5th convention on sust dev. - world bank

ENVIRONMENTALLY AND SOCIALLYf4's S U S TSUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

20403Work in progressfor public discussion OCT. 10, 1997

Organizing Knowledgefor Environmentallyand Socially SustainableDevelopment

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Proceedings of a Concurrenit Meeting,of the Fifth Annual World Bank Conferenceon Environmentally and SociallySustainable Development

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ENVIRONMENTALLY AND SOCIALLYSUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

Organizing Knowledgefor Environmentallyand Socially SustainableDevelopment

Proceedings of a Concurrent Meetingof the Fifth Annual World Bank Conferenceon Environmentally and SociallySustainable Development,"Partnerships for Global Ecosystem Management:Science, Economics and Law"

Cosponsored by UNESCO and the World Bankand held at the World BankWashington, D.C., October 9-10, 1997

Ismail Serageldin, Tariq Husain, Joan Martin-Brown,Gustavo L6pez Ospina, and Jeanne Damlamian, Editors

The World BankWashington, D.C.

Copyright © 1998The International Bank for Reconstructionand Development/THE WORLD BANK1818 H Street, N.W.Washington, D.C. 20433, U.S.A.

All rights reservedManufactured in the United States of AmericaFirst printing September 1998

This report has been prepared by the staff of the World Bank. The judgments expressed do notnecessarily reflect the views of the Board of Executive Directors or of the governments they represent.

Cover photograph by Curt Carnemark. Mosque detail, Morocco.

Ismail Serageldin is vice president, Special Programs; Tariq Husain is senior advisor, Capacity Building,Operational Core Services; and Joan Martin-Brown is adviser to the vice president for Special Programs,all at the World Bank. Gustavo L6pez Ospina is director, Transdisciplinary Project on Educating for aSustainable Future, and Jeanne Damlamian is senior programme specialist, Transdisciplinary Project onEducating for a Sustainable Future, both at the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Or-ganisation (UNESCO).

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

International Conference on Environmentally Sustainable Development(5th: 1997: World Bank)

Organizing knowledge for environmentally and socially sustainabledevelopment: proceedings of a concurrent meeting of the fifthannual World Bank Conference on Environmentally and SociallySustainable Development / Ismail Serageldin, ... [et al.], editors.

p. cm. - (Environmentally and socially sustainabledevelopment)

ISBN 0-8213-4250-91. Sustainable development-Research-Congresses. I. Serageldin,

Ismail, 1944- . II. Title. IV. Series: Environmentally andsocially sustainable development series.HC79.E515333 1998333.7'07'2-dc2l 98-3988

CIP

The text and the cover are printed on recycled paper, with a flood aqueous coating on the cover.

Contents

Preface v

Setting the AgendaIntroduction Tariq Husain 1Turning Education Around Benjamin Ladner 5Putting New Bite into Knowledge Gustavo Lopez Ospina 9

Shifting Gears for the Application of KnowledgeDon Aitkin 13

Shifting Requirements for Knowledge to Advance a Sustainable SouthPartha Dasgupta 19

Discussion 26

Obligations of Academic Leaders to the Demands of Sustainable DevelopmentModerator: Wadi Haddad 29

Panelist Remarks: Alvaro Umana 30Veena Das 33

The Critical Path: Linking Knowledge to Advance Environmentally and SociallySustainable Development

Kenneth Prewitt 36

The Social-Natural Science Gap in Educating for Sustainable DevelopmentIsmail Serageldin 43Peter Thatcher 48

Global Ecosystem Governance and Transboundary RequirementsClaudio Grossman 51

Discussion 54

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iv Organizing Knowledgefor Environmentally and Socially Sustainable Development

Knowledge, Finance, and Sustainable DevelopmentVinod Thomas 57Theodore Panayotou 68

Discussion 72

How to Proceed-How to Connect?Saad Eddin Ibrahim 74Clovis Maksoud 77

AppendixesA. Program 81B. Presenters 83C. Excerpt from the Report of the UNESCO Secretary General to the Commission

on Sustainable Development, Chapter 36 of Agenda 21: Education,Public Awareness, and Training 85

D. The Ecology of Knowledge Jerzy Wojciechowski 89

Preface

T he United Nations Educational, Scientific of sustainability. The challenges are formidable,and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) and including reorienting formal education systemsthe World Bank cosponsored this event to at all levels, mobilizing all sectors of society be-

engage academic and development leaders in hind education as an indispensable instrumentconsidering the requirements for organizing and for attaining sustainable development, traininglinking knowledge, research, and disciplines to nearly 60 million teachers in interdisciplinary ap-appropriately respond to the challenges of envi- proaches, and reaching beyond schools to defineronmentally and socially sustainable develop- education as a lifelong endeavor for people of allment (ESSD). ages and from all walks of life.

Faculty and scholars from higher education, For the World Bank, UNESCO, other interna-including the schools of law, economics, inter- tional development institutions, and the Unitednational relations, business, public administra- Nations system as a whole, and nations to re-tion, natural resources and the environment, spond most effectively to the challenges inher-and natural and social sciences were invited. ent in ESSD, there must be a commitment toIncluded were members of the Task Force on develop candidates for employment who areHigher Education and Society recently con- each skilled in a specific discipline, yet who alsovened by UNESCO and the World Bank. The systematically consider the impact of their exper-workshop was organized as a Concurrent tise on other disciplines and sectors and who areMeeting of the Fifth Annual World Bank Con- aware of the connections of their disciplines withference on ESSD. other areas of specialty. At the same time these

actors need to consider how institutions of higherRationale education and research can contribute to devel-

oping a citizenry prepared to support sustain-The World Bank is undergoing a transformation ability through changes in values and lifestyles-in its organizational arrangements and mission. changes that must be based on understanding theTwo requirements of this effort are to improve issues and what is at stake for the future. Thisthe integration of cutting-edge knowledge in more broadminded, interdisciplinary approachBank operations, and to mainstream social and is needed to support environmentally and so-environmental concerns in the Bank's develop- cially sustainable development.ment financing. Key to both efforts is establish-ing institutional processes that link knowledge Key Questionsand practice. UNESCO, an institution devoted toeducation and the environmental sciences for The two-day meeting addressed four questionsover fifty years, is also working to come to grips related to the academic preparation of those par-with the intellectual and organizational demands ticipating in the development and commercial

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vi Organizing Knowledgefor Environmentally and Socially Sustainable Development

realms through law, economics, business, foreign 3. To encourage new initiatives among aca-service, rural development, urban planning, and demic and research organizations, UNESCO,the natural and social sciences: the World Bank, and other international

1. What are the new content elements and bodies to reorient higher education to ad-parameters required by the ESSD paradigm dress the requirements of environmentallyin specific disciplines? and socially sustainable development.

2. What content links are necessary amongdisciplines to ensure that such disciplines Conclusionexplicitly address cross-sectoral require-ments in development? Developing nations are seeking technology trans-

3. What are the research gaps related to imple- fer, undertaking new partnerships with the pri-menting ESSD, and how can they be ad- vate sector, and pursuing the development ofdressed by doctoral and post-doctoral their own scientific and technical capacities. Asresearch? they do, the quality and content of academic en-

4. How do the disconnects among disciplines deavors and research agendas become critical inaffect sustainable development at the na- organizing and investing in knowledge for sus-tional level? tainable development, and in building interna-

tional networks and partnerships to exchangeObjectives knowledge and experience. For development to

be done differently, those being educated mustThe conference had three objectives: be empowered to perceive and connect their dis-

1. To encourage partnerships among the aca- ciplines differently, and to develop knowledgedemic, development, and finance commu- that will be useful for decisionmakers outside thenities working in a given field to link academic and research worlds.disciplines and sectoral initiatives and to This conference explored the critical tasks con-avoid economic, social, and ecological li- fronting educators and development practitio-abilities in development processes ners, and the need for a new discourse between

2. To encourage graduate research agendas them. Perhaps among disciplines we need tothat link disciplines to respond to the chal- adopt the principle of porosity. The World Banklenges of environmentally and socially sus- and UNESCO remain committed to working intainable development this direction in the future.

Ismail SerageldinTariq Husain

Joan Martin-BrownJeanne Damlamian

Gustavo L6pez Ospina

UsrLes555

Highlight

Setting the Agenda

IntroductionTariq Husain

T his is an important occasion, with think- Some of you were present when we assembleding and caring minds from all over the here last year, and some of you are new entrants.world getting together to consider how to Jacques-Yves Cousteau was among us then, and

organize knowledge for environmentally sustain- he asked us at that time to assemble again thisable development. The meeting is sponsored year and report on what we have accomplishedjointly by UNESCO and the World Bank's Learn- since that meeting.ing and Leadership Center.

"Sustainability" is a word increasingly in our A Warning to Humanityvocabulary. The goal it reflects is that we followpolicies and take actions to ensure that while we For perspective on this immense subject wetry to meet present needs, the needs of future should also keep in mind some other importantgenerations are not compromised. This is a very events. Think of what happened in 1992, for ex-complex, multifaceted objective. It requires the ample: it was not just the Rio conference that wasorganization of knowledge on an unprecedented highly significant that year. I have in mind thescale to enable humankind, or much of human- occasion when about 1,600 scientists jointly de-kind, to act sustainably. clared "A Warning to Mankind." The scientists

The purpose of this meeting is to continue to were from all disciplines and from all parts ofpursue the critically important task of organiz- the world; more than 100 Nobel laureates signeding knowledge that can help address key issues their names.facing all of us. The issues ultimately concern We all resonated with this statement. Here is asurvival, and they concern the well-being of our paragraph from it:children and their children.

Specifically, we meet to help further sustain- Human beings and the natural world areable development that can ensure future genera- on a collision course. Human activities in-tions' social, economic, and personal well-being, flict harsh and often irreversible damage oncreating conditions which allow them to live har- the environment and on critical resources.moniously with a protected environment. If not checked, many of our current prac-

Of course, the responsibility for creating these tices put at risk the future that we wish forconditions falls on the adults of today, particu- human society and the plant and animallarly adults who are in a position to do some- kingdoms, and may so alter the living worldthing about it, and who also appreciate the need that it will be unable to sustain life in thefor doing so. Indeed this room is filled with manner that we know. Fundamentalpeople who are both aware of the issues and who changes are urgent, if we are to avoid thehave the knowledge and the capacity to do some- collision our present course will bringthing about them. about.

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2 Organizing Knowledgefor Environmentally and Socially Sustainable Development

That was a very large group of very bright, agricultural production in the next thirty-fivecaring minds expressing a deep concern. We years; global energy use is expected to doublemight ask, has there been any progress since? As as well.Jacques-Yves Cousteau might ask, what have we * We are already taxing the productivity ofaccomplished-we in this room, and we, the hu- Earth's natural systems, including the oceans.man race? Imagine the consequences of these additional

In fact there has been forward movement. The environmental stresses and the need for sci-progress has not been comprehensive, but yet it ence, mitigation actions, and development ofis still noteworthy. For instance, about 100 devel- less environmentally stressful alternatives inoping countries have now prepared national en- order for sustainability to be a viable optionvironmental strategies setting priorities for for the future.action. Of course, the implementation of these * Pollution continues to worsen in many citiesaction plans will require knowledge and capac- of the developing world, with 1.3 billion peopleity. That is where educators and leaders are affected. This situation carries severe implica-needed. They will help achieve the implement- tions for health, productivity, and for the over-ing capacity for these plans and help ensure that all quality of life for these people.the priorities are being chosen correctly. * The lost productivity of soil in many African

One hundred forty-three developing countries countries has been estimated to cost 3 to 5 per-have ratified the Biodiversity Convention. That cent of their GDP. Some of this soil damage isis considerable progress. Someone must help irreversible.weigh the tradeoffs that face humankind as these * Depletion and pollution of water-a basicactions are implemented. Someone must under- resource-has caused the real cost of provid-stand the public support that is needed for the ing drinking water to quadruple in many ar-benefits that will flow to the children of our chil- eas. Food costs are being similarly affected.dren, benefits that may be treasures not just be- * Relating to biodiversity, species continue to because they contribute to biodiversity, and to lost at a level between 1,000 to 10,000 times thewhich no one has prior or exclusive claim. natural extinction rate.

Other signs of progress include the fact that * The world's carbon emissions have increased138 countries have ratified the framework Con- 60 percent over the last 25 years. If action isvention on Climate Change. In addition 119 have not taken to control them, they will increaseratified the Montreal Protocol of the Vienna Con- by about 60 or 70 percent more in the next 25vention to protect the stratospheric ozone layer. years.Meanwhile, the World Bank launched the Glo- All of these figures may be familiar to this au-bal Environmental Facility in 1994 in collabora- dience, but for many of the world's leaders andtion with many countries of the world, along with for much of the rest of humankind they are not.taking other joint environmental steps. Here again is an education function, one which

needs to be carried out with great conviction andMuch to Do passion.

All of these measures add up to a very modest Need for Partnershipsbeginning. A great deal remains to be done, aspointed out by our president, Mr. James D. Such huge issues are involved, however, that noWolfensohn, when he gave the opening address single institution, country, or discipline can doto the overall World Bank conference on environ- the job. There is the need for partnership, a needmentally and socially sustainable development that is being emphasized by the World Bank, andearlier this week. For the purposes of our dis- that was reiterated by our president at a globalcussion here, let me list several of the points conference in Hong Kong and in Mr.he made: Wolfensohn's opening address earlier this week* In terms of factors posing major claims on the at the overall conference of which this meeting is

environment, we see the need for doubling a part.

Setting the Agenda 3

Such a partnership concerns the acquisition and 3. Improved mechanisms for building indig-sharing of knowledge in the largest sense of the enous capacity in the natural sciences and,word, across disciplinary boundaries. The knowl- importantly, an integrated, interdisciplinaryedge regards problems, but it also regards solutions. assessment of societal issues. The point is

The challenge that we have in this community, that there are boundaries between disci-and in the community that we represent outside plines that will need to be crossed in a verythese rooms, is to educate students from all parts deep and systematic way.of the world, those who are not only young, but 4. The study of technologies and the strategiesthe ones who are already working in the world, for sustainable development. In under-mostly as adults. standing the importance of this item, we

The task is to systematize the existing knowl- need only recall the heavy additional claimsedge base and share it widely, using all the pow- that will be placed on natural ecosystemsers of modern technology, made possible by its just to feed the world and provide theplummeting costs. Indeed technology has created water that it will drink, given the projectedgreat educational possibilities, but will and ac- requirements.tion are necessary, too. 5. Networks, treaties, and conventions to pro-

Our agenda at this meeting and beyond is to tect the global commons-overall, a veryaddress critical questions related to the academic different, interactive kind of relationshippreparations of the students I have referred to, across national boundaries, so that we canincluding those in the process of developing their protect the global commons for today andown capacity to study, teach, and provide advice. tomorrow.Explaining our challenge, I borrow here several 6. Worldwide exchanges of scientists in edu-items from the statement by the 1,600 scientists cation, training, and research-another in-to which I referred earlier. It is in their warning dication of the need to share and broadenand advice that we can find invaluable guidance our knowledge base. There is no alternativeas to what we collectively need to do now, to- but to see the condition of the world and itsmorrow, and the day after. people as a common problem and to solve

it together.Ideas for an Agenda

A Call for a Global EthicWhat follows are issues that the scientists saidare targets of concern and attention. Of course, We should point out that technical excellencethis is just a sampling from their statements: by itself will not meet these challenges. Bound-

1. Global and local environmental change and aries must be crossed into areas from which weits causes, including poverty, population can draw more energy, particularly in the do-growth, government policies, and policies to main of values and ethics. For instance it is verymitigate effects. important in our educational institutions to talk

2. Providing advice on, and a study of, the con- about this critically important matter that canditions for human development in the larg- enable students, especially the youth of today,est sense of the word, in which each one of to bridge the divisions that separate us un-us is helped to reach our potential, particu- necessarily, divisions that should exist for pur-larly considering the impediments that re- poses of identity only, not for different treatment.sult from social inequality, and the other I am speaking once more of the dividing linesbiases that exist in the world, based on dif- of ethnicity, color, gender, income level, andferences that shouldn't matter, such as religion.ethnicity, color, gender, income level, and Let me close then, with this emphasis onreligion. It is the totality of human econom- commonality rather than separation, and I willics, that knows no boundaries, that must be quote again that significant 1992 statement ofstudied and addressed. the scientists:


A new ethic is required, a new attitude to- cators, and including business leaders and manyward discharging our responsibility for car- others.ing for ourselves and for the Earth. This ethic The challenge for all of us is to teach not onlymust motivate a great movement, convincing technical excellence, addressing and advisingsometimes reluctant leaders, governments, on relevant issues, but to teach the values thatand people to effect the needed changes. will permit and promote a new global ethic.

