Distinguished co-chairs, Ambassador King and Ambassador Lassen,
Excellencies,
Distinguished participants,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
It is my honour to join you at this 9th Multi-stakeholder Forum on Science, Technology and Innovation for the Sustainable Development Goals.
The Forum convenes at a critical moment for our people and planet.
The world is sitting on an edge shaped by widespread inequality, accelerating climate change and environmental degradation, increased conflicts and growing geopolitical tensions.
The solutions to these problems will require human ingenuity, action and determination. These solutions must be delivered at speed and scale through partnerships and collaboration at national, regional and global levels. There is no time to lose.
Science, technology, and innovation¡ªor STI¡ªhold immense potential to shape and drive global solutions to the world¡¯s most pressing problems. So above all, this Forum is a platform for solutions.
Solutions will grow in all corners of the STI ecosystem. They will grow out of the research and inquiry of academic science. They will emerge from artificial intelligence and other cutting-edge digital technologies. They will spring from community-driven, local innovation. And they will take shape through large-scale public-private partnerships and small-scale entrepreneurship.
Colleagues,
We know that the STI ecosystem offers this Forum an infinite number of issues to consider. However, I welcome the decision by the co-chairs to focus its discussions on Artificial Intelligence and Climate Change.
Together, these two areas present a complex landscape of opportunities and threats.
Climate change presents complex development challenges, particularly for vulnerable countries like small island developing States and least developed countries. We will not be able to ¡°engineer our way out¡± of the climate crisis, however, science and technology will help us find solutions and the pathway to progress.
Not only does STI hold potential for curbing the impact of climate change; it will also help to drive the systemic changes needed to slow, or even reverse the process itself, including changes to the ways we work, trade, consume, move around, and power our societies.
To ensure that climate technologies are relevant and appropriate to the countries most affected by climate change, we must drive investment in the STI infrastructure and capacities of the Global South.
AI is among the technological advancements that can address the raging climate emergency. In fact, AI has great potential to drive evidence-based decision-making across almost every sphere of human life, from agriculture, to health, to education.
But AI brings its own set of challenges.
Governance is key to avoiding the dark side of AI and the inequalities and gaps that it can create.
AI¡¯s significant environmental and climate footprint calls for the development of more energy-efficient AI models and effective regulation of the extractive industries that power it. And we have to ensure that AI development accounts for a broader range of perspectives, including those of marginalized communities and populations.
The discussions over the course of this Forum, on these and other critical issues on the STI horizon, will be critical contributions to key global decision-making milestones over the next few months. From the SIDS4 conference later this month, to the High-Level Political Forum in July, to the Summit of the Future in September, Member States and their partners will have the opportunity to invest in transformative solutions and take action for the future envisioned by the 2030 Agenda.
I would like to close by acknowledging the constituency of ¡°digital natives¡± ¨C young people who can inspire and guide us with their innovative spirit, hopeful outlook, and technology skills. I encourage us all to listen to their voices, here at this Forum and in the coming months.
Thank you, and I wish you all the best in your deliberations.