The Global Young Academy (GYA) today delivered a letter to United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon that stressed the importance of science for achieving sustainability and poverty reduction. The letter, written in response to the report by the UN’s High-Level Panel of Eminent Persons on the Post-2015 Development Agenda, contains five recommendations that were transmitted today by Managing Director Heidi Wedel and Rob Jenkins (member of the GYA Executive Committee) at the meeting of the UN Secretary-General’s Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) in Paris.
The recommendations, which will bolster the UN’s ability to achieve the Post-2015 goals of sustainability and poverty reduction, are:
1. Adopt a strong definition of ‘sustainability’ that includes environmental, social, and economic development and impact mitigation;
2. Integrate science directly into the development agenda by ensuring that actions taken to achieve every Sustainable Development Goal are based on the best evidence available.
3. Embed science into multi-stakeholder discussions to ensure the Post-2015 framework has the capacity to develop solutions whenever and wherever they are needed;
4. Promote science as a tool for diplomacy and security to provide both innovative, robust solutions for development and provide a bridge between cultures and nations around the world;
5. Develop output goals for scientific investment that include measures of progress towards development goals and how effectively outputs are utilized by policy-makers and transmitted to stakeholders.
“Science and sustainability are interconnected” says Co-Chair of the GYA Sameh Soror (Egypt), he explains the tight and overlapping nature in the relation between science and sustainability. “Science is essential to achieving sustainable development and poverty reduction,” adds immediate Past Co-Chair of the GYA, Rees Kassen (Canada), “and these recommendations provide a roadmap for integrating science effectively into the Post-2015 Development Agenda”.
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