Agenda 21
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Chapter 35. Science for Sustainable Development
Introduction
35.1. This chapter focuses on the role and the use of the sciences in supporting the
prudent management of the environment and development for the daily survival and future
development of humanity. The programme areas proposed herein are intended to be
over-arching, in order to support the specific scientific requirements identified in the
other Agenda 21 chapters. One role of the sciences should be to provide information to
better enable formulation and selection of environment and development policies in the
decision-making process. In order to fulfil this requirement, it will be essential to
enhance scientific understanding, improve long-term scientific assessments, strengthen
scientific capacities in all countries and ensure that the sciences are responsive to
emerging needs.
35.2. Scientists are improving their understanding in areas such as climatic change,
growth in rates of resource consumption, demographic trends, and environmental
degradation. Changes in those and other areas need to be taken into account in working out
long-term strategies for development. A first step towards improving the scientific basis
for these strategies is a better understanding of land, oceans, atmosphere and their
interlocking water, nutrient and biogeochemical cycles and energy flows which all form
part of the Earth system. This is essential if a more accurate estimate is to be provided
of the carrying capacity of the planet Earth and of its resilience under the many stresses
placed upon it by human activities. The sciences can provide this understanding through
increased research into the underlying ecological processes and through the application of
modern, effective and efficient tools that are now available, such as remote-sensing
devices, robotic monitoring instruments and computing and modelling capabilities. The
sciences are playing an important role in linking the fundamental significance of the
Earth system as life support to appropriate strategies for development which build on its
continued functioning. The sciences should continue to play an increasing role in
providing for an improvement in the efficiency of resource utilization and in finding new
development practices, resources, and alternatives. There is a need for the sciences
constantly to reassess and promote less intensive trends in resource utilization,
including less intensive utilization of energy in industry, agriculture, and
transportation. Thus, the sciences are increasingly being understood as an essential
component in the search for feasible pathways towards sustainable development.
35.3. Scientific knowledge should be applied to articulate and support the goals of
sustainable development, through scientific assessments of current conditions and future
prospects for the Earth system. Such assessments, based on existing and emerging
innovations within the sciences, should be used in the decision-making process and in the
interactive processes between the sciences and policy-making. There needs to be an
increased output from the sciences in order to enhance understanding and facilitate
interaction between science and society. An increase in the scientific capacity and
capability to achieve these goals will also be required, particularly in developing
countries. Of crucial importance is the need for scientists in developing countries to
participate fully in international scientific research programmes dealing with the global
problems of environment and development so as to allow all countries to participate on
equal footing in negotiations on global environmental and developmental issues. In the
face of threats of irreversible environmental damage, lack of full scientific
understanding should not be an excuse for postponing actions which are justified in their
own right. The precautionary approach could provide a basis for policies relating to
complex systems that are not yet fully understood and whose consequences of disturbances
cannot yet be predicted.
35.4. The programme areas, which are in harmony with the conclusions and
recommendations of the International Conference on an Agenda of Science for Environment
and Development into the 21st Century (ASCEND 21) are:
(a) Strengthening the scientific basis for sustainable management;
(b) Enhancing scientific understanding;
(c) Improving long-term scientific assessment;
(d) Building up scientific capacity and capability.
Programme Areas
A. Strengthening the scientific basis for sustainable management
Basis for action
35.5. Sustainable development requires taking longer-term perspectives, integrating
local and regional effects of global change into the development process, and using the
best scientific and traditional knowledge available. The development process should be
constantly re-evaluated, in light of the findings of scientific research, to ensure that
resource utilization has reduced impacts on the Earth system. Even so, the future is
uncertain, and there will be surprises. Good environmental and developmental management
policies must therefore be scientifically robust, seeking to keep open a range of options
to ensure flexibility of response. The precautionary approach is important. Often, there
is a communication gap among scientists, policy makers, and the public at large, whose
interests are articulated by both governmental and non-governmental organizations. Better
communication is required among scientists, decision makers, and the general public.
