August 11, 2025
The United Nations Secretary-General announced that Sébastien Philippe of the Program on Science and Global Security has been appointed as one of the members of the UN Independent Scientific Panel on Effects of Nuclear War.
The Panel was established by a December 2024 General Assembly resolution, “Nuclear War Effects and Scientific Research”. The resolution was introduced by Ireland and New Zealand as part of a coalition of 48 countries and was passed with an overwhelming majority. It mandated the U.N. Secretary-General to appoint an independent 21-member Scientific Panel on the Effects of Nuclear War to examine “the physical effects and societal consequences of a nuclear war on a local, regional and planetary scale.”
The Panel will assess “climatic, environmental and radiological effects, and their impacts on public health, global socio-economic systems, agriculture and ecosystems, in the days-weeks-decades following nuclear war.” The panel also will identify areas requiring further research. Its report will be considered by the UN General Assembly in 2027.
The panel members are experts from a wide range of scientific fields. It also was required to have equitable geographical and gender balance.
This international scientific study on the effects of nuclear war will be the first of kind in more than three decades. It stems from efforts beginning in 2015 by the Program on Science and Global Security to have the UN conduct a comprehensive 21st century assessment of the impacts of the use of nuclear weapons.