(MENAFN- Muscat Daily) An Omani is among 26 eminent scientists, including three Nobel laureates, who have been appointed to a newly-created United Nations Scientific Advisory Board ‘comprised of internationally renowned scientists representing various fields of natural, social and human sciences'.
Abdallah Daar, a professor of Public Health at the University of Toronto, Canada, was invited to be part of this board by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. The board was formed to provide advice on science, technology and innovation for sustainable development to the UN Secretary-General and to executive heads of UN organisations.
Prof Daar said, ''What this means is an opportunity for me to help the global community make use of scientific knowledge to inform policymaking at the highest level. I believe this is absolutely essential if we are going to have sustainable development, and also equity in sharing the world's resources in a way that does not harm the vulnerable and those in resource-poor settings. I consider it an honour for me and for Oman to be a member of this board, which has on it three Nobel Prize winners.''
UNESCO will host the secretariat for the board. This is the first such body set up by the UN Secretary-General to influence and shape action by the international community to advance sustainable development and eradicate poverty.
UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova said, ''It brings together scientists of international stature, and will serve as a global reference point to improve links between science and public policies.'' As per conditions of appointment to the board, Prof Daar will serve for a period of two years, with the possibility of renewal for one subsequent two-year term at the discretion of the UN Secretary-General.
The creation of the board was one of the recommendations from the high-level panel on global sustainability - co-chaired by Tarja Kaarina Halonen, former president of Finland, and Jacob Zuma, President of South Africa – that was formed in the lead-up to the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) held in Brazil in June 2012.
United Nations Board of Honour
Members of the UN Scientific Advisory Board
Abdallah Daar (Oman); Rajendra Kumar Pachauri (India, accepted Nobel Peace Prize in 2007 on behalf of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, IPCC); Ada Yonath (Israel, won the 2009 Nobel for Chemistry); Ahmed Zewail (Egypt, won the 1999 Nobel for Chemistry); Tanya Abrahamse (South Africa); Susan Avery (US); Hilary McDonald Beckles (Barbados); Joji Cari?o (Philippines); Rosie Cooney (Australia); Gebisa Ejeta (Ethiopia); Vladimir Fortov (Russia); Fabiola Gianotti (Italy); Ke Gong (China); J?rg Hinrich Hacker (Germany); Maria Ivanova (Bulgaria); Eugenia Kalnay (Argentina); Eva Kondorosi (Hungary); Reiko Kuroda (Japan); Dong-Pil Min (Republic of Korea); Carlos Nobre (Brazil); Shankar Sastry (US); Hayat Sindi (Saudi Arabia); Wole Soboyejo (Nigeria); Laurence Tubiana (France); Judi Wakhungu (Kenya) and Abdul Hamid Zakri (Malaysi
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