| 28th General Assembly and Strategic Plan
The 28th ICSU General Assembly, which is convened every three
years, took place in Suzhou, China on 18-21 October. It was attended
by representatives from 63 National Members and 25 Scientific
Unions and was superbly hosted by the China Association for Science
and Technology (CAST).
Strategic Plan 2006-2011
The Assembly debated and unanimously approved ICSU’s first
ever Strategic Plan. This ambitious plan, which is the culmination
of an extensive series of international reviews and consultations
over the past 3 years, is now available online and will be distributed
in hard copy in January 2006.
Scientific Highlights from the Assembly included:
Establishment of the International Polar
Year, 2007-2008
Based on the Framework for the International Polar Year, which
was prepared by an ICSU Planning Group, the IPY was established
to be cosponsored by the World Meteorological Organization.
Planning for a new Hazards programme
After consideration of the report from an ad hoc Scoping Group,
ICSU Members requested that the planning be started for a new
interdisciplinary programme on Natural and Human-induced Environmental
Hazards and Disasters.
Report:
Press Release:
Data and Information Forum
Following the recommendations in the ICSU Priority Area Assessment
on Data and Information, Members supported the development of
a new Scientific Data and Information Forum (SciDIF) to help implement
a more coordinated approach across different scientific disciplines
and countries.
Freedom and Responsibility in Science
ICSU will play a more proactive role in monitoring and advising
on issues that influence the Universality of Science. A new policy
Committee on Freedom and Responsibility in Conduct of Science
will be established.
Sustainable development, health, energy, and scientific capacity
Other key themes of the strategic plan were discussed and specific
actions agreed as detailed in the draft decisions from the General
Assembly, which are now available to participants for comments
(restricted to Members and GA Participants).
Resolutions on social sciences and evolution
The General Assembly adopted three resolutions. The first recognises
the importance of working more closely with social sciences in
order to achieve ICSU’s scientific goals. The second reaffirms
its rejection of pseudoscience and endorses the teaching of evolution.
ICSU takes a stand against the teaching of creationism and intelligent
design as if they were scientific alternatives (Annex 8 of draft
decisions).
New ICSU President and President-Elect
Goverdhan Mehta (India) took over the presidency from Jane Lubchenco
(USA) at the end of the meeting, for the next 3 years, and Catherine
Bréchignac (France) was elected to take over as President
in 2008.
Election of new Executive Board
The General Assembly elected a new Executive Board, with Khotso
Mokhele (South Africa) and Hernan Chaimovich (Brazil) serving
as Vice-Presidents for the next three years. Ana Maria Cetto (Mexico)
was re-elected Secretary General and Roger Elliott will serve
an other term as Treasurer.
Welcome to new Members
We are pleased to welcome the following bodies which were admitted
to membership in ICSU by the 28th General Assembly:
- International Scientific Union Members:
- International Union of Materials Research Societies (IUMRS)
- International Union of Forest Research Organizations (IUFRO)
- International Union for Quaternary Science (INQUA)
- National Scientific Member:
- Mauritius Research Council
- Scientific Associate
- International Commission for Optics (ICO)
Press coverage
The Assembly attracted a considerable amount of media interest
in many countries.
Data and Information
World Summit on the Information Society
(Phase II)
The end of second phase of the World Summit on the Information
Society was marked by a major Summit meeting in Tunis in November.
ICSU and several Interdisciplinary Bodies and Members played a
prominent role in an important side event that preceded the Summit
and brought together a diverse range of experts from the public
and private sectors to discuss the Past, Present and Future of
Research in the Information Society.
The Summit also provided a forum for the advancement of a new
Global Information Commons for Science Initiative, which aims
to bring together various stakeholders interested in the scientific,
economic and legal aspects of access regimes for scientific data
and information.
Capacity Building
Regional Office for Africa
The Regional Office for Africa was inaugurated on 1 September
by H. E. the Honourable Mosibudi Mangena, Minister for Science
and Technology of South Africa.
The ICSU Regional Committee for Africa met on 29-30 August in
Pretoria. Based on the ICSU Strategic Plan, the Committee agreed
on the following four initial priorities: (i) health and human-well
being, (ii) sustainable energy, (iii) natural and human-induced
hazards, and (iv) global climate change.
Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific
The cabinet of the government of Malaysia has accepted the proposal
to establish an ICSU regional office for Asia and the Pacific
at the Academy of Sciences Malaysia in Kuala Lumpur.
