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The
World Summit on Sustainable Development
Second Preparatory Committee (PrepCom-II) New York, 28 Jan - 8 Feb 2002 |
Monday,
4 February
In the morning, the PrepCom heard an address from Jan Pronk, Dutch Environment Minister and Secretary-General's Special Envoy for WSSD. The PrepCom adjourned for groups to meet to discuss the List of Issues and Proposals for Discussion. Chair Salim had originally proposed that two discussion groups meet in parallel to address the various issues and the proposed clusters. However, some delegations preferred to meet in one Plenary to discuss all the issues and to delete the proposed cluster titles. In the afternoon, the PrepCom met in Plenary to discuss clusters related to globalization, poverty eradication and unsustainable patterns of consumption and production. On Tuesday, delegates will address clusters related to health, energy and conservation and management of natural resources. Photo: Jan Pronk, Secretary-General's Special Envoy for WSSD, JoAnne DiSano, Director, Division for Sustainable Development, and PrepCom Chair Emil Salim.
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Side
Event: Science and Technology for Sustainable Development:
Proposals for WSSD
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This side event advocated the necessity of harnessing science and technology towards implementing the global sustainable development agenda, presented proposals for specific issue areas within this broader agenda and outlined a new international project in the emerging area of sustainability science. In particular it addressed: proposals for the WSSD on agriculture, energy and water; the potential of Geographic Information Systems for the implementation of Agenda 21; and the international Initiative for Science and Technology for Sustainability. Photo: Calestous Juma (calestous_juma@harvard.edu), Director of the Science, Technology and Innovation Program at the Kennedy School of Government of Harvard University, Chancellor of the University of Guyana and former Executive Secretary of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity. Calestous
Juma said that many new opportunities exist in which
science and technology can make contributions to sustainability
programmes. He discussed the importance science and technology
related such issues as the human condition, integration
of disciplines, regional and place-based initiatives,
and improvements on scientific and technology infrastructure,
institutional arrangements and human capabilities. He
said science and technology occupies a more significant
role today and this has to do with the evolution of the
idea of sustainable development. He cited raising awareness,
consensus building, integrating issues into domestic policies,
and operationalizing programmes as important to this evolution.
He noted that the role of science and technology is critical
in implementation and operationalization, and that universities
should be recognized as major players in this new phase
of implementation. He noted four areas where science and
technology play an important role: energy; agriculture;
water; and geographical information. Regarding energy,
he highlighted: rural energy technologies; clean vehicles;
clean coal power plants; and capacity and regional centers.
He supported the idea of a consultative group on experts
on energy along the same lines of the Consultative Group
on International Agricultural Research. Regarding agriculture,
he emphasized sustainable production, advances in the
biosciences, and institutional partnerships. On water,
he stressed the importance of: targets for water and sanitation;
regional water technology centers, which would address,
inter alia, transboundary considerations; and private
sector and user groups. On geographical information, he
discussed information for action, international partnerships
and regional and local institutions. He stressed the importance
of high resolution geographic information to manage natural
resources at the local level. He stressed, inter alia,
partnerships between universities in developed and developing
countries, security related issues, institutions that
can adapt quickly to changes, particularly in respect
to the use of satellites. He urged countries to include
technical experts on their delegations. He emphasized
the need for feedback into the global system on performance.
He proposed a sustainable development report that captures
trends in sustainability worldwide, something along the
lines of the Human Development Report of UNDP, with trends
and benchmarks that indicate progress made. He hoped that
the WSSD would discuss the character of such a report.
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In
the ensuing discussion, and regarding poverty alleviation
strategies, he said they often fail to recognize the
role of scientific and technological innovations in
raising human capabilities to respond to local problems.
Regarding institutions, it was noted that many institutions
are already in place. Again the role of the university
was highlighted, and Juma supported the idea of regional
economic commissions becoming regional sustainable development
commissions. Noting governments may not have the capacity
to fund technical experts, one participant suggested
that universities provide experts at their expense,
and provide experts to developing country delegations.
Another participant
from Brazil noted the role of National Academies of
Sciences, highlighting the experience in his country.
A representative of the UN Department of Economic and
Social Affairs called attention to the upcoming Beijing
Forum on New and Emerging Technologies and Sustainable
Development, and said DESA was looking for academics
who would be interested in participating. (For more
information, contact Kui-Nang Mak, DESA, makk@un.org).
Another participant advocated more scientific input
into the CSD process, and suggested reforming the multistakeholder
dialogue to address this issue.
The Initiative on Science and Technology for Sustainability (ISTS) seeks to enhance the contribution of knowledge to environmentally sustainable human development around the world. The Initiative is based on an emerging vision of "science and technology for sustainability" that is: anchored in concerns for the human condition; integrative in bridging efforts across disciplines, regional and place-based; and fundamental in character, addressing the unity of the nature-society system. The initiative aims make significant progress toward strengthening the infrastructure and capacity to deepen science and technology's role in a transition toward sustainability; connect science and policy more effectively; and apply science and technology to place-specific problems of sustainable development. For more information, visit http://sustsci.harvard.edu/ists/index.html. |
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