A-21: TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER
Distr.
GENERAL
A/CONF.151/26 (Vol. III)
14 August 1992
ORIGINAL: ENGLISH
REPORT OF THE UNITED NATIONS CONFERENCE ON
ENVIRONMENT AND DEVELOPMENT
(Rio de Janeiro, 3-14 June 1992)
Chapter 34
TRANSFER OF ENVIRONMENTALLY SOUND TECHNOLOGY, COOPERATION
AND CAPACITY-BUILDING
INTRODUCTION
34.1. Environmentally sound technologies protect the environment, are less
polluting, use all resources in a more sustainable manner, recycle more of
their wastes and products, and handle residual wastes in a more acceptable
manner than the technologies for which they were substitutes.
34.2. Environmentally sound technologies in the context of pollution are
"process and product technologies" that generate low or no waste, for the
prevention of pollution. They also cover "end of the pipe" technologies
for treatment of pollution after it has been generated.
34.3. Environmentally sound technologies are not just individual
technologies, but total systems which include know-how, procedures, goods
and services, and equipment as well as organizational and managerial
procedures. This implies that when discussing transfer of technologies,
the human resource development and local capacity-building aspects of
technology choices, including gender-relevant aspects, should also be
addressed. Environmentally sound technologies should be compatible with
nationally determined socio-economic, cultural and environmental
priorities.
34.4. There is a need for favourable access to and transfer of
environmentally sound technologies, in particular to developing countries,
through supportive measures that promote technology cooperation and that
should enable transfer of necessary technological know-how as well as
building up of economic, technical, and managerial capabilities for the
efficient use and further development of transferred technology.
Technology cooperation involves joint efforts by enterprises and
Governments, both suppliers of technology and its recipients. Therefore,
such cooperation entails an iterative process involving government, the
private sector, and research and development facilities to ensure the best
possible results from transfer of technology. Successful long-term
partnerships in technology cooperation necessarily require continuing
systematic training and capacity-building at all levels over an extended
period of time.
34.5. The activities proposed in this chapter aim at improving conditions
and processes on information, access to and transfer of technology
(including the state-of-the-art technology and related know-how), in
particular to developing countries, as well as on capacity-building and
cooperative arrangements and partnerships in the field of technology, in
order to promote sustainable development. New and efficient technologies
will be essential to increase the capabilities, in particular of developing
countries, to achieve sustainable development, sustain the world's economy,
protect the environment, and alleviate poverty and human suffering.
Inherent in these activities is the need to address the improvement of
technology currently used and its replacement, when appropriate, with more
accessible and more environmentally sound technology.
BASIS FOR ACTION
34.6. This chapter of Agenda 21 is without prejudice to specific
commitments and arrangements on transfer of technology to be adopted in
specific international instruments.
34.7. The availability of scientific and technological information and
access to and transfer of environmentally sound technology are essential
requirements for sustainable development. Providing adequate information
on the environmental aspects of present technologies consists of two
interrelated components: upgrading information on present and
state-of-the-art technologies, including their environmental risks, and
improving access to environmentally sound technologies.
34.8. The primary goal of improved access to technology information is to
enable informed choices, leading to access to and transfer of such
technologies and the strengthening of countries' own technological
capabilities.
34.9. A large body of useful technological knowledge lies in the public
domain. There is a need for the access of developing countries to such
technologies as are not covered by patents or lie in the public domain.
Developing countries would also need to have access to the know-how and
expertise required for the effective utilization of the aforesaid
technologies.
34.10. Consideration must be given to the role of patent protection and
intellectual property rights along with an examination of their impact on
the access to and transfer of environmentally sound technology, in
particular to developing countries, as well as to further exploring
efficiently the concept of assured access for developing countries to
environmentally sound technology in its relation to proprietary rights with
a view to developing effective responses to the needs of developing
countries in this area.
34.11. Proprietary technology is available through commercial channels,
and international business is an important vehicle for technology transfer.
Tapping this pool of knowledge and recombining it with local innovations to
generate alternative technologies should be pursued. At the same time that
concepts and modalities for assured access to environmentally sound
technologies, including state-of-the-art technologies, in particular by
developing countries, continued to be explored, enhanced access to
environmentally sound technologies should be promoted, facilitated and
financed as appropriate, while providing fair incentives to innovators that
promote research and development of new environmentally sound technologies.
34.12. Recipient countries require technology and strengthened support to
help further develop their scientific, technological, professional and
related capacities, taking into account existing technologies and
capacities. This support would enable countries, in particular developing
countries, to make more rational technology choices. These countries could
then better assess environmentally sound technologies prior to their
transfer and properly apply and manage them, as well as improve upon
already existing technologies and adapt them to suit their specific
development needs and priorities.
