UN panel on science and development meets to discuss poverty alleviation

Scientists, decision-makers and intellectuals from all over the world who comprise a United Nations panel on science for development gathered in Paris today to discuss strategies to promote sustainable development and poverty alleviation.

The two-day first meeting of the High Panel on Science for Development of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) is looking into trends in the sciences and the role UNESCO can play to promote the use of science for sustainable development.

It will also meet with the delegations of UNESCO Member States in two sessions whose themes are “Mobilizing international science to address pressing interdisciplinary challenges facing our societies,” and “Models for capacity building in science, technology and innovation.”

Irina Bokova, the Director-General of UNESCO, opened the meeting of the panel, whose members include: Indira Samarasekera, President and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Alberta (Canada); José Sarukhán Kermez, National Coordinator of Mexico’s National Commission for Knowledge and Use of Biodiversity; Ahmadou Lamine N’Diaye, President of the African Academy of Science; Gong Ke, President of the University of Nankai (China); and Partha Dasgupta, Professor of Economics at Cambridge University (United Kingdom).

They are tasked with providing UNESCO with guidelines for the development of strategies to promote sustainable development and combat poverty. They will also examine new partnerships with the private sector, civil society and academia.