Preamble
Under the leadership of the Royal Scientific Society of Jordan, the
founding organisations of the World Science Forum, the United Nations
Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the
International Council for Science (ICSU), and the Hungarian Academy of
Sciences, and all invited organisations and fellow scientists, we, the
participants of the 8th World Science Forum, held from 7-10 November
2017 at the Dead Sea, Jordan, adopt the present declaration.
The World Science Forum (WSF), an outcome of the 1999 World
Conference on Science, is a biennial event that since 2003 has been
successfully assembling scientists and decision-makers from the world of
politics and industry, representatives of civil society and the media
to discuss critical global issues and the potential of science to
address them holistically.
In line with the outcomes of the 1999 World Conference on Science
(WCS), and taking into account the 2011 Budapest Declaration on the New
Era of Global Science, the 2013 Rio de Janeiro Declaration on Science
for Global Sustainable Development, and the 2015 Budapest Declaration on
The Enabling Power of Science we reaffirm our commitment to the
responsible and ethical use of scientific knowledge in addressing the
great challenges facing humankind.
Science for Peace
Our world is empowered by science as never before. Scientific and
technological advances are at a point where challenges to our health,
environment and wellbeing may be defined and addressed in increasingly
effective ways. Yet, despite these great strides forward, so many
communities on our planet remain powerless and deprived of some of the
very basic requirements for life, liberty and hope. So many more of our
fellow human beings are at the mercy of fear, insecurity and instability
in their lives and livelihoods. Additionally, the grave threats posed
by climate and ocean change, pollution, and the inefficient management
of natural resources and waste, continue to threaten our environmental,
social and political stability at local, regional and global levels.
It is in this context that World Science Forum 2017 has assessed the
role of science in building a future that promises greater equality,
security and opportunity for all, and in which science plays an
increasingly prominent role as an enabler of fair and sustainable
development. ‘Peace’ is far more than the absence of conflict. It
implies an absence of fear and the full realisation of a whole and
healthy life. It encompasses an equal access to the resources and
potential of our planet. ‘Science for Peace’ signifies a call for the
attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals, and for the promise of
hope and opportunity in the lives of all people in a world where borders
must matter little as we struggle to build a better, and inevitably
shared future.
‘Science for Peace’ recognizes the global nature of the challenges
facing all humankind, and underlines our global responsibility to tackle
them through robust science and evidence-informed policy. This must
encompass energy, food, water and climate change, the alleviation of
poverty and inequality, greater cultural and economic understanding
between peoples, and the potential for science and research to create
wealth and to provide opportunity within societies.
We are convinced that science and the ethical application of
evidence-informed methods offer essential tools to address challenges
that leaders and politicians are confronted by at national and regional
levels, and we are committed to finding in science the language that
connects people across borders, belief systems, and social and cultural
barriers. We believe that we must fight for a voice in a world where
culture is so often reduced to untruths relating to cultural identity.
‘Science for Peace’ is a banner for all humanity and a call to reject
division, short-term and reactionary planning, and the growing gap
between rich and poor.
Inquiry-based science education is essential for forming critical
thinking to build and sustain peaceful, knowledge-based societies.
Lasting peace may only be achieved in our world when scientific
knowledge is more equitably produced and shared, when science and
evidence-based thinking are supported and empowered in all societies,
when diversity is cherished as a vital factor in science and research,
and when the universal right to science is promoted and enshrined in
regional and global fora. It is in this context that we call for the
following:
1. The equitable and sustainable management of natural resources is essential to avoid conflicts and to promote peaceful development
The global demand for food, water and energy has reached
unprecedented and unsustainable levels as a result of a growing global
population, increased consumption, inefficient resource management and
the effects of climate change. Competition for basic resources is a key
driver of inequality, uncertainty, instability and conflict. Future
global security and prosperity for all will depend on how we respond to
pressures on natural resources, and how these resources are managed,
distributed and made accessible to all communities. Sustainable and
equitable access is imperative to prevent and mitigate crisis, and to
promote resilience and recovery.
World Science Forum 2017 explored the critical interdependency of
water, energy and food as the most acute challenge to peace and
security. In Jordan and the Middle East in particular, water scarcity
poses a grave threat to stability. Scientists and science diplomats have
central roles to play not only in developing technologies and
management systems, but also in enhancing cooperation, institutions and
knowledge exchange; improving water conservation and energy efficiency;
building local capacity; and ensuring resilience through shared
management of transboundary resources. Science offers channels of
communication between states to overcome political tension and build
trust.
We affirm the need to collaborate to improve governance, to inform
technological choices and investments, and to build social and human
infrastructures for equitable and sustainable management of resources.
The 2030 Agenda sets a blueprint for tackling these challenges across
the Sustainable Development Goals but their interdependencies are not
yet fully understood and require increasingly interdisciplinary
approaches.
We endorse the three landmark UN agreements adopted in 2015 — the
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the Sendai Framework for Disaster
Risk Reduction 2015–2030, and the Paris Agreement on Climate Change.
We call for science to be given a central role in enabling the
analysis and synthesis of evidence to inform their implementation,
delivery, and compliance through research monitoring and evaluation.
