The first Global Ministerial Dialogue on Science Diplomacy was convened at the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in Paris from 25-27 March 2025, starting with a multistakeholder high-level conference. This wise global dialogue resonates with hope, as observed three months afterward, following the active implementation of its objectives:
- Foster high-level commitment to science diplomacy as an instrument for promoting dialogue and peace;
- Explore innovative science diplomacy initiatives through exchanges between ministers, scientists, diplomats, and experts to contribute to peace building and human rights protection;
- Agree on a common framework to advance shared goals through science diplomacy; and
- Highlight ongoing initiatives and opportunities in science diplomacy.
UNESCO – 25 March 2025
The Global Ministerial Dialogue on Science Diplomacy enhances global capacities to balance the unchecked capacities of nations – which have been the primary risk to the welfare of our globally-interconnected civilization since the Second World War. Innovations with science diplomacy are happening across the spectrum of subnational-national-international jurisdictions, as envisioned in the Co-Chairs’ Statement from 26 March 2023 with:
…capacity building and developing local, national, regional and international science diplomacy practices that foster coherence between science, technology, and innovation policies and foreign policy objectives, ensuring that they promote collaborative solutions to global challenges while respecting the diversity of national contexts.
The Co-Chairs’ Statement also underscores our shared challenge to “balance national interests and common interests”, revealing roles and responsibilities that exist with all 8 billion of us, which we can implement together:
…under the umbrella of the International Decade of Sciences for Sustainable Development (2024–2033), recognized the urgent need to strengthen the dialogue between science and diplomacy and to unlock the potential of science diplomacy in response to the complex challenges of our time.
UNESCO, 26 March 2025
Strengthening the dialogue between science and diplomacy also is happening around the world, across a ‘continuum of urgencies’, as revealed without ambiguity by the first Global Ministerial Dialogue on Science Diplomacy itself, accelerating from many earlier dialogues this millennium, including the: Wilton Park Conference and Antarctic Treaty Summit in 2009 as well as the 1st and 2nd International Dialogue on Science and Technology Advice with Foreign Ministries in 2016 and 2017, respectively.
The Global Ministerial Dialogue on Science Diplomacy also enabled sharing among diverse education efforts to train next-generation science diplomats globally, as represented at UNESCO on 27 March 2025 in the “Science Diplomacy Training: Objectives, Practices, and Recommendations” workshop that was co-convened with the European Union Science Diplomacy Alliance, European Union and UNESCO. The resulting Workshop Report is complemented by A European Framework on Science Diplomacy that was published by the European Commission on 13 February 2025, further reflecting decadal advancements with science diplomacy.
UNESCO, 27 March 2025
Importantly, the International Decade of Sciences for Sustainable Development (IDSSD) provides a runway from 2024 to 2033 with the 5th International Polar Year (IPY-5) in 2032-2033 as a guiding light – “far enough into the future to be imaginative and hopeful but close enough to be practical, especially to produce synergistic outcomes that inspire and empower next-generation leaders” – for the acceleration of science diplomacy in view of the“oldest continuous climate research program created by humanity”.
Emphasizing the Co-Chairs’ Statement from the Global Ministerial Dialogue on Science Diplomacy, there is shared responsibility across the global community of science (including natural sciences, social sciences and Indigenous knowledge):
…supporting UNESCO in leveraging science diplomacy for peace, cooperation, and sustainable progress… shaping a future where science serves as a bridge for dialogue and collective global action.
If We Think It!! We Can Build It!!
