Sheryl Luzzadder-Beach Past President Address

AAG Past President Sheryl Luzzadder-Beach (2018-19) will present “Science, Geography, and Human Rights” for her Past President’s Address during the AAG 2022 Virtual annual meeting. The AAG, in partnership with the American Association for the Advancement of Science, is a founding member of the Science and Human Rights Coalition, which celebrated its 10^th anniversary in Fall 2019. Science and Human Rights events were featured at the AAG Meetings in New York City in 2012, so it is appropriate to return to this theme 10 years later as AAG returns to New York in 2022. Other AAG meetings (e.g. 2009, 2017, and 2019) have featured this theme. The SHR Coalition was founded on the goal of promoting ratification of Article 15 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights: the human right to benefit from science. Coalition members, including geographers, engage in educational and public policy projects promoting science and human rights across multiple disciplines. Framing principles include “recognizing the right of everyone to enjoy the benefits of scientific progress and its applications; conserving, developing, and diffusing science; respecting the freedom indispensable for scientific research, and recognizing the benefits of international contacts and co-operation in the scientific field” (AAAS SHR 2020; ICESCR, 1966:4). This address will highlight the roles played by AAG, Geography, and Geographers in the coalition and beyond, address the broader impacts that geographers can and do contribute to promoting Science and Human Rights, and highlight the roles that Geography plays in ongoing global existential challenges including the COVID 19 Pandemic, Climate Change, access to water, and other areas where the human right to the benefits of scientific progress should prevail.