On the occasion of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals Summit, September 20-22, 2010, the Association of Science Technology Centers, Inc. (ASTC) will host a reception and discussion, in cooperation with the World Ocean Network (WON), UNESCO, The Millennium Campaign, and major science center networks worldwide.

MAGPI and the Penn Video Network are pleased to partner with ASTC to make the discussion webstreamed live for science centers as well as students, educators, and the general public on Tuesday Sept. 21st from 10:30am - 12:30pm. 

Background

The United Nations adopted a resolution on December 21, 2009
calling for the convening of a High-Level Plenary Meeting of the sixty-fifth
session of the General Assembly “to galvanize commitment, rally support and
spur collective action in order to reach the Millennium Development Goals by
2015.”  The resolution notes further that the meeting – the so-called “MDG
Summit” - will be held from Monday, 20 September 2010, to Wednesday, 22
September 2010, in New York with the participation of Heads of State or Government. The meeting will be composed of six plenary sessions and six concurrently running interactive round-table sessions.

The Millennium Declaration adopted in 2000 and the actions set forth in the Millennium Development Goals correspond closely with the
priorities of science centers and museums worldwide.  Science centers and
museums are taking the opportunity of this upcoming Summit to highlight the
important role that these institutions play in advancing education and public
engagement concerning the MDGs.  Support for the MDGs is a principle set
forth as well in the Toronto Declaration to which these institutions subscribed
at the Fifth Science Center World Congress in June 2008.

These science institutions have circulated a formal Declaration to the UN High-Level Plenary Meeting that urges strong endorsement and action
at national, regional, and global levels to enable science centers and museums
worldwide to inform, educate, and engage the public more deeply in these
critical issues. The Declaration, addressed to Summit delegates, includes the following recommendations:

“Strongly urge them to incorporate within the outcome document of the MDG Summit process some specific references to the valuable
role of informal science education platforms such as:

• Progress toward the achievement of the
  millennium development goals by 2015 requires increased commitment by all
  countries to greater public discourse and education about critical issues;
• Public discourse and education about the
  successes, best practices, opportunities, as well as the challenges and
  obstacles to achievement of the millennium development goals, must be based on
  objective understanding of the scientific underpinnings of these global
  concerns”. (…)

And suggest that they, therefore, should: "Call on all nations to commit the support
necessary for science centers and museums to fulfill the valuable role of 1)
helping citizens worldwide to engage more effectively in efforts to achieve the
Millennium Development Goals by 2015, and 2) preparing the next generation of
leaders and global citizens for further successes in responsible stewardship of
the planet .”

Program Description

Supporting this important Declaration, ASTC and co-hosts
will convene a reception and discussion on the occasion of the MDG Summit on September 21 to bring global attention to the need for science education in support of the millennium development goals and to highlight the vital role that science
centers and the informal science education community can play in this domain. A discussion hosted by Bud Rock, ASTC CEO and featuring speakers from the Millennium Campaign, UNESCO will be joined by leaders of the informal science education field, including Lesley Lewis CEO of the Ontario Science Center and initiator of the “Toronto Declaration” and Margaret Honey, CEO of the NY Hall of Science. The event will be webstreamed live on the Internet and CEO’s of other science center networks will comment on the discussion from their home towns. The event will include discussion with delegates from several countries represented at the Summit to define additional concrete steps of action to implement support to the MDGs.

Webstream Instructions

This event will be WEBSTREAMED live for non-interactive viewing. Advanced registration is not required for webstream viewing, and anyone with internet connectivity may view the stream. The webstream will be live approximately ten minutes before the event, with content beginning at 10:30 AM EDT. The stream can be accessed at: http://streams.net.isc.upenn.edu/Playerpages/magpi/MagpiVideoPlayer.htm