Objectives
35.6. The primary objective is for each country with the support of international
organizations, as requested, to identify the state of its scientific knowledge and its
research needs and priorities in order to achieve, as soon as possible, substantial
improvements in:
(a) Large-scale widening of the scientific base and strengthening of scientific and
research capacities and capabilities - in particular, those of developing countries - in
areas relevant to environment and development;
(b) Environmental and developmental policy formulation, building upon the best
scientific knowledge and assessments, and taking into account the need to enhance
international cooperation and the relative uncertainties of the various processes and
options involved;
(c) The interaction between the sciences and decision-making, using the precautionary
approach, where appropriate, to change the existing patterns of production and consumption
and to gain time for reducing uncertainty with respect to the selection of policy options;
(d) The generation and application of knowledge, especially indigenous and local
knowledge, to the capacities of different environments and cultures, to achieve sustained
levels of development, taking into account interrelations at the national, regional and
international levels;
(e) Improving cooperation between scientists by promoting interdisciplinary research
programmes and activities;
(f) Participation of people in setting priorities and in decision-making relating to
sustainable development.
Activities
35.7. Countries, with the assistance of international organizations, where required,
should:
(a) Prepare an inventory of their natural and social science data holdings relevant to
the promotion of sustainable development;
(b) Identify their research needs and priorities in the context of international
research efforts;
(c) Strengthen and design appropriate institutional mechanisms at the highest
appropriate local, national, subregional and regional levels and within the United Nations
system for developing a stronger scientific basis for the improvement of environmental and
developmental policy formulation consistent with long-term goals of sustainable
development. Current research in this area should be broadened to include more involvement
of the public in establishing long-term societal goals for formulating the sustainable
development scenarios;
(d) Develop, apply and institute the necessary tools for sustainable development, with
regard to:
(i) Quality-of-life indicators covering, for example, health, education, social
welfare, state of the environment, and the economy;
(ii) Economic approaches to environmentally sound development and new and improved
incentive structures for better resource management;
(iii) Long-term environmental policy formulation, risk management and environmentally
sound technology assessment;
(e) Collect, analyse and integrate data on the linkages between the state of ecosystems
and the health of human communities in order to improve knowledge of the cost and benefit
of different development policies and strategies in relation to health and the
environment, particularly in developing countries;
(f) Conduct scientific studies of national and regional pathways to sustainable
development, using comparable and complementary methodologies. Such studies, coordinated
by an international science effort, should to a large extent involve local expertise and
be conducted by multidisciplinary teams from regional networks and/or research centres, as
appropriate and according to national capacities and the available resources;
(g) Improve capabilities for determining scientific research priorities at the
national, regional and global levels to meet the needs of sustainable development. This is
a process that involves scientific judgements regarding short-term and long-term benefits
and possible long-term costs and risks. It should be adaptive and responsive to perceived
needs and be carried out via transparent, "user-friendly", risk-evaluation
methodologies;
(h) Develop methods to link the findings of the established sciences with the
indigenous knowledge of different cultures. The methods should be tested using pilot
studies. They should be developed at the local level and should concentrate on the links
between the traditional knowledge of indigenous groups and corresponding, current
"advanced science", with particular focus on disseminating and applying the
results to environmental protection and sustainable development.
Means of implementation
(a) Financing and cost evaluation
35.8. The Conference secretariat has estimated the average total annual cost
(1993-2000) of implementing the activities of this programme to be about $150 million,
including about $30 million from the international community on grant or concessional
terms. These are indicative and order-of-magnitude estimates only and have not been
reviewed by Governments. Actual costs and financial terms, including any that are
non-concessional, will depend upon, inter alia, the specific strategies and programmes
Governments decide upon for implementation.
(b) Scientific and technological means
35.9. The scientific and technological means include the following:
(a) Supporting new scientific research programmes, including their socio-economic and
human aspects, at the community, national, subregional, regional and global levels, to
complement and encourage synergies between traditional and conventional scientific
knowledge and practices and strengthening interdisciplinary research related to
environmental degradation and rehabilitation;
(b) Setting up demonstration models of different types (e.g., socio-economic,
environmental conditions) to study methodologies and formulate guidelines;
(c) Supporting research by developing relative-risk evaluation methods to assist policy
makers in ranking scientific research priorities.
B. Enhancing scientific understanding
Basis for action
35.10. In order to promote sustainable development, more extensive knowledge is
required of the Earth's carrying capacity, including the processes that could either
impair or enhance its ability to support life. The global environment is changing more
rapidly than at any time in recent centuries; as a result, surprises may be expected, and
the next century could see significant environmental changes. At the same time, the human
consumption of energy, water and non-renewable resources is increasing, on both a total
and a per capita basis, and shortages may ensue in many parts of the world even if
environmental conditions were to remain unchanged. Social processes are subject to
multiple variations across time and space, regions and culture. They both affect and are
influenced by changing environmental conditions. Human factors are key driving forces in
these intricate sets of relationships and exert their influence directly on global change.
