Scientists and diplomats kicked off two days of talks at UNESCO headquarters in Paris on how to work together on solutions to global challenges while fighting misinformation and eroding public trust.
"These challenges know no borders, no ideologies, no political divisions," Ekaterina Zaharieva, the European Union's commissioner for startups, research and innovation, said in opening the U.N.-led talks on Tuesday. "Science must offer a way forward when politics seems to struggle."
Leaders in science and diplomacy discussed the evolving role of science diplomacy and ways of using it to tackle challenges like climate change, poverty and inequality. A statement by ministers from Africa, the Americas, Asia and Europe is expected to be adopted on Wednesday.
Science diplomacy is not new. It has been used for decades with projects such as the International Space Station and the world's biggest atom smasher at CERN, or the European Organization for Nuclear Research, on the outskirts of Geneva. Recently, though, it has been catching on with nations like Malaysia, Rwanda, South Africa, and Switzerland supporting new organizations and programs.
The E.U. published a new framework for science diplomacy in February that aims "to project soft power and pursue its economic interests and fundamental values more effectively." A groundbreaking U.S.-U.K. document that defined science diplomacy 15 years ago was updated last month to reflect pressures ranging from economic competition to artificial intelligence to tech titans pursuing statecraft.
The United Kingdom's Royal Society and American Association for the Advancement of Science said their "central critique of the 2010 report is that it was overly optimistic about the potential of science diplomacy to solve global challenges, and assumed a commitment to multilateralism and global solidarity that seems increasingly unrealistic."
While the expansion of science diplomacy has led to more training, conferences, and national strategies, overuse of the term risks diluting its meaning, said Kimberly Montgomery, director of AAAS' international affairs and science diplomacy. "Clearly, we are in an era of disruption," she said, "and while it is easy to focus on the challenges, I also want to remind you there are opportunities in an era of disruption."
The U.S.-U.K. update shifts the emphasis to how science and diplomacy impact each other. Science diplomacy is "neither good nor bad" but simply a means to achieve a national or organizational objective, Montgomery said. The update also "recognizes a broader layer" of non-governmental forces at work, she added, such as a global technology company engaging with international organizations in pursuit of interests that "may not always conform to places they are in."
'The closest thing we have to an international language'
The central question is how to harness science in an increasingly fragmented world, said Tshilidzi Marwala, a leading artificial intelligence researcher who is rector of the United Nations University in Tokyo and a member of the U.N. secretary-general’s science advisory board.
"This is one of the most disruptive and dangerous times in our living history. Misinformation is spreading, geopolitical fractures are deepening, and inequality is rising. This has led to a dramatic decline of trust," he said. "At the same time, scientific advancements hold the possibility to solve some of our greatest challenges."
Marwala advised raising public trust in science, ensuring science is used to make positive impacts, and making those impacts equitable and fair.
"Science is only as powerful as the trust we place in it. ... Science must become a bridge," he said. "Science remains one of the few areas where global cooperation actually continues. Our solutions must and can transcend national borders."
Colombia's science minister, Yesenia Olaya Requene, touted the potential for tackling borderless crises. Her nation, home to about 10% of the world's species, is studying how to stop biodiversity losses by managing intersecting policies on farming, mining, and other issues. "Science has no borders," she said. "Knowledge grows when we share it."
Peter Gluckman, president of the International Science Council, emphasized the importance of using science as a way to built trust and to "remind ourselves we all live on one planet, and the planet is at risk."
While the rise of populism undermines science and policymaking and many countries pursue more self-interest, he said, science diplomacy has always worked to advance – and bridge – national interests. "Scientists are the most internationally connected people in the world," Gluckman said, and science is "the closest thing we have to an international language."
Zakri Abdul Hamid, an agricultural expert and founding director of Malaysia's International Institute for Science Diplomacy and Sustainability, recounted his journey from academia to diplomacy. As a junior science adviser to the Malaysian delegation at a U.N. biodiversity conference decades ago, he felt uncomfortable and wanted to go home, but an ambassador encouraged him to stay. Eventually, he caught on.
"It was in the delegates lounge where deals were made. I'm from a developing country. I've never felt so lonely in those negotiations. We have knowlege of science, but not of diplomacy," he said. "I learned 30 years ago how to be a negotiator. I learned it is more important to be working from the inside. ... The Global South needs to have that exposure so we can develop a level playing field."
