Science academies target G8 agenda

In a demonstration of how international negotiations should be done, 12 national science academies have issued two joint statements to the leaders of the G8 countries, who will meet at their annual summit in Russia next month. One endorses a reinvention of the world’s disease surveillance system; the other calls for a major expansion of energy research to address a looming global crisis in energy supplies.

The statements were announced on 14 June by the academies of the G8 countries plus Brazil, China, India and South Africa. They follow the first such exercise at last year’s Gleneagles summit in Britain, when Britain’s Royal Society coordinated joint academy statements on climate change as well as capacity building for Africa.

Nature