The United Nations General Assembly proclaims 2022 International Year of Basic Sciences for Sustainable Development

 

New York - 3 December It is official: the year 2022 will be the International Year of Basic Sciences for Sustainable Development. So decided the United Nations General Assembly on 2 December 2021, when Member States unanimously approved a resolution originally proposed by Honduras and since supported by a range of countries that include Armenia, Dominican Republic, Fiji, Georgia, Guatemala, Jordan, Paraguay, South Africa and Viet Nam.

 

In endorsing the Year, the United Nations General Assembly stressed that 'the applications of basic sciences are vital for advances in medicine, industry, agriculture, water resources, energy planning, environment, communications and culture'. One of the most prominent examples of the ties between basic research and societal change is the transistor. When the first transistor radio came on the market in the early 1950s, it was the fruit of almost 50 years of basic research in public laboratories. The computer chip followed, the first integrated circuit. Since then, the miniaturization of integrated circuits has made it possible to manufacture ever-smaller mechanical, electronic and optical devices: today's smartphones use millions of miniscule transistors to perform complex processes. 

 

Having a capacity in basic sciences is in the interests of both developed and developing countries, given the potential for applications to raise standards of living and foster sustainable development. 

 

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.  

 

In chemistry, basic research is laying the foundations for 'green' applications such as innocuous alternatives to toxic chemicals and solvents, more energy-efficient chemical processes, biodegradable chemicals and waste and so on. 

 

Graphene was isolated in 2004. It is ultra-light and much stronger than steel, yet extremely flexible. It offers countless potential applications in industry. For instance, graphene could be incorporated in rubber soles, to make shoes more durable. 

 

 'We need more basic science to achieveThe 2030 Agenda and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals', affirmed the United Nations General Assembly.  According to data from the UNESCO Institute for Statistics for 86 countries, the share of domestic research expenditure devoted to basic sciences varies widely from one country to another. Some countries devote less than 10% of their research expenditure to basic sciences, others more than 30%.

 

With this resolution, the United Nations General Assembly invites all its Member States, United Nations agencies and other global, regional and subregional organizations, as well as other relevant stakeholders such as academia, civil society and the private sector, 'to observe and raise awareness of the importance of basic sciences for sustainable development, in accordance with national priorities'.

 

The endorsement by the United Nations General Assembly follows on the heels of the recommendation (resolution 40/C 76) by the 193 Member States attending UNESCO's General Conference in Paris in November 2021 that 2022 be proclaimed International Year of Basic Sciences for Sustainable Development. 

 

The adoption of the Year is the culmination of a four-year campaign led by the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics which also implicated the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) and 25 other international scientific unions and research organizations around the world, under the auspices of UNESCO. 

 

As lead United Nations agency for Year, UNESCO will be organizing the kick-off conference for the Year on 30 June - 1 July 2022. Following the launch, UNESCO and its partners will organize a series of events and activities around the world until 30 June 2023 to showcase the links between basic sciences and the 17 Sustainable Development Goals. These partners include over 90 national and international science academies, learned societies, scientific networks, research centres and universities. 

                                                       

Media contacts:

Amal Kasry, Chief of Section for Capacity Building in Basic Science and Engineering, UNESCO: a.kasry@unesco.org

Clare O'Hagan, Head of Press service, UNESCO: c.o-hagan@unesco.org

Michel Spiro, president of the Steering Committee for the International Year of Basic Sciences for Sustainable Development: michel.spiro@iybssd2022.org

Luc Allemand, secretary general of the International Year of Basic Sciences for Sustainable Development: luc.allemand@iybssd2022.org

 

More at https://www.iybssd2022.org

 

Partners

UNESCO is the lead United Nations agency for the International Year of Basic Sciences for Sustainable Development. It is co-ordinating the Year in collaboration with a consortium of international scientific unions and research organizations led by:

 

International Union of Pure an Applied Physics,

European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), 

UNESCO's Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics, Italy

Chinese Academy of Sciences, 

European Gravity Observatory, 

European Physical Society, 

Fonds de recherche du Québec, Canada

Institut de recherche pour le développement, France

International Astronomical Union, 

Industrial Council for Industrial and Applied Mathematics, 

International geographical Union, 

International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, 

International Mathematical Union, 

International Mineralogical Association, 

International Science Council, 

International Union for Vacuum Science, Technique and Application, 

International Union of Biological Sciences, 

International Union of Crystallography, 

International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics,

International Union of History and Philosophy of Science and Technology, 

International Union of Material Research Societies, 

International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry, 

Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Italy,

Joint Institute for Nuclear Research, Russian Federation,

Nuclear Physics European Collaboration Committee, Rencontres du Vietnam, 

Scientific Committee on Oceanic Research, 

Square Kilometer Array Observatory, South Africa

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