Without such values, common action and a realWe need the help of many people to achieve sense of common bonds will be very difficult

this vital goal, beginning with scientists and edu- to achieve.

Turning Education AroundBenjamin Ladner

n The Order of Things philosopher Michel versities, library lists, articles in learnedFoucault cites a passage from Borges in which journals, works of criticism. The whole greathe quotes "a certain Chinese encyclopedia" building stands entirely on its own. Belief

to the effect that "animals can be divided into: in its own existence as an expert in special-A. Belonging to the emperor ized skill prohibits it from any intercourseB. Embalmed with other similar structures. The towers ofC. Tame other disciplines also rise up in isolation allD. Suckling pigs over the place like ziggurats on the sandyE. Sirens plain of Babylon. We are quite familiar withF. Fabulous closed worlds of this kind of functioningG. Stray dogs efficiency, functioning on their own terms,H. Included in the present classification producing plenty of results, only these re-I. Frenzied sults make sense inside the system and doJ. Innumerable not bear relation to whatever is in real life.K. Drawn with a very fine camel hair brush Maybe it is not a horrid accident, but a logi-L. Et cetera cal conclusion of how we think.M. Having just broken the water pitcher andN. That [which] from a long way off looks like A Self-Absorbed Academic Structure

flies."This incredible taxonomy imposes upon us a Sewell is raising a fundamental question about

stark impossibility of thinking this way, not only the kind of order we have in our academic struc-because these are strange images in odd juxtaposi- tures. We have constructed orders of mind thattion but also because there is no common ground have become orders of inquiry that haveon which a coming together of these things could spawned institutional structures that perfectlybe imagined or would be possible. reflect our orders of mind. It is not the content of

British-American writer Elizabeth Sewell knowledge but the social and professional orga-once described the American academic struc- nization of knowledge that has been institution-ture as: alized in universities and that sets the boundaries

of the disciplines of inquiry. The order of theseA huge dream mansion, a kind of crazy sky- disciplines has mesmerized us for so long that,scraper that is continually being added to collectively, we now spend just as much of ourin all directions-up, down, sideways-a institutional resources and time preserving pro-fantastic superstructure of which the mate- fessional prerogatives as we do actually deepen-rials are theses, dissertations, courses in uni- ing human insight.

5


Where did this self-absorbing fascination with A Split in Education and in Livingideas and structure come from? Eric Heller wrotemany years ago in The Disinherited Mind: Of all the ills that presently beset us-social, po-

litical, militaristic, and economic-perhaps noneCommon sense in each epoch consists of is more pernicious than the fragmentation of the

an astonishingly complex agglomeration of academy, which mandates separations betweenhighly sophisticated half-truths. One such specialization and generalization, between teach-half-truth in which our common sense ining and research, between the arts and the sciences.dulges, and much in our higher education Why is this split so pernicious? There are twois based upon it, is the doctrine that any kind reasons. One is simply that the divisions are false.of knowledge, as long as it supplies us with Whatever benefits may be claimed in the namecorrectly ascertained facts, is worth teach- of specialization and however securely estab-ing and learning, and that the more such lished are the bureaucratic walls that protect thesecorrect facts we accumulate, the nearer we separate areas, these divisions profoundly mis-come to truth. represent the real nature of inquiry, and, for that

matter, the nature of our experience of reality.We are convinced that truth is determined Second, these divisions reflect and perpetuate

through a plebiscite of facts. The disciplines in a fundamental disorientation that marks our cul-which so many of us work and have been trained tures. It is a disorientation created by, amongare really mediating constructions of thought that other things, our inherited assumption of whatgive pattern, order, and, hence, meaning to our knowledge is.experience. A key question, however, is whether We need not appeal to a complicated episte-we have so ordered the structure of knowledge mology to recognize the seemingly self-evidentthat have unwittingly undermined our capacity assumptions in our culture and in our universi-to hold in our understanding, as well as in our ties that thinking is one thing and feeling is some-lives, a common experience and a common thing else, that theory and practice are altogetherworld. separate, and that clarity is always closer to truth

It may be that what we put between us as than ambiguity.mediating structures of thought has severed our These assumptions, and the institutions thatsense of our common responsibility for what is embody them, have deprived us of confidenceactually between us. Our tolerance for abstraction in our ability to comprehend rightly our ownas a mediating instrument for violence, depriva- minds, our bodies, and our world, with the re-tion, degradation, indignity, and death has be- sult that we have slowly been losing our mindscome so familiar and so normal that it is now a at the same time that we have been losing ourglobal way of life. world. Yet, Maurice Merleau-Ponty helpfully re-

There are academics and literary critics, one minds us that the world is not what we think butbeing George Steiner, who have commented on what we live through.this extraordinary phenomenon of the impact of Hannah Arendt wrote in The Human Condition:high abstraction being translated into high cul- "It could be that we will forever be unable to un-ture that serves as a justification for murder and derstand, that is to think and speak, about thedeath. To be specific, it was highly literate guards things which nevertheless we are able to do." Thiswho, after shoveling Jewish bodies into Nazi situation has come about, she explains, becauseovens, often concluded their day listening to the truths of the modern scientific world can beMozart and reading Rilke. demonstrated only in highly technical and math-

A major part of our professional task in a new ematical formulations that do not lend themselvescentury will be to imagine the shape of new to expression in normal speech and thought.frameworks of knowledge that are congenial notonly to our daily habits of thinking, talking, lis- A Human Crisistening, reading, writing, and administering, butalso to the larger significance of our lives and Nevertheless, on the basis of such abstract for-world. mulations, we are now able to unleash powerful


events into nature that are beyond our ability to When we really come to believe-and we mayunderstand precisely-either what is happening be perilously close to this now-that what ouror what the consequences are for our human minds most closely resemble is a computer, andlives. In other words we can do what we cannot what the world most closely resembles is a ma-think. We can cause to happen what we cannot chine, then it is no wonder that we can so easilyunderstand. This signals the possibility of a part- disregard and destroy Earth and our fellow hu-ing of the ways between knowledge that is know- man beings.ing how to, on the one hand, and knowledge that There is now a social order, or, some wouldis knowing the meaning of, on the other. say, disorder, that has gorged itself on quick-fix

When skills and techniques lose their connec- solutions and temporary measures for satisfyingtion to meaning and significance, there is a hu- hollow, weary lives. Sadly, even in our success,man crisis of the first order. This is true whether even in our academic and technical success, thethe setting for the crisis is a second grade class- fact is that on an ordinary Thursday afternoon,room or a graduate seminar, or whether a nuclear sitting in our family rooms, we really do want tobomb or a space shuttle is being constructed. know where pain and joy intersect; how time

The fact is, as Arendt observes, insofar as we fulfills itself in a single life; what we are workinglive and move and act in this world, we can ex- for; how we can make delight permanent; inperience meaningfulness only because we can short, how the thousands of episodes and eventstalk and make sense of the world to each other. It in a single life, my life, hold together.is not the theoretical formulation of reality thatholds the meaning of our lives together: it is com- Challenge of Modem Educationmon, ordinary, garden-variety speech with ourfellow human beings. It is in the midst of these kinds of questions that

My sense is that the divisions in the modern contemporary educators must do their work. Infragmented university between disciplines, the range and variety of formulations, educationschools, colleges, and colleagues have become so and academic inquiry must cut into the dailyintractable, not primarily because of theoretical lives, the predicament, the yearning, that lie closedisagreements or methodological disputes, but to the root of our being.because we can no longer talk and make sense to The challenge of contemporary education iseach other in ordinary language about the things not so much a matter of discovering what we dothat matter most to us. not yet know. It is, instead, having the courage

to say plainly what we really do know. It is timeLoss of a Public Space for us to make clear that those who characterizeand Shared Values the big questions of truth, meaning, beauty, and

goodness as being vague and unknowable areWhen we can no longer recognize what we hold wrong.in common as colleagues or as citizens, then in Indeed, after several thousand years of inquiry,the strictest sense imaginable we have lost our we have learned a great deal about the differencecommon sense, our sense of what is common to between the trivial and the profound, and theus. It is, after all, what is between us, what is not difference between the humane and the inhu-possessed by any single one of us, that is the ba- mane, and we have learned much about whatsis of a civilized people. things debase and what things ennoble human

The loss of the commons, the loss of public existence.space where we speak meaningfully to each other We know, too, that there are unavoidable ex-despite our private, specialized interests, also periences in human life shared by all persons,reduces our sense of shared values. The disap- experiences that professors and students hold inpearance of commonly held values is an indica- common. These unavoidable conditions-birth,tion that there is no compelling image of sexuality,promising,lying,forgiving,remember-ourselves as human beings and of our world ing, dreaming, dying-are all as provocative asthat we mutually affirm and spontaneously they are mysterious. It is these aspects of life thatdelight in. have led to the configurations of writing, speak-


ing, drawing, singing, counting, remembering, The professional issues are ones that we canpraying, and acting that have become the con- and will solve-one way or another-if for notent of our academic courses. And they are also other reason than the majority of our colleagueswhat we all are always in the process of experi- will spend a great deal of time solving them. Letencing and rationalizing. us devote reasonable attention to such issues.

Teaching about and inquiring into these But our prior obligation, one that is in accordthings-things we know not as information but with our cultural and professional responsibil-as meaning-ultimately is a matter of priorities ity, is to turn education around through an im-and values, not of technique. This is because if mediacy of thought and action that embodiesour own insights are truly known and under- what we claim are really the purposes of teach-stood, they cut deeply into our lives-which is, ing and research.after all, the heart of the matter. The end of knowl- We must now work, in other words, as if ouredge is not the accumulation of bits of informa- lives and our Earth are at stake. Thirty or fortytion, however interesting they may be. It is years ago R. D. Laing wrote:always, finally, the focusing of what we know onthe living of our lives, and on having the cour- What we think is less than what we know;age to live in light of our deepened awareness. what we know is less than what we love;

and what we love is so much less than whatWorking as if the Earth Is at Stake there is. And to that precise extent, we are

so much less than what we are.Certainly we are infinitely fascinated with theprospect of fixing the giant bureaucratic machine To work at the intersections of love, knowledge,that is displayed in higher education. It is a gar- and being-to work not just in our heads but ingantuan task, perhaps impossible. There is no the world-will require a radical shift in the ar-single formula, no intricate combination of re- chitecture of knowledge, so that it more clearlysources, that will do the trick. resembles the architecture of the human spirit.

Putting New Bite into KnowledgeGustavo Ldpez Ospina

F or UNESCO as well as for the international program intended to galvanize and orient actioncommunity this meeting comes at the right at international and national levels. Another im-time. We are in the process of reflection, portant stream of work relates to implementing

seeking new ideas and trying to arrive at con- the action plan of the Cairo conference on popu-crete criteria to promote sustainable development lation, as well as the action plans of the otherworldwide. This is a very big challenge, not only United Nations conferences such as the Socialfor the North but also for the South, for both the Summit in Copenhagen, the women's conferenceindustrialized and the developing countries. We in Beijing, and Habitat II.are in a period of transition, characterized by Just after the important World Bank meetingmuch confusion in terms of content and often in on knowledge held in Toronto, a special sessionterms of visions and policies from one country of the United Nations General Assembly wasto another. held to review progress since the Earth Summit.

Before I go further, though, on behalf of our The General Assembly adopted a resolutionDirector General, Mr. Federico Mayor, I want to that referred to education as follows: "A fun-thank the World Bank for inviting UNESCO to damental prerequisite for sustainable develop-cosponsor this workshop. This is a very impor- ment is an adequately financed and effectivetant marriage of effort between the Bank and educational system at all levels." In describingUNESCO. Finance, knowledge, intelligence, and effective education for sustainability, the resolu-solidarity are critical yet very explosive and very tion refers to lifelong learning, interdisciplinarysensitive interrelated issues. studies, partnerships, multicultural education,

and empowerment. Education for a sustainableInternational Initiatives future should, the resolution said, engage a

wide spectrum of institutions and sectors, in-In setting the agenda for our discussions, I would cluding business, industry, international orga-like to mention some current activities at the in- nizations, youth, professional organizations,ternational level in the field of education that may nongovernmental organizations, higher educa-be helpful in this vulnerable time. tion, government, educators, and foundations.

A great deal is being done in the context of the Finally, the resolution requests that the conceptUN Commission for Sustainable Development. of education for a sustainable future be fullyUNESCO is very much involved with this work developed by UNESCO, in cooperation within its function as task manager for the implemen- other partners in the UN system and otherstation of chapter 36 of Agenda 21 that addresses in the international and scientific communities.education, public awareness, and training. In It also notes that "it is necessary to support and1996, the commission decided to give special pri- strengthen universities and other academicority to chapter 36 by adopting a special work centres."

9


To further these goals, in October, 1998, recently made to educational thinking. EducationUNESCO will hold a major World Conference on must no longer be regarded as a one-chance af-Higher Education in Paris. In preparing this con- fair, restricted to a particular period of a person'sference, regional meetings on higher education life. It must be seen-at all levels-as a continu-have been held throughout the world. In addi- ing process, whereby people are offered learn-tion, we are holding a world conference on sci- ing opportunities throughout their lives byence in 1999. Other initiatives of relevance to our means of diversified delivery systems, both for-discussions are the reports of the International mal and informal.Commission on Education for the Twenty-first Most people agree that a more educated soci-Century and that of a similar independent com- ety is, by definition, a more developed society.mission on culture and development, both pub- At the same time it is also necessary for our pur-lished last year. poses to view education, even in developed

societies, as a process of changing values andEducation for Sustainable Development lifestyles, disseminating existing knowledge

about the need to achieve sustainable productionI would now like to introduce a few elements that and to improve the management of natural re-I hope will assist our collective thinking about sources, and promoting a willingness within theorganizing knowledge for environmentally sus- general population to accept the changes re-tainable development. quired. In many countries, it is the people them-

Humanity takes many years, sometimes hun- selves in the end who will decide what they wantdreds of years, to develop and adopt very impor- and need, both in the present and for the future.tant concepts and definitions such as love, justice, They will also decide how they will meet theseand divorce. Today we are attempting to develop needs. For determining new directions and newin just a few years and at a global scale a new horizons, knowledge is indispensable for anyway of thinking about and managing human ac- society. Similarly, knowledge is the most impor-tivity and its impact on natural systems. I believe tant asset of citizens in a genuine democracy: Isustainable development is possible. I also believe participate, therefore I exist.that such profound change cannot be achieved In this context, the goals of education forwithout giving priority attention to the role of sustainable development can be summarized asknowledge and education. This having been said, follows:there is much confusion and disagreement about * To promote understanding of the interdepen-what is meant by the still-evolving concept of dence of natural, socioeconomic, and politicalsustainable development. systems at local, national, and global levels

Let us begin at the beginning. We cannot talk * To encourage critical reflection and decision-about education for sustainability without first making that is reflected in personal lifestylesaddressing the challenge of education for all. * To engage the active participation of the citi-This is the challenge that UNESCO and its part- zenry to building sustainable developmentners-UNICEF, United Nations Development * To promote effective governance at all levels.Programme (UNDP), and the World Bank-took up at the World Conference on Education An International "Democracyfor All, in Jomtien, in 1990, where the interna- of Knowledge"tional community committed itself to a pro-gram of action for meeting basic learning I would like to present for your considerationneeds, reducing illiteracy, expanding social ser- four key questions that I think should be at thevices for children, and improving the quality heart of our debate, all of which are based on theof vocational education. premise that it is knowledge that will provide

The other fundamental aspect of education- the fuel for change toward sustainable develop-the prerequisite for all forms of educational ad- ment. These four questions are:vance-is lifelong education. The concept of 1. What kind of knowledge is needed to sup-"throughout life" is the most important addition port sustainable development?