The ICSU Executive Board has appointed a Regional Committee for
Asia and the Pacific under the Chairmanship of Professor Anupam
Varma (India).The first meeting of the committee will take place
in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on 16-17 January 2006.
Regional Office for Latin America and the
Caribbean
Following an invitation from Brazil, the ICSU Executive Board
has expressed interest in establishing a Regional Office for Latin
America and the Caribbean based at the Brazilian Academy of Sciences.
Before a final decision is made, ICSU will consult with all National
Members in the region.
Priority Area Assessment on Capacity Building
This report, which has helped to define ICSU’s future strategy
in Capacity Building, has now been finalized and will be published
in early 2006. One of the specific follow-up actions to this assessment
will be a more detailed scoping of ICSU’s potential role
in science education.
Environment
International Polar Year (IPY)
IPY is attracting a huge amount of interest from the international
scientific community. Scientists from 60 countries have submitted
research proposals addressing key research areas, such as people,
earth, land, ocean, ice, atmosphere and space. The ICSU-WMO Joint
Committee has identified 139 of these projects as of sufficient
quality, novelty and scale to be included in IPY; an updated preliminary
planning chart is available on the IPY website.
The deadline for the third and final call for the submission of
full IPY proposals is January 31, 2006.
New Executive Director for the International
Human Dimensions Programme (IHDP)
Dr Andreas Rechkemmer took over from Barbara Goebel as the new
Executive Director of the International Human Dimensions Programme
on Global Environmental Change (IHDP) in mid November.
Earth System Science Partnership (ESSP)
Open Science Conference
ESSP is organizing an Open Science Conference in Beijing, 9-12
November 2006, to present progress in our understanding of the
natural and social systems of global environmental change and
to highlight the ESSP approach to the study of the Earth System.
Prior to this Conference, the 2nd International Young Scientists’
Global Change Conference (7-8 November 2006), organized by the
ESSP SysTem for Analysis Research and Training (START), will convene
in Beijing and will provide an opportunity for young scientists
to present and discuss their work.
ESSP:
START:
Science and Policy
14th session of the UN Commission on Sustainable
Development
The 2006 meeting of the UN Commission on Sustainable Development
(CSD) will be focusing on the themes of energy, climate change,
ctmosphere/air pollution, and industrial development. ICSU, in
its role as one of the CSD’s organizing partners for the
Science & Technology community, has developed a Discussion
Paper addressing these themes. This will be distributed to all
of the CSD participants. The paper was developed with significant
input from the ICSU community, and is available on our website.
World Science Forum – Budapest
The second World Science Forum was convened in Budapest in November
and focussed on “Knowledge, Ethics and Responsibility”.
ICSU, together with UNESCO and the European Commission, is a principal
co-sponsor of this Forum, which brings together representatives
from academia, science management, industry and government.
Group on Earth Observations (GEO)
At GEO-II in Geneva 14-15 December, the work plan for 2006 was
approved. Four committees were also established, and ICSU was
appointed co-chair of the Science and Technology Committee together
with Germany and South Africa.
ICSU Governance and Policies
Policy Committee on Developing Countries
(PCDC)
The PCDC met in Pretoria on 31 August and developed its recommendations
to the General Assembly. The PCDC also had a joint meeting with
the ICSU Regional Office for Africa on the same day.
New membership of CSPR confirmed
The membership of the ICSU Committee on Scientific planning and
review has been agreed by the Executive Board, following consideration
of nominations from Members. This committee, which will be chaired
by the newly elected Vice-President, Khotso Mokhele, will play
a central role in implementing the ICSU strategy over the next
three years.
Executive Board report
The report from the 91st ICSU Executive Board meeting, which took
place prior to the General Assembly in October, is now available.
ICSU Secretariat
Secondment to ICSU
Peter Collins, who was seconded to the ICSU Secretariat for six
months, returned to his post as Head of Policy at the Royal Society
in early November. Peter made a very valuable contributions, including
managing the scoping exercise on natural and human-induced environmental
hazards. It is hoped that other Members and partners will consider
similar secondments in the future.
Calendar of Events
All ICSU Members are reminded that they can publicise their events
via the ICSU website.
75 Years of ICSU
2006 marks the 75th anniversary of the establishment of ICSU and
a number of activities are being planned to mark this occasion.
You will be hearing more about this early next year but in the
meantime all Members, partners and friends of ICSU are invited
to help celebrate 75 years of strengthening international science
for the benefit of society.
Season's greetings and best wishes for the New
Year.
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