To address global challenges from climate change and renewable energy, to poverty and gender equality, the UN Sustainable Development Goals set the framework for a better future for all. Many of these issues can be addressed by science and technology breakthroughs, and promoting the sharing of scientific knowledge is vital. This sums up the success of the inaugural gathering of WCSL 2018, whose theme was: “Building a community for humankind’s shared future”.
Riding on the success from the first event, which attracted more than 1,000 representatives, including 6 Nobel Prize winners, from 23 international science organizations and 58 national science and technology agencies, WCSL 2019 is returning to Beijing this October. With the theme of Science Literacy for Sustainable Development, this year’s conference aims to contribute to the achievement of the UN Sustainable Development Goals by fostering connections between science and society, promoting knowledge and resource sharing between nations in science education and communications, and improving global scientific literacy. Thousands of researchers, educators and entrepreneurs are expected to participate.
As the community eagerly awaits this year’s event, some highlights from last year may set the scene for WCSL 2019.
Climate change and science communication
Global sustainability is best exemplified by the ongoing climate change debate, and is the main theme for this year.
With greenhouse gas emissions growing, weather patterns are changing, and sea levels are rising, posing serious threats. The WCSL 2018 featured climate change for one of its almost 50 panel sessions. The discussion was chaired by former director of the China Meteorological Administration, Dahe Qin, who is also the first Chinese scientist to cross the South Pole, and a familiar face in the national discussions on climate change.
“A major issue surrounding climate change is the promotion of public understanding: transforming scientific facts into accessible, easy-to-understand action points for the public,” said Mark Howden, Director of the Climate Change Institute at the Australian National University, during the panel. “We also need to promote mutual understanding between the more conservative stakeholders, who prefer to focus on creating economic value, and those who have been fighting for climate justice.”
Panmao Zhai, Secretary General of the Chinese Meteorological Society and Co-Chair of Working Group I of The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), said that urban planning must account for heightened pollution and extreme weather events, future-proofing cities for climate change.
Gender equality in science
Proportionate gender representation in research fields was the subject of another panel session at the 2018 event.
Only around 14% of females chose to pursue scientific research in 2010, compared to 39% of males, said Hongyan Li, National Programme Officer at UNESCO’s Beijing Office, one of the panelists. She attributed this phenomenon and a high turnover rate of female scientists to ‘hidden’ gender discrimination in academic institutions. “Only by bringing light to the various latent forms of gender discrimination via policy changes could we discourage gender stereotyping existing in professorships and other leadership roles,” Li said.
Kim Baldridge from the School of Pharmaceutical Science and Technology at Tianjin University summed up strategies for workplace equality, such as putting forward a greater number of female scientists for publicity.
“More importantly, early education in the family is crucial, promoting the understanding that both boys and girls can play equally important parts in our scientific future,” she added. “I would also like to congratulate China on the progress made in terms of the number of female scientists getting more equal footing for recognition and research resources.”
These are only some of the many thought-provoking highlights from last year, in addition to topics ranging from disease control, to agricultural and marine science. Debate on the myriad important issues is key to scientific literacy.
António Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations to the World Conference on Science Literacy, summed up on last year’s success. Credit: The World Conference on Science Literacy (WCSL)
António Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations to the World Conference on Science Literacy, summed up on last year’s success as follows: “As we strive to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, we must do more not only to harness science for good, but to advance science literacy. In that spirit, I thank China Association for Science and Technology for organizing the event.”
This set the stage for WCSL 2019, which expects to shape an international collaboration and exchange platform on issues around global sustainability, and develop effective action plans.