2. How can we obtain this knowledge? threat to such diversity. As a result, peoples and3. What is the situation with regard to this cultures that have existed for thousands of years

knowledge today? in equilibrium with the natural environment are4. What are the necessary steps for us to move disappearing along with the ecosystems that sus-

into the future? tained them.What is needed is interdisciplinary knowledge At present, however, there is a very serious gap

that provides a basis for understanding and solv- between the availability of scientific knowledgeing highly complex, real world problems at na- and its effective use as a basis for decision-tional, regional, and local levels. Such knowledge making and education, including use by theis not as theoretical as it may sound, or an objec- media.tive in itself, but rather an approach to action.Achieving such knowledge and understanding Risk and Imaginationrequires the breaking down of traditional disci-plinary boundaries and the creation of a new ca- Another key notion is that of risk, which is a nec-pability to address the profound questions posed essary part of innovation and change. Risk with-by the notion of sustainability. In general we must out knowledge is dangerous, and knowledgestrive for a new degree of knowledge integration without risk is utopian. Here again, knowledgethat will mirror current economic, social, politi- must be out there in the real world, where it cancal, ecological, and technological realities, as well serve humanity in solving the problems we face.as the diverse requirements of human society, and The academic community has a dual responsi-indeed, of life itself. bility in this regard, to make available the wealth

As a step toward such integration, we must of knowledge in its possession, and to make thereinvent the universities of today so that they can strategic link between this knowledge and thecontribute to what I would call an "international key sectors driving political, economic, and so-democracy of knowledge," that will help move cial change. Knowledge, the driving force ofthe world toward a sustainable future without modern society, should set the course of actionlosing regional identities and the diversity of in each of these sectors.cultures. The challenge, as identified in chapter Another important notion is that of imagina-36 of Agenda 21, is no less than that of reorient- tion. During periods of real crisis, conflict, anding education toward sustainable development. confusion, such as the present, imagination canTo do so will require a transdisciplinary approach actually be equally important as, or even morethat highlights the interrelationships between dis- important than, knowledge. If we accept thisciplines and allows for study and research across premise, we need to recognize the urgent needthe traditional disciplinary lines. to shape and communicate a new vision for the

In this process the trend toward cultural ho- future and to anticipate, challenge, and createmogenization needs to be overcome. All too of- opportunities for positive change in social, sci-ten because of this tendency, particularly in the entific, cultural, economic, and natural spheres.developing countries, people find that the infor- At all levels of society, people need security, mo-mation they have is not what they want, the in- tivation, hope, and a sense of choice. Meetingformation they want is not what they need, and these human needs is never an easy task, but withthe information they need is not what they can imagination it is possible to look beyond theobtain. Reversing this paradoxical, unhelpful present period of transition to conceive of a sus-situation is what I mean by an international de- tainable future based on what people want andmocracy of knowledge. need.

Modem science, for example, is increasingly How is knowledge necessary for people torecognizing the value of indigenous ecological transform their future? Part of the answer lies inknowledge and traditional resource management the issue of how to connect universities with thepractices based on generations of observation, scientific system, and from this link to create andexperimentation, and application in local cul- offer an understanding, a language, an articula-tures, although globalization is posing a serious tion of values that will be heard in the produc-


tive sector. Today we have new ways to help build consensus of the relatedness and the sanctity ofthis link, to organize the academic and scientific all life. However, as Socrates said, it may be easycommunities to provide information resources in to know what is or is not correct, but it is oftendifferent issues such as agriculture and industry, very difficult to know what is right in terms ofmaking it possible from that point to address action.specific details of these issues. We also have other In concluding, let me also introduce an impor-important centers that can be helpful. In short, tant political issue at the international level. Wewe have at our disposal facilities from the na- may believe that knowledge, equity, and justicetional to the global scale with which to create and are key ingredients for a sustainable future, butprovide new knowledge for sustainability. also, at the community level, we need concurrently

What are the key challenges in the introduc- to reinforce the ideas of solidarity and competi-tion and application of such knowledge? One is tiveness. Here the university and all the institu-how to ensure the appropriateness of this knowl- tions of higher education have, today and intoedge for societies' needs. A related challenge is the next century, a four-part key responsibility:how to provide access to this knowledge at the * Knowledge-building for the real and concretecommunity level in order to allow for real par- world problemsticipation in natural resources management and * Democratization of knowledge at all levels ofutilize the understanding gained from this par- societyticipation to help address the tremendous com- * Knowledge base for global understanding,plexities inherent in these issues. However solidarity, justice, and peacedifficult, I am convinced that it can be done. * Knowledge for a permanent transformation

Another challenge is how to give real priority and reinvention of education as a principal in-to this newly achieved popular knowledge to strument to support a sustainable future.produce a new societal rationale. There is a great This is the only way to alleviate poverty, toneed at present for a global ethic, transcending achieve a new human security and cohesiveness,all other systems of values and belief, rooted in a and to work for a real culture of peace.

Shifting Gears for the Application of Knowledge

Don Aitkin

M y topic is a straightforward one. It re- effect, win the peace as it had won the war-gards the need to think about how we through science.generate knowledge in the interests of Vannevar Bush was especially clear about one

a world in which that knowledge is desperately central aspect of his proposal: scientists shouldneeded. be allowed to follow their own noses in deter-

I can set out the problem clearly enough-it is mining what research should be done.that we remain in the grip of an old paradigm He was a great believer in what we wouldabout the creation of knowledge, one that was now call the linear model of knowledge: thatuseful in its day but is almost counterproductive is, that pure, untrammeled research leads tonow. It is hard to get out of the grip of this para- discoveries about the nature of things that in turndigm because it seems so much to be the normal leads to the application of new knowledge, and,way of doing things, especially in the universi- in the fullness of time, leads to new products andties and the learned professions. new processes through commercialization and

I will make some suggestions about what we development.should do to escape this situation, and I know The causal arrow is a straight one and therethat these suggestions will be resisted and op- are no feedback loops. The notion that scientistsposed, because I have made them before, and that should not only be allowed to follow their ownis what happened then. The need is great, how- noses, but should be given public money to doever, so I will make them again. so has been understandably attractive to scien-

tists. Because during that post-war period manyLinear Model of Knowledge of them worked in universities, access to research

funds on what proved to be a large scale helpedIn fact the old paradigm is not very old. Nothing in the expansion of the universities and made themuch in the higher education world is really very carrying out of research, in some form, an ordi-old; it is mostly the creation of the nineteenth and nary expectation of academic life, that it had nottwentieth centuries, despite the way that we re- been prior to the Second World War.fer to the universities as having outlived every- Since the NSF model was adopted by severalthing but the Catholic Church. other Western countries in whole or in part, the

The current way of thinking got a great boost consequence has been a great increase in researchat the end of the Second World War when activity throughout the Western world. ThisVannevar Bush successfully advised President whole process was greatly assisted by otherHarry S Truman that he should establish a Na- stimuli, the most important of them being sus-tional Science Foundation (NSF), so that science tained prosperity for three decades; a new inter-could flourish and the United States could, in est in education, especially higher education; and

13


the growth of an academic profession whose When I was a young academic in the earlymembers assume that they are not simply to 1960s there were several broad divisions withinteach, but also to carry out research. my own discipline, and you were expected to

One outcome has been a very great increase in become knowledgeable in one but to have at leastthe amount of what we call human knowledge, a passing knowledge of the names and the issuesthat is perhaps better defined as "what academ- in the others.ics think they know." It is hard to measure this Accomplishing such breadth would be aincrease accurately, but it has been something in Herculean task today, and the specialties thatthe order of 30 to 50 times what was known academics now profess seem, historically, veryaround 1950. narrow in comparison.

For instance, there are now more than half a There is a good reason for this change in aca-million scholarly journals in the world, and li- demic perspective and it is one that I discoveredbraries that once aimed at comprehensiveness, only quite recently. An intellectual program, thatsuch as the Library of Congress or the Bodleian is, a group of people focused on a question thatat Oxford, are no longer able to do so. interests them all and that they think is impor-

In fact every library, every person, and every tant, does not work if the group of people is muchinstitution now has to be selective. Advanced more than five hundred. Once the numbers be-information technology has come at just at the come much greater, the question breaks into anright time, enabling us to select what we want to adjectival or otherwise qualified version of theknow from the mad abundance of knowledge original question, and you have two groups. It isthat is available. By the way, there is much more a kind of cellular fission.noise than there is knowledge. The information True, knowledge has expanded, but nottechnology brings its own problems with it, al- through leaps of insight and the discovery of thethough I am not going to talk about that now. general rules underlying adjoining broad fieldsThe subject is for another address at some other of study that was one of the great dreams when Iconference. was young. The expansion has been mostly

The great increase in knowledge has come with through incremental additions to what is alreadytwo very powerful concurrent effects. The first known.has been the continuing atomization of knowl- It is also true that the boundaries between re-edge, with a consequent kind of elephantiasis in search areas have been fertile ground for new re-the old scholarly disciplines. Elephantiasis is in- search, but this, in turn, has been followed by thedeed a very painful disease. erection of new boundaries, and the naming of

new specialties. Review articles aside, publishedDecline of the Generalists research is, for the most part, restricted to the

small, the narrow gauge, and the incremental.Johann von Goethe and John Stuart Mill in the Few researchers are brave enough to general-early nineteenth century have been credited as ize, and they always need to duck the snipingthe last people who knew everything there was fire of the specialists. There is much more thatto be known. Today, it is not even possible to could be said here, notably about the part playedknow everything in one scholarly discipline. Ev- by journals and the institution of the Ph.D. as theeryone is a specialist, and generalists are held in certification of the learned that has fueled muchsome suspicion, if not in outright scorn. of the production of knowledge, and about the

Before the Second World War it was possible way in which disciplinary knowledge has be-to be somebody called a social scientist, or to be come territory, defended against other disciplinescalled a scientist, expert in one field but knowl- and the undisciplined alike. This, too, is for an-edgeable across them all. One celebrated man of other address at another conference.my own country held chairs at different timesin philosophy, political science, sociology, and A Shift in the Universitieseducation, and he published in all of these areas,and well. I cannot think of a single counterpart The second major concurrence of the increase intoday. knowledge has been the elevation of research to

Shifting Gearsfor the Application of Knowledge 15

its dominant place in the world of higher educa- Meanwhile, pure understanding of the highlytion, and the shift of universities toward being dynamic contemporary social processes is a longsuppliers of new knowledge rather than hosts of way off, while the need for quick action has beenteaching and of learning. clear for many years.

The linear model that I talked about earlier hasgiven universities a special place in the genera- A Strategy Regarding Knowledgetion of knowledge, because it is the universitiesthat particularly concentrate on pure research, There would seem to be a way out of this di-which is thought to be the foundation of all lemma. To begin with, we can realize that it isknowledge. not necessary to think that we must always search

Interestingly, the research university is actu- for new knowledge, especially when we fre-ally quite a recent phenomenon in the nearly quently cannot wait for it to be generated. We1,000-year history of institutions of higher edu- already know a great deal about our predicamentcation. Indeed until our own century it would be and it can make sense to employ, first of all, thiseasy to show that advances in knowledge came knowledge that we already possess. I would likemore from outside the university than that from to give two examples.inside it. The first example is the growing discovery

Now let me move from the old paradigm about throughout the nineteenth century of the linkedwhich I have said enough to the modern prob- importance of clean water, sanitation, hygieniclem. In this regard, we live in a world of 6 billion practices, and fresh air in reducing mortality andhuman beings who, if nothing else changes, will morbidity in the urban populations of Europenumber 12 billion by the middle of the next and America.century. What we now regard as the ordinary munici-

Through our sheer abundance as a species we pal services or public utilities needed for anyalready put tremendous pressure on our planet. human settlement other than that of a tiny sizeMost of us now live in cities of one kind or an- grew out of that nineteenth century experienceother, and the urban proportion of humanity's in Western countries.activity is rising steadily. There have been at least 100 years of accep-

Our cities cover great areas; create huge de- tance of this need in our developed world, to themands for food and fresh water; require complex point that our contemporary city populationscommunications, transport, sewerage, education, probably cannot imagine that it was ever thoughtand civil order systems; and create dreadful en- otherwise.vironments in terms of water, air, and soil pollu- In the rapidly expanding cities of the devel-tion, not to mention the potential for epidemic oping world, there is neither similar understand-disease, developed among undernourished ur- ing of such need nor experience with ourban populations through viral and respiratory solutions. What the situation calls for is not everpathogens. The problem is us. ingenious remedies to particular diseases, but

Whatever the solutions are-and I want to major preventative measures that deal with thesesuggest some-they need to be general or holis- diseases at the root by avoiding them in the firsttic. Just as a wise physician treats his patient, not place.the disease that is the symptom of some under- In this case we already have the knowledgelying cause, so in building a sustainable world that is necessary for the people of these cities. Itin which human beings can thrive, we need to is not dramatic, or new, or a breakthrough. It issee our major policies as being at the broad level old-fashioned and it still works.of the societies in which human beings live. The second example is the link between smok-

This holistic approach puts a different demand ing tobacco and the onset of lung cancer and otheron knowledge because, as I have noted, human diseases such as emphysema, a link that has beenknowledge now advances increment by tiny in- well known for two generations. The move to dis-crement; the guardians of the increments are spe- courage smoking was slow to occur becausecialists who are often unable to link what they people who smoke like to smoke and find it hardknow to what other specialists know. to give up the practice even when they want to,


and also because growing tobacco is a virtuous If I combine the lessons from the urban ser-farming activity and making cigarettes is an in- vice and smoking reduction examples, I get thedustry that employs people. Governments, that possibility of a strategy, which is: Use the knowl-also obtain revenue through taxing tobacco prod- edge we already have and tell people what isucts, engage in the discouragement of smoking known.diffidently. Reflecting on my point just a moment ago,

What the governments finally did was to draw there may be a third element to the strategy: Putpeople's attention to the fact that smoking is bad as much effort into education as possible, becausefor the health, and compelling the manufactur- the better educated people are, the more they areers of tobacco products to print warnings on the likely to take responsibility for their own wel-packets. fare. Perhaps there is a fourth element: Ensure

In time nonsmokers and ex-smokers began to that governments or national agencies have thecomplain of the risk they ran of disease con- knowledge and the support to undertake the firsttracted through other people's smoking, and the three elements of the strategy.practice began to be discouraged or even banned My own view is that these precepts providein workplaces, public buildings, restaurants, and all that is necessary for a well-intentionedairplanes. national government and that international fund-

The outcome of this story, that continues to- ing agencies need little more than the combina-day, has been a great reduction in the incidence tion of these precepts plus a well-intentionedof lung cancer and related disease on the part of government.those who have stopped smoking. Of course it This seems so easy that of course we mightdoes continue as a practice and it is still seen by say it must be unworkable. What maybe a worrysome young people as glamorous and adult. is that the strategy runs counter to the prevail-Overall, though, the reduction in healthcare costs ing orthodoxy that government intervention tohas been enormous. produce outcomes is usually wrong, always

Once again this advance has not come through productive of unintended consequences, nevera breakthrough in research. If you get lung can- as beneficial as letting the market solve thecer the treatment of choice is still the one used 30 problem.years ago. There has been no great breakthrough It is because my own principal background hasin how to treat lung cancer, but there has been an been in history and political science rather thanenormous breakthrough in how to prevent in economics that I am not a great believer in thepeople from getting it in the first place, and it is creative capacity of markets to transform humanthat kind of mission that I suggest is the crucial societies. In any case much of what I have beenone. describing as humanity's problem can be ex-

plained in economics under the rubric of marketKey Role of Education failure.

The smoking reduction effort has worked partly Links among Governmentsbecause governments have had the resolve to and Universitieskeep up their advocacy despite the intense ob-jection to it from pro-smoking interests, and be- If such a conclusion is allowed, let us move tocause our populations are sufficiently the third section of this paper which offers somewell-educated to be able to make up their own suggestions about what might be done in theminds. knowledge industry.

This education factor points to another of the To start, I want to dispose of any suggestiongreat levers available to us in contemplating the that I favor getting rid of pure research or hav-world of the future. We need to always be aware ing all research targeted or applied. This is notthat a well-educated population can do a great my view. Human curiosity is a powerful weapondeal through understanding its own dilemma in the advancement of knowledge, and Vannevarand taking appropriate action to combat it. Bush was right to think that the intellectual curi-

Shifting Gears for the Application of Knowledge 17

osity of researchers themselves will probably get and will. Quite apart from the financial question,them further than following the mundane pri- we do not think this way any longer. The moreorities of other people. we know, the harder it all seems.