Therefore, study of the human dimensions of the causes and consequences of environmental
change and of more sustainable development paths is essential.
Objectives
35.11. One key objective is to improve and increase the fundamental understanding of
the linkages between human and natural environmental systems and improve the analytical
and predictive tools required to better understand the environmental impacts of
development options by:
(a) Carrying out research programmes in order better to understand the carrying
capacity of the Earth as conditioned by its natural systems, such as the biogeochemical
cycles, the atmosphere/hydrosphere/lithosphere/cryosphere system, the biosphere and
biodiversity, the agro-ecosystem and other terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems;
(b) Developing and applying new analytical and predictive tools in order to assess more
accurately the ways in which the Earth's natural systems are being increasingly influenced
by human actions, both deliberate and inadvertent, and demographic trends, and the impact
and consequences of those actions and trends;
(c) Integrating physical, economic and social sciences in order better to understand
the impacts of economic and social behaviour on the environment and of environmental
degradation on local and global economies.
Activities
35.12. The following activities should be undertaken:
(a) Support development of an expanded monitoring network to describe cycles (for
example, global, biogeochemical and hydrological cycles) and test hypotheses regarding
their behaviour, and improve research into the interactions among the various global
cycles and their consequences at national, subregional, regional and global levels as
guides to tolerance and vulnerability;
(b) Support national, subregional, regional and international observation and research
programmes in global atmospheric chemistry and the sources and sinks of greenhouse gases,
and ensure that the results are presented in a publicly accessible and understandable
form;
(c) Support national, subregional, regional and international research programmes on
marine and terrestrial systems, strengthen global terrestrial databases of their
components, expand corresponding systems for monitoring their changing states and enhance
predictive modelling of the Earth system and its subsystems, including modelling of the
functioning of these systems assuming different intensities of human impact. The research
programmes should include the programmes mentioned in other Agenda 21 chapters which
support mechanisms for cooperation and coherence of research programmes on global change;
(d) Encourage coordination of satellite missions, the networks, systems and procedures
for processing and disseminating their data; and develop the interface with the research
users of Earth observation data and with the United Nations EARTHWATCH system;
(e) Develop the capacity for predicting the responses of terrestrial, freshwater,
coastal and marine ecosystems and biodiversity to short- and long-term perturbations of
the environment, and develop further restoration ecology;
(f) Study the role of biodiversity and the loss of species in the functioning of
ecosystems and the global life-support system;
(g) Initiate a global observing system of parameters needed for the rational management
of coastal and mountain zones and significantly expand freshwater quantity/quality
monitoring systems, particularly in developing countries;
(h) In order to understand the Earth as a system, develop Earth observation systems
from space which will provide integrated, continuous and long-term measurements of the
interactions of the atmosphere, hydrosphere and lithosphere, and develop a distribution
system for data which will facilitate the utilization of data obtained through
observation;
(i) Develop and apply systems and technology that automatically collect, record and
transmit data and information to data and analysis centres, in order to monitor marine,
terrestrial and atmospheric processes and provide advance warning of natural disasters;
(j) Enhance the contribution of the engineering sciences to multidisciplinary research
programmes on the Earth system, in particular with regard to increasing emergency
preparedness and reducing the negative effects of major natural disasters;
(k) Intensify research to integrate the physical, economic and social sciences to
better understand the impacts of economic and social behaviour on the environment and of
environmental degradation on local and global economies and, in particular:
(i) Develop research on human attitudes and behaviour as driving forces central to an
understanding of the causes and consequences of environmental change and resource use;
(ii) Promote research on human, economic and social responses to global change;
(l) Support development of new user-friendly technologies and systems that facilitate
the integration of multidisciplinary, physical, chemical, biological and social/human
processes which, in turn, provide information and knowledge for decision makers and the
general public.
Means of implementation
(a) Financing and cost evaluation
35.13. The Conference secretariat has estimated the average total annual cost
(1993-2000) of implementing the activities of this programme to be about $2 billion,
including about $1.5 billion from the international community on grant or concessional
terms. These are indicative and order-of-magnitude estimates only and have not been
reviewed by Governments. Actual costs and financial terms, including any that are
non-concessional, will depend upon, inter alia, the specific strategies and programmes
Governments decide upon for implementation.
