All knowledge that could help to achieve SDGs should be shared.
As we wrote last week, we are now in the last part of chapter 3 of the report The Future is Now. We have seen the key messages. But what is it precisely about ?
First, the authors plead for the creation of more spaces and organization to share and co-construct knowledge. Scientists produce knowledge (basic scientists produce important basic knowledge, that IYBSSD 2022 wants to promote), of course, but they are not alone. For scientific knowledge to be useful to society, and to the achievement of SDGs, it must be shared, of course, but it must also take into account social knowledge. It is not a one way conversation from scientists toward the rest of the population.
The 2030 Agenda and sustainability science are based on shared scientific and societal deliberations and decision-making. That requires spaces where researchers in relevant fields, policymakers, other decision makers and affected populations can meet and exchange knowledge and co-design transformational pathways. Citizen science enables participants to make a direct contribution to research, increase their scientific understanding and immerse themselves deeply in learning about global challenges. Those opportunities provide personally transformative experiences. Key spaces include science-policy-society knowledge hubs, networks, think tanks and solutions focused laboratories. To the extent possible, those should be established at various organizational or administrative levels (global, regional, national and local) and networked to connect actors and institutions horizontally and vertically.
Another important dimension of knowledge sharing is open access, as we have already seen several time while reading this report. It will also be a major theme of IYBSSD 2022. The authors insist here on international sharing platform. Too often, knowledge stays inside national boundaries, that are not the right scale to tackle sustainable development challenges.
Those hubs should be equipped to receive, store, analyse, refine and further share data, whether global satellite imagery, national censuses, jointly produced community maps or inventories of traditional medicinal plants. For knowledge hubs with a special focus on spatial data, an important example is the OneMap initiative in Indonesia, Myanmar, and elsewhere.
There is a particular need for medium-scale knowledge hubs to unite stakeholders in neighbouring countries around managing vital shared needs focused, for example, on shared resources like rivers or biodiverse forest and mountain ecosystems. The International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development and the Nile Basin Initiative and its centres, which unite 10 countries around use of common water resources, provide useful models.