There are other useful human qualities apartfrom curiosity, and compassion and problem- Principles and Policiessolving are two others that can work very wellin dealing with human predicaments. We turn now to my suggestions. I have to say at

What we need and what in fact we do not once that there is not much use directing sugges-have-and here is a connection with Dr. Ladner's tions like this at universities, though I do so, be-paper-is an easy linkage between govern- cause universities have a strong sense of theirments and universities in the area of knowledge own virtue and are inclined to see the responsi-application. bility lying elsewhere.

Some of the reasons for this lack of connection I direct these thoughts mostly at governmentsare financial. Our governments are now chroni- and international funding agencies, because theycally short of money and unable or unwilling to have some capacity, through their actions, toraise more through increased taxation. change thinking inside universities, and univer-

Some of the reasons are functions of scale. sities have become very, very large parts of theThere is so much knowledge available, but often society in the industrial world.so little agreement about what is relevant to a The first of my suggestions is this: we need togiven problem. recognize that in dealing with large human popu-

Some reasons are cultural. Governments and lations the policy prescriptions must be simple,universities have different senses of time, differ- they must be easy to explain, and they must beent meanings for the word "deadline," and dif- based on past success somewhere. Developingferent imperatives. such policies requires, among other things, the

Some reasons are territorial. Universities see use of historically knowledgeable generalists,knowledge as their own product and want to which good historians often are.surround it with various rules, while govern- The second suggestion is to recognize that wements and funding agencies are uninterested in already know a lot, and we should be preparedownership and recognize that knowledge always to distill that knowledge in a form that allows ithas to be applied in a real and dirty world, not in to be transferred to new situations. Things thatan aseptic laboratory or through a computer work in one country may not work in another,model. for straightforward reasons of history, culture, or

Other reasons are epistemological. A lot of level of technology.knowledge is conjectural rather than factual, and Knowing when, and when not, to try to trans-governments are reluctant outside the area of fer policy successes will require, among othereconomics to rely too much on theories and pos- things, the use of generalists who find it easy tosibilities. They want certainty and do not under- compare, enjoy doing so, and are good at it.stand the universities' needs for extensive and Third, when in doubt, governments and fund-continuing critique. ing agencies should prefer the long term, though

What is more-and this is really fundamental- balancing the long term with the short term isWestern governments seem to have lost confi- the hardest part of policymaking. The long-termdence in their capacity to achieve good outcomes goal is a sustainable world, and the aim shouldthrough social and economic policy. This makes be to empower populations to make good deci-them especially leery of pinning their faith on the sions for themselves, rather than having to relyoutcomes of research in universities. on others to decide for them.

Thirty years ago things in this regard were dif- Even good short-term policies should haveferent. There was a prevailing belief that, in prin- excellent long-term outcomes. For example,ciple at least, all human problems-whether equipping shantytown dwellers with decentsocial, economic, or political-were solvable, pro- housing, running water, electricity, and seweragevided there was sufficient knowledge, money, will not only improve their material conditions,


but will give them a stake in the preservation of standing before we do things anyway. Lifethe society that they live in. is short and the tasks are many.

These first few suggestions are not at all radi- 2. Encourage outcome-oriented social sci-cal, and indeed they are almost banal. They ence. Attract the best practitioners to workpoint to a mismatch with what governments not on models and theories, but on the realand funding agencies are typically involved in world in all its difficulty and noise.the world of the university, because these sug- 3. Encourage cross-disciplinary work. Thegestions do not require or depend on much new disciplines of the university are divisionsresearch. of academic history and convenience, and

Somehow we need to develop many people they get in the way of real world analysis.who are capable of interpreting research findings They cannot be ignored, however, becausein one field and linking them to those in other the very knowledge that we talk about isfields, so that the joint use of this knowledge is largely organized within disciplinarypossible. boundaries. The solution is to make sure

This does not mean that we should flood the that projects are based on cross-disciplin-world with historians: many of them are spe- ary teams that comprise knowledgeablecialists too. What it does mean is that in seek- specialists.ing to use the knowledge that universities have While these several suggestions are hardlydeveloped in the last half century, we need to revolutionary, they do imply a shift in perspec-start by making clear what results we are seek- tive from the generation of knowledge for its owning, and then attract people who find the chal- sake to the generation of knowledge in the inter-lenge of applying existing knowledge to ests of humankind.produce a given outcome to be an interesting It is not at all difficult to justify such a shift.one. The problems facing us are large and daunting

and the speed of change is very great. Surely thatPoints on Funding Research ought to be enough. In fact I do not think it is,

and that is why I have made my suggestions toI finish with three quite pointed suggestions those who actually provide money to support theabout the funding of research on the part of gov- generation of knowledge. Academics in univer-ernments and international funding agencies. sities, as is the case with virtually all actors in

1. Encourage applications and resist the cry modern, Western societies, are quite responsivethat understanding must come first. As to financial incentives. Quite small amounts ofBenjamin Ladner said, we do not ordi- money, intelligently applied, can have powerfulnarily devote ourselves to complete under- cultural effects.

Shifting Requirements for Knowledgeto Advance a Sustainable South

Partha Dasgupta

The Resource Basis of Human Well-Being ies should be self-evident: Ignore the environ-

and Its Neglect mental resource base and we are bound to ob-tain a misleading picture of production and

People in poor countries are for the most part consumption activities there. Nevertheless, if

agrarian and pastoral. In 1988 rural people ac- there has been a single thread running through

counted for about 65 percent of the population nearly fifty years of investigation into the pov-of what the World Bank classifies as low-income erty of poor countries, it has been a neglect ofcountries. The proportion of the total labor this resource base. Until very recently, environ-force in agriculture was a bit in excess of 65 mental resources made but perfunctory appear-percent. The share of agriculture in gross do- ances in government planning models and were

mestic product in these countries was 30 percent. cheerfully ignored in most of what goes by theThese figures should be contrasted with those name "development economics."from industrial market economies, which are There were exceptions, of course. What I am6 percent and 2 percent for the latter two ratios referring to here is a neglect of environmentalrespectively. matters in what we could call official develop-

Rural communities in poor countries are bio- ment economics. Thus, for example, the 1986

mass-based subsistence economies, in that poor World Congress of the International Economicpeople eke out a living from products obtained Association, held in New Delhi, had as its themedirectly from plants and animals. For example, the appropriate balance between industry and

studies in the Indian subcontinent have shown agriculture. In the 16 sessions that comprised thethat as much as 40 to 50 percent of the working congress, none was devoted to the environmen-hours of villagers are devoted to fodder and fuel tal resource basis of production and consumption.collection, animal care, and grazing. Moreover Handbooks offer another kind of illustration,inquiries in Central and West Africa have re- reflecting as they do the attention researchersvealed the importance of forest products in rural have given to various fields of inquiry. To me itpeople's lives. Poor countries, especially those in is a revealing fact that the 2-volume Handbook ofthe Indian subcontinent and Sub-Saharan Africa, Development Economics, edited by Hollis Chenery

can be expected to remain largely rural econo- and T. N. Srinivasan (1988) contains nothing on

mies for some while yet. environmental matters. The environment ap-

The dependence of poor countries on their pears in official development economics in much

natural resources such as soil and its cover, water, the same way as that most famous bark does inforests and their products, animals, and fisher- literature: it does not.

19

20 Organizing Knowledge for Environmentally and Socially Sustainable Development

In a similar vein environmental and resource geography, and political science. It offers a neweconomics has neglected issues concerning rural perspective on economic development. 2 In recentpoverty in poor countries. Thus the 3-volume years the twin subjects, resource economics andHandbook of Natural Resource and Energy Econom- environmental economics, have together been la-ics, edited by Allen Kneese and James Sweeney beled ecological economics. In the remainder of(1985, 1993) contains nothing on poverty and its the article, I will follow this practice.possible links with environmental degradation. The foregoing remarks have stressed develop-Development and environmental economics ments in the supply of ideas. There have also beenhave until recently passed each other by, and it changes in demand. As regards timing, the shiftis interesting to speculate why. in attitude can probably be identified with the

A prime reason often aired is that environmen- publication of the "Brundtland Report" (Worldtal and resource economists in Western industrial Commission 1987); today no account of economiccountries (especially the United States) have development would be regarded as adequate,tended to focus on such problems as local air even by economists in poor countries, if the en-pollution, including sulfur emissions, and dete- vironmental resource base were absent from it.rioration of amenities, including national parks, The World Bank's excellent World Developmentbeaches, and coastlines.' To the development Report 1992 is an affirmation of this changed view-economist, environmental matters have appeared point.a trifle precious, not wholly relevant to the ur- This new awareness, on its own, will not begencies of poor countries. On innumerable occa- enough. Until the environmental resource basesions I have had this explanation offered to me becomes a commonplace furniture of economicby social scientists in poor countries. I would not thinking and modeling in poor countries, it willwish to doubt it, but the explanation does not continue to be neglected in the design andtell us why, when they studied development implementation of public policies there. Evenproblems, these same social scientists ignored if these policies are implemented, there is thetheir own environmental resource base. danger that they will be reached through ad

At an academic level the lack of contact be- hoc measures. Moreover, teachers, researchers,tween development and environmental econom- and policymakers will remain oblivious of theics has been harmful to both. Specialized fields tools that are available for the analysis of socialare often driven by internal logic, and the gap and economic problems. They will remain un-between topics that are most intensively dis- aware of the need for scientific information oncussed and those that are most urgent and at once the processes and functions of local ecologicaltractable can become large. As it happens, there systems, and they will not recognize an alliedwas an additional loss due to the unwillingness point: There is an urgent need for poor countriesof development and environmental economists to encourage the development of informationto talk to one another. The economics of the en- channels that are conducive to good governance.vironment, heavily involved as it is with the sci- It is imperative that tomorrow's leaders in poorence of ecology, is an exciting subject. It is also a countries are not only more sensitive to the eco-beautiful subject: there is much in it to enthuse logical concerns among their own citizens, butyoung people. that they are also able to think on such concerns

There have been exceptions, of course. Over in a natural, unforced, and effective way.the years a number of social scientists have de- Tomorrow's decisionmakers are today's students.veloped environmental and resource economics If ecological concerns are to become an essentialwithin the context of rural populations in poor part of economic thinking in poor countries, eco-countries. We now have in hand a body of work logical economics has to enter university teach-that studies the links between rural poverty, ing there. In order for this to happen, however,population growth, and the environmental re- university teachers of economics at those univer-source base. The work has involved a fusion of sities need to learn the subject. This thought hastheoretical modeling to empirical findings drawn been the basis of a "Programme of Teaching andfrom a number of disciplines, most notably an- Research in Developing Countries" that I havethropology, demography, ecology, economics, helped initiate at the Beijer International Insti-

Shifting Requirements for Knowledge to Advance a Sustainable South 21

tute of Ecological Economics of the Royal Swed- to the Beijer Institute, the World Bank, and theish Academy of Sciences, Stockholm, in collabo- Harvard Institute for International Developmentration with the institute's director, Professor (HIID). This particular set of links has arisen be-Karl-Goran Maler. In the following section I cause our "permanent" teaching staff are associ-

will describe this program (the Programme). ated with these institutions. The Programme could

In section III I will draw lessons from it, and in not have been launched and sustained but for col-section IV I will suggest what the lessons seem legial friendship: there are little to no financialto indicate as regards future capacity building in rewards for the Programme's teaching staff!ecological economics in poor countries. However, teaching workshops, on their own,

would not be enough. At a minimum they need

The Beijer Teaching and Research to be supplemented by such means as wouldProgramme in Poor Countries enable ecological economists in poor countries

to enter the international network of researchers.The Programme's first component consists of If, as we economists tend to believe, there areteaching workshops for university teachers of multiplier effects in the dissemination of knowl-

economics. At each workshop, about 20 to 25 edge, the eventual size of the network could beparticipants from poor countries attend a spe- expected to be a good deal larger. The Beijer

cially designed course on ecological economics. Programme's second component consists of re-In order to save on airfares, the workshops are search workshops at which participants fromheld regionally, with each workshop lasting 10 poor countries present their own research find-to 12 days. Participants and program staff live ings, works-in-progress, and research proposalsand eat together in the same hotel complex.3 This in the presence of foreign peers. My hope is thatmeans that intellectual and social interactions through such workshops our colleagues in pooroccur from breakfast through late evening every countries will enjoy the benefit of peer-groupday. This interaction has been vital to the evaluation and criticism of the kind that we whoProgramme's success. All expenses are borne by are fortunate to work in advanced industrialthe Beijer Institute. It is our hope that over the countries take for granted. These workshops arenext two years or so, about 150 university teach- also held regionally, and their expenses are borneers of economics in poor countries will have at- by the Beijer Institute.tended these workshops. Who attends research workshops? To build a

Given that there are no suitable textbooks on comprehensive educational program, we haveecological economics for use in poor countries, pursued the following approach: we offer the re-we have had to develop the syllabus ourselves. search workshops as a carrot to those who have

The reading list (and the lecture course) includes attended a teaching workshop. This way, thosearticles and book-chapters that offer basic ecol- who have obtained training at the teaching work-ogy and advanced economic analysis. We spend shops have an incentive not only to teach the sub-about three days on these two subjects before ject to students in their own universities, but alsoentering the meat of the subject-ecological eco- to conduct research on their local environmentalnomics in the development context (see sections problems. We try to hold a research workshopIII and IV). about a year after a teaching workshop, and we

To date we have conducted five teaching work- invite previous participants to submit researchshops: one in Chile (for participants from South papers to such workshops. To date, we have heldAmerica), one in Jamaica (for participants from four research workshops: in Malaysia, Malta,the Caribbean and Central America), one in Ma- Tanzania, and Venezuela.laysia (for participants from Southeast Asia and In addition we will be using some of the grantBangladesh), one in Malta (for participants from money to allow authors of the most promisingSub-Saharan Africa), and one in Sri Lanka (for par- submissions to a newly established journal (seeticipants from parts of Sub-Saharan Africa and immediately below) to improve them on thethe Indian subcontinent). In short, the network basis of visits to the relevant institutions (forwe have created now includes about 120 univer- example the World Bank, Beijer Institute, orsity teachers from poor countries. They are linked HIID).


