PAEP Science International – A Global Perspective

Marie Sklodowska Curie (1867-1934), the 1903 and 1911 Nobel Laureate for Physics, while serving in the 1920s on the council of the League of Nations and on its international committee on intellectual cooperation, stated: "After all, science is essentially international, and it is only through lack of the historical sense that national qualities have been attributed to it."

"On Becoming a Scientist: If we want today to give tomorrow's world a real chance, then we must give science its rightful place."John Polanyi, 1986 Nobel Laureate for Chemistry, PAEP 2001 Canadian International Youth Forum

Science (scientia, or the building of knowledge and skills), as a bridge to the future, is the universal property of all people. The goal of science is to make sense of the complex diversity of Nature. We use intuition, imagination and observation to shape ideas, gather information about the world and turn clues into testable hypotheses. Modern science is in part a continuation of the human effort to understand and give meaning to our existence.

Science and technology are international in origin and effects. The development of modern science and technology has an increasing impact on our life and culture. Leading scientists, technological innovators and entrepreneurs of the 21st century will have to communicate an increased sense of intellectual and moral responsibility for the state of this world and its future.

Of all intellectual activity, science, in its civilizing and humanizing role, has turned out to have the kind of universality among humans which the times require. Science is far from a perfect instrument of knowledge,
but it is the best we have in the field of inquiry that yields knowledge.

 

United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO)
United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)

As an NGO member of Forum UNESCO and UNEP, PAEP takes initiatives, working with and for youth, to promote and advance the universal values and objectives of the Declarations of UNESCO and UNEP; to foster a new transdisciplinary educational, scientific, environmental and inter-cultural dialogue towards a universal code of ethics for the future; to build awareness; to understand and respect diversity; and to strengthen international cooperation in the protection of the world's natural, cultural, intellectual and scientific heritage.

PAEP Canadian International initiatives and activities support strategic goals which serve to promote:

• Scientific Cooperation
  
  
• Innovation for Sustainable Development
  
  
• Declarations of UNESCO and UNEP
  
  
• Environmental and Inter-cultural Dialogue
  
  
• Youth Development
  
  
• Global Bioethics
  
  
• Global Peace
  
  

Activities:

• Canadian International Youth Forums "Exploring New Ways of Knowing: Sciences and Humanities 
  
  
• Values and Society (est.1994)
  
  
• International Youth Network for the Advancement of the Sciences, Humanities and Global Bioethics (IYNet) est. 2007
  
  
• Canadian International Youth Letter of the Science and Humanities - Values and Society (CIYL) est. 1994
  
  
• Global Bioethics Network (GBN) est. 1999
  
  

As co-founder of the Global Bioethics Network, PAEP is instrumental in developing and advancing the emerging discipline of Global Bioethics as a progressive scientific education for our common humanity, by advancing not only a scientific-technological but also an environmentally and inter-culturally literate human resource base.

Background: In 1925, the physician and theologian, Albert Schweitzer, coined the word "Lebensethik," life-ethics or bio-ethics, meaning not only medical bioethics, but reverence for all life.

In 1970, Prof. Dr. Van Rensselaer Potter (1911-2001) originally formulated "bioethics" in his 1971 book "Bioethics - Bridge to the Future," and defined this comprehensive field of thought, action and respect for Nature. The concept of bioethics as a global integration of biology and values, on knowledge how to use knowledge for our common humanity, was designed to guide human survival, ever mindful of ecology and environmental preservation. PotterŐs concept was inspired by many others, including notably pioneering land ethicist Aldo Leopold and his 1949 work "A Sand County Almanac."

Dr. Potter, a biochemist and bioethicist, devoted his scientific career to cancer research as a professor of oncology at the McArdle Laboratory for Cancer Research, University of Wisconsin. As founder of the Global Bioethics Network (GBN) in 1999, and Member of the PAEP Advisory Council, Prof. Potter and co-founding colleagues upheld the original meaning of Global Bioethics and made important contributions in shaping the global bioethics concept and dialogue. Van Rensselaer Potter and the work of many dedicated others are honoured by maintaining "Global Bioethics" and its original intent in the PAEP name and the international programs for youth.

We are honoured to find the efforts of the Global Bioethics Network Members reflected in the founding text of the UNESCO Universal Declaration on Bioethics and Human Rights

The General Conference,

Conscious of the unique capacity of human beings to reflect upon their own existence and on their environment, to perceive injustice, to avoid danger, to assume responsibility, to seek cooperation and to exhibit the moral sense that gives expression to ethical principles,

Reflecting on the rapid developments in science and technology, which increasingly affect our understanding of life and life itself, resulting in a strong demand for a global response to the ethical implications of such developments,

Recognizingthat ethical issues raised by the rapid advances in science and their technological applications should be examined with due respect to the dignity of the human person and universal respect for, and observance of, human rights and fundamental freedoms,

Resolvingthat it is necessary and timely for the international community to state universal principles that will provide a foundation for humanityŐs response to the ever-increasing dilemmas and controversies that science and technology present for humankind and for the environment,

Recalling the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 10 December 1948, the Universal Declaration on the Human Genome and Human Rights adopted by the General Conference of UNESCO on 11 November 1997 and the International Declaration on Human Genetic Data adopted by the General Conference of UNESCO on 16 October 2003.

Reference:

Declarations adopted by the General Conference of UNESCO
Legal Instruments - 1966 to 2005

UNESCO
Its Purpose and Its Philosophy
by Julian Huxley, First Director-General, 1946
Preparatory Commission of The United Nations Educational,
Scientific and Cultural Organisation