STI – The Key To U.N’s Success, Says Advisory Board
Dailycsr.com – 16 July 2015 – The group of advisers consisting of “international scientists” delivered a message to the United Nations’ Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon wherein the combination of “science, technology and innovation”, in short STI, has been termed as “the game changer” in regard to the “future development efforts” made by the U.N. A report that was released on Thursday, apparently stated that closing the “investment gaps” that exists between “international science, technology and innovation” would set in motion the action of reducing the difference between “developed and developing countries”.
The advisory board of the Secretary General of U.N. consists of “26-members” highlights the fact that many governments find the one percent usage of their GDP targeting investments in the field of Research and Development to be a “high” value, while other countries with a strong “STI system” use almost 3.5% of their GPD on research oriented activities. Furthermore, the advisory board points out:
The advisory board of the Secretary General of U.N. consists of “26-members” highlights the fact that many governments find the one percent usage of their GDP targeting investments in the field of Research and Development to be a “high” value, while other countries with a strong “STI system” use almost 3.5% of their GPD on research oriented activities. Furthermore, the advisory board points out:
“If countries wish to break the poverty cycle and achieve (post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals), they will have to set up ambitious national minimum target investments for STI, including special allotments for the promotion of basic science and science education and literacy.”
The investment of this kind will be able to solve the security issues of “access” to water, food and energy supply, in today’s world facing the effects of climate change which is resulting in the loss of biodiversity, whereby it will be –
“... alleviating poverty, creating jobs, reducing inequalities, increasing income and enhancing health and well-being.”
As per the recommendations made by the boards the investments should explore the areas of –
“.. novel alternative energy solutions, water filters that remove pathogens at the point-of-use, new robust building materials from locally available materials, nanotechnology for health and agriculture, and biological approaches to industrial production, environmental remediation and management.”
The “senior programme specialist” informed the media that keeping all the major four elements of the development agenda post 2015, STI can be established in all of these fields, which comprises of:
- Declaration;
- SDGs/Targets/indicators;
- Means of Implementation;
- Accountability Frameworks for monitoring
The report gives an extensive list of the possible areas that the STI can impact. Moreover, the board is identifying “critical issues”, monitoring their progress, looking into the “root causes of challenges” and finally offering “potential ways forward”. It also plans on synthesising the findings of various “scientific fields” and institutions, whereby developing a strong integrate “inter-agency support” which would act like a consortium of guidelines helping the U.N agencies to function in a sustainable manner. Furthermore, the board urges on creating a forum of influential world leaders who would “promote and monitor sustainable development”. However, the report states:
“This could be accomplished by creating a formal seat for science on the HLPF, and/or by involving the Scientific Advisory Board and organisations such as the National Academies of Sciences, UNESCO, International Council for Science (ICSU), Future Earth, regional scientific bodies, and others,” says the report.
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