34.13. A critical mass of research and development capacity is crucial to
the effective dissemination and use of environmentally sound technologies
and their generation locally. Education and training programmes should
reflect the needs of specific goal-oriented research activities and should
work to produce specialists literate in environmentally sound technology
and with an interdisciplinary outlook. Achieving this critical mass
involves building the capabilities of craftspersons, technicians and
middle-level managers, scientists, engineers and educators, as well as
developing their corresponding social or managerial support systems.
Transferring environmentally sound technologies also involves innovatively
adapting and incorporating them into the local or national culture.
OBJECTIVES
34.14. The following objectives are proposed:
(a) To help to ensure the access, in particular of developing
countries, to scientific and technological information, including
information on state-of-the-art technologies;
(b) To promote, facilitate, and finance, as appropriate, the access
to and the transfer of environmentally sound technologies and corresponding
know-how, in particular to developing countries, on favourable terms,
including on concessional and preferential terms, as mutually agreed,
taking into account the need to protect intellectual property rights as
well as the special needs of developing countries for the implementation of
Agenda 21;
(c) To facilitate the maintenance and promotion of environmentally
sound indigenous technologies that may have been neglected or displaced, in
particular in developing countries, paying particular attention to their
priority needs and taking into account the complementary roles of men and
women;
(d) To support endogenous capacity-building, in particular in
developing countries, so they can assess, adopt, manage and apply
environmentally sound technologies. This could be achieved through
inter alia:
(i) Human resource development;
(ii) Strengthening of institutional capacities for research and
development and programme implementation;
(iii) Integrated sector assessments of technology needs, in accordance
with countries' plans, objectives and priorities as foreseen in
the implementation of Agenda 21 at the national level;
(e) To promote long-term technological partnerships between holders
of environmentally sound technologies and potential users.
ACTIVITIES
(a) Development of international information networks which link national,
subregional, regional and international systems
34.15. Existing national, subregional, regional and international
information systems should be developed and linked through regional
clearing-houses covering broad-based sectors of the economy such as
agriculture, industry and energy. Such a network might, inter alia,
include national, subregional and regional patent offices that are equipped
to produce reports on state-of-the-art technology. The clearing-house
networks would disseminate information on available technologies, their
sources, their environmental risks, and the broad terms under which they
may be acquired. They would operate on an information-demand basis and
focus on the information needs of the end-users. They would take into
account the positive roles and contributions of international, regional and
subregional organizations, business communities, trade associations,
non-governmental organizations, national Governments, and newly established
or strengthened national networks.
34.16. The international and regional clearing-houses would take the
initiative, where necessary, in helping users to identify their needs and
in disseminating information that meets those needs, including the use of
existing news, public information, and communication systems. The
disseminated information would highlight and detail concrete cases where
environmentally sound technologies were successfully developed and
implemented. In order to be effective, the clearing-houses need to provide
not only information, but also referrals to other services, including
sources of advice, training, technologies and technology assessment. The
clearing-houses would thus facilitate the establishment of joint ventures
and partnerships of various kinds.
34.17. An inventory of existing and international or regional
clearing-houses or information exchange systems should be undertaken by the
relevant United Nations bodies. The existing structure should be
strengthened and improved when necessary. Additional information systems
should be developed, if necessary, in order to fill identified gaps in this
international network.
(b) Support of and promotion of access to transfer of technology
34.18. Governments and international organizations should promote, and
encourage the private sector to promote, effective modalities for the
access and transfer, in particular to developing countries, of
environmentally sound technologies by means of activities, including the
following:
(a) Formulation of policies and programmes for the effective transfer
of environmentally sound technologies that are publicly owned or in the
public domain;
(b) Creation of favourable conditions to encourage the private and
public sectors to innovate, market and use environmentally sound
technologies;
(c) Examination by Governments and, where appropriate, by relevant
organizations of existing policies, including subsidies and tax policies,
and regulations to determine whether they encourage or impede the access
to, transfer of and introduction of environmentally sound technologies;
(d) Addressing, in a framework which fully integrates environment and
development, barriers to the transfer of privately owned environmentally
sound technologies and adoption of appropriate general measures to reduce
such barriers while creating specific incentives, fiscal or otherwise, for
the transfer of such technologies;
(e) In the case of privately owned technologies, the adoption of the
following measures, in particular for developing countries:
(i) Creation and enhancement by developed countries, as well as other
countries which might be in a position to do so, of appropriate
incentives, fiscal or otherwise, to stimulate the transfer of
environmentally sound technology by companies, in particular to
developing countries, as integral to sustainable development;
(ii) Enhancement of the access to and transfer of patent protected
environmentally sound technologies, in particular to developing
countries;
(iii) Purchase of patents and licences on commercial terms for their
transfer to developing countries on non-commercial terms as part
of development cooperation for sustainable development, taking
into account the need to protect intellectual property rights;
(iv) In compliance with and under the specific circumstances recognized
by the relevant international conventions adhered to by States, the
undertaking of measures to prevent the abuse of intellectual
property rights, including rules with respect to their acquisition
through compulsory licensing, with the provision of equitable and
adequate compensation;
(v) Provision of financial resources to acquire environmentally sound
technologies in order to enable in particular developing countries
to implement measures to promote sustainable development that would
entail a special or abnormal burden to them;
(f) Development of mechanisms for the access to and transfer of
environmentally sound technologies, in particular to developing countries,
while taking into account development in the process of negotiating an
international code of conduct on transfer of technology, as decided by
UNCTAD at its eighth session, held at Cartagena de Indias, Colombia, in
February 1992.
