Read and watch the welcoming words pronounced by Luc Allemand, the Secretary general of IYBSSD, at the occasion of the symposium organized in Paris 27th-28th June 2023 by HFSPO and several other partners.
Ms and Mr Directors, Dear Scientists,
Ladies and gentlemen,
On behalf of the Steering Committee of the International Year of Basic Sciences for Sustainable Development, promulgated by the United Nations General Assembly, and placed under the auspices of UNESCO, I particularly welcome this scientific symposium that follows the high-level summit of yesterday.
The 2030 Agenda is an ambitious program to ensure a balanced, sustainable, and inclusive development of the planet.
The International Year of basic Sciences for Sustainable Development is motivated by two main action lines:
- mobilizing scientists so that they fully engage their skills, talents and energies for this Agenda, even though they are developing basic sciences;
- mobilizing citizens and policy makers so that they continue and even develop their support to basic sciences as a crucial way to reach, in a not too far future, a more sustainable development.
The International Year will close in six months, with a ceremony at CERN, 15 December 2023. We must already now think about what will come next.
Currently, the representatives of several member states at the United Nations General Assembly are discussing the content of a resolution that would promulgate an International Decade of Sciences for Sustainability. The Steering committee of the International Year, as well as over one hundred national science academies, learned societies and scientific networks support this initiative.
What could be the goals of a decade? It still has to be decided, but from what I heard yesterday, I would like to give some indications about the kind of actions that should be in the program, no hierarchy intended:
- funding programs for basic interdisciplinary research to fill knowledge gaps identified from the SDGs;
- a real dialog with societies in all their dimensions, not only to educate the public or policy makers and convince them that what scientists do is good, but also to really learn from them;
- support the development of science education, scientific research and scientific agendas everywhere in the world, in a cooperative way that respects the need of the populations;
- contribute to the discussions that prepare already the United Nations program that will succeed the 2030 Agenda, and stand for the role of science in this program.
We need to build a program for the next decade that has precise goals, and definite ways of implementation. That is why I believe that the discussions that we will have here in the next two days are so important.
So, on behalf of the Steering Committee of the International Year of Basic Sciences for Sustainable Development, I thank you all for being here.
Thank you for your attention.