01 Dec 2020

 Promoting international scientific cooperation is a necessity in tackling the COVID-19 pandemic.

Speaking in an interview, Department of Research, Science and Technology’s Mr Gaabadzo Moseki said pressure on biodiversity and its natural habitats favoured the emergence of zoonosis (diseases that can be passed from animals to humans) such as COVID-19.

It was therefore imperative to strengthen international and national scientific cooperation, said Mr Moseki, who is the department’s principal research science and technology officer.

He said maintenance  of dialogue between scientists, policy makers, private practitioners, industries and health professionals, civil society and the public at large was key. 

  That, he said, called for open access to scientific knowledge and know-how, data sharing and evidence-based policy and decision making and an urgent transition to open science globally. 

Mr Moseki mentioned that throughout the COVID-19 crisis, UNESCO had endeavoured to bring science closer to society and bolster the critically needed international scientific collaborations. 

He said UNESCO’s response to COVID-19 was structured around three major pillars of promoting international scientific cooperation, ensuring access to water and supporting ecological reconstruction. 

“More than ever, there is need to rethink the links between people and nature. UNESCO’s designated sites, such as biosphere reserves and global UNESCO geoparks, are powerful tools for bringing people closer to nature by testing and applying integrated approaches to biodiversity conservation and sustainable use and sustainable development,” he said. 

Mr Moseki said for that reason, World Science Day for Peace and Development, commemorated recently through a webinar hosted by the Maun-based Okavango Research Institute, aimed at ensuring that citizens were kept informed of developments in science. 

Mr Moseki stressed the role scientists played in broadening understanding of earth’s fragility and in making societies more sustainable. 

Society, he pointed out, had key information that government or other interest groups did not have and yet was key in making ecological reconstruction support possible.

“Let us embrace open science as a tool for making science more accessible, scientific process more inclusive and outputs of science more readily available for all,” he said.ends