A-21: SCIENCE
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 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.
END OF CHAPTER 35
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