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AGENDA 21, CHAPTER 31



SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNOLOGICAL COMMUNITY






NOTE:     This is a final, advanced version of a chapter of Agenda 21, as adopted by the
          Plenary in Rio de Janeiro, on June 14, 1992.  This document will be further
          edited, translated into the official languages, and published by the United
          Nations for the General Assembly this autumn.





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                         INTRODUCTION

31.1.  The present chapter focuses on how to enable the 
scientific and technological community, which includes, among 
others, engineers, architects, industrial designers, urban 
planners and other professionals and policy makers, to make a 
more open and effective contribution to the decision-making 
processes concerning environment and development.  It is 
important that the role of science and technology in human 
affairs be more widely known and better understood, both by 
decision makers who help determine public policy and by the 
general public.  The cooperative relationship existing between 
the scientific and technological community and the general 
public should be extended and deepened into a full 
partnership.  Improved communication and cooperation between 
the scientific and technological community and decision makers 
will facilitate greater use of scientific and technical 
information and knowledge in policies and programme 
implementation.  Decision makers should create more favourable 
conditions for improving training and independent research in 
sustainable development.  Existing multidisciplinary approaches 
will have to be strengthened and more interdisciplinary studies 
developed between the scientific and technological community 
and policy makers and with the general public to provide 
leadership and practical know-how to the concept of sustainable 
development.  The public should be assisted in communicating 
their sentiments to the scientific and technological community 
concerning how science and technology might be better managed 
to affect their lives in a beneficial way.  By the same token, 
the independence of the scientific and technological community 
to investigate and publish without restriction and to exchange 
their findings freely must be assured.  The adoption and 
implementation of ethical principles and codes of practice for 
the scientific and technological community that are 
internationally accepted could enhance professionalism and may 
improve and hasten recognition of the value of its 
contributions to environment and development, recognizing the 
continuing evolution and uncertainty of scientific knowledge.

                        PROGRAMME AREAS

            A.  Improving communication and cooperation among the
                scientific and technological community and decision
                makers and the public

Basis for action

31.2.  The scientific and technological community and policy 
makers should increase their interaction in order to implement 
strategies for sustainable development on the basis of the best 
available knowledge.  This implies that decision makers should 
provide the necessary framework for rigorous research and for 
full and open communication of the findings of the scientific 
and technological community, and develop with it ways in which 
research results and the concerns stemming from the findings 
can be communicated to decision-making bodies so as to better 
link scientific and technical knowledge with strategic policy 
and programme formulation.  At the same time, this dialogue 
would assist the scientific and technological community in 
developing priorities for research and proposing actions for 
constructive solutions,

Objectives

31.3.  The following objectives are proposed:

     (a)  To extend and open up the decision-making process and 
broaden the range of developmental and environmental issues 
where cooperation at all levels between the scientific and 
technological community and decision makers can take place; 

     (b)  To improve the exchange of knowledge and concerns 
between the scientific and technological community and the 
general public in order to enable policies and programmes to be 
better formulated, understood and supported.

Activities

31.4.  Governments should undertake the following activities:

     (a)  Review how national scientific and technological 
activities could be more responsive to sustainable development 
needs as part of an overall effort to strengthen national 
research and development systems, including through 
strengthening and widening the membership of national 
scientific and technological advisory councils, organizations 
and committees to assure that:

     (i)  The full range of national needs for scientific and 
          technological programmes are communicated to 
          Governments and the public;

    (ii)  The various strands of public opinion are represented;

     (b)  Promote regional cooperative mechanisms to address 
regional needs for sustainable development.  Such regional 
cooperative mechanisms could be facilitated through 
public/private partnerships and provide support to Governments, 
industry, non-governmental educational institutions and other 
domestic and international organizations, and by strengthening 
global professional networks;

     (c)  Improve and expand scientific and technical inputs 
through appropriate mechanisms to intergovernmental 
consultative, cooperative and negotiating processes towards 
international and regional agreements;

