Science diplomacy: COMSATS, World Academy of Sciences sign MoU

Comsats and The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS) here on Tuesday signed an agreement to formalise cooperation.


Our Correspondent June 16, 2015
Comsats and The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS) here on Tuesday signed an agreement to formalise cooperation. STOCK IMAGE

ISLAMABAD:


The Comsats Institute of Information Technology, Islamabad and The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS) here on Tuesday signed an agreement to formalise cooperation between the two bodies in science diplomacy.


The ceremony took place at Pakistan Academy of Sciences (Pas) where Comsats Executive Director Dr Imtinan Qureshi asserted the need for pragmatic and informed decision-making regarding issues of global climate change and international commitments and policies, leading to consensus on binding international agreements.

He also dilated upon ways in which diplomacy and science were essentially bound together, in view of the term “science diplomacy” that was coined in 2012.

On the occasion, Comsats had also organised a talk on “UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), Kyoto Protocol, and Beyond” in cooperation with PAS by Dr Athar Hussain, professor at the Department of Meteorology, Comsats.

Hussain elaborated the relationship between greenhouse gas emissions and global warming. He noted that green house gases had far-reaching consequences for the dynamics of the atmosphere itself, such as stratospheric-ozone hole, recovery, in addition to rise in surface temperature.

After sharing statistical information on global warming in order to highlight its effects, he gave a brief overview of the UNFCCC and the role of Kyoto Protocol adopted in 1997 by a number of nations.

The protocol called for reducing green house gas emissions to an average of at least 18 per cent below 1990 levels, he shared.

Dr Hussain noted that the way forward to meet the challenges of climate change was to ensure constant dialogue among various stakeholders to come up with a more comprehensive and feasible carbon reduction plans in the short, medium, and long-term.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 17th, 2015.

COMMENTS (1)

Javed Qazi | 8 years ago | Reply It seems your reporter does not know the difference between COMSATS the IGO and CIIT the educational institution that is one of the projects of COMSATS. Also, TWAS is the "Third World Academy of Sciences". Poor reporting and inaccurate. From the report, it seems that COMSATS, the IGO signed the MOU.
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