomorrows and the hands that hold them

Some mornings in Muscat I wake before the city stirs. Heat gathers early, heavy before sunrise. At a summer camp last week, a girl in the front row asked how to plan a life when the map keeps changing. I thought of the way young people are testing ideas in courtyards, on shorelines and in the shade of palm groves. Our children are planning futures in moving weather.
Across our region, where temperatures are rising twice as fast as the global average, the changes are undeniable. Summers stretch longer. Farmers shift planting and harvest times. Fishers study the wind and the heat before deciding to set out. Families recalculate how to keep food fresh and homes livable. Water scarcity is pressing hard. Estimates place GDP losses in water stressed areas between six and fourteen per cent by mid century. For the half of our people under 25, climate change is a daily context rather than a distant concern.
It is in this environment of heat, scarcity and uncertainty that I see the true measure of our youth. I see it in young volunteers planting and restoring mangroves to shield coastal communities from storms. In engineering students building low cost irrigation timers and greywater reuse systems to help farmers stretch every drop. In youth groups mapping heat hotspots near schools and clinics as they advocate for shade and safe spaces. These actions may be small in scale, yet they show what is possible when trust is given and skilled hands are invited to shape solutions.
The same determination appears in how young people view the systems that guide their future. Recent global surveys reveal that more than half would trust decisions made by artificial intelligence over those made by humans, shaped by frustration with corruption and disappointment in broken promises. This is no rejection of human responsibility. It is a call for leadership that is fair, transparent and faithful to commitments. It is an invitation to match their readiness with genuine opportunity.
We can meet this readiness with choices that strengthen what already works. Ministries can back small pilots and integrate them into wider programmes once they prove effective. Universities can align final year projects with urgent community needs in water, waste and cooling. Foundations and companies can open microgrant opportunities that release funds in stages. Public agencies can offer seasonal placements inside project teams, leading to roles if the work delivers. Health and education providers can include heat safety, mental health first aid and climate awareness in training so families are prepared when extreme weather comes.
These investments carry economic weight. Every trained solar technician, every building retrofit and every restored hectare of mangrove or rangeland reduces vulnerability while creating livelihoods. In places where many young people have waited for meaningful work, climate action can be a driver of economic resilience. When we link the two, we prepare for storms and for the seasons that follow.
I have listened to young people speak with urgency and hope. Many describe slow progress from those in power, yet they remain determined to carry responsibility themselves. They say they are ready to work, to innovate, to lead and they want leaders who match that readiness with honesty and follow through. Some even place more trust in technology driven decisions than in human ones, not from cynicism, but from a desire for fairness and results. In these voices, there is no waiting for rescue. There is a call for partnership and for a future shaped together.