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7 February 2023<\/b><\/p>\n
Dear Colleagues,<\/p>\n
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Science is a leitmotif and cornerstone in the work and preparations of decision-shaping GA 77.<\/p>\n
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Our common endeavor to inform our discussions and decisions in the General Assembly continues today.<\/p>\n
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Science illuminates the very foundations that our decisions are based on.<\/p>\n
Science lights up future possibilities and impasses.<\/p>\n
Science transgresses boundaries.<\/p>\n
Science helps to find compromise.<\/p>\n
Science unites.<\/p>\n
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To bring science to our community, and to our work, my office is working with you and the Secretariat on 3 efforts. Let\u2019s call them 3 layers<\/p>\n
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The first Layer is a targeted science briefing on relevant topics. It applies to all negotiating processes we have started.<\/p>\n
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Out of the 16, at least 13 will be very characteristic and making the scientific briefings the best use of.<\/p>\n
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Layer 2: ensuring that the product of your negotiations is relevant and transformative.<\/p>\n
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When we are approaching the face of the finalization of the result of the negotiations, it is very important to make sure that the results will really be informing our future activities, helping transformation, and make sure that we are addressing the most important interlinkages and most important challenges ahead of us.<\/p>\n
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Layer 3: We need to design a future validation mechanism for sustainable development \u2013 that is profoundly missing in the Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ system.<\/p>\n
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All these activities are not prescriptive. They are meant to offer more targeted, better information for us to make our work more impactful and to help us finding the solutions we need to transform this word.<\/p>\n
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To make it what was intended from the very start of the Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ: a peaceful, prosperous, and sustainable community of people that lives in a harmony with and on our planet.<\/p>\n
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Today we have gathered for a Layer 1 activity.<\/p>\n
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We will hear briefings related to the upcoming Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ conference on water, the climate and water interface, as well as the presentation on possibilities to improve pandemic preparedness.<\/p>\n
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This will be followed by a briefing on the status of the Global Sustainable Development Report, the science report on sustainable development that SG has commissioned for publication this spring.<\/p>\n
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So what we are going to have is an advance glance of the results and findings of the support.<\/p>\n
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I will make sure we excerpt the essence of the presentations and discussions today to support and to start populating Layer 2 in our effort.<\/p>\n
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My plea to you is: listen to the scientists, challenge them, ask questions, discuss, formulate the support that you expect for our negotiations here in this room.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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My other plea to you: let us work together to improve this format that we have organized in blueprint version for you today.<\/p>\n
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Please contact my science advisor, just behind me, Dr. Johannes Cullman who will take over the moderation today, if you have any further topics you want us to address, ideas how we can improve this format, expectations about how we can turn this into a useful part of changing this world.<\/p>\n
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With that I give the floor to Johannes Cullman who will introduce our first panel.<\/p>\n
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10 November 2022<\/strong><\/b><\/p>\r\n Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,<\/p>\r\n Afghanistan is in crisis. It is in many crises.<\/p>\r\n It has been 15 months since the Taliban consolidated control over the country.<\/span><\/p>\r\n Its economy is in ruins. The humanitarian situation is disastrous.<\/span><\/p>\r\n \u00a0<\/span>Two-thirds of the population is hungry.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n \u00a0<\/span>Girls and women are banned from learning, having a job or getting proper medical care.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n The country is awash with heroin and opium.<\/span><\/p>\r\n Organized crime and terrorist organizations are thriving once again.<\/span><\/p>\r\n Afghanistan is facing complex and interlinked challenges that the Taliban have shown they cannot \u2013 or would not \u2013 solve.<\/u><\/span><\/p>\r\n It is time to support the Afghan people with concrete solutions that place their needs front and center.<\/p>\r\n It is true that some problems will require some time to resolve.<\/p>\r\n But there are actions the Assembly can take to change the paradigm now.<\/p>\r\n I would like you to consider one solution through solidarity.<\/p>\r\n The Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ humanitarian appeal for Afghanistan \u2013 which requires $4.4 billion US dollars \u2013 is only half funded.<\/p>\r\n With winter weather just weeks away, I encourage Member States to provide urgent support to help reduce the $2.3 billion dollar shortfall.<\/p>\r\n Let\u2019s remind ourselves of the old saying from Afghanistan: \u201cA real friend is one who takes the hand of his friend in times of distress and helplessness.\u201d<\/p>\r\n Excellencies,<\/p>\r\n Afghanistan has a rich history of scientific achievement.<\/p>\r\n I encourage the country\u2019s reengagement with the international science community.<\/p>\r\n And\u00a0to allow women who used to be respected members of the country\u2019s science community to resume their research and their studies.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n \u00a0<\/span>Afghanistan is now the only state in the world that would deny girls their full right to education.<\/p>\r\n The prospect of girls\u2019 education has been left to uncertainty amid seemingly random edicts from the Taliban.<\/p>\r\n This time last year, Fawzia Koofi, the first woman Deputy Speaker of the Afghan Parliament, recalled her dream of one day addressing the Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ as the President of Afghanistan.<\/p>\r\n She said:\u00a0\u201cWith me, millions of girls and women in Afghanistan had this dream that now they think will never come true.\u201d<\/p>\r\n Dreams of becoming President have been replaced by the reality of child marriage. Arrests if women and girls leave their home without a male chaperone.<\/p>\r\n I reiterate my call for the protection of fundamental rights and freedoms of all Afghans, especially women and girls.<\/p>\r\n Similarly, I urge the Taliban to ensure the safety of all Afghans, regardless of gender, ethnic background, religious belief or political affiliation.<\/p>\r\n To protect journalists and civil society members.<\/p>\r\n To allow unhindered humanitarian aid, and to cooperate with humanitarian workers.<\/p>\r\n We expect the Taliban to make good on the commitments they made to the international community.\u00a0To show honesty through\u00a0concrete action.<\/p>\r\n Excellencies,<\/p>\r\n The dramatic changes of 2021 have taken a massive toll on Afghanistan\u2019s economy and profoundly widened many security risks.<\/p>\r\n