2. The preservation of scientific capacities, threatened by global migration trends, is key to peace, sustainable development, resilience and recovery
Peace and prosperity depend not only on economic or natural
resources, but also on a society’s capacity to anticipate, identify and
understand challenges, and to act effectively to generate and deploy
scientific knowledge. The capacity to educate, attract and retain
professionals in science, technology and innovation (STI) is essential
for societies to follow sustainable development paths and is the main
pillar of any attempt for successful recovery and reconstruction,
following conflict, economic crises, and natural and anthropogenic
disasters.
Individual causes for migration among scientists may range from
career or economic benefits, discrimination of underrepresented groups,
the limitation of academic freedom, and political instability, to famine
and armed-conflicts. Regardless of the causes, continuous and
long-lasting out-migration of skilled STI personnel undermines present
and future capacities for innovation in all countries and leads to an
acceleration in development gaps. Such global and regional migration
patterns must be acknowledged as a shared challenge and leveraged to
create future development opportunities.
Science must make an increasingly important contribution to the
discourse surrounding migration: the science community must offer
insights into the causes, benefits and challenges connected with
migration, give voice to underrepresented stakeholders, and support the
development of policies based on empirical evidence to respond to the
causes and consequences of migration.
The debilitating effects of brain drain on equitable global progress
in recent decades have been exacerbated by rapidly increasing
dislocation and forced migration. In the Middle East and North Africa
alone, war and civil conflicts have forced millions of people to leave
their homes and with migration as their only option. Integration of
migrant scientists is marked by inequalities in terms of countries of
origin, gender or religion, and the underutilization of skills due to
bureaucratic obstacles and a lack of recognition of qualifications.
In order to prevent an irreversible loss of human capital in science,
it is imperative to introduce measures to help those displaced to
continue their careers, and when the time comes to enable them to
contribute effectively to rebuilding and reconstruction.
We call on science organizations, universities and governments to
devise mechanisms to identify professionals among the millions displaced
by war, economic hardship and climate change, and set recommendations
that protect their status and their ability to create knowledge.
We underline the need for education and jobs programs to support
mobility and integration of migrant and refugee researchers and
students.
We call for the inclusion of migrant and refugee researchers in the
negotiation process of the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular
Migration due to be signed by UN Member States in 2018.
3. Diversity is a key enabler of excellence in science, technology and innovation and is essential to optimise its relevance and impact
Diversity is a key enabler of scientific excellence and improves the
social, environmental and economic impacts of science, thus contributing
to prosperity and peace. For the scientific community to innovate
effectively, it must reflect different methodologies, linguistics, life
experiences and cultural values.
Diversity and inclusion should address all forms of discrimination.
Conscious and unconscious biases and imbalances are even more apparent
in leadership roles.
Uniformity breeds a recurring and self-affirming scientific monologue
that impairs genuine innovation. The homogeneity of scientific
communities discourages diversity from the earliest stages of science
education.
We call for the recognition and promotion of diversity in science as
an essential precursor to fully realising the potential of human
capacities globally, to cherishing excellence, and to optimising the
impact of scientific research for the benefit of humankind
We advocate for innovative measures and the assessment of
gender-disaggregated data, as well as support for the design and
implementation of science, technology and innovation (STI) policy
instruments that positively affect gender equality in STEM.
4. We commit to the fulfilment of the universal right to science
We reinforce and commit to promote the right for all to participate
in the advancement of science and the right to enjoy the benefits of
scientific progress and its applications as established in Article 27 of
the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948), and Article 15 of the
International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (1966).
In the five decades since the adoption of these core documents for
peace and equitable progress, the world of science has seen fundamental
and systemic changes and challenges: The emergence of new actors, new
methods, transdisciplinary approaches requiring co-design and
co-production of knowledge, increased responsibilities for the global
scientific community, and the globalisation of commerce and industry.
These changes have challenged partnerships among the stakeholders of
science. This transformed global landscape calls for the empowerment of
the right to science, and for a normative structure to support and
expand its applications. This must be complemented by an
interdisciplinary approach to the assessment of new scientific
discoveries and technologies that embraces social scientists in mapping
systemic impacts on societies.
We, the partner organisations of the World Science Forum, and all
participants of World Science Forum 2017, commit to defend academic
freedom.
We embrace the Principle of the Universality of Science adopted by
ICSU member organisations, the renewed Recommendation on Science and
Scientific Researchers adopted by UNESCO, the Statement on Scientific
Freedom and Responsibility adopted by AAAS, and IAP’s Doing Global
Science: A Guide to Responsible Conduct in the Global Research
Enterprise.
We call for the stakeholders of science to join together in promoting
and communicating the universal right to science as an essential
precursor to building a fair and durable peace.
5. We support the launch of a regional science forum for the Arab World
We recognise the importance of regional initiatives to strengthen
cohesion within diverse scientific communities and to build partnerships
among them. In this respect we support the organisation and promotion
of regional science fora as powerful tools to initiate positive change
focusing on regional challenges to science systems.
In this spirit we support the launch of an Arab Science Forum to draw
together science and research communities, to focus scientific capacity
to address regional challenges, and to connect regional science voices
to the wider discourse of established regional fora.
We as partner organisations and participants of World Science Forum
2017 commit our support to the establishment of the Arab Science Forum.
Postado por Hadson Bastos
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