An information meeting with members of the Executive Board, on Science for Sustainable Development, took place on Tuesday 9 December 2014 in Room X. This meeting was organized within the framework of the series of events held pursuant to the Executive Board’s Decision on “UNESCO at 70 and Future Prospects” (194 EX/Decision 31).

The guest speakers were the following three members of the UN Secretary-General’s Scientific Advisory Board (SAB):

Mohamed Sameh Amr, Chairman of the Executive Board of UNESCO

Recalling that since the Rio+20 (June 2012), UNESCO Member States have been discussing how ‘sustainability science’ can be strengthened and mainstreamed into UNESCO’s work. More thought is needed, not only in a national context but also in the context of multilateral collaboration promoted by the UN, in order to provide concrete responses to global environmental and societal problems. He said that science has contributed positively to problems such as climate change, disaster risk reduction, biodiversity loss, and social instability etc. But he noted that policy action, and the design and implementation of science-based programmes and activities still needed to be carried out. Creating knowledge and understanding through science, he stressed, helps towards finding solutions to today’s acute economic, social and environmental challenges and to achieving sustainable development and green societies. Linking science to society, public understanding of science and the participation of citizens in science are essential to creating societies where people have the necessary knowledge to make responsible choices that will impact their lives, their environment and the world in which they live. Finally, he mentioned that indigenous knowledge systems, developed with long and close interaction with nature, complement knowledge systems based on modern science.

Hans d’Orville, Assistant Director-General for Strategic Planning, UNESCO

Mr d’Orville spoke on behalf of the Director-General, Ms Irina Bokova. He recalled the establishment of the United Nations Secretary-General’s Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) by Ban Ki-Moon in October 2013 and explained that it is composed of 26 eminent scientists from all regions and a wide range of disciplines. The purpose of the SAB is to advise the Secretary-General and leaders of UN Organizations on matters of science, technology and innovation for sustainable development. The SAB is the first such body created by the Secretary-General to influence and shape action by the international community to advance sustainable development and eradicate poverty. UNESCO hosts the SAB Secretariat. The Scientific Advisory Board promotes the importance of science, technology and innovation for the post-2015 sustainable development agenda, its pivotal role as game-changer and enabler of green growth, employment creation and better life conditions worldwide. The inaugural meeting of the SAB was held in Berlin, Germany on 30 and 31 January 2014.  A Summary Report of the first meeting was recently published. Mr d’Orville mentioned that the two meetings organized on “Climate Change and Sustainable Development” and “Science for Sustainable Development” were timely and welcomed that they are held on the eve of the second meeting of the SAB. He said that the participation of eminent members of the SAB during these two meetings could help sharpen opinions on both topics. Mr d'Orville emphasized the need to strengthen trust between scientists and policy-makers and improve communication on the importance of the science/policy nexus for sustainable development.

Reiko Kuroda (Japan), Professor, Research Institute for Science and Technology, Tokyo University of Science

Ms Kuroda outlined clearly sustainable development from a scientists’ perspective, helping us to understand what is happening to our planet now and what could happen to it in the future, if we don’t make the necessary changes today.  She noted that elements of ‘science’ were peppered throughout the recently-proposed 17 Sustainable Development Goals, but noted that there was no clear goal relating specifically to science.  She called for a greater understanding of what is happening to our planet, what may happen to it in the future, and what can and ought to be done now to change current trends to achieve the Earth We Want for the coming generations.  In this regard, she stressed the importance of creating new scientific knowledge to help tackle the environmental challenges we are facing and to help predict a future based on scientific evidence. She said that population growth exacerbated and accelerated problems linked to resources, energy depletion, and environmental degradation. She concluded by calling for renewed trust in science – while appreciating limitation of science and evidence based on newer discoveries.  In the end, nonetheless, she reminded that the role of scientist and science is to provide evidence for decision-makers, and wondered who would evaluate or judge the decisions that are taken, against which criterion and to what ultimate consequence.

