Skip to main content

10 November: World Science Day for Peace and Development




World Science Day for Peace and Development is celebrated annually on 10 November. Its aim is to highlight the importance of science in our daily lives, and that science, peace, and development are interlinked.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) proclaimed 10 November the World Science Day for Peace and Development in 2001. Since 2001 UNESCO has generated funding for science projects and programs around around the world. The World Science Day for Peace and Development also helps foster cooperation between scientists living in conflict and post-conflict regions, and in developing countries.

By linking science more closely with society, the World Science Day for Peace and Development wants to ensure that people are kept informed of scientific developments and the role scientists play in broadening the understanding of the planet and sustainable societies.

The 2016 theme for the World Science Day for Peace and Development is ‘Celebrating Science Centres and Science Museums.’

The objectives are to:
  • strengthen public awareness on 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 and raising support for the scientific endeavour. 

Science is a critical part of the United Nation’s 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), the Addis Ababa Agenda, the Sendai Framework for Action, and the Paris Agreement on Climate Change. These agreements nurture scientific innovation and creativity, and encourage a more inclusive sustainable path to the future.

Science Centres and Science Museums are important for capacity building, advocacy, and as a means of providing information and education to schools and the general public on science in all of its varied forms.










MARTINA NICOLLS is an international aid and development consultant, and the author of:- The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Pir-E-Kamil - The Perfect Mentor by Umera Ahmed: book review

The Perfect Mentor pbuh  (2011) is set in Lahore and Islamabad in Pakistan. The novel commences with Imama Mubeen in medical university. She wants to be an eye specialist. Her parents have arranged for her to marry her first cousin Asjad. Salar Sikander, her neighbour, is 18 years old with an IQ of 150+ and a photographic memory. He has long hair tied in a ponytail. He imbibes alcohol, treats women disrespectfully and is generally a “weird chap” and a rude, belligerent teenager. In the past three years he has tried to commit suicide three times. He tries again. Imama and her brother, Waseem, answer the servant’s call to help Salar. They stop the bleeding from his wrist and save his life. Imama and Asjad have been engaged for three years, because she wants to finish her studies first. Imama is really delaying her marriage to Asjad because she loves Jalal Ansar. She proposes to him and he says yes. But he knows his parents won’t agree, nor will Imama’s parents. ...

Flaws in the Glass, a self-portrait by Patrick White: book review

The manuscript, Flaws in the Glass (1981), is Patrick Victor Martindale White’s autobiography. White, born in 1912 in England, migrated to Sydney, Australia, when he was six months old. For three years, at the age of 20, he studied French and German literature at King’s College at the University of Cambridge in England. Throughout his life, he published 12 novels. In 1957 he won the inaugural Miles Franklin Literary Award for Voss, published in 1956. In 1961, Riders in the Chariot became a best-seller, winning the Miles Franklin Literary Award. In 1973, he was the first Australian author to be awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature for The Eye of the Storm, despite many critics describing his works as ‘un-Australian’ and himself as ‘Australia’s most unreadable novelist.’ In 1979, The Twyborn Affair was short-listed for the Booker Prize, but he withdrew it from the competition to give younger writers the opportunity to win the award. His autobiography, Flaws in the Glass...

Sister cities discussed: Canberra and Islamabad

Two months ago, in March 2015, Australia and Pakistan agreed to explore ways to deepen ties. The relationship between Australia and Pakistan has been strong for decades, and the two countries continue to keep dialogues open. The annual bilateral discussions were held in Australia in March to continue engagements on a wide range of matters of mutual interest. The Pakistan delegation discussed points of interest will include sports, agriculture, economic growth, trade, border protection, business, and education. The possible twinning of the cities of Canberra, the capital of Australia, and Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan, were also on the agenda (i.e. called twin towns or sister cities). Sister City relationships are twinning arrangements that build friendships as well as government, business, culture, and community linkages. Canberra currently has international Sister City relationships with Beijing in China and Nara in Japan. One example of existing...