Science Diplomacy Today: Challenges and Prospects
In the recent years Science Diplomacy (SD) has gained prominence as a strategy in science policy and foreign policy. Organizations like AAAS, TWAS have given it much importance while organizations like Royal Society and UNESCO have also discussed its potential. As a result, in the last decade or so, there has been a spurt in literature and activities related to SD. But while the term SD might have become prominent recently SD has been practiced in one form or another for many decades. In this talk I discuss the current status of SD and map the trends in SD vis a vis the challenges. I point out that while SD has good potential we should neither see it as a panacea nor consider it as a matter to be decided between scientists and diplomats. Underscoring the fact that SD today is not confined to developed countries, I argue that countries like China, Brazil, India and South Africa are getting engaged more in SD. Whether it is South China sea or Arctic today, the players are using SD as part of their engagement. This in my view is important and may help in bringing in results which political negotiations may not be able to achieve. Thus I argue that while there are challenges in SD, the prospects are promising and the best times for SD will be in the coming decades when science and collective action have to go hand in hand to solve crises like Antimicrobial Resistance, and global warming.