Opening address at the High Level Political Forum of the United Nations

President, International Science Council
Monday 17 July, New York/ Tuesday 18 July, NZ Time

This is not an ordinary session. We are going to provocatively insist that substantive changes are needed in science and that serious commitment to funding is needed if the sustainability agenda is going to be realistically achieved.

This is not an ordinary session. We are going to provocatively insist that substantive changes are needed in science and that serious commitment to funding is needed if the sustainability agenda is going to be realistically achieved. The work we will present is the result of four years’ work led by the ISC but with the extensive involvement of scientists and policy makers worldwide.

In 2019, recognizing the urgent need to harness the full potential of science for advancing sustainable development, the ISC launched the Global Forum of Funders (GFF) initiative – in collaboration with leading organizations, including the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), the Swedish Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), the US National Science Foundation, the National Research Foundation of South Africa, the International Development Research Centre in Canada, the UK Research and Innovation, Future Earth, the Belmont Forum, and the Volkswagen Stiftung.

The Forum served as an open platform that unites leaders representing national research funding agencies, international development aid agencies, private foundations, and scientific institutions. Together, they are committed to scaling up collectively to maximize the impact of science on the implementation of the SDGs.

They entrusted the ISC with shaping a priority action agenda for science that would support and enable societies to accelerate societal transformations towards sustainability.

Through a global call and extensive literature review, and under an oversight board chaired by Mary Robinson, former president of Ireland, and with the strong support of IIASA, the ISC developed the Unleashing Science: Delivering Missions for Sustainability report in 2021.

That report highlighted the need to get beyond siloed consideration of the SDGs, the need to focus on nexus-based transformation with a systems-based approach, and using transdisciplinary approaches requiring genuine collaboration with policy-makers, civil society, and the private sector.

Presented during the second session of the GFF in April 2021, the ISC was assigned the task of initiating a consultative process to identify institutional arrangements and funding mechanisms for implementing mission science for sustainability. This led the ISC Board to establish the Global Commission on Science Missions for Sustainability.

Chaired by Irina Bokova and Helen Clark with a mix of policy makers, scientists of note and civil society members, the Commission was supported by a technical advisory group chaired by Albert van Jaarsveld and Pamela Matson, former dean of sustainability at Stanford and an ISC board member.

It comprised real experts in science funding and policy.

Their report was provocative to say the least, and very ambitious but was endorsed by the Commission. Today we will hear the Commission’s conclusions, and the ISC is now charged with defining the path forward.

There are two takeaway messages to keep in mind as we present the report.

The science system needs new modalities if it is to be effective. Indeed, we need a big science approach to address the wicked problems just as we have been prepared to fund big science in basic astrophysics. The difference is not physical infrastructure but dispersed human infrastructure.

The funding needs to turn science to action needs a global approach to support local action.