This data access service is provided by the Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN), which operates the Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center (SEDAC) for the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

                                             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