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AGENDA 21, CHAPTER 35



SCIENCE FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT







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.





                                                   ........../2

                           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/- 
e.g., data on resource depletion, import/export flows, energy 
use, health impacts, demographic trends, etc.; 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) Create conditions (e.g., salaries, equipment, 
libraries) to ensure that the scientists will work effectively 
in their home countries;

    (b) Enhance 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 to 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.   

.