(c) Improvement of the capacity to develop and manage environmentally sound
technologies
34.19. Frameworks at subregional, regional and international levels should
be established and/or strengthened for the development, transfer and
application of environmentally sound technologies and corresponding
technical know-how with a special focus on developing countries' needs, by
adding such functions to already existing bodies. Such frameworks would
facilitate initiatives from both developing and developed countries to
stimulate the research, development and transfer of environmentally sound
technologies, often through partnerships within and among countries and
between the scientific and technological community, industry and
Governments.
34.20. National capacities to assess, develop, manage and apply new
technologies should be developed. This will require strengthening existing
institutions, training of personnel at all levels, and education of the
end-user of the technology.
(d) Establishment of a collaborative network of research centres
34.21. A collaborative network of national, subregional, regional and
international research centres on environmentally sound technology should
be established to enhance the access to and development, management and
transfer of environmentally sound technologies, including transfer and
cooperation among developing countries and between developed and developing
countries, primarily based on existing subregional or regional research,
development and demonstration centres which are linked with the national
institutions, in close cooperation with the private sector.
(e) Support for programmes of cooperation and assistance
34.22. Support should be provided for programmes of cooperation and
assistance, including those provided by United Nations agencies,
international organizations, and other appropriate public and private
organizations, in particular to developing countries, in the areas of
research and development, technological and human resources
capacity-building in the fields of training, maintenance, national
technology needs assessments, environmental impact assessments, and
sustainable development planning.
34.23. Support should also be provided for national, subregional, regional,
multilateral and bilateral programmes of scientific research, dissemination
of information and technology development among developing countries,
including through the involvement of both public and private enterprises
and research facilities, as well as funding for technical cooperation among
developing countries' programmes in this area. This should include
developing links among these facilities to maximize their efficiency in
understanding, disseminating and implementing technologies for sustainable
development.
34.24. The development of global, regional and subregional programmes
should include identification and evaluation of regional, subregional and
national need-based priorities. Plans and studies supporting these
programmes should provide the basis for potential financing by multilateral
development banks, bilateral organizations, private sector interests and
non-governmental organizations.
34.25. Visits should be sponsored and, on a voluntary basis, the return of
qualified experts from developing countries in the field of environmentally
sound technologies who are currently working in developed country
institutions should be facilitated.
(f) Technology assessment in support of the management of environmentally
sound technology
34.26. The international community, in particular United Nations agencies,
international organizations, and other appropriate and private
organizations should help exchange experiences and develop capacity for
technology needs assessment, in particular in developing countries, to
enable them to make choices based on environmentally sound technologies.
They should:
(a) Build up technology assessment capacity for the management of
environmentally sound technology, including environmental impact and risk
assessment, with due regard to appropriate safeguards on the transfer of
technologies subject to prohibition on environmental or health grounds;
(b) Strengthen the international network of regional, subregional or
national environmentally sound technology assessment centres, coupled with
clearing-houses, to tap the technology assessment sources mentioned above
for the benefit of all nations. These centres could, in principle, provide
advice and training for specific national situations and promote the
building up of national capacity in environmentally sound technology
assessment. The possibility of assigning this activity to already existing
regional organizations should be fully explored before creating entirely
new institutions, and funding of this activity through public-private
partnerships should also be explored, as appropriate.
(g) Collaborative arrangements and partnerships
34.27. Long-term collaborative arrangements should be promoted between
enterprises of developed and developing countries for the development of
environmentally sound technologies. Multinational companies, as
repositories of scarce technical skills needed for the protection and
enhancement of the environment, have a special role and interest in
promoting cooperation in and related to technology transfer, as they are
important channels for such transfer, and for building a trained human
resource pool and infrastructure.
34.28. Joint ventures should be promoted between suppliers and recipients
of technologies, taking into account developing countries' policy
priorities and objectives. Together with direct foreign investment, these
ventures could constitute important channels of transferring
environmentally sound technologies. Through such joint ventures and direct
investment, sound environmental management practices could be transferred
and maintained.
MEANS OF IMPLEMENTATION
Financing and cost evaluation
34.29. The Conference secretariat has estimated the average total annual
cost (1993-2000) of implementing the activities of this chapter to be
between $450 million and $600 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.
END OF CHAPTER 34
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