Keynote Address: Planet Earth - Living On It, Changing It, Sustaining It
by Sheila Watt-Cloutier
and Dr. Mohamed H.A. Hassan

The impacts of climate change are experienced most rapidly and most noticeably in the far North, said Sheila Watt-Cloutier, Chair of the Inuit Circumpolar Conference. Even as scientists are debating the reality and probable impacts of global warming, “across the north the Inuit are struggling to cope with erosion, melting permafrost, thinning sea ice, receding glaciers, and an invasion of new animals, many of which we don’t even have names for.”

To effectively confront and reverse this climate change, there must be a balance between traditional knowledge and conventional science, she said. Science centres have the potential to promote and facilitate the integration of those two knowledge systems. “So often indigenous knowledge is cited as anecdotal and not as strong as Western science, but in reality our traditional scientists work with an intimate knowledge of the cycles of nature. . . . Without that, we would have perished long ago rather than thrive for millennia.”

There are two key roles for traditional knowledge and the wisdom of elders and hunters, Watt-Cloutier said. “They lend the voices of indigenous people and vulnerable people around the world and provide a human face. . . . And those actually living on the land in the Arctic are the best and closest observers of the changing environment. It will be the Arctic that shows us the success of our actions to reverse climate change.”

The reality of climate change challenges the notion that unrestrained economic growth always leads to a better world, Watt-Cloutier said. “We have to work together on science issues, on people coming together and bringing these issues to common ground with one another.”

Unrestrained growth and associated consequences like climate change have also created grave challenges in the south, particularly in Africa, said Mohamed Hassan, President of the African Academy of Sciences. In order to build capacity in the poorest, most vulnerable countries, it is necessary to strengthen science, technology, and innovation to address crises like climate change and other barriers to ensure that development is sustainable. Then the results of these efforts must be linked with those who have the power to influence decisions and make policy.

There is a pivotal role for science centres in this process, Hassan said. Science centres should be established in every country in Africa, especially those lagging behind in science and technology. These must be linked with academic institutions. “Academies are usually the homes of the grandfathers and grandmothers. Science centres are the places that delight the young. Linking these is key to creating solutions that will sustain us across the generations.”