Maler and I felt from the start that even this layered one: It locates young university profes-would not be enough. If capacity is to be built in sors of economics in poor countries (they are typi-poor countries in the field of ecological econom- cally in their late twenties or early thirties) andics, teaching and research workshops need to be offers them training, encouragement, guidance,supplemented by the creation of opportunities and incentives to both teach ecological econom-for indigenous scholars to publish their work in ics to their students, and to initiate research onreputable international journals. The establish- their own.ment of a quarterly journal, Environment and Toward this end we have tried several meth-Development Economics (EDE), published by Cam- ods to locate suitable candidates for participa-bridge University Press, has been aimed at meet- tion. We have had help from such organizationsing this need. The first issue was out in February as the Consortium of African Economists; we1997; it forms the third component of the Beijer have had help from our own academic contactsProgramme. in poor countries; we have advertised the work-

The goal in starting the journal was to create a shops and solicited applications; we have writ-space where ecological and development econo- ten to department heads in more than 150mists from all parts of the world can publish their universities, asking them to nominate young col-work. It is the intention of the editorial board to leagues; and we have sought the help of pasttreat submissions from poor countries with the participants in locating able colleagues who aresame care, sympathy, and critical standard that interested in ecological economics. Selection hasthose scholars who work in the West take for proved to be more difficult than we had origi-granted. One way we are trying to ensure that nally thought (department heads are not oftensubmissions from poor countries meet the test of reliable, and often nominate themselves!), but wequality is to have policy forums, where authors have learned quickly from experience.can report and comment on environmental de- As I mentioned earlier, the teaching staff forbates and discussions currently being undertaken the Programme has been faithful to the causein their own countries. Economists in poor coun- because of friendship. We have a balanced staff,tries constantly hear about global warming; it combining expertise in ecology, economic analy-would be good if economists in the West were able sis, and applied environmental economics. (Theto learn of the myriad of local environmental prob- participation of John Dixon of the World Banklems many in poor countries routinely face. has been particularly useful; the Bank has access

Intellectual infrastructure differs greatly within to a large number of case studies that thepoor countries. Libraries in some universities Programme makes available to participants.) Asubscribe to a wide range of international jour- typical teaching workshop of 20 participants andnals, whereas many others have an extreme pau- seven staff costs about US$120,000. Researchcity of subscriptions. Over an initial period of five workshops cost a bit less, because they are typi-years, the Beijer Institute is providing free sub- cally held over four to five days. Consideringscriptions to EDE to libraries in the developing everything, this is an enormously productive in-world recommended to us by participants of our vestment. Even if the success rate eventually wereteaching and research workshops. In addition, the to turn out to be as low as 10 percent-that is,grant money for the Beijer Programme is being even if only 10 percent of the participants in theused to supply, free of charge, a selection of books teaching workshops were eventually to publishon ecological economics to the libraries of the in EDE-it represents money well spent.institutions to which previous participants be- What have we learned from our experience?long. The books in question form the basis of the 1. As expected, talent and background exper-teaching workshops. tise vary enormously across the conti-

nents. On average, participants from Sub-Lessons Saharan Africa had the weakest back-

ground, and those from Southeast AsiaIt will be apparent to the reader that the Beijer (Vietnam, for example) the best. LatinProgramme I have described here is a multi- America is a lot more promising than I had


originally expected: there are plenty of The Futuregood and concerned minds in Latin Ameri-can universities. What do these lessons indicate about future

2. There is enormous enthusiasm for the sub- courses of action? Three recommendations sug-ject. Maler and I had no idea that there is gest themselves: they involve the short run, theas much hunger for knowledge of econom- medium run, and the long run. I will considerics in general, and for knowledge of eco- them sequentially:logical economics in particular, as we haveobserved among our young colleagues in The Short Termpoor countries. In short we do not have tosell ecological economics to university pro- Of immediate concern is a request we have be-fessors in poor countries: they want to learn gun to receive from past participants. A numberit anyway. It is the opportunity they lack. of them now want to prepare syllabi and read-

3. Our colleagues in poor countries have not ing lists for courses on ecological economics theyas yet become dispirited about their own wish to establish at their own universities. Theyabilities. They still have ambition to teach have asked the Beijer Institute for help in devis-new things and to publish the occasional ing the appropriate syllabi. Since the prime in-article. tent of the Programme was to have ecological

4. Our emphasis on teaching modern eco- economics taught in poor countries, we need tonomic analysis to participants before get- be able to provide this help. However, if we areting down to details of social cost-benefit to give this help, we need funds to enable mem-analysis has proved to be correct: partici- bers of our staff to visit such universities as thosepants have been particularly excited in see- that seek help, spend a few days understandinging how even the most pedestrian the existing economics program, address semi-problems about the environment are bet- nars in the presence of their senior colleagues inter informed when exposed to modern eco- order to legitimize the desire, and then advisenomic analysis. Maler's (and my own) our hosts on how best they could devise the syl-prejudice was that it would be a mistake labus. Fortunately, this involves small amountsto teach participants only the routine of money. We could, for example, select a few keytools of ecological economics; we felt that universities (totaling six to seven in number inthe right way to go about things would Africa, Asia, and Latin America), and help createbe to create a syllabus that forces partici- the teaching syllabus.pants to become better economists beforethey launch themselves into ecological The Medium Termeconomics. This prejudice was entirelyjustified: most of our colleagues in poor To date the Beijer Programme has been supportedcountries lack a good grounding in mod- by grants from the United Nations University'sern economics. They know it; and they World Institute of Development Economics Re-value most highly the fact that by the end search (UNU/WIDER), in 1992 and 1994; theof a teaching workshop they have seen Swedish International Development Authorityhow economic analysis can change their (SIDA), in 1995; and, more recently (1995-98),perception of how best to pose an envi- from a block grant from the MacArthur Founda-ronmental problem, let alone analyze it. tion.4 The latter grant will enable us not only to

5. The learning curve is steep. It has been a organize several teaching and research work-particularly gratifying experience to ob- shops, but also to finance some of the expensesserve, again and again, the difference in associated with our journal, and support thethe ability of the average participant to completion of research by some of the most prom-discuss an environmental problem on the ising submissions to the journal from poor coun-first days of a workshop and on the last tries. The MacArthur grant is being phased overday of the workshop. four years. It started in 1995, it peaks in 1997, and


trails off in 1998. If the Beijer Programme is to search workshops, such as those in the Beijerhave a lasting impact, it needs to consolidate Programme, could also be located at the institute.about 250 economists in poor countries into the Professor Salam, I believe, had in mind thatnetwork that we are creating. This means that it the International Centre for Theoretical Physicsneeds funding until the end of the century. This would be a place from which outstanding re-is something the SIDA may wish to consider, search in theoretical physics from poor countriesalong with possibly assisting with support for the would be generated. I do not know if he has beencreation of the teaching syllabi. successful in this aim. My own belief is that, in

my own field, we are some years away from theThe Long Term time when we can expect pioneering research

to flow from universities in, say, Sub-SaharanThe emergence of the Internet is going to prove Africa. I am not suggesting that establishing antremendously important in enabling our col- institute of the kind I have sketched will produceleagues in poor countries to join the international high-quality research output from poor countriesacademic network. In the final analysis, however, in the immediate future. Its mission would lienothing can replace personal contact. You really elsewhere. It would be a place where scholarsneed to be in close association with colleagues in would be able to rejuvenate themselves intellec-poor countries to realize how starved they are tually and keep somewhat abreast of contempo-for the kind of collegial contact, encouragement, rary ideas.and help that makes academic life creative in the Vast sums are spent annually in the supportWest. Many years ago the physicist Abdus Salam of higher education in poor countries. Minor re-recognized the importance of this and created, channeling of resources could greatly improvewith the help of UNESCO and the Italian gov- the performance of those who teach in theseernment among other agencies, the International places. Capacity building involves a wide rangeCentre for Theoretical Physics in Trieste. A num- of activities. The Beijer Programme that I haveber of physicist friends of mine working in poor described in this article is a very small part ofcountries have told me how important their vis- this. All my experience tells me now that it is aits to this institute have been in enabling them to very important part. Fortunately it is, relatively"recharge" themselves intellectually during sab- speaking, an inexpensive part.baticals and vacations. Over the long run I amconvinced we need to establish something like Notessuch an institute, but located in a university cam-pus in a poor country with good infrastructure, 1. For confirmation see Cropper and Oates (1992),such as Mauritius. which reports almost exclusively on valuation tech-

What I have in mind is an institute that would niques and cost-effective regulation of pollution.only have visitors and a minimum permanent 2. See for example C.S.E. (1982, 1985), Dasguptastaff. The institute's purpose would be to facili- (1982, 1993, 1995), Anderson (1987), Agarwal and

tateclleagues . poor countries in their desir Narain (1989), Barrett (1989), Dixon, James, andtate colleagues i poor countries in their desire Sherman (1989), Falconer and Amold (1989), Bojo,to teach and conduct research at the interface of Maler, and Unema (1990), Dixon, James, andanthropology, ecology, economics, demography, Sherman (1990), Binswanger (1991), Dasgupta andgeography, and political science, where the sub- Maler (1991,1995,1996), Solorzano and others (1991),ject of ecological economics resides.5 The insti- World Bank (1992), Dixon and others (1994), andtute could facilitate scholars' visits during their Ehrlich, Ehrlich, and Daily (1995). I am stressingvacations and sabbaticals by offering financial rural economies not because urban environmentalaid. The institute would also invite internation- problems do not exist in poor countries-they areally distinguished colleagues in these same fields rampant-but because the rural sector reveals novelto come on short-term visits to deliver lectures, character in the nature of environmental problemsconduct seminars, and interact with the institute's in poor countries.

3. It has been our policy to hold the workshops inprime visitors. In other words the institute's mis- isolated places, not in metropolitan centers, so that par-sion would be to offer an intellectual haven for ticipants are not tempted to stray from the purpose atscholars from poor countries. Teaching and re- hand.


4. The grant from UNO /WIDER helped us prepare the World Bank Annual Conference on Development Eco-material that is of use in teaching ecological econom- nomics 1990. Washington, D.C.: World Bank.ics to people from poor countries. . 1995. "Poverty, Institutions and the Environ-

5. See Dasgupta (1993). mental Resource-Base." In J. Behrman and T. N.Srinivasan, eds., Handbook of Development Econom-

References ics, vol. IIIA. Amsterdam: North Holland.

. eds. 1996. The Environment, Development, and Eco-Agarwal, A., and S. Narain. 1989. "Towards Green Vil- nomic Analysis. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

lages: A Strategy for Environmentally Sound and Dixon, J. A., D. E. James, and P. B. Sherman. 1989. TheParticipatory Rural Development." Centre for Sci- Economics ofDryland Management. London: Earthscanence and Environment, New Delhi. Publications.

Anderson, D. 1987. The Economics of Afforestation. Bal- _ eds. 1990. Dryland Management: Economic Casetimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press. Studies. London: Earthscan Publications.

Barrett, S. 1989. "Economic Growth and Environmen- Dixon, J. A., and others. 1994. Economic Analysis of Envi-tal Conservation." London School of Economics. ronmental Impacts. London: Earthscan Publications.Ph.D. dissertation.

BrH. 1991. "Brazilian Policies That Encourage Ehrlich, P. R., A. H. Ehrlich, and G. C. Daily. 1995. TheBinswangero Stork and the Plow: The Equity Answer to the HumanDeforestation in the Amazon." World Development 19. Dilemma. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons.

Bojo, J., K.-G. Maler, and L. Unema. 1990. Environment Falconer, J., and J. E. M. Arnold. 1989. "Householdand Development: An Economic Approach. Amster- Food Security and Forestry: An Analysis of Socio-dam: Klewer. Economic Issues." Food and Agriculture Organiza-

Chenery, H., and T. N. Srinivasan. 1988. Handbook of tion of the United Nations, Rome.Development Economics. Amsterdam: North Holland. Kneese, A., and J. Sweeney. 1985, 1993. Handbook of

Cropper, M., and W. Oates. 1992. "Environmental Eco- Natural Resource and Energy Economics. Amsterdam:nomics: A Survey." Journal of Economic Literature 30. North Holland.

C. S. E. 1982, 1985. The State of India's Environment: A Solorzano, R., and others. 1991. "Accounts Overdue:Citizen's Report. New Delhi: Centre for Science and Natural Resource Depreciation in Costa Rica."Environment. World Resources Institute, Washington, D.C.

Dasgupta, P. 1982. The Control of Resources. Cambridge: World Bank. 1992. World Development Report 1992: De-Harvard University Press. velopment and the Environment. New York: Oxford

. 1993. An Inquiry into Well-Being and Destitution. University Press.Oxford: Clarendon Press. World Commission on Environment and Develop-

.1995. "The Population Problem: Theory and Evi- ment. 1987. "Brundtland Report." New York: Ox-dence. " Journal of Economic Literature 33. ford University Press.

Dasgupta, P., and K.-G. Maler. 1991. "The Environment . 1987. Our Common Future. New York: Oxfordand Emerging Development Issues." Proceedings of University Press.

Discussion

Tariq Husain: Let us open this session up for dis- Knowledge also brings us together for anothercussion. We will have questions from the audi- reason: It creates threats for humanity throughence for either Partha Dasgupta, Donald Aitkin, the development of technologies that can haveor Gustavo L6pez Ospina, and then we will have adverse, sometimes disastrous effects. Four cen-our next speaker. turies ago, Francis Bacon said knowledge is

power, and he overturned the age-old traditionAudience comment: This is a comment on the of a distinction between pure and practicalvarious presentations that we heard today. I knowledge. In fact all knowledge is practical.would like to mention one of the consequences All knowledge has consequences that go beyondof the development of knowledge that was some- the knower and transform the world and ushow referred to but not directly The development within it.of knowledge creates ignorance, and this is a very The threats that we have created ourselves,important fact. It is not only a negative fact, it is through the development of knowledge, makealso a positive fact, and I will try to explain this. us aware that we are in the same boat and must

How can the development of knowledge cre- collaborate, and that we cannot live and behaveate ignorance? Very simple. Our intellectual ca- as we have behaved in the past, disregarding thepacity is finite. Don Aitkin said that knowledge other person, other cultures, and other societies.has developed to a much greater extent than our We are therefore all interdependent in view ofcapacity. He said that Goethe and John Stuart Mill the threat that we have created to humanity, andwere the last people who could embrace all this will have very far-reaching consequences forknowledge. This is not true. We have been un- the development of humanity.able to embrace all knowledge since ancientGreece, and the only people of whom we can say Audience comment: One of the major problemswith more or less certainty that they did embrace when we talk about knowledge with regard toall knowledge were the seven sages of ancient the developing world, and here I refer to my ownGreece. Nobody else since that time could em- country, the Congo, is poverty. In order to sharebrace all knowledge. the knowledge, the rational knowledge that

What are the consequences of this? The fact people gain from school, you need to have somethat our individual knowledges are limited pro- financial possibilities. In most of these countriesduces interdependence among humans, because where people do not have sufficient income it iswe all become dependent on the knowledge that very difficult to participate in the learning pro-others have that we do not have. Interestingly cess, that is, in the sharing of knowledge.enough, knowledge forces us to collaborate, and I have been observing the meetings in this con-thus brings us together, all of our academic dis- ference since we began. I have been trying to see,ciplines and differences notwithstanding. for example, how many people from the African

26


continent are here with us to follow what we are What is the mechanism that transforms infor-talking about and to take this knowledge, this mation into knowledge? In fact this is where re-information, to their people, so that they can be search and teaching come into play, helping toready to work with those from other continents analyze, sift, and sort out the information andon the strategies we are talking about. determine what is relevant. The process is one of

In fact you can see that the participation of the most challenging elements in teaching or anAfricans is very low. Why? Because, first of all, academic institution. In the era of "CNN-ization"they do not have enough information to under- we are instantly informed about many events thatstand the value and the content of these meet- are taking place. But are we equally knowledge-ings. But even if they did understand, they are able? It is a crucial question that now occupiespoor, and they cannot travel here to attend. many academic centers and is an aspect of the

By the way, I am not here to represent any of research that we at the Center for the Globalthese people or countries. I live in the United South are doing.States, but they need to know what we are talk- Another consideration is that in order to sifting about. And in order to share knowledge, we and determine what is relevant in informationneed also to think about the alleviation of the pov- for knowledge, the objective must be focused.erty, providing the income that can bring all of us Why do we need knowledge? For what purpose?together in order to discuss certain important is- Finding the answers to these questions brings asues, such as knowledge and the environment. growing awareness of the interdisciplinary na-

Another problem is the language barrier. In the ture of knowledge and education.last analysis, we see that English is the dominant For instance I teach international law at Ameri-language here. I am wondering how many people can University, but I find myself branching outwe took from the French-speaking part of Africa into being a little bit of an economist, an envi-for these meetings. I think none. Why? Because ronmentalist, and a human rights specialist. Byof the language problem. contrast, the structure of my early educational

So you can see the challenge in your work of pursuits does not become very relevant in thetrying to duplicate your experiment in other parts new globalized economy and the globalizationof the world whose language is not English also. of issues.

I wanted to point out that as we see the vari-Clovis Maksoud: I just want to make very pre- ous UN conferences that have been taking place,liminary, semantic comments, partly in view of the Global South countries all have insisted thatmy experience as the director of the Center for there is no such thing as simply environment is-the Global South at the American University in sues, or issues of human rights, or women, orWashington, D.C. population. Every single UN conference has been

First, I hope Professor Dasgupta would try in population and development, and environmentthe near future to use the term, South, rather than and development."Third World," because the latter does not obtain So in a similar way the specificities of our ex-anymore in a concrete sense. act disciplines have to be in one form or another

Second, the speakers have been talking this integrated into a coherent approach to our de-morning about the concept of knowledge, that velopment. This is a particularly striking require-of course is a weapon of power at times, but also ment in the Global South countries; hopefully thea weapon of influence. There is always that sort universities in the northern countries will tryof gray zone between people who influence to bring about an integrated, interdisciplinaryevents and people who dispose with power. approach, not at the expense of particularitiesAnd the academic community must be in a and specializations, but enhancing them to beposition to speak with influence-the influence plugged into an overall discipline.of the intellect, of research, and of teaching.

