18 July
Three internationally renowned New
Zealanders are part of the International Science Council’s
global commission calling for a “new way of doing
science” to tackle the UN sustainable development goals
(SDGs).
Former prime minister Helen Clark, film
director James Cameron, and president of the International
Science Council Distinguished Professor Sir Peter Gluckman
are members of a commission that has released the report
Flipping the Science Model: A Roadmap to Science
Missions for Sustainability (https://
council.science/publications/flipping-the-science-model) at
the High Level Political Forum of the UN in New York
today.
Ms Clark co-chairs the commission with Irina
Bokova, former Director General of UNESCO which was formed
in 2021 after discussion with the global funding community
which explored how to accelerate actionable science in
relation to the SDGs.
The commission states that
progress on the SDGs and the 2030 Agenda is unacceptably
slow, and there is a need to fund and undertake science for
the SDGs differently if we are to put humanity and the
planet back on a path towards long-term global
sustainability.
Sir Peter says the progress on the
SDGs has been disappointing which cannot be excused by
Covid-19 and conflict.
“There is a manifest gap
between words and action. There is a large gap between
technical risk assessments and how policy makers and
politicians react. We have seen this in almost every aspect
of the agenda – from climate change to issues in mental
health. We need to close that gap.”
He says while
there has been a willingness to invest in technology and
technological solutions, there is also a need to invest in a
“big science approach” using transdisciplinary methods
that includes natural sciences and humanities and engages
with other knowledge systems.
Transdisciplinary
science engages a cross section of stakeholders at the start
of and throughout a science challenge – ensuring
policy-makers, civil society, the private sector, and end
users are engaged from the beginning.
Sir Peter says
this is a different way of doing science and needs its own
institutional arrangements.
“This is not at the
expense of traditional science, which is needed. But we need
actionable knowledge applied now and this requires a very
different way of funding and doing science.”
He says
science is a global activity, but most science is funded at
a national level – less than 2% of the global research
budget goes to transnational activity and generally in very
limited areas and global north dominated.
“The
global community can find billions for a big science
approach to build telescopes. Why can it not find a billion
to fund the kind of research and properly engage communities
and stakeholders that is desperately needed to address
complex, wicked problems?”
The ISC hopes to initiate
some pilots next year while working with partners to build a
global initiative.
“The world must use science more
wisely and create systems to do so, or else the ambitions of
2015 will increasingly be replaced with despair. Working
with science can shift us towards a more optimistic
future,” Sir Peter
says.
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