www.asiachem.news December 2021 | 115 by John M Webb, Thomas H Spurling and Gregory W Simpson https://doi.org/10.51167/acm00031 IN THIS PAPER we consider examples of international multilateral treaties that have needed the science of chemistry to reach agreements involving many governments. For the most part, they fall into the classification of science in diplomacy activities, that is, activities where science is crucial to achieve identified international objectives. In addition to the six international agreements discussed in this paper (Table 1), we can mention the Antarctic Treaty, signed in 1959 by twelve nations to ensure that the continent of Antarctica would be used exclusively for peaceful purposes with freedom of scientific cooperation, articulating a clear link between collaborative scientific research and the pursuit of peace. When US President Eisenhower called the 1959 conference he declared the American aim to have Antarctica ‘open to all nations to conduct scientific or other peaceful activities there’ even though the State Department had been trying to find ‘a way through the labyrinth of competing interests and fierce rivals’ created through decades of competition and competing claims of sovereignty 5. Science was caught up in this rivalry, with the State Department noting in 1962, that scientific knowledge had become the primary resource to be exploited in the Antarctic 5. A focus on science enabled the territorial issues to be put aside and the Treaty to be signed and, eventually, ratified by the various governments involved. Since 1959, another 42 countries have acceded to the Treaty and a Secretariat has been established, in 2004, in Buenos Aires6. Thus, the Antarctic Treaty can be seen as an instance of science for diplomacy, science helping to resolve differences among nations. This is not an exclusive label in the context of science diplomacy, for aspects of the Treaty’s creation also reflect intense diplomatic efforts to ensure scientific research in Antarctica, that is, diplomacy for science. This second mentioned type of science diplomacy activities, those labelled science for diplomacy refers to the creation of international science cooperation that helps international relations. In addition to a multinational context, striking examples of this form of science diplomacy can be seen most readily in bilateral relations between States. Thus, the establishment of diplomatic relations between Israel and Germany in 1965, barely 20 years after the end of the second world war, was built on a range of links within civil society in both countries. As noted in an editorial7 in the Israel Journal of Chemistry in 2015, ‘Scientific, technological and cultural links between Germany and Israel preceded and catalysed the establishment of formal diplomatic relations’. The third aspect of science diplomacy, diplomacy for science, concerns diplomatic efforts to gain access to international science facilities such as telescopes, synchrotrons and the like. An example of the need for diplomacy to develop an international science facility is the synchrotron established in Allan, Jordan, known as Sesame8. It is an international facility, established through the auspices of UNESCO that brought together as member countries Cyprus, Egypt, Iran, Israel, Jordan, Palestine and Turkey. One can imagine the diplomatic challenges in reaching agreement. Sesame’s ambition is not limited to just scientific research: the web site states that one of its goals is to build scientific and cultural bridges between diverse societies, that is, to contribute to a culture of peace. From this perspective, Sesame is an example, as is the above case of German-Israel science cooperation, of science for diplomacy. The ubiquitous nature of chemistry means that chemists are involved in myriad international diplomatic matters. Chemistry is an
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