Wednesday, September 13, 2017
56 Muslim Countries Pledge to Increase Investment in Energy, Science, Health, Water and Food Security at First Ever Islamic-World Summit on Science and Technology
USLIM COUNTRIES PLEDGE TO INCREASE INVESTMENT IN ENERGY, SCIENCE, HEALTH, WATER AND FOOD SECURITY AT FIRST EVER ISLAMIC-WORLD SUMMIT ON SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
World leaders and senior officials representing 56 Muslim nations yesterday pledged to increase investment in science and technology as a means of tackling food, water, health and climate change challenges at the first ever Islamic-word Science and Technology summit.
Summit delegates included the Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Iranian President, Hassan Rouhani, Uzbek President, ShavkatMirziyoyev, Pakistani President, Mamnoon Hussain, Bangladeshi President, Abdul Hamid and Afghan President, Ashraf Ghani amongst other Heads of State. The summit was organized by the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), the world’s second largest intergovernmental body after the UN.
The summit concluded with all 56 nations adopting two historic documents;
(i) The Astana Declaration on enhancing “science, technology, innovation and modernization in the Islamic world”:
The Astana Declaration “reaffirmed the commitment of member states towards increasing investment in education, science, health and water in order to achieve the goals of the OIC’s 2025: Plan of Action and the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs 2030).”
The declaration also called on “all Muslim world countries to strengthen the culture of education and science, especially for youth and women as a means of enhancing social and economic modernization and socio-economic progress.”
The full declaration can be accessed here.
(ii) The OIC Science, Technology and Innovations Agenda 2026:
The OIC STI Agenda 2026 was also approved by all member states. The document is composed of a series of policy commitments and recommendations designed to achieve key Islamic world development goals by the year 2026. These include: (a) Preparing for the Islamic world’s future energy needs:
Renewable Energy targets:
Nuclear energy goals:
(b) Protecting against water shortages:
(c) Pre-empting food shortages:
(d) Managing Big Data with security in the digital economy:
Connect OIC Member States through secure, high speed, fibre-optic land and sea based networks and satellite links. This would need to be a secure intra-OIC network in addition to SEAMEWE 3 and SEAMEWE 4, with service nodes within the OIC Member States, in order to avoid disruption and enhance security;
Ensure faster transition to e-government for faster and more transparent decision making;
Harmonize regulatory policies, frameworks and IP laws to facilitate easier sales, and commissioning of IT products and services across Member States.
(e) Space exploration, astronomy and accelerators and Synchrotron Light Sources:
Jointly design and launch remote sensing satellites for observation, crop estimation and disaster management, rescue at sea, and weather prediction.
Create a ground-based 4m telescope using adaptive mirrors and laser ‘guide stars’ can now provide the same or better resolution as the Hubble space telescope. There is need for at least 3 – 4 such observatories in different OIC regions.
Centres for Space Technologies may be established. This may lead to an Inter-Islamic Space Agency, focusing on projects from space launch systems to manned vehicles.
(f) Filling the Education, Research and Skills gap:
(g) Health:
(h) Enhancing knowledge transfer through Intra-OIC Cooperation
Implementation of the aforementioned policies will be in consultation with the member states, all relevant OIC institutions and organs and global partners.
The OIC Assistant Secretary General for Science and Technology (and former Ambassador of Pakistan to Saudi Arabia), Ambassador Naeem Khan, said “the world’s Muslim majority countries, by yesterday supporting ambitious scientific and technological development goals, are also supporting the welfare of the Islamic world.”
“As more people in the Islamic world emerge out of poverty, energy demand is increasing. This is being aggravated by climate change, with many OIC countries inhabiting climate-sensitive regions already facing desertification and degradation of land and water. Several studies have also shown a link between climate change and the subsequent effect on drought, food prices and the outbreak of conflict.”
“As a result, the OIC organised the first Islamic-world science and technology summit to galvanise the Muslim world in investing in the core scientific and technological tools to generate solutions against emerging development threats”.
He added “” Energy production and consumption remains one of the 21st century’s major challenges”.
“Energy consumption and production is a major challenge in the Islamic world where many of the OIC’s 57-member states are well placed to harness the power of renewables, yet also still rely heavily in traditional fossil fuels.”
“In order for OIC member states to create a diverse energy mix that incorporates renewable energies, scientific and technological advancements will be essential. That includes advancements in energy storage technologies, greater use of distributed micro-grids to integrate renewable energy and research efforts into solar cell efficiencies.”
The OIC Secretary General, HE Dr. Yousef A. Al-Othaimeen, said “Islam lays special importance on seeking knowledge. The Quran’s first injunction was to ‘Read’. References are frequently made in the Quran to those who reflect and contemplate. And over a thousand years ago, algebra, astronomy, geography, medicine and industrial chemistry were all pioneered across the Islamic world for nearly half a millennium. That is precisely why part of the inspiration behind the OIC’s first ever Science and Technology summit was Islam’s own ‘golden age’ of science.”
“Rather than seeing science as an alien doctrine that threatens Islamic traditions, the Islamic world must re-orient its perspective by reclaiming science as part of its own heritage.”