Third, I believe that we have to make clearer Partha Dasgupta: Responding to my colleaguethe distinction between knowledge and informa- from the Congo: yes, it is very sad and you aretion. Information is an ingredient of knowledge, absolutely right. None of us speaks French. Somebut it is not knowledge, not even cumulatively. of us cannot speak English very well either, by


the way. So we have to exclude French-speaking derstand what is known currently about the ef-Africa. There is nothing I can do about it. fects on the nourishment on body size, and there-

But since you raise the question, I must an- fore, the possibilities of what is involved in termsswer you with some degree of satisfaction: there of birthweight. I see no evidence of such inter-is a way out. And this is the idea: If in the next disciplinary work 60 years ago in the Economictwo to three years it is possible to produce some- Journal or in the American Econoomic Review.thing like a largish textbook, written in a style I get a similar reaction when I speak to mybased on the experience that we have, prompted colleagues in molecular biology. They are tellingby this experience, plus the illustrations-and it me that they have to become much broader thanmay be possible to have that happen-then the their teachers were. You cannot do biochemistryteaching might become more routinized. without knowing crystallography, which requires

In fact much of the art of teaching has been to a good deal of physics, and so forth.make it possible for larger and larger volumes of So I am not entirely convinced that we havepeople to imbibe the knowledge by actually rou- gone down the narrow, specialized path. I seetinizing the method of the teaching. Now that has things differently.its costs, and given the makeups of the peoplehere, you will see the costs. But the benefits are Audience comment: Yes and no. I think you havealso large. We have a lot of people who are edu- just heard a very good example of a very broadcated today, and in the Golden Age, when every- and widely read academic person, but I'm afraidbody knew everything, they were not. to say he is not typical, and it is a great problem.

In response to some of the earlier remarks I As he says, if you are going to become good atshould also suggest that I am not entirely con- something, you now have to learn several disci-vinced that the growing specialization so many plines, and what that is telling us is that the prob-of us have been commenting on is actually hap- lem areas that are emerging require people topening. We may start believing it, and there is have such a background.always a momentum to a belief. But if you read But the human capital investment of doing thisin my subject, for instance, when I look at issues is enormous, and if a subject area fades, ceasingof the Economic Journal back in the 1920s and to become interesting, you have invested many,1930s, they are unbelievably boring and ex- many years in acquiring knowledge that you nowtremely narrow. I mean, the authors of applied have to apply to something else.articles were just about as dull and as narrowly I am not saying this is a good or a bad thing,focused as possible. but it is occurring. For example, I was 27 when I

By comparison if you wish to do a piece of first had a job. That is, I had spent 10 years afterapplied work today, in let us say, labor econom- school becoming an academic. Today, in someics or environmental economics, you have to be areas, you would be 37. That is, there would beat least in touch with three or four disciplines. an extra 10 years of knowledge to acquire. It isYou need to know quite a bit of mathematics, sta- very expensive to do that. The training regimestistics, and econometrics, for example. And you really do not exist; you have to do it yourself.need to know labor law. We have instituted something called the post-

Furthermore, if you are going to publish in a doctoral fellowship, which did not exist beforetop refereed journal, and you need to do that in the Second World War. People now have severalorder to advance your career, then you should experiences at being a post-doctoral fellow be-know the subjects more than superficially, before they emerge, in their late 30s, in the area incause otherwise some anonymous referee will say which they are going to specialize, such as mo-this person does not know what he or she is talk- lecular biology or environmental economics.ing about. They had to acquire more and more knowledge

In writing on demographic problems, as I have along the way. But it makes them more special-had to do in the last two or three years, I have ized. If the specialty ceases to be important, theyhad to learn something like three disciplines. I will then have to look elsewhere.have had to learn a great deal on nutrition sci- As I say, it is yes and no. Greater knowledge isence, for example, because you just need to un- true, and yet, there are terrible problems with it.

Obligations of Academic Leadersto the Demands of Sustainable Development

Wadi Haddad

F rom many years of work in this field I am development area, knowledge is very important.more and more convinced that there is a We can say that knowledge sustains environmen-consistent life path for areas that get incor- tally sustainable development.

porated into the family of development. We start I also notice from experience that if things staywith economic development and then add hu- at the advocacy and strong commitment level theman development, women in development, situation creates conflicts among the members,population development, and then environment because it becomes like a zero sum game. Knowl-in development. edge can bring rationality into the connectivity,

Actually the development community is a very the integration, and the interdependence thatconservative one. It is like an aristocracy that does characterize the development process.not like to marry into other families. All of these I am sure we all agree that for environmen-new development areas start with a passion, a tally sustainable development, knowledge is nolove, an advocacy, even some irrationality to luxury. It is indispensable.them. They do not get co-opted unless there is These thoughts should set the stage for a veryrigor and strong knowledge, and real justification. challenging topic, the obligations of academic

What I have noticed is that to sustain the ex- leaders to the demands of sustainable develop-istence and the incorporation of a concern in the ment.

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Panelist Remarks

Alvaro Umana

J would like to begin with the very simple nuts or vines, biodiversity prospecting, or sell-proposition that academic leaders have diffi- ing water rights-none of these activities aloneculty with environmentally and socially sus- can ensure sustainable livelihoods.

tainable development: first, because they do not If we can articulate this array of activities andunderstand it, with a few notable exceptions as the knowledge behind it in an adequate way, thewe have heard here, and second, because the composite does yield viable development, andstructures are wrong. leads to a completely changed person.

Regarding the latter point, the structures of the We have had some experience with this pro-universities lock us into a disciplinary approach. cess in Costa Rica, for example, with the para-Universities and academic institutions are inher- taxonomists. These people are peasants whoently conservative and therefore hard to change. have gone through a three-month trainingThis fact poses some real problems to sustain- course to learn to be collectors of biologicalability. specimens.

Another key problem is that sustainable de- The peasants not only derive a slightly highervelopment is much more knowledge-intensive income from this activity but also develop a spe-than traditional development. The example that cialized skill. Their children are not going to beI will use for this is not complicated and is tak- para-taxonomists, though. Their children will being place all over the tropical world. It requires full biologists, because their parents will wantonly a chain saw and an uneducated peasant, or their offspring to go through the professionala logger, to destroy a forest. On the other hand it training that they did not have. The knowledgetakes an incredible amount of knowledge in that the peasants derive through this experiencemany different areas to be able to subsist and de- is what triggers their growth and their thoughtsrive income sustainably from that forest without for their children's future.destroying it. If we recognize that sustainable development

is much more knowledge-intensive, we have toKnowledge Needs of Sustainability focus on key questions: What types of knowledge

are required? What are the demands in provid-Although applied knowledge generated the ing it? The problem is that the knowledge doeschain saw, today we need much more sophisti- not fit into traditional academic disciplines. Incated knowledge to carry us beyond the chain addition parts of the needed knowledge are onlysaw to the integration of a very large number of now being generated.actions. Why? Because no single activity from the We have the two themes, therefore, as em-forest is economically sufficient for people to live phasized by this meeting: How do we integratesustainably from the forest. Whether it is logging, cutting-edge knowledge, and how do we main-the extraction of sustainable products such as stream sustainability in educational programs?

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Obligations of Academic Leaders to the Demands of Sustainable Development 31

Science is always required in the basic com- those different components. As we know, theponents of sustainable development. We need World Bank has come around on this.physics, chemistry, and biology to be able to put Then there are the input and output rules thattogether what people might call ecosystem sci- say that we cannot take out of a living ecosystemence or conservation science or, in a more gran- more than its natural regeneration rate will al-diose formulation, Earth system science. low, and that we cannot dump more pollutants

However, this is just the beginning. We also in than its natural regeneration rate will allowneed economics, and Partha Dasgupta has done cleanup.a very good job of explaining the challenges in All of these considerations need to be integratedvaluation, identifying tradeoffs, and analyzing into economics teaching for knowledge and un-costs and benefits and the price tag of effective derstanding about sustainable development.regulation. In addition, though, we really need to teach

management-the practicalities of how organi-Shortcomings of Traditional Economics zations operate. We need to teach a new concept

of bottom-up participatory approaches, but noFrom my perspective several things that tradi- one is now teaching it. Indeed there is a wholetional economics lacks need to be taught in envi- technology of participation that needs work.ronmental or ecological economics. The Bank itself has tremendous problems with

First, economists do not think about the scale this. Its environment and resettlement opera-of the system, except in terms of economies of tional directives are very participatory on paper,scale. They do not think about the scale of the but participation is not about just calling oneactivity with respect to the size of the ecosystem. meeting and then forgetting about it.

Traditional economics is also too short term- Finally, we also need to teach public policy,oriented as a consequence of choices for the dis- because in sustainable development there arecount rate, so we have to introduce the essence problems that cannot be taken up by anybodyof sustainability, which looks to the long run. We except the state itself. Examples include popula-have to introduce ways to handle long-run prob- tion control, the management of territory, landlems, or projects that have long-term payoffs, as use planning, energy systems, and water supply.sustainable projects do. These are all beyond a micro approach.

Furthermore, the role of energy and materials How can academic institutions respond? Howis not properly taught in economics, although all could they integrate the demands-the needs-the principles are known. This is actually done about which I am speaking now?very well in courses such as Partha described.

Traditional economics also does not properly A Special Academic Programaddress the valuation of environmental services.Too many economists still think that air and wa- My answer is based on my own experience ofter are free goods. New rules of economics must the past five years, which is the creation of a two-be introduced to insure that the value of an eco- year master's program on sustainable develop-system is not taken as zero unless these values ment within the context of a school of businessare demonstrated to be very, very small. In fact and management. This, by the way, has somewe have to start saying in economics that eco- advantages for academic or traditional universi-system values are positive and non-negligible ties and also some disadvantages.unless proven otherwise. I have also participated in a series of work-

Another critical shortcoming deals with the shops promoted by the Gilman Foundationrelationship of the different components of capi- where we considered the experience of Yale,tal. Traditionally, they are considered substitutes. Michigan, Cornell, and Duke, all of which are try-However, the argument of very easy substitut- ing to provide interdisciplinary groups on envi-ability has not held up. Now we tend to look at ronment and development.capital in four ways: natural capital, regular At our school some things we talked about inmanmade capital, social capital, and human capi- the beginning included the importance of open-tal. We also have to look at the interactions among ing up research opportunities for faculty, and


identifying and creating interdisciplinary groups from many disciplines. We attract students whoor seminars that could lead to the development come primarily with a science, agronomy, or for-of curricula. estry background, but we also draw lawyers and

In fact the key issue is how to develop appro- sociologists. The challenge is how to create a uni-priate curricula that integrate cutting-edge form base of knowledge because, for example,knowledge that then spreads beyond the courses the science students may have the backgroundthemselves and eventually reaches the entire uni- needed for one component of the studies but notversity population. Of course this is easier in a for the other.school of business and management than in a The difficulties in gaining acceptance for thewhole university that has many, many programs. new program have not been from lack of demand,

Our own experience was launched at Rio five but, rather, from the old faculty and students whoyears ago, and it is still the only such program feel threatened by innovation. This is why suc-within the context of a business school. It has at- cessfully launching a program such as this, withintracted, so far, more than 100 students from 18 an institution, seems to require an untouchablecountries and it has graduated about 80 students. senior faculty to champion it. If we try to hire aWe have a common first year for all students new person to head the program, other facultyand a second differentiated year offering courses members will destroy him or her, because the newin the economics of resources and pollution, sus- person will be doing things not rewarded, tradi-tainable economic development, management of tionally, by any of the disciplines.protected areas, energy and materials manage- Therefore it takes somebody who already hasment, benefit-cost analysis, and environmental a reputation, or who has a very strong positioninput assessment, as well as a course on policy, in the university, to take this on in the begin-planning, and legislation for sustainability. ning-then the resistance decreases slowly, over

The experience has been interesting. It was an time, and the interest among the rest of the stu-uphill battle at the beginning but we have seen dents starts to increase. As an example, our coursethe enrollments increase through the years. This on energy and materials management, while onlyyear close to 25 percent of the total student popu- mandatory for a small group, was taken recentlylation has chosen our option. The effort has been by more half of the entire student population,made possible by outside funding, including sev- simply because they thought this was a gooderal foundations. course for them.

Finally, the most important result of an effortLessons and Results such as ours occurs when sustainability is

mainstreamed into the rest of the courses and intoWhat have we learned? For one thing we have the teaching of business students in general. Wefound a wide variety of interests in our program, are at this stage right now.

Panelist Remarks

Veena Das

am going to be speaking in some ways very institutions, that are in some ways consumers ofmuch from my perspective in the Delhi knowledge, are very rarely available for peopleSchool of Economics and Delhi University like us to study and to make this kind of knowl-

where I have taught for the last 30 years. edge available to those who, in their own way,It seems to me that the question of sustainable have access to these institutions.

development has to deal with the fact that wehave now, increasingly, global institutions with Experience of Bhopalglobally set, agreed-upon norms, and we havelocal knowledge applications that frequently This was brought home very sharply to me dur-must take place primarily in the context of imple- ing the Bhopal disaster, in which almost nothingmentation of these norms. was known by our people about the methyl iso-

On the one hand people like me who work in cyanate that leaked in dangerous quantities. Inuniversities in the South must deal with writers the courts of law, however, everyone had to speakwho would argue that the conceptual tasks of from a position of supposed certainty; the peoplethinking in fact have all been worked out in Eu- who had suffered from the leak, who had abso-rope, and that the virtues that are necessary for lutely no doubts that they were suffering anduniversities now are those of courage, or of ap- who thought the proof was there in the chemical'splying knowledge that is in fact already known. damage to their bodies, found it quite incredible

In an example from my point of view as an that in the courts they were in fact completelyanthropologist, I concluded some years ago that silenced.normally we write in a way that makes a local Therefore, it does seem to me that there areworld available for consumption, if you will, by very difficult questions regarding the apparenta kind of international or national community of consensus about sustainable development.scholars, and I gave my students the task of sup- Where is the place for local institutions and localposing that we were doing the reverse. knowledge in this issue? Must we assume that

Suppose, I suggested to the students, that we these local institutions, such as universities in thewere saying that the world of bureaucracy, of South, only have the role of being recipients andcourts of law, of international institutions, had consumers of knowledge that others produce, orto be the research object, and that we had to make is their own production of knowledge to havethis knowledge available to people in slums and any sense and meaning in defining locally sus-resettlement colonies, in New Delhi. tainable development?

I found that in fact it was extremely difficult Obviously, when I am talking about global andto produce this kind of research because these local, this is not a matter of scale as I understand

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34 Organizing Knowledgefor Environmentally and Socially Stustainable Development

scale. This is much more a question of perspec- My sense is that globally defined goals will si-tive and, in a way, a perspective from which you lence a lot of questions unless people in the coun-could assume that sometimes, viewing through tries in which these goals are to be carried out area small frame allows the eye to roam at a very able to express these concerns in some ways forlarge scale. the international community to think about.

I would not necessarily say that one position I am not saying that this unfortunate result isis narrower while another is wider, or that one inevitable, that serenity or citizenship or in-reality is at the higher level and one is at the lower formed consent will necessarily be violated. Inlevel. On the contrary there are very different fact we saw the polio eradication program shiftperspectives available from the same point where in two important ways. First, it was felt thatone may be standing. I am always impressed by people needed a stake in the program. Second,Foucault's notion that truth is not just waiting in the dates by which the world could be declaredthe darkness on which we will shed some light- free from polio were changed and that additionalinstead it may be found through a different way time was used to educate mothers, helping themof speaking. to eliminate the illness and save children.

To continue, our experience at the Delhi school I am saying, however, that top-heavy globalwith some ways of thinking about sustainable de- policies have seemed to be inevitable. If localvelopment in such issues as health and environ- questions are not posed, then purely applying ament has been that certain kind of perspectives certain kind of knowledge and consensus is likelyderiving from local contexts in fact tend to be to be disastrous in the long run for countries whocompletely silenced. now have to be made safe because of the threat

I have already given the example of Bhopal of the travel of disease.that by wide agreement was the largest indus- The second example that I want to give is this:trial disaster known in this century. By the way, The way we think about these issues and try toit was amazing how quickly closure came to the prioritize the claims of those who may benefitkind of research and knowledge that were to be from a new knowledge and technology has hadgenerated in that case, especially for the victims. very important results.