     (d)  Strengthen science and technology advice to the 
highest levels of the United Nations, and other international 
institutions, in order to ensure the inclusion of science and 
technology know-how in sustainable development policies and 
strategies;

     (e)  Improve and strengthen programmes for disseminating 
research results of universities and research institutions.  
This requires recognition of and greater support to the 
scientists, technologists and teachers who are engaged in 
communicating and interpreting scientific and technological 
information to policy makers, professionals in other fields and 
the general public.  Such support should focus on the transfer 
of skills and the transfer and adaptation of planning 
techniques.  This requires full and open sharing of data and 
information among scientists and decision makers.  The 
publication of national scientific research reports and 
technical reports that are understandable and relevant to local 
sustainable development needs would also improve the interface 
between science and decision-making, as well as the 
implementation of scientific results;

     (f)  Improve links between the official and independent 
research sector and industry so that research may become an 
important element of industrial strategy;

     (g)  Promote and strengthen the role of women as full 
partners in the science and technology disciplines;

     (h)  Develop and implement information technologies to 
enhance the dissemination of information for sustainable 
development.

Means of implementation

(a)  Financing and cost evaluation

31.5.  The Conference secretariat has estimated the average 
total annual cost (1993-2000) of implementing the activities of 
this programme to be about $15 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)  Capacity-building

31.6.  Intergovernmental panels on development and 
environmental issues should be organized, with emphasis on 
their scientific and technical aspects, and studies of 
responsiveness and adaptability in subsequent programmes of 
action.


          B.  Promoting codes of practice and guidelines related to
              science and technology

Basis for action

31.7.  Scientists and technologists have a special set of 
responsibilities which belong to them both as inheritors of a 
tradition and as professionals and members of disciplines 
devoted to the search for knowledge and to the need to protect 
the biosphere in the context of sustainable development.

31.8.  Increased ethical awareness in environmental and 
developmental decision-making should help to place appropriate 
priorities for the maintenance and enhancement of life-support 
systems for their own sake, and in so doing ensure that the 
functioning of viable natural processes is properly valued by 
present and future societies.  Therefore, a strengthening of 
the codes of practice and guidelines for the scientific and 
technological community would increase environmental awareness 
and contribute to sustainable development.  It would build up 
the level of esteem and regard for the scientific and 
technological community and facilitate the "accountability" of 
science and technology.

Objectives

31.9.  The objective should be to develop, improve and promote 
international acceptance of codes of practice and guidelines 
relating to science and technology in which the integrity of 
life-support systems is comprehensively accounted for and where 
the important role of science and technology in reconciling the 
needs of environment and development is accepted.  To be 
effective in the decision-making process, such principles, 
codes of practice and guidelines must not only be agreed upon 
by the scientific and technological community, but also 
recognized by the society as a whole.

Activities

31.10.  The following activities could be undertaken:

     (a)  Strengthening national and international cooperation, 
including the non-governmental sector, to develop codes of 
practice and guidelines regarding environmentally sound and 
sustainable development, taking into account the Rio 
Declaration and existing codes of practice and guidelines; 

     (b)  Strengthening and establishing national advisory 
groups on environmental and developmental ethics, in order to 
develop a common value framework between the scientific and 
technological community and society as a whole, and promote 
continuous dialogue;

     (c)  Extending education and training in developmental and 
environmental ethical issues to integrate such objectives into 
education curricula and research priorities;

     (d)  Reviewing and amending relevant national and 
international environment and development legal instruments to 
ensure appropriate codes of practice and guidelines are 
incorporated into such regulatory machinery. 

Means of implementation

(a)  Financing and cost evaluation

31.11.  The Conference secretariat has estimated the average 
total annual cost (1993-2000) of implementing the activities of 
this programme to be about $5 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)  Capacity-building

31.12.  Codes of practice and guidelines, including on 
appropriate principles, should be developed for and by the 
scientific and technological community in the pursuit of its 
research activities and implementation of programmes aimed at 
sustainable development.    UNESCO might take the lead in 
implementing the above-mentioned activities, with the 
collaboration of other United Nations agencies and 
intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations.

.
