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AGENDA 21, CHAPTER 34



TRANSFER OF ENVIRONMENTALLY SOUND TECHNOLOGY, COOPERATION AND
CAPACITY-BUILDING







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

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 
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 compliance with and under the specific circumstances 
recognized by the relevant international conventions adhered to 
by States, undertaking 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:

   (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)  Enhance 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, undertaking 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) Develop 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 in 
Cartagena.

(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

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.

.