Another example keeps coming up again and For instance, if we think about immunization,again. It regards the apparent success of global it is not purely the vaccine in the bottle that con-institutions in creating healthy environments. In stitutes the technology. The scope of the technol-fact, the eradication of smallpox was one case ogy also includes administrative apparatuses,where the global institutions were able to mar- and the ways by which people will or will notshal local knowledge. It is very interesting to me receive the vaccine in local political cultures.that in the whole process the date by which thedisease had to eradicated was set by global insti- Taking a New Perspective on Technologytutions. There was very little national consulta-tion on this critical matter. The feedback-that is, looking at the technology

from the point of view of consumption ratherNeed for a Local Voice than just production-has led to some very help-

ful techniques, such as needles that will bend af-Second, consider that in several countries vacci- ter one use so that nurses cannot use them againnators went in the villages and sometimes broke and again, or ways to show whether the vaccineinto houses, tied up people, and gave them vac- is efficacious. These may seem to be very small-cines. Now it is true that the eradication was very scale innovations but they were in fact of abso-successful, and it points to the fact that techno- lute importance in trying to assure that vaccinescratic solutions can work, and work very well. were effective. Thus it is through constant feed-Nevertheless, it is amazing to me that we did not back that some very interesting and importantask what happens to serenity, to citizenship, to conceptual developments happen.informed consent, everything which is said to be My third point is that as we develop globallycentral in thinking about bioethics and about defined norms, it may very well be that what isenlightened medical research. of local urgency will be totally ignored. For in-

Obligations of Academic Leaders to the Demands of Sustainable Development 35

stance, in the case of smallpox eradication, we or status on that person than on someone pub-know that for two years the primary health lishing in local languages or publishing in localstaffs from the affected countries were taken or national level journals.off all other health delivery programs. They I see no easy way out of this, because indeedwere taken off family planning and nutritional in some places professional journals have prob-work, as well as a whole series of other pro- ably had a very bad reputation, and thereforegrams so that the vaccination program could there are very difficult questions about qualitysucceed. The cost of that policy action has yet to and standards. No doubt the very processes ofbe calculated. Thus, some matters that are of lo- knowledge include ways of ranking universitiescal urgency tend not to be considered at all in and scholars.the global consensus. It does seem to me, though, that there are great

I will give you another very telling example. difficulties flowing from the manner in whichHeroic efforts are made to introduce a mass im- competence is defined. One of the consequencesmunization program for Hepatitis B. Of course, can be that methods or procedures of training thatit is important to introduce the effort in this way are translatable into either national or local usesso that the cost of vaccines can be kept lower. will be increasingly difficult to implement. ForHepatitis C, which is an intractable disease and instance, we have a problem in the Delhi Schooltends to be problematic for local populations, is of Economics. A number of our alumni are nowin fact low on the agenda of global research. teaching in the United States and we are unable

to persuade them to come back and do researchChallenges in Defining Competence with us.

These are the points I would like to put on theMy final point is this: Partha Dasgupta spoke elo- table. One, I argue that it may be too early to con-quently about creating a very important profes- clude that all serious conceptual thinking hassional group of economists, but there are been done. Two, I contend that it is also too earlyassumptions in this idea that we need to look at to assume that all the conceptual questions willvery seriously. be asked in universities outside the South. We

One of the assumptions would seem to be a need, quite seriously, and not only as a rhetori-certain hierarchy in the sense that publications cal strategy, to think about ways by which ques-in journals in the West would indicate greater tions that might be of very great national or localcompetence and would convey greater prestige importance can be taken up.

The Critical Path: Linking Knowledge to AdvanceEnvironmentally and Socially Sustainable Development

Kenneth Prewitt

T hink back 40 years, when the topic on the institutional-are nurtured first and foremost intable was development, before its now a nation's educational practices.fashionable adjective-sustainable-was I certainly do not mean to suggest that only in

routinely attached. Recall the "Five-Year Plans" the last decade or so has knowledge and compe-favored in the early phases of what we then tency been seen as central to economic growth.called the new nations, with pride of place in One of the lessons we learn from history is thatthose plans being given to capital accumula- the great push by Western exploration into thetion and investment. Recall as well the impor- Americas and Africa, when it was primarilytance assigned to the natural resource base. The motivated by wealth-seeking, actually gener-nations that would advance steadily and rap- ated less wealth than when it was motivatedidly were those richly endowed in minerals, by knowledge-seeking. The fur traders exploredforests, good soils, and water. In this thinking, the upper Missouri River in the American west,more was expected of Indonesia than of Japan, but real development followed the meticulousof Republic of Congo than of Morocco, of Brazil scientific expedition of Lewis and Clark. A simi-than of Mexico. lar pattern unfolded in West Africa, where the

earlier wealth-seeking entrepreneurs trading inEducation in the Context of Development gold and slaves left much destruction but little

development. Not until the Niger explorationEducation was not absent, of course, but it was concentrated on the natural, navigational, andassigned a supportive, even peripheral role. Not geographic sciences was there development inso today. In the course of 40 years education has the sense that we talk about it today.moved from the periphery to the center of think- The generalization of the hypothesis thating about development. knowledge-seeking is wealth-producing comes

Educational themes march under various today from sociologists who write of the "knowl-terms-including, especially, human capital and, edge society" and economists who offer "newmore recently, the metaphor of capacity build- growth theory." We coin the term knowledgeing. It is now commonplace to assert that devel- workers. To history and theory are added the les-opment flows from a growth in the competence sons of recent economic achievements. Here theof a society to apply modern science and tech- stress on the centrality of professional competen-nology. This growth in competency must be cies, human performance, and an educated laborlodged both in individuals and institutions. force for economic growth argues from the expe-These linked competencies-individual and rience of Japan, and then of the East Asian tigers.

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The Critical Path: Linking Knowledge to Advance Environmentally and Socially Sustainable Development 37

All of this theorizing and practice has worked most useful way to begin thinking about it isthe notion of human resources deep into think- to turn first to more familiar ground-that is,ing about development, becoming the orthodoxy to public goods and higher education at theof the 1990s. This orthodoxy has been deepened national level.and expanded in parallel with the now nearlyuniversal replacement of the term development Education as a Public Goodwith that of sustainable development. Many wisethings have already been said in this conference We have robust theories-as well as instrumen-about the advance in conceptual richness and talities-available for thinking about publiccomplexity that has occurred as we have all come goods at the level of the nation-state. Here weto take for granted that what matters is not de- readily recognize that there are collective benefitsvelopment but sustainable development. or public goods that, though in the social inter-

It has led to economic theorizing about the est, are not in the interest of any one individualright way to "charge the economy for the con- to pay for-given that they are goods that are,sumption of its resource endowment" (Solow). by their nature, nonexclusive and thus open toIt has led to ethical theorizing about what is fair free rider.and right in the cross-generational allocation of How then can we ensure that a nation pro-costs and benefits. It has led to improved politi- vides public goods? We empower the nation-cal theorizing about how to secure public goods state to compensate for market failures, towhen the goods are transboundary and even glo- discourage negative externalities, and to solvebal in scope. It has led to new social theories about the problem of the free rider. This empower-reciprocal obligations and social cooperation. ment takes the form of obligatory taxation and

state regulation.Spin-offs from the Sustainable That is, the combined powers of taxation andDevelopment Concept regulation are integral to the ability of the na-

tion-state to provide public goods. The nation-It has also, and most relevant for present pur- state can create an overland transport system byposes, led to hard thinking about what kind of combining state financing and the right of emi-individual and institutional competencies will be nent domain. It can create an infrastructure forrequired of a world that wants to increase pro- research and development through public fi-duction and consumption, though not waste nance of research universities and national labo-natural resources and not pollute and despoil ratories, and can ensure that ideas are notground, water, or air. That is, the concern that captured through practices and procedures thatdevelopment must be sustainable has led to a guarantee open intellectual exchange. All of thisfresh consideration of what kind of education and is common knowledge.training is necessary. For present purposes we underline the as-

It is not my assignment to explain sustain- sumption that higher education-at least ele-ability, and I will slide easily past the ambigu- ments of it under some circumstances-areities and difficulties of the term. Nevertheless, I treated as public goods and thus benefit fromshould make a few if conventional points about public investment. That is, to the extent that thesustainability before turning to the central task, educational system produces a social as well aswhich is to reflect on higher education in the con- individual return to investment there is a socialtext of sustainable development. interest in subsidizing that system.

From the perspective taken in these com- This is not the place to get into the intrica-ments, the important point about linking the cies of return-on-investment analysis. Sufficeterm sustainable with development is how it it to say that a number of key institutions con-has sensitized us to thinking about interna- tinue to assume that there is sufficient socialtional public goods. It is this phrase-interna- return to justify public investment-generallytional public good-that I will focus on, but for an investment that will emphasize researchnow introduce it without much explication. The over teaching, the laboratory sciences over the


less capital-intensive fields, and advanced over has led to a demand that has been responded tobaccalaureate education. by the private sector, including a number of for-

The investment in research derives from the profit educational institutions. Indeed, these in-assumption that the benefits are not appropri- stitutions now outnumber both public andated by pre-designated individuals. Research private nonproprietary higher education institu-is funded because it is assumed that new tions. Science education, and graduate trainingknowledge-whether in science and technology, more generally, does not feature prominently inart and literature, or philosophy and music- the programs of for-profit institutions, and oftenaccrues to the society at large. This is especially not even in other private sector universities andtrue when the social benefits are difficult to an- colleges supported by philanthropic funds or stu-ticipate or measure or are stretched out over a dent fees.long timeframe. Thus, public money is invested This situation, not restricted to the Philippines,in epidemiology and public health, or in basic is troubling for the subject at hand. For whateverscience, or in specialties that are thought poten- else sustainable development might mean, ittially important but for which no market value certainly presupposes an understanding and ap-can yet be assigned, such as oceanography or plication of modern science and technology-in-outer space. cluding an understanding of how not to apply

Investment in the laboratory sciences or those modern technologies. But scientific and techno-that require extensive field observation-such as logical fields are high cost, and the return on pri-area studies or ecology-because they are capi- vate investment-with its promise of near-termtal-intensive thus unsubsidized-would gener- and largely individual-level benefits-will notate a fee structure so high as to be a disincentive lead to necessary funds. Public goods requireto bright students selecting among alternative public subsidies.fields of study.

Investment is made in graduate more than in Thinking about Public Goodsundergraduate education, because for graduate at the International Leveleducation, especially, although not only, in thelaboratory sciences, the unit costs are high and I will return to this issue subsequently, but wethe benefits are not easily captured by investors should now move from commentary focused ator individual students. In contrast undergradu- the national level to commentary at the interna-ate education leads to large private benefits, eas- tional level, for it is here that the issues of sus-ily captured, at a lower initial cost. tainable development begin to bite. A significant

By the way, though public goods theory justi- number of specific issues that travel under thefies public investment in higher education, it does umbrella of sustainable development are whatnot follow that there should be public universi- can be called international public goods, thatties. To take the United States as the obvious ex- is, they provide collective benefits that have theample: government-sponsored research and properties they do because they are trans-graduate education is every bit as present in the boundary.great private universities-Harvard, Hopkins, Bear in mind that in public-goods theory theChicago, Stanford-as in the public universities- individual actor who cannot capture the benefitsMichigan, California. What is less clear is what of a given investment or cost can be a nation-statehappens to a public good investment when higher as well as a person or firm. Obviously, then, aseducation not only privatizes, but also becomes we shift from the nation-state level to the inter-profit-seeking. Early indications are that profit- national level we encounter the complicating factmaking institutions favor courses of study and that the nation is going to be a reluctant investortypes of training that generate relatively higher in creating a good that has the free rider prob-private value and relatively lower social value. lem. What incentive, then, exists to produce in-

A case in point is the Philippines, where many ternational public goods?prospective students (or their families) have cal- Compounding the difficulty are the negative ex-culated that the return to higher education makes ternalities, when behaviors in one country poseit a worthwhile investment of private funds. This dangers and costs to another. How, then, to create


a system of surveillance to detect such extemali- anti-trust regulation, and clean air and water laws.ties, and to impose some sort of control over them? These protections and programs impose costs on

As noted earlier, there are generally two classes commercial enterprises, costs which becomeof issues addressed in public-goods thinking. One unaffordable if their international competitors areclass of such issues is suggested by what some not under similar obligations. The attempt to in-scholars see as market failures associated with ternationalize such obligations is slow-going (thethe globalization in manufacturing, production, NAFTA fight is a good recent example).and finance. The argument goes as follows: Glo- There is a second category of issues routinelybal enterprises have an incentive to seek venues incorporated under the heading of interna-in which they can minimize payment of taxes or tional public goods: the familiar class of goodsescape burdens of regulation (that is, escape those that are necessarily global or transnational, thatlegal and financial arrangements designed to is, that cannot be provided by nation-states orcontribute to public goods for nation-states). This even regions acting on their own. Most famil-is what makes global enterprises competitive in iar here, of course, is the environmental agenda:the international marketplace. Why should a global warming, acid rain, invasive species, andprofit-making clothier not make cheaper jeans biodiversity loss. Also included are the health andwith child labor? Why should a profit-making population agenda-infectious emergent dis-chemical enterprise not manufacture where toxic eases and population growth insofar as it leadswastes can be drained into the local river? Espe- to noncontrollable migratory flows. Even secu-cially why should they not if their competitors rity thinkers sometimes invoke the theory of in-are taking advantage of cheap labor and unregu- ternational public goods: thus proliferation oflated manufacturing processes? Moral suasion weapons of mass destruction wherein country Amay limit particularly excessive instances, but if making weapons available to country B puts atcompetitive capitalism is the dynamic engine of risk countries C through N, and the at-risk coun-growth it is purported to be, it is doubtful that tries can control countries A and B only by fram-the world should rely on self-restraint by coming the issue at the global level.mercial enterprises.

Obviously, and non-trivially, it can be in the How to Secure Public Goods withoutinterest of individual firms to accede to bind- Regulatory and Taxation Powersing regulations that govern all firms. The PureFood and Drug Act in the United States, for in- Two points are very clear about internationalstance, reflected the interests of some firms in public goods, and they both derive from the ab-international trade. The exporters benefited sence of an authority that can operate trans-from a United States guarantee that products nationally.were free of toxic properties. They cooperated First, it is difficult to establish internationalwith a regulation that solved the free rider regulatory regimes, though of course this is whatproblem-no United States producer would is at stake in the Biodiversity Convention, evencheat in the domestic market, and in the mean- though it is framed as soft law and is careful totime they could export because overseas con- enshrine the principle of national sovereignty insumers had confidence in United States its stance against interference with national de-manufacturing processes. velopment. The establishment of international

The regulatory state and the welfare state with regulatory regimes is at stake with the Globalwhich we are familiar in North America and West- Warming Convention, which reaches toward tar-ern Europe represents a century of sustained at- gets and timetables. It is present in the environ-tention to labor exploitation, consumer fraud, mental riders to free-trade regimes. It is presentunsafe products, environmental damage, occupa- in the norm setting of the World Health Organi-tional dangers, monopolistic control, collusion, zation. Indeed, standards and norms have be-and discarded workers. To redress these excesses come a soft version of international regulatorythe state has provided any number of protections regimes. To suggest that it is difficult is to notand programs-consumer protection, laws to suggest that these regimes are absent, onlyagainst child labor, unemployment insurance, to take due notice that what we take for granted


at the nation-state level as regards state regu- 1. A research and development system thatlatory powers is simply not available currently addresses problems of global significanceto the world community, and probably will not where knowledge would benefit all or mostbe available any time soon. I note this empiri- nationscally and not to pass judgment. 2. An information and expert system that can

