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Background
The organization of a focused event related to the commitment to science and society was one of the positive outcomes of the 1999 World Conference on Science in Budapest. It was considered an opportunity to reaffirm each year the commitment to attaining the goals proclaimed in the Declaration on Science and the Use of Scientific Knowledge and to follow up the recommendations of the Science Agenda: Framework for Action.
The purpose of the Day is to:
- Strengthen public awareness of the role of science for peaceful and sustainable societies;
- Promote national and international solidarity for shared science between countries;
- Renew national and international commitment for the use of science for the benefit of societies;
- Draw attention to the challenges faced by science in raising support for the scientific endeavor.
The Day offers the opportunity to mobilize all actors around science for peace and development – from government officials to the media to school pupils.
Frontier Technologies for Sustainable Development
The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development unites humanity to pursue a common aspiration and a new path of action. The achievement of the 7 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) under the Agenda — while leaving no one behind — will require further development strategies and innovative resource mobilization. Emerging technologies have the potential to provide additional impetus for advancing the SDGs. The World Economic and Social Survey 2018 explores how certain new technologies can foster or hinder sustainable development and identifies policy measures that can expand potential benefits and mitigate any potential adverse effects on sustainable development.
Robots and artificial intelligence
Science and technology have had an undeniable impact on improving living standards and increasing productivity. With the rapid technological advancement of recent years, computers, robots and artificial intelligence are increasingly encroaching on previously considered exclusively human domains.
This situation has given rise to new questions and new debates and challenges. We need interdisciplinary studies and discussions among scientists, cyberspace and artificial intelligence specialists, social science researchers and theorists, civil society activists, and policymakers to achieve inclusive answers and sustainable solutions based on human dignity and justice.
Useful Links
- UNESCO: World Science Day for Peace and Development
- Natural Sciences
- Social and Human Sciences
- World Social Science Report 2016
- World Social Science Report 2013
- UNESCO Science Report 2010
- World Social Science Report 2010
More information is available here:
www.unesco.org/reports/science/2021/en
www.unesco.org/science/wcs/eng/declaration_e.htm