Día Mundial de la Ciencia para la Paz y el Desarrollo

‘The applications of basic sciences are vital for advances in medicine, industry, agriculture, water resources, energy planning, environment, communications and culture’, affirmed the United Nations General Assembly on 2 December 2021, when it endorsed the proposal for an International Year of Basic Sciences for Sustainable Development. World Science Day is contributing to the Year in 2022 by celebrating this theme.

‘We need more basic science to achieve The 2030 Agenda and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals’, the United Nations General Assembly noted in December 2021. It is true that the share of domestic research expenditure devoted to basic sciences varies widely from one country to another. According to data from the UNESCO Science Report 2021 for 86 countries, some devote less than 10% of their research expenditure to basic sciences and others more than 30%.

Having a capacity in basic sciences is in the interests of both developed and developing countries, given the potential for applications to foster sustainable development and raise standards of living. For example, a growing number of people around the world suffer from diabetes. Thanks to laboratory studies of the ways in which genes can be manipulated to make specific protein molecules, scientists are able to engineer genetically a common bacterium, Escherichia coli, to produce synthetic human insulin.

World Science Day is co-ordinated each year by UNESCO, which is also the lead United Nations agency for sciences and the International Year of Basic Sciences for Sustainable Development.

Scientists, science communicators and science enthusiasts are encouraged to prepare their own events to celebrate World Science Day. To this end, UNESCO has prepared a poster which may be downloaded or printed in Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish. There is also a blank version which may serve as the basis for posters in other languages.

The following are some suggestions of how you can contribute to World Science Day through your institution:

• If you are a researcher, organize an open day for the public at your university or research centre with an accompanying programme; this programme may include activities such as:
  • a tour of your laboratories and other facilities dedicated to basic research for the general public and/or for middle- and high-school pupils that includes a hands-on experience or demonstration of your work;
  • a series of popular lectures, such as in the conversational format of TED talks.
• If you are a science popularizer, organize an exhibition at your science museum or science centre on the theme of basic science for sustainable development, or one component of basic science, such as how basic research in chemistry can foster sustainable development;
• If you are either of the above or simply a science enthusiast, record a short video explainer with concrete examples of the ways in which basic science has contributed to sustainable development and post this video on social media.

You may have your own ideas. Please share them with us, so that we can include these on our webpages. Your ideas may inspire others!