FMSTAN Geneva meeting - Past, Present and Future Tense of Science Diplomacy

The Foreign Ministries Science and Technology Advice Network (FMSTAN) is an informal peer network of highlevel science advisors within Foreign Ministries, which was founded in 2016. FMSTAN has focused initially in raising awareness about the importance of enduring Science and Technology advisory capacity within foreign ministries and in sharing best practices and lessons learned in building Science and Technology advisory capacity. FMSTAN currently has 28 active member countries, with membership across every continent.

Hosted by Switzerland, fifteen FMSTAN member countries will gather in Geneva to address the challenges that Science Diplomacy is facing nowadays. Together with the “Tech Hub” at the Geneva Graduate Institute and the International Network for Governmental Science Advice (INGSA), FMSTAN has put together a program allowing the sharing of best practices and lessons learned in building S&T advisory capacity and strengthening S&T advisory capacity in foreign ministries.

Our Lead Diplomatic and International Relationship Specialist Noura Kayal will be addressing FMSTAN during a session entitled "Hydropolitics: Water as a source of political conflict and cooperation". Water is simultaneously a physical, political, and social resource. This requires considering not only water as a natural resource, but also its access, regulation, pollution, and use as a media or propaganda tool, as well as a leverage for pressuring other actors.