Transcript Document

55th Pugwash Conference on Science and World Affairs
The Status of Human Security : 60 Years after
the Atomic Bombs
Hiroshima, 27July 2005
Prof M.S. Swaminathan
President, Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs
Hideki Yukawa
1907-1981
Why are we human beings still treading such a
foolish and pernicious path? What can we
gain from the spiraling arms race? With much
regret, I have to state that even scientists
gathering at Pugwash Conferences in pursuit
of world peace cannot avoid some
responsibility for this matter. One of the
fundamental causes for the present awful
situation of the arms race, I think, is that we
have rejected as unrealistic the original idea of
Bertrand Russell that nuclear weapons are an
absolute evil and must be eliminated. Another
fatal cause may be that we have been so
indolent, if not rather timid, in pursuit of a new
world order where one can live without
armaments
Joseph Rotblat
1955
I have to bring to your notice a
terrifying reality; with the development
of nuclear weapons,
man has
acquired, for the first time in history,
the technical means to destroy the
whole of civilization in a single act,
indeed the whole human species is
endangered, by nuclear weapons
or by other means of wholesale
destruction which further advances in
science are likely to produce.
Hermann J Muller
1890 - 1967
Scientists can no longer stand aloof
from the question of whether their
work will be used to wreck or to recreate civilization, even though they
can scarcely have the deciding voice.
Radiations cause mutations in genetic
material and can thereby cause harm
to the generations yet to be born
60 Years after Hiroshima
Voices of the Survivors
Ms. Shigeko Sasamori ( 73 years),
“Let my body remind you how those who
survive would look like, if the world’s
leaders do not have the sanity to abolish
nuclear weapons.”
(New Mexico, July 18, 2005,
60th anniversary of the Atomic Tests)
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Mr. Akihiro Takahashi (76 years old),
“Words can never describe the horror. Hatred
breeds hatred. Compulsory and life long education
on the folly of wars and the indescribable cruelty
of nuclear weapons is essential. (55th Pugwash
Conference, Hiroshima, July 23, 2005)”
Wake Up Call
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There is a growing violence in the human heart.
Hence, urgent steps are needed to heal wounds and
restore harmony within the human family.
Avoid the possibility of a horrible shift from Nuclear
Weapons States to Nuclear Weapons Groups and
Individuals, by heeding to the Russel-Einstein
warning, “Shall we instead choose death, because
we cannot forget our quarrels.”
First Steps on the Road to Pugwash
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Early in 1954, Jawaharlal Nehru, then Prime Minister
of India, “called for the setting up of a Committee of
Scientists to explain to the world the effect a nuclear
war would have on humanity” (Pugwash History
Series, No 1, p. 22)
This idea was taken up and in the spring of 1954,
Joseph Rotblat and Eugene Rabinowitch polled
leaders in the scientific organizations of the
desirability of organizing an international conference
on science and world affairs. Thus was born the
Pugwash Conferences.
Towards a Nuclear-Peril Free World
Five Steps
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Step 1:
All nations with nuclear weapons should adopt
during 2005 a legally mandatory policy of “no first
use for nuclear weapons”, as homage to the
survivors of the nuclear tragedy of 1945.
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Step 2:
Respect commitments to the nuclear nonproliferation treaty (NPT)
Ratify Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT)
Conclude a Fissile Material Cut Off Treaty
Ban all research relating to the development of
new nuclear weapons
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Step 3:
Conclude a Nuclear Weapons Convention
outlining a road map for getting to Zero by 2025,
somewhat on the lines suggested by Dr John
Holdren.
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Step 4:
Avoid prospects for nuclear terrorism and
adventurism by eliminating all unsecured nuclear
fissile material and by implementing the concrete
steps proposed by Pugwash for the elimination of
highly enriched uranium (Pugwash Issue Brief,
Vol 3, No 1, April 2005).
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Step 5:
Because of the multi-dimensional threats posed
to human security by climate change, and the
consequent need for reducing green house gas
emissions, interest and investment in nuclear
power plants are growing. The civilian uses of
atomic energy are likely to grow.
Step 5 (continued):
Hence, the UN may convene an International
Conference on the Civilian Uses of Atomic
Energy with technical help from Pugwash to
develop a Code of Conduct to ensure the nonmilitary use of nuclear fuels and to further
strengthen safeguards and the inspection role
and capacity of IAEA.
Hiroshima Peace Declaration 2005
Generating the Political Will and Action
Essential for a Nuclear-Peril Free World
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Democratic systems of governance are fast
spreading in the world, which involve the holding of
free and fair elections periodically.