(b) Scientific and technological means
35.14. The scientific and technological means include the following:
(a) Supporting and using the relevant national research activities of academia,
research institutes and governmental and non-governmental organizations, and promoting
their active participation in regional and global programmes, particularly in developing
countries;
(b) Increasing the use of appropriate enabling systems and technologies, such as
supercomputers, space-based observational technology, Earth- and ocean-based observational
technologies, data management and database technologies and, in particular, developing and
expanding the Global Climate Observing System.
C. Improving long-term scientific assessment
Basis for action
35.15. Meeting scientific research needs in the environment/development field is only
the first step in the support that the sciences can provide for the sustainable
development process. The knowledge acquired may then be used to provide scientific
assessments (audits) of the current status and for a range of possible future conditions.
This implies that the biosphere must be maintained in a healthy state and that losses in
biodiversity must be slowed down. Although many of the long-term environmental changes
that are likely to affect people and the biosphere are global in scale, key changes can
often be made at the national and local levels. At the same time, human activities at the
local and regional levels often contribute to global threats - e.g., stratospheric ozone
depletion. Thus scientific assessments and projections are required at the global,
regional and local levels. Many countries and organizations already prepare reports on the
environment and development which review current conditions and indicate future trends.
Regional and global assessments could make full use of such reports but should be broader
in scope and include the results of detailed studies of future conditions for a range of
assumptions about possible future human responses, using the best available models. Such
assessments should be designed to map out manageable development pathways within the
environmental and socio-economic carrying capacity of each region. Full use should be made
of traditional knowledge of the local environment.
Objectives
35.16. The primary objective is to provide assessments of the current status and trends
in major developmental and environmental issues at the national, subregional, regional and
global levels on the basis of the best available scientific knowledge in order to develop
alternative strategies, including indigenous approaches, for the different scales of time
and space required for long-term policy formulation.
Activities
35.17. The following activities should be undertaken:
(a) Coordinate existing data- and statistics-gathering systems relevant to
developmental and environmental issues so as to support preparation of long-term
scientific assessments - for example, data on resource depletion, import/export flows,
energy use, health impacts and demographic trends; apply the data obtained through the
activities identified in programme area B to environment/development assessments at the
global, regional and local levels; and promote the wide distribution of the assessments in
a form that is responsive to public needs and can be widely understood;
(b) Develop a methodology to carry out national and regional audits and a five-year
global audit on an integrated basis. The standardized audits should help to refine the
pattern and character of development, examining in particular the capacities of global and
regional life-supporting systems to meet the needs of human and non-human life forms and
identifying areas and resources vulnerable to further degradation. This task would involve
the integration of all relevant sciences at the national, regional, and global levels, and
would be organized by governmental agencies, non-governmental organizations, universities
and research institutions, assisted by international governmental and non-governmental
organizations and United Nations bodies, when necessary and as appropriate. These audits
should then be made available to the general public.
Means of implementation
Financing and cost evaluation
35.18. The Conference secretariat has estimated the average total annual cost
(1993-2000) of implementing the activities of this programme to be about $35 million,
including about $18 million from the international community on grant or concessional
terms. These are indicative and order-of-magnitude estimates only and have not been
reviewed by Governments. Actual costs and financial terms, including any that are
non-concessional, will depend upon, inter alia, the specific strategies and programmes
Governments decide upon for implementation.
35.19. With regard to the existing data requirements under programme area A, support
should be provided for national data collection and warning systems. This would involve
setting up database, information and reporting systems, including data assessment and
information dissemination in each region.
D. Building up scientific capacity and capability
Basis for action
35.20. In view of the increasing role the sciences have to play in dealing with the
issues of environment and development, it is necessary to build up scientific capacity and
strengthen such capacity in all countries - particularly in developing countries - to
enable them to participate fully in the generation and application of the results of
scientific research and development concerning sustainable development. There are many
ways to build up scientific and technological capacity. Some of the most important of them
are the following: education and training in science and technology; assistance to
developing countries to improve infrastructures for research and development which could
enable scientists to work more productively; development of incentives to encourage
research and development; and greater utilization of their results in the productive
sectors of the economy. Such capacity-building would also form the basis for improving
public awareness and understanding of the sciences. Special emphasis must be put on the
need to assist developing countries to strengthen their capacities to study their own
resource bases and ecological systems and manage them better in order to meet national,
regional and global challenges. Furthermore, in view of the size and complexity of global
environmental problems, a need for more specialists in several disciplines has become
evident world wide.