Wole Soboyejo (Nigeria), President, African University of Science and Technology (AUST), Garki

Mr Soboyejo helped to shed light on the shift from the Millennium Development Goals to the post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals focussing on humanity’s well-being and the sustainability of the earth as key goals of development.  He presented some case studies of holistic approaches to problems of solar energy and water in developing countries.  Unlike developed countries, poor communities in the developing world need solar energy to provide light, cell phone charging, radio and entertainment. In the absence of these basic necessities, feelings of well-being in the rural areas are often well below the normal levels in developing countries. Community-based solar charging stations have been introduced to enable communities to power entertainment systems that have greatly improved the quality of social life.  Sustainable solar energy solutions can be used to address the basic energy needs of rural peoples, and a significant effort is needed to expand the scale of such activities, moving from a rural/local scale to a national or global scale. People in the developing world are also exposed to problems associated with microbially-contaminated drinking water, which kills more than 5000 people per day – more than the total number that die from tuberculosis, HIV and malaria. The problem is further exacerbated by the susceptibility of young children to death due to dysentery, diarrhea and typhoid, which kill up to 20 percent of children in some communities.   Ceramic water filters are one of the potential solutions that can be used to purify water in the developing world. These are made from mixtures of clay and sawdust in to micro-/nano-porous filters that remove more than 99.9% of all microbial pathogens by size exclusion. Factories produce and market the filters in ways that have made them a sustainable option for the provision of potable water to people in rural/urban communities, without access to potable water.  Effective cooperation is needed, he concluded, in expanding the scale and impact of emerging solutions that address the development needs of people in developing countries.

Jörg Hinrich Hacker (Germany), President, German National Academy of Sciences – Leopoldina

Mr Hacker provided clarity on the science-policy nexus, and was most convincing in proving that science, understood to include science, technology and innovation, is crucial for the achievement of sustainable development – and can promote a world in which poverty no longer exists. He illustrated the importance of why science is important for sustainable development, and stressed that scientists and policy-makers should work closely together in order to jointly implement goals relating to sustainable development.  He said that if the post-2015 sustainable agenda is to be truly transformative, then the interrelatedness between focus areas of the Sustainable Development Goals need to be kept in mind. He called for the SDGs to be grounded in an integrated scientific approach, based on collaboration amongst all fields of science. He provided a concrete example of how Germany is already implementing sustainable development policies, by outlining its institutional framework, notably the Strategy for Sustainable Development, drafted in 2002.  He continued by stating that science in crucial for achieving sustainable development, and that science is more than a means of implementation, calling it a universal language, thus pleading for greater science education and literacy.  Finally, he called for a strengthening of the interface between science and policy, which from a holistic perspective takes into consideration differences of the political and scientific discourse.

Question and Answer Session:

Delegates then discussed the following themes:

Sustainable development in developing countries:

The Ambassador of Guinea asked the panelists for their scientific view relating to the assertion that sustainable development cannot be foreseen in some countries, notably because certain basics, such as education, were not sufficiently developed.

In response, Mr Soboyejo stated that sustainable development should include all countries. In some countries, it is necessary to ensure both the development of the foundations of society and sustainable development.

The need for greater communication of scientific discoveries:


The Ambassador of the Netherlands noted that it was necessary to improve the dissemination of scientific discovery, which could be disseminated through the media in particular.

Ms. Kuroda concurred and stressed the important role that popularization of science plays, and informed participants that she created a science outreach training programme at the University of Tokyo.

 

Mr. Hacker presented the possibility offered by the Academy to train journalists in the field of science, so that they are better able to properly disseminate information.

The need for a practical application of scientific discoveries:

The Ambassador of Gambia said that scientific advances should be introduced in a sustainable way in society, and thus the communities should be used as "laboratories" to demystify and make scientific discoveries helpful.

Ms. Kuroda agreed with this point of view and said that the use of science could well reduce poverty and promote sustainable development.

Mandela Institutes:

The Ambassadors of Gabon and Togo requested further clarifications pertaining to the Mandela Institute: on the criteria to be fulfilled by the scientists and the student selection process.

Mr. Soboyejo explained the creation process of the Institutes, and how researchers could contribute. As for the selection of candidates, it is through a competition that allows the recruitment of the best students based on merit.

The aging of the population:

The Ambassador of Gabon questioned the viability of the possibility of retiring at age 60 in an increasingly aging society.

In response, Mr. Hacker said that soon, in China, Brazil and India, "more than 20 percent of the population will be over the age of 60." Therefore, such statistics need to be reviewed, because as people get older, individuals remain healthy and therefore able to work longer if they so wish.