[{"command":"openDialog","selector":"#drupal-modal","settings":null,"data":"\u003Cdiv id=\u0022republish_modal_form\u0022\u003E\u003Cform class=\u0022modal-form-example-modal-form ecl-form\u0022 data-drupal-selector=\u0022modal-form-example-modal-form\u0022 action=\u0022\/en\/article\/modal\/6497\u0022 method=\u0022post\u0022 id=\u0022modal-form-example-modal-form\u0022 accept-charset=\u0022UTF-8\u0022\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHorizon articles can be republished for free under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) licence.\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cp\u003EYou must give appropriate credit. We ask you to do this by:\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n 1) Using the original journalist\u0027s byline\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n 2) Linking back to our original story\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n 3) Using the following text in the footer: This article was originally published in \u003Ca href=\u0027#\u0027\u003EHorizon, the EU Research and Innovation magazine\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cp\u003ESee our full republication guidelines \u003Ca href=\u0027\/horizon-magazine\/republish-our-stories\u0027\u003Ehere\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cp\u003EHTML for this article, including the attribution and page view counter, is below:\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cdiv class=\u0022js-form-item form-item js-form-type-textarea form-item-body-content js-form-item-body-content ecl-form-group ecl-form-group--text-area form-no-label ecl-u-mv-m\u0022\u003E\n \n\u003Cdiv\u003E\n \u003Ctextarea data-drupal-selector=\u0022edit-body-content\u0022 aria-describedby=\u0022edit-body-content--description\u0022 id=\u0022edit-body-content\u0022 name=\u0022body_content\u0022 rows=\u00225\u0022 cols=\u002260\u0022 class=\u0022form-textarea ecl-text-area\u0022\u003E\u003Ch2\u003EThe Pacific region is a perfect example of science diplomacy in action \u2013 Prof. Jean-Fran\u00e7ois Marini\u003C\/h2\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EPACE-Net Plus united 16 partners in the Pacific and the EU to strengthen research cooperation between the two regions. How did you go about achieving this?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018In order to reach this objective of a better, stronger cooperation in science, technology and innovation, the philosophy was to increase research capacity, management and dialogue, to allow the appropriation of science by the countries of the region. One of the ideas was to make information available to the Pacific states to help them to form opinions, founded on scientific evidence, and for Europe to better know the opportunities in Pacific research. At PACE-Net Plus, we have sent our recommendations to the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) asking the leaders of the member countries of the region to recognise the importance of science for development, and to raise its visibility among the leaders of the Pacific region.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018One of the outcomes that emerged is the idea that an observatory of climate change in the Pacific region would be a good tool to help ensure that scientific knowledge serves local governance. We also think, and this is important, that each country in the region should have a scientific coordinator, or a chief scientist, a function that is often still lacking.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWhat can Europe learn by working with the Pacific states?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018With climate change, emerging diseases affect more people in the Pacific and could easily become a concern in Europe. Pacific countries are also starting to think about environmental migration as the water level rise forces some islands to evacuate. There are also a number of issues that concern this region which will become global in the future, such as deep sea mining and blue growth (sustainable exploitation of ocean resources), to name just a few.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EYou were working alongside the European External Action Service, Europe\u2019s diplomatic corps. What was the reason for this?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018In the framework of our bi-regional platforms, we worked closely with the European External Action Service because, over and above science, scientific projects such as PACE-Net Plus are also a tool of diplomatic relations between the two regions.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EHow does capacity building in science help form diplomatic relations?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018In big international fora, for example, the Pacific islands are more our partners than opponents. They take part, for example, in open discussions to agree on 1, 1.5 or 2 degrees Celsius as a tolerance threshold of temperature rise for all countries in the future. This relationship with the countries of the region based on science facilitates the discussion on these global issues.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EHow did you go about building this relationship during the PACE-Net Plus project?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018In the field of climate change, for example, our thematic think tanks allowed country representatives to look at science as a development tool, to ensure that the decisions around climate are based on rigorous facts. As many of these countries deal with the reality of rising sea levels, science gives them concrete information that serves as a basis for their policymaking. This is also the case for resource management and other topics of importance such as the policies for innovation. Each year, PACE-Net also organised a large Pacific-Europe bi-regional platform dedicated to policy dialogue on science, technology and innovation cooperation.\u2019\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cblockquote class=\u0022tw-text-center tw-text-blue tw-font-bold tw-text-2xl lg:tw-w-1\/2 tw-border-2 tw-border-blue tw-p-12 tw-my-8 lg:tw-m-12 lg:tw--ml-16 tw-float-left\u0022\u003E\n \u003Cspan class=\u0022tw-text-5xl tw-rotate-180\u0022\u003E\u201c\u003C\/span\u003E\n \u003Cp class=\u0022tw-font-serif tw-italic\u0022\u003E\u2018With climate change, emerging diseases affect more people in the Pacific and could easily become a concern in Europe.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cfooter\u003E\n \u003Ccite class=\u0022tw-not-italic tw-font-normal tw-text-sm tw-text-black\u0022\u003EProf. Jean-Fran\u00e7ois Marini, Institut de recherche pour le d\u00e9veloppement, France\u003C\/cite\u003E\n \u003C\/footer\u003E\n\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\n\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EHow will this connection between science and diplomacy evolve in the future?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018From a European point of view, I think the next steps will consist of consolidating a coordinated approach between scientific cooperation and development aid. In other words, between DG RTD (the European Commission\u2019s Directorate-General for Research and Innovation) and DG DEVCO (the European Commission\u2019s Directorate-General for International Cooperation and Development).\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EDo you think that the seeds of this enhanced cooperation are already there?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018Yes, everything is there in the Pacific region. Everything is there for it to happen. We only need a few more actions and time to further implement it.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ESo the Pacific is an environment where development science and aid can work effectively together?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018Exactly. In the Pacific countries, we played that role by chance, by having with PACE-Net direct relationships with (government) organisations that didn\u2019t know each other well. There was science on the one hand and development aid on the other hand. I will conclude by saying that the Pacific region in relation to Europe is prototypic. We can develop or find cooperation tools, and we can coordinate between different DGs and services from the European Commission over actions dedicated to the Pacific region, where things can be done on a human scale.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/textarea\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n\n \u003Cdiv id=\u0022edit-body-content--description\u0022 class=\u0022ecl-help-block description\u0022\u003E\n Please copy the above code and embed it onto your website to republish.\n \u003C\/div\u003E\n \u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cinput autocomplete=\u0022off\u0022 data-drupal-selector=\u0022form-zagqvc1zlqlydskb1s5d3gkoa3oxkyx8bmgniyuvai8\u0022 type=\u0022hidden\u0022 name=\u0022form_build_id\u0022 value=\u0022form-ZAgqVC1ZLqlYDskB1s5d3GkOa3oXKyx8BmgNIYUvaI8\u0022 \/\u003E\n\u003Cinput data-drupal-selector=\u0022edit-modal-form-example-modal-form\u0022 type=\u0022hidden\u0022 name=\u0022form_id\u0022 value=\u0022modal_form_example_modal_form\u0022 \/\u003E\n\u003C\/form\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E","dialogOptions":{"width":"800","modal":true,"title":"Republish this content"}}]