Objectives
35.21. The primary objective is to improve the scientific capacities of all countries -
in particular, those of developing countries - with specific regard to:
(a) Education, training and facilities for local research and development and human
resource development in basic scientific disciplines and in environment-related sciences,
utilizing where appropriate traditional and local knowledge of sustainability;
(b) A substantial increase by the year 2000 in the number of scientists - particularly
women scientists - in those developing countries where their number is at present
insufficient;
(c) Reducing significantly the exodus of scientists from developing countries and
encouraging those who have left to return;
(d) Improving access to relevant information for scientists and decision makers, with
the aim of improving public awareness and participation in decision-making; (e)
Involvement of scientists in national, regional and global environmental and developmental
research programmes, including multidisciplinary research;
(f) Periodic academic update of scientists from developing countries in their
respective fields of knowledge.
Activities
35.22. The following activities should be undertaken:
(a) Promote the education and training of scientists, not only in their disciplines but
also in their ability to identify, manage and incorporate environmental considerations
into research and development projects; ensure that a sound base in natural systems,
ecology and resource management is provided; and develop specialists capable of working in
interdisciplinary programmes related to environment and development, including the field
of applied social sciences;
(b) Strengthen the scientific infrastructure in schools, universities and research
institutions - particularly those in developing countries - by the provision of adequate
scientific equipment and access to current scientific literature, for the purpose of
achieving and sustaining a critical mass of highly qualified scientists in these
countries;
(c) Develop and expand national scientific and technological databases, processing data
in unified formats and systems, and allowing full and open access to the depository
libraries of regional scientific and technological information networks. Promote
submission of scientific and technological information and databases to global or regional
data centres and network systems;
(d) Develop and expand regional and global scientific and technological information
networks which are based on and linked to national scientific and technological databases;
collect, process and disseminate information from regional and global scientific
programmes; expand activities to reduce information barriers due to language differences.
Increase the applications - particularly in developing countries - of computer-based
retrieval systems in order to cope with the growth of scientific literature;
(e) Develop, strengthen and forge new partnerships among national, regional and global
capacities to promote the full and open exchange of scientific and technological data and
information and to facilitate technical assistance related to environmentally sound and
sustainable development. This should be done through the development of mechanisms for the
sharing of basic research, data and information, and the improvement and development of
international networks and centres, including regional linking with national scientific
databases, for research, training and monitoring. Such mechanisms should be designed so as
to enhance professional cooperation among scientists in all countries and to establish
strong national and regional alliances between industry and research institutions;
(f) Improve and develop new links between existing networks of natural and social
scientists and universities at the international level in order to strengthen national
capacities in the formulation of policy options in the field of environment and
development;
(g) Compile, analyse and publish information on indigenous environmental and
developmental knowledge, and assist the communities that possess such knowledge to benefit
from them.
Means of implementation
(a) Financing and cost evaluation
35.23. The Conference secretariat has estimated the average total annual cost
(1993-2000) of implementing the activities of this programme to be about $750 million,
including about $470 million from the international community on grant or concessional
terms. These are indicative and order-of-magnitude estimates only and have not been
reviewed by Governments. Actual costs and financial terms, including any that are
non-concessional, will depend upon, inter alia, the specific strategies and programmes
Governments decide upon for implementation.
(b) Scientific and technological means
35.24. Such means include increasing and strengthening regional multidisciplinary
research and training networks and centres making optimal use of existing facilities and
associated sustainable development and technology support systems in developing regions.
Promote and use the potential of independent initiatives and indigenous innovations and
entrepreneurship. The function of such networks and centres could include, for example:
(a) Support and coordination of scientific cooperation among all nations in the region;
(b) Linking with monitoring centres and carrying out assessment of environmental and
developmental conditions;
(c) Support and coordination of national studies of pathways towards sustainable
development;
(d) Organization of science education and training;
(e) Establishment and maintenance of information, monitoring and assessment systems and
databases.
(c) Capacity-building
35.25. Capacity-building includes the following:
(a) Creating conditions (e.g., salaries, equipment, libraries) to ensure that the
scientists will work effectively in their home countries;
(b) Enhancing national, regional and global capacities for carrying out scientific
research and applying scientific and technological information to environmentally sound
and sustainable development. This includes a need to increase financial resources for
global and regional scientific and technological information networks, as may be
appropriate, so that they will be able to function effectively and efficiently in
satisfying the scientific needs of developing countries. Ensure the capacity-building of
women by recruiting more women in research and research training.
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