First UNESCO Science Centres Coordination Meeting took place in the Beijing Conference Centre in China from 16 to 18 May 2016.
ISEDC Executive Director Yury Posysaev attended the meeting co-hosted by UNESCO, the Chinese Academy of Engineering and Chinese Academy of Sciences.
The first global meeting of UNESCO’s Natural Sciences Centres took place in Beijing, China, to discuss how they can best contribute to the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and strengthen cooperation.
UNESCO’s Natural Sciences Sector counts with a network of 65 associated centres in the fields of water, renewable energy, science policy, biotechnology, geosciences, the basic sciences and remote sensing. Forty four of the centres were represented for this first meeting.
“We are grateful for the generous cooperation of the science and engineering community in China for taking this initiative because it is most timely for us to have this opportunity to discuss our common future together in particular in relation to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development” said Flavia Schlegel, Assistant Director-General for the Natural Sciences, as she opened the meeting, together with Prof. Zhou Ji, President of Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAE), Prof. Tan Tieniu, Vice President of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), and Mr. Zhou Jiagui, Deputy Secretary General of the Chinese National Commission for UNESCO.
“Today we will speak to you about the link between science, technology and innovation and the Sustainable Development Goals, which are more than a continuation of the Millennium Development Goals, as they are aimed to be inspirational for all countries of the world to achieve the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development” she continued. “Then you will reflect on how we can collectively through synergy, knowledge sharing and networking increase our contributions to the 2030 Agenda so that we can best help all countries achieve sustainable development.”
Category 2 institutes and centres provide a valuable and unique contribution to the implementation of UNESCO’s programme through capacity building; knowledge sharing; theoretical and experimental research; and advanced training.
In his opening remarks, Mr. Zhou Jiagui stressed the need for synergies and increasing cooperation between centres, which can play an essential role in reaching UNESCO’s objectives, as well as Sustainable Development Goals.
“Science and Technology have been propelling human society forward with irreversible and irresistible force. Every major advance in human civilization is closely related to revolutionary breakthrough in S&T” stated Prof. Zhou Ji (CAE).
Prof Tan Tieniu explained that for the past 25 years, the Chinese Academy of Sciences has given great importance to cooperation with UNESCO, especially in the fields of basic sciences and science policy, and called on the representatives of UNESCO’s centres to work together to support common goals in scientific research, capacity building and development.
The entire network of science-related centres met for the first time to discuss and identify contributions of the Centres to the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, through independent but also joint projects; to identify how the Centres can increase their contribution to the implementation of SC’s programme of work for the current biennium (2016-2017) and beyond; to define mechanisms to increase the cooperation between regional/similarly-themed Centres under the auspices of UNESCO, e.g. initiating the establishment of an information sharing platform among all Category 2 Centres.
At the end of the C2C Meeting the participants adopted a document Beijing Action Plan, which contains, inter alia, intentions of the parties to develop joint projects and programmes that bring together complementary resources and scientific expertise to meet the specific needs and requirements of UNESCO Member States; to promote and advocate best practices of UNESCO’s Science Centres through UNESCO publications and public information channels, including workshops and information meetings for the members of UNESCO’s governing bodies.
First UNESCO Science Centres Coordination Meeting was hosted by the Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAE) and the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), and co-organized by two UNESCO Category 2 Centres, namely the International Knowledge Centre for Engineering Sciences and Technology (IKCEST) and the International Centre on Space Technologies for Natural and Cultural Heritage (HIST), with the support of the Chinese National Commission for UNESCO and the Permanent Delegation of China to UNESCO.
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