Develop a Hiroshima-Nagasaki 60th Anniversary
Manifesto which calls upon all political parties in
every country to include in their next election
manifesto a firm commitment to work for speedy
nuclear disarmament with the view to achieve a
nuclear-peril free world, as soon as feasible. The help
of the Inter-Parliamentary Union could be taken.
Education and Social Mobilisation
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Over 4 billion of the present human population of 6,5 billion
were born after World War II. Education is vital to sensitise
them to the horror of nuclear warfare.
Public understanding of the terrible consequences of
atomic bombs is currently inadequate for generating the
needed political commitment to nuclear disarmament
Student/Young Pugwash members should be become the
torchbearers of this movement for a nuclear peril free world
All governments should be required through UNESCO to
include in school curricula an item relating to the
consequences of the use of nuclear weapons in Hiroshima
on August 6, 1945 and in Nagasaki on August 9, 1945, so
that students can become messengers of peace and
harmony
The Great Bengal
Famine 1942-43
Non-Military threats
to human security
Science and The UN Millennium Development Goals
Goal 1: Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
Goal 2: Achieve universal primary education
Goal 3: Promote gender equality and empower
women
Goal 4: Reduce child mortality
Goal 5: Improve maternal health
Goal 6: Halt and begin to reverse the spread of
HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases
Goal 7: Ensure environmental sustainability
Goal 8: Develop a Global Partnership for
Development
Community Food Security System
Conservation - Cultivation - Consumption
Gene Bank
Seed Bank
Grain Bank
Water Bank
Initiative of Tribal Women of
Koraput District, Orissa
Pugwash and Non-Military Threats to Human
Security
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
UN Millennium Development Goals
Bioperils
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HIV/Aids-Tuberculosis
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Influenza
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SARS
Bio- and biochemical terrorism
Environmental damage, with particular reference to climate
change
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agricultural productivity in Africa and LatinAmerica could fall as much as 30% in this century
due to climate change
Current pattern of jobless economic growth leading to
increasing unemployment and frustration among youth
Era of Sharing of Genetic Resources
Daruma
(Japanese semi-dwarf)
Fultz
(U.S. winter wheat, high yield)
X
Fultz-Daruma
(semi-dwarf, high yield)
Locals
(adapted to
U.S. Northwest)
X
X
Turkey Red
(U.S. winter, high yield)
Norin 10
(semi-dwarf, winter, high yield)
(Dr Gonziro Inazuka in 1935)
Gaines
(semi-dwarf, winter,
U.S. adpted)
X
Local Strains
New Wheats
(semi-dwarf, high yield, adaptable,
rust-resistant, fast-maturing,spring)
Access to Genetic Resources and Biotechnologies
for Food and Agriculture
Biotechnologies
(tools)
Genetic Resources
(building blocks)
Benefit-sharing
(collective rights)
(e.g. Farmers’ Rights and
the Global Plan of Action)
Intellectual Property
Rights
Commercial Products
(market value)
$
FAO – International Treaty – Art, 9
(also Art. 12 &13)
CBD – Art, 8 (j)
(individual rights) %
(e.g. Plant Breeder’s Rights)
WIPO
WTO/TRIPS (Art. 27.3.b)
UPOV
Sui generis Systems
(Rights)
Biodiversity & Molecular Breeding : Mangroves
“There are no useless plants” - Charaka
Gene Deployment for Drought Tolerance
Prosopis juliflora has wide
adaptation to water stress
and drought conditions
Used as source material
for drought tolerant genes
Control
36 days of water
withdrawal
Preparing for adverse changes in precipitation
Biotechnology and Organic Agriculture
2) Water Quality
1) Soil Health
o Vermiculture
o Bio-fertilisers
o Stem nodulating
green manure
crops
o Bioremediation
3) Plant Health
o Genetic Resistance
o Biopesticides
Organic
Farming
6) Environment
o Biomonitoring through
Bio-indicators
5) Animal Health
o Higher Carbon
o Vaccines
Sequestration
o High quality
feeds and fodder
4) Post-harvest
Technology
o New strains with
improved keeping,
processing and
transport qualities
IFOAM : Genetic Engineering is excluded in organic agriculture
The Way Ahead
Our ability to achieve a paradigm shift from green to an
ever-green revolution and our ability to face the
challenges of global warming and sea level rise will
depend upon our ability to harmonise organic farming
and the new genetics.
