7th World Science Forum in Budapest adopts declaration

ICSU, along with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, was a co-organizer of the 7th World Science Forum held from 4th to 7th November 2015 in Budapest. At the conclusion of the conference, a six-point declaration was adopted.

The declaration affirmed strong support for the newly-adopted Sustainable Development Goals, calling for action towards the goals as an underlying approach to all policies.

“We are committed to take and promote urgent and transformative steps to enable a shift for a new development path towards sustainable, equitable and more resilient societies and economies,” it said.

The declaration endorsed statements published recently by major scientific organisations including IPCC, ICSU, UNESCO, EASAC, and the outcome statement of the international science conference “Our Common Future under Climate Change” co-organized by UNESCO, ICSU, Future Earth and major research institutions in France in July 2015.

It reiterated a call contained in the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030 to “enhance the scientific and technical work on disaster risk reduction,” and affirmed the importance of sound, independent scientific advice for policy-making. Finally, it called for international collaboration on capacity building and mobilization in the developing world, and an equitable participation of women, young scientists, and minority groups in the practice and application of science, also through capacity-building programmes addressed to young scientists.

The full declaration is available here.