Dr.Ing. Nashon Adero Explains the importance of Science Diplomacy in Conflict Resolution – Transcript

00:00Thank you, uh Bill.And uh as I said uhI'm joining you from uh uh Kenya.Uh I'm a Masinde Mulirouh Dean of the School of Mining and Engineering at Taita Taveta University,which is Kenya's premier university of mining educationand research.

00:26And when we are talking of science inwar and when you are also talking of sciencediplomacy uh this speaks to the very heartbeatof a university like ours becausewe are nowadays talking of aerospace and military grade researchand intelligence, and you cannot divorce these from uhminerals because we have minerals such

00:53as titaniumuh such as tungsten uh tinuh tantalum and uh those military grade equipment uhpieces are made from these minerals, and uhAfrica, for example, is rich in these minerals, and it still has hugeunexploited potential uh for these minerals, which are critical uh toaerospace research to military

01:21intelligenceand we also talk of the quadrants of geopolitical influence. And uh of thesequadrants, we have military strength as one of them. We also have trade, we havetechnology and we have economic standing, and minerals are also criticalto the equation of economic standing uh depending on who gets the huge value outof the minerals, especially the value

01:44addition component. So, if you look atall these, they are so interconnected uh that there's uh critical role thatscience diplomacy can play uh in uh resolving the peace equation. And inscience and uh specifically what you call system dynamics modeling which ismy principal area of research interest

02:07we treat peace not as a static state butrather a dynamic equilibrium where grievancesextracted tendencies subtract from thisstate of peace. Peace as an accumulated stockat any given time and then peacebuilding initiativesand using science for interdisciplinary

02:32collaborationand in a way that can promote peaceful coexistence that one now feedsinto the state of peace as a dynamic equilibrium.And so you can see that when the subtraction is more than the additionthen we find a deficit in the state of peace and that degenerates intoa state of war

02:56or cold war it could be there the outblown one or the cold one. So if you look at this again there'sa big role that science has to play in all this. You also mentioned the useof drones for example and drones of course umand automatically guided missiles draw thatingenuity and novelty from science the

03:21works of science because there must bescientific input into guiding them using precise coordinatesand the military intelligence if you look at the developments in globalpositioning systems they can be traced backto the military. You know global positioning systemoriginally was a reserve for the military until in the United States forexample Bill Clinton

03:48convinced uhuh them to remove what you call selectiveavailability so that the accuracy you need for meaningful work in engineeringand military precision or precision agriculture could be available tocivilians. So, you can't see the military asas benefited a lot from science and there's no military development withoutscience. And that is why I would place

04:15with right the way you placed it thatscience has a critical role to play. And those drones, of course, together withartificial intelligence and algorithm that can learn and relearn reinforcementlearning can help us if we direct our discourse towards peace and towardscreating collaborations that promote

04:38peace rather than war and exclusion.Again, I would like to say that uhuh we have already towards the main conference apaper uh that we'll present to that effect.Uh that is on science diplomacy as a tool for global peace. And we'll befocusing on Africa's role in this

05:04ecosystemand attaining the dynamic equilibrium of peace by ensuring that we can usescience productively, constructively, andcollaborations. And there are critical also examples uhthat have shown how science diplomacy can help in achievinguh global peace or peaceful coexistence.

05:28From that paper, I draw on one exampleI'm very familiar with that is uh the role of Germany through uh sciencediplomacy, especially now talking of the German Academic Exchange Service which,because of sponsoring scholars indiscriminately from all parts of theworld uh have contributed in a big way

05:50to ensuring that there's interculturalexchange, scientific exchange and uh that is a positive way of usingknowledge-based for science diplomacy to promote global peace. And uh I rememberby the year 2020 uh already 18 Nobel laureatesuh would tracetheir scholarship to support by the German Academic Exchange Service. So, ifother countries could follow suit and

06:17promoteuh science knowledge-based diplomacy and uh dissolveuh barriers to peaceful exchange andcoexistence and using science productively for global peace, economicstanding, and inclusive economic empowerment, then I believe as a globalvillage we can uh uh reach that state of dynamicequilibrium,

06:41uh which is peaceful coexistence andshared prosperity. Thank you, Ben. And, thank you all the participants.Uh that is the key message I wanted to pass on. And, I also thank you for thehonor you gave me to be one of the moderators of this panel.And, I believe looking to the future and uh the near future that is our mainconference

07:04will uh benefit more from the scientificpapers that will be presented along this line. Thank you very much.