Biotechnology and Pathway to Bio-happiness
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Choice of Research Problems and Priorities
o
Evaluation and Technology Assessment
o
Environmental Safety
o
Food Safety in relation to Human and Animal Health
o
Liability and Compensation
o
Social inclusion
Launching a Genetic Literacy Movement
A network for initiating genetic and
legal literacy among school children
and women and men members of
elected local bodies in relation to
biodiversity and biotechnology
Nobel Prize in Physiology - 1948
For his discovery of the high
efficiency of DDT as a contact
poison against several arthropods
Immediate Impact : Control of
Malaria
Paul Hermann Muller (1899-1965)
Environment and Development : Early Warning
Rachel Carson 1962 : Silent Spring
“Man has lost the capacity to
foresee and to forestall. He will
end by destroying the earth”
- Albert Schweitzer
Origin of Integrated Pest Management Methodologies
Basic Principles of Natural Farming
o No cultivation
o No Chemical Fertilizer or Prepared
Compost
o No Weeding by Tillage
Herbicides
o No Dependence on Chemicals
or
“I feel as if we in Japan are living in
the shadow of a big tree, and there
is no place more dangerous to be
during a thunderstorm than under a
big tree. And there could be nothing
more foolish than taking shelter
under a “nuclear umbrella”
Microbial Fertilizers
and Pesticides
Pesticide Market
Western Europe : 26.7%
South/South East Asia : 26.7%
North America : 21.9%
Jamsetji Tata National Virtual Academy for Rural Prosperity [NVA]
ICT-enabled knowledge flow
Lab to Lab, Lab to Land, Land to Lab, Land to Land
Uplink
Satellite
Web based
interactive
portal
State Level Hub (MSSRF)
Data Managers (both connectivity and content)
Block level hub
Data
Generators
& Providers
Data Users (Rural
families)
M
S
S
R
F
Internet Radio Synergy
Cable Radio
Educational Institutions
Community Radio
Fellow of VARP
Mrs Sridevi, daughter of landless
labour parents, is actively involved in
ICT-based literacy programmes. A
good social organizer, Ms Sridevi is
successfully running a women’s self
help group, and is also providing
important market information to the
farmers in the village. She has set up a
screen-printing unit in the village, and
helped in enhancing the income of the
members. She is acting as a bridge
between the villagers and the
education department of the State.
Prime Movers of
Rural Knowledge
Revolution
Fellows are elected by a Peer-Review Process
Mrs D Usha Rani is a keen health
worker, and has organized several
medical camps in the village, and
brought an awareness about AIDS and
de-addiction of alcoholics in the village.
She is truly an eye-opener to the
villagers. With help from an eye hospital,
she has been routinely testing the eyes
of the villagers, and restored clear vision
to more than 100 people in the village.
She is a keen naturopath, and is helping
the farmers in offering herbal remedies
to the common livestock maladies.
Fellow of NVA
Prime Movers of Rural Knowledge Revolution
Potential Fishing Zone Details
Partnership: Indian National Center for Ocean
Information Services
http://www.nemoc.navy.mil/Library/Metoc/Indian+Ocean/Bay+of+Bengal/Models/Swaps/Sig+Wav+
Ht+and+Dir+Series/index.html
Life saving role of VKC during Tsunami (26 December 2004)- VEERAMPATTINAM
International Year for the
Culture of Peace - 2000
Peace Dividend ?
UNCOMMON
OPPORTUNITIES
An Agenda for Peace and Equitable Development
THE REPORT OF THE INTERNATIONAL
COMMISSION ON PEACE AND FOOD
“Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every
rocket signifies in the final sense, a theft from those who
are hungry and are not fed, from those who are cold and
are not clothed.”
“The world in arms is not spending money alone.
It is spending the sweat of its labourers, the genius of its
scientists, the hopes of its children”.
Dwight D Eisenhower
President of the United States
August 16, 1953
2005 : International Year of Physics
“Concern for man himself and his fate
must always form the chief interest of all
technical endeavours in order that the
creation of our minds shall be a blessing
and not a curse”
Albert Einstein & Bertrand Russell, 1955
“Remember your humanity and forget the rest. If you can do so, the
way is open to a new paradise; if you cannot, there has before you the risk
of universal death”.
60 Years after Hiroshima and Nagasaki
Ecstasy and Agony
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For 60 years, nuclear weapons have existed but have
not been used. This is a tribute to the work of
Pugwash and many other civil society organisations.
Unfortunately, we are now entering an unchartered
territory in human conflicts and retribution. At least to
prevent the potential non-State use of nuclear
weapons, Nuclear Weapon States should not lose
even a day in working towards the goal of Zero in the
existence of nuclear arsenals