GLOBAL SCIENCE FUNDING (Syllabus: GS Paper 2 - Education)

Context: The current science around sustainability science model requires a fundamental revamp to keep up with the pace and intricacy of climate challenges, the report Flipping the Science Model: A Roadmap to Science Missions for Sustainability by Global Commission on Science Missions for Sustainability (GCSMS) said.

• GCSMS was established in 2021 by the International Science Council (ISC), a non-profit.

Key Points

• The commission recommended establishing an ambitious $1 billion per year mission science network of Regional Sustainability Hubs across the world to rectify the issue.
• These hubs would address context-specific and complex issues - from climate change and malnutrition to water security and clean energy - through a systematic engagement process.
• The hub would deal with myriad challenges from problem definition to implementation by engaging key stakeholders of the regions, particularly those in the Global South.
• Though this sort of initiative costs not even one per cent of the global annual research and development budget, it would significantly accelerate the progress towards the implementation of the 2030 Agenda on sustainable development.
• To seek integrated and sustainable solutions, policy and political decisions at the United Nations must be supported by science-based evidence.
• Almost halfway to meeting the 2030 deadline, countries remain far from achieving poverty eradication goals.
• Nearly 1.1 billion of the 6.1 billion people across 110 countries are poor.
• Global hunger is back to 2005 levels and nearly 600 million people will remain mired in extreme poverty by 2030.
• To address these challenges, the commission called for a ‘mission science’ approach that can bring together the fragmented, compartmentalised scientific knowledge that often fails to connect with society’s most immediate needs.