The Scientific Steering Committee and IPO of the GLP are deeply troubled by the military conflict and resulting humanitarian crisis and loss of life that has been occurring in Ukraine for more than a month now. We are concerned for the safety and well-being of all peoples in Ukraine and beyond.
We regard peace as a precondition for sustainable development, under which just and secure human societies and nature can thrive. We mourn yet another war that creates human suffering and is against the UN Charter, which provides a guiding vision of sustainability and justice for the world. We acknowledge that this conflict is already affecting people globally, and that it has the potential to escalate in ways that would be impossible to control if nuclear weapons are deployed. Therefore, we regret the impact today’s events could have on our collective future. In making this statement on Ukraine, we also acknowledge and apologize for GLP’s silence in the face of recent past injustices and wars experienced by our members. Our silence has caused harm by laying bare a biased approach to conflict response. We struggle internally to include diverse voices and recognize that this uneven response to conflict is indicative of an organizational imbalance in representation. In making this statement we affirm our support of all who have struggled with their rights to freedom and representation in the past. A central tenet to our scientific community is the acceptance of the inextricable interrelationships among social and environmental land systems: war, and its prevention, shape and is shaped by land systems and our science is thus not theoretical to these challenges. If there is anything positive to come from the current situation, it is the outpouring of support for Ukraine and all people affected by the ongoing conflict there. This crisis has forced us to reflect more deeply on how to respond to humanitarian crises in the future by emphasizing the value of our varied voices, positions relative to harm, and perspectives on war and other violent conflicts. As a global scientific organization, we urge each of you to encourage your home institutions to support existing platforms such as the #ScienceForUkraine initiative and Scholars at Risk (SAR) an international network of universities that aims to protect academics who are under threat, prevent attacks on the scientific community and promote academic freedom around the world. |