If regulatory regimes are difficult to establish, sustain a process of shared learning acrossthis is even more true for international public fi- countriesnance instrumentalities. There being no global 3. Harmonized norms and standards for evalu-government (or one in sight) there is, by defini- ating such "products" as ideas or profes-tion, no international taxing authority. Short of sional certification that increasingly arean international taxing authority, are there more used in transnational transactions.efficient and more just ways to acquire interna- Our interest here is not in chasing the fantasytional funds than the current system of bilateral of creating a high standard, internationallyaid and quasi-voluntary contributions to inter- funded higher education system that producesnational agencies? The debt-swap instrument is people and ideas suitable for realizing globallya small but telling example of innovations in this significant collective benefits. Rather, our inter-regard; the trading permits now much discussed est is the more modest interest of asking whatas we approach Kyoto are as well. There are the features of higher education-viewed as an in-various tax proposals, such as the Tobin tax on ternational public good-might advance globallyinternational financial transactions or sin taxes significant R&D, information systems, and stan-that would be internationally collected. That dard setting. In particular what might be of in-these are but gestures does not make them trivial, terest to the international donor community andbut they are gestures. It is easier for world lead- to the administrators of higher education in theers to convene in Beijing, Cairo, Rio, and nation-states of the world?Stockholm and pronounce this, that, or the otherglobal need-sustainable development, women's Education Agendareproductive health, water, and habitat-than itis to figure out how to pay for these praisewor- With respect to education several things meritthy goals. attention. First, there is an important interna-

tional flow of students. This is an uneven flowEducation as an International Public Good with certain countries-the United States and the

countries of Western Europe-as points of desti-These observations about international public nation for students from around the world. I dogoods-their importance is matched only by the not make light of the lumpiness of the flows, butdifficulty of realizing them-brings us to the ob- in the majority of countries of the world it is pos-vious question about higher education. sible to take courses from a faculty that is not

We start with a simple point that follows di- native to the country, and to have classmates thatrectly on the previous comment. Education can are not native to that country. These possibilitieseasily be conceptualized as a global public do not reach the probabilities they do in thegood in exactly the sense that it generates col- United States, where in certain technical fieldslective benefits that are nonexclusionary and the chances are fifty-fifty that the instructor intherefore cannot be captured only by those who the classroom is not an American and the chancesinvest in education. Nevertheless, there is no are fifty-fifty that the person in the seat next tointernational standard setting or public finance you is not an American. Though the probabili-system that even remotely approaches higher ties are lower, the incidence of this pattern is noteducation as a global public good. This is not negligible in countries across the globe: Kenyalikely to change in our professional lifetimes. and South Africa; Holland and Germany; India

Yet it is easy to make the case for international and Australia; Mexico and Argentina. Every ma-public goods in the educational sector. I will put jor higher education system in the world invitesthree components on the table: and actively recruits international students. In


proportion and in absolute numbers this flow has Euro-America to Asia and Latin America andnot been well mapped, but anecdotal evidence then to the Middle East and Africa. The Russiansuggests it is steadily increasing. Federation has a reasonably high per capita, but

Second, the Internet and distance learning are is crippled by the collapse of scientific infrastruc-making likely the distribution of common teach- ture over the last half-dozen years. There are scat-ing materials around the globe. That is, topics tered efforts to redress the imbalances, but thesesuch as the science of global warming and the efforts are neither systematic nor well-funded.economics of addressing it are now packaged and Here a program for African economists, there adistributed in a way that can create a global cur- program for Russian mathematicians, elsewherericulum. The megauniversities are a vehicle for a program for soil scientists or medical research.this distribution. These are huge: nearly 600,000 I do not make light of these efforts, but as beststudents are enrolled in Anadolu University in we can tell, they really are scattered, responsiveTurkey, and more than 500,000 are enrolled in the to particular programmatic interests of privateChina TV university. The ten largest mega- foundations or bilateral aid agencies or the mul-universities around the world have a combined tilateral banks.enrollment of 2.5 million students. Reflecting as well as trying to compensate for

It would be easy to overstate such trends, but this unevenness of intellectual capacity aroundit would not do to ignore them either. Education the world is the growth of important research net-has always been about the "national project," works. The International Panel on Climateabout educating a common citizenry in the val- Change (IPCC) is prominent in this regard; asues, traditions, and practices of the place in which is the somewhat looser network of the Consul-the education occurs. Globe-trotting at part of the tative Group on International Agriculturaleducational experience, combined with curricu- Research (CGIAR) system, and even less well-lar materials designed for a global market, adds developed networks in disease research or epi-something important to the national project. That demiology. There are also global research projectswhich is added is less parochial, less about the in fields such as oceanography, plate tectonics,local experience, and more about global chal- and space exploration. These networks andlenges and opportunities. projects do produce knowledge that is available

Insofar as dealing with sustainable develop- to scientific communities everywhere, whetherment requires educated citizens that share some or not they participate in producing it. This iscommon knowledge and presumptions, this buttressed by an impressive if still prematuredeparochialization is a contributing factor. growth in virtual libraries of scientific and schol-Higher education funders and administrators can arly journals, and in the wide sharing of researchadopt policies that impede or facilitate, retard or results over the Internet. Of course, there are se-accelerate. Issues as simple as recognizing cred- rious problems of access.its earned elsewhere, or providing opportunities Networks and related globally significantfor foreign language achievement, can tilt toward scholarly resources are comparatively more ad-the facilitating and accelerating. vanced in the natural sciences than in the so-

cial sciences, and the social sciences in turn areResearch Agenda more advanced than the humanities. From the

perspective of sustainable development, thisThere are also a number of trends on the research disciplinary unevenness is to be lamented. Thatfront that, if supported, can accelerate the capac- the issues of sustainable development are mat-ity of our knowledge-base to make its needed ters of social organization, political incentives,contribution to sustainable development. and human motivation is self-evident. That they

There is first a strong if uneven research ca- raise the most profound ethical questions ispacity around the world; it is the unevenness, of equally evident. But international investment hascourse, that we need to worry about. We all know largely concentrated on the physical propertiesthe numbers, with a progressive drop-off in per of sustainable development-matters of atmo-capita scientists and scholars as we move from sphere, soils, and water. Some greater balance in


the intellectual apparatus we bring to bear is in Encouraging Beginningsorder.

Final note should be taken of the advantages In conclusion, in an embryonic form to be sure,and disadvantages of English as the emerging we begin to see the makings of higher educationuniversal language of the scientific and schol- practices that, if nurtured, can help in the gen-arly community. The great advantage, of eration of new knowledge and the deploymentcourse, is that there is a common language. A of existing knowledge to a new generation. Thisdisadvantage is that it advantages scientists for new knowledge will help us think through thewhom English is the first language, but a more sustainable development agenda at the globalsevere disadvantage is that it gradually denies level. It will require public investment because itto scholarship those truths that can only be is a public good. We will have to organize a strat-grasped by studying local cultures, histories, egy for that public investment, as indeed theand practices in the languages in which they find World Bank, UNESCO, and other internationaltheir human meaning. agencies presently have under review.

The Social-Natural Science Gapin Educating for Sustainable Development

Ismail Serageldin

J want to share with you my profound con- Increase in Inequitiescern about the aspect of sustainable develop-ment that deals with the issue of the sciences, The knowledge-based society will lead to greater

and what I perceive as the science gap that is inequities, and ultimately a fraying of the socialgrowing around the world. contract, unless purposeful actions are taken to

Fundamentally, I see not just a gulf, but a protect equity while maintaining incentives.yawning gulf, between the industrialized coun- We find, for example, that not only is the gaptries and the developing countries in terms of growing between the remuneration of computersheer numbers of scientists and engineers. programmers and lawyers versus carpenters andUNESCO tells us that per million we have about welders, but that the gap between the best and2,800 scientists and engineers in the North, and, the worst computer programmers is infinitelyon average, about 200 or less in South Asia and greater than the gap between the best and theAfrica. worst carpenters or welders.

Another statistic is one that my friend, Henry This is part of a movement toward a stratified,Kendall of the Union of Concerned Scientists, inequitable society. That is why you can have aquoted today at another conference session. Talk- union of welders, but I doubt that you will evering about biotechnology impacts, he said that have a union of computer programmers. It is notthere are 85 times more scientists in the United likely to work. We need new instruments, newStates than in Indonesia-and this is just the num- visions.ber. We are not talking about the extent and the This is happening within societies and betweenquality of the training, the quality of the facili- societies. The gap in the ability of societies toties at their disposal, or the amount of resources master knowledge is affected not only by re-that the scientists have to work with. sources and numbers of scientists but also by a

This gap in numbers is staggering and it is number of other factors, including the transfor-growing. What is of particular concern is that we mation of proprietary science.are in a global transformation that is not just con- In these circumstances we need to learn fromnecting markets and economies, but that is mov- history. In this conference earlier this week Iing us inexorably toward a knowledge-based quoted from Karl Marx on globalization and thesociety. While it will bring many wonderful transformation of industry. I said that it is stun-things to many people, we know that the future ning to see how little things have changed. Healso has a dark side. predicted the increasing inequities that would

43

44 Organizing Knowledgefor Environnmentally and Socially Sustainable Development

occur, the pauperization of the proletariat, and ally taking place in the interstices of the formerhow this was inherent in the structure existing at disciplines.that time. The knowledge paradigm, while not yet chal-

What Marx could not predict was that there lenging the reductionist perspective of contem-would be sufficient resilience and imagination in porary science, is experiencing much more fluidthe design of the institutions in the twentieth cen- boundaries than a generation ago both in the ac-tury to create the middle class. This did not re- cumulating of knowledge, such as research, andsult in the hyper-rich becoming poor, but it did in the imparting of skills and knowledge, suchresult in a much greater spread in benefits than as teaching in the university.had been the case.

It is inconceivable that some today would ar- Possibility of a Positive New Erague that rising inequities-conditions of miserybeneath my definition of human decency-are a This changing situation calls into question thenecessary part of development. We are brought paradigms by which the centers of learning in theback to the nineteenth century to remember developing countries define themselves and theirCharles Dickens and the painful stories of the kind mission, both as regards their own societies, andhe wrote. We are moved to ask: Why cannot we as regards the transforming global landscape.learn from the past and invent the institutional It brings forth an awesome idea: We may in-structures that will enable us to spread the ben- deed be on the cusp of a whole new era, and yes,efits more widely in the twenty-first century? I will use that hackneyed word, the millennium.

This is a serious problem. The trends are glo- In some ways it could become the millennium inbal. Increasing connectivity and global interac- the broad sense of the word, in that we mighttion can have enormous advantages in terms of find ourselves with the tools to banish hunger,helping small countries and helping people in re- abolish some of the worst and most crippling dis-mote areas participate in the opportunities of the eases, create livable cities and sustainable agri-global marketplace and share in global knowl- culture, and promote the well-being of people.edge. But there are also disadvantages. Beyond What I see does not seem to indicate that wethe issues of inequity in a knowledge-based so- are moving in that direction, though. I am focus-ciety is the increasing possibility that knowledgeing on the developing countries in expressing thisbased elites in developing countries will be more concern. Why? Because 80 percent of the world'sconnected with the world and become less and population qualifies as "developing."less engaged with their own societies. They will The question is: How are they going to orga-be intellectual expatriates who will have moved, nize themselves to cope with the transformationnot physically, but mentally, and in terms of that is being willy-nilly created by various eco-affinity. nomic and institutional forces that are knowl-

My perception is that there are a number of edge-driven? It is an absolutely critical issue, andtransformations taking place in the world today the educational system-and within it, the uni-about which we know relatively little. This versity and its function-is fundamental and cen-challenges me to go back to the issue of higher tral in the picture.education. History does not give us much encouragement,

For instance we are seeing the transformation by the way. There is a widespread perceptionof the knowledge paradigm itself. When I was a that universities, even in the industrializedstudent, we had fairly distinct disciplines in sci- North, have failed to adapt to much of this trans-ence, such as physics, chemistry, and biology. This formation that is sweeping the Earth.morning I was sitting with people who were talk- Is this surprising? Consider the task: theing about both physical chemistry and molecu- adaptation of the knowledge paradigm in uni-lar biology, just one indication that the versities challenges us to rethink the structureboundaries between the knowledge disciplines and governance of the university, its relationshiphave disappeared. In place of the dividing line between the public and the private, its functionthere is increasingly a seamless web of knowl- as a custodian of certain societal values, and itsedge. Some of the more exciting change is actu- function as a creator of skills for the labor force.

The Social-Natural Science Gap in Educatingfor Sustainable Development 45

These are matters that come with particular hyperbole, the search for truth, promoting a bet-acuity for the developing countries. For there the ter understanding of the self and of knowledge,universities have a myth all their own. I chal- the expansion of knowledge, and doing so notlenged Veena Das yesterday on the question: from a politically hackneyed perspective that isWhat is the role of the university? Is it the bea- subservient to whatever "truth" is popular at thecon of light? Is it the center of social transforma- moment.tion? Is it an agent of change? Is it where the This university role also is being called intostudents come into contact with new and liber- question, because in the new, post-modern per-ating ideas, where they search for their sense of spective, there are multiple frames of reference,identity, where they define the future in the cru- and the very concept of an objective truth is be-cible of their minds? Is the university simply a ing challenged, even in the scientific doctrines.mill that is producing large numbers of medio- Some of the post-modern critics are arguing thatcre people for government employment, or re- there may be no such thing as science beyondjection by the private sector, as the case may be? simply a specialized discourse.Is it something that is an agent of change in soci- A third aspect of the university, also called intoety, or is it a perpetuator of certain existing struc- question, has been the function of socializationtures? Clearly, the university is both catalyst for and identity. It is at the university that we arechange and force for the status quo, but it is part formed, ultimately, to have a perception of our-of our challenge to ask why it should be more selves as belonging to a particular society. It isone than the other, and how it will play that role. there that our political opinions usually mature.

It is there that we may engage in our first mili-Change in Educational Traditions tant activities dealing with public issues, and it

is there that friendships and other forms of af-It seems to me that if you look at the traditional finities are born.functions of the university, there are basically This historic function faces challenges, particu-three to be defined. larly in the developing world. On the one hand

The first of these is a certification function. That there is this tidal wave of globalization; on theis, students go through a university and then other is a counterpoint of assertive specificity atreceive a degree that says that they have a the local level, that, in the extreme case, is an af-bachelor's of engineering, bachelor's of science, firmation of the self at the expense of the other,whatever the degree is, certifying that they have sometimes going to the extremes of ethnic cleans-acquired a certain amount of knowledge that ing. Together, the globalization and the assertionshould enable them to function in the labor mar- of specificity have set adrift many university con-ket in a certain way. structs that have traditionally helped to shape a

We know, of course, that in the science-based common identity based on inclusiveness, toler-disciplines, regardless of what is learned, the idea ance, and openness.that a person could be certified for the next 30 or40 years with the same skills has become totally A Stunning Crisis of Identitylaughable, not just obsolete. In fact almost all ofthe professional disciplines have set in motion In many developing countries universities arealternative means of testing and certification, unable not just to rise to the challenges that Iabove and beyond the certification that the uni- have described, but more critically, even to ful-versities used to provide. fill their old functions.

The university's certification function has been This identity crisis of the universities alongclearly challenged by the increasing perception with the degradation of many of the public insti-in many parts of the world that there is no guar- tutions in the developing countries has, frankly,anteed job at the end of the university degree, stunned me.and, hence, the valuation placed on that degree When I was considering college in Egypt, theis called into question. idea of not going to Cairo University, the national

The second main function of the university has university, was unthinkable. This was the elitebeen what one could term, without excessive university, the center of learning. Returning a


generation later and seeing what had happened in knowledge, participate in creating the knowl-to that school in terms not just of numbers and edge, and adopt this knowledge for the society'squality but in its position in the psyche of society, needs.I could only conclude that the institution itself This mastery of knowledge would be a differ-has been diminished. ent form of construction and educational enter-

In fact there has been a transformation away prise than one that simply churns out people forfrom the idea of the autonomy of the university employment based on the requirements ofto its being just another public institution. The current employers in the private or the publicrespect that was given to the university as a cen- sector.ter of learning and the perception that the trust- What I am describing is a different challenge,ees had a societal responsibility and were the and the mission this entails needs to be affirmed.leaders of social movements at the same time- I would say that to assert this new mission, wethat whole perspective has changed. need to bring forth values.

Do we have a substitute for institutions whichonce had such respect and such a vital social role? Science Has ValuesIf not, what are we doing in coping with thatyawning gap that exists on the science side, a gap I may sound romantic to some of you, but I sub-that is growing every day and is going to con- mit that I am not. The values of science aretribute to the further marginalization of these the values that we must promote in order notsocieties? If we do not effectively transform the only to have science, but also to have a modernmechanisms for the creation of more scientists in society. What do I mean by that? The late Jacobthe South and the empowerment of scientists and Bronowski expressed a great thought when heintellectuals in order to achieve what needs to be said, "Those who claim that science is value-achieved-if we do not transform the existing neutral confuse the results of science, which are,mechanisms, what then? with the practice of science, which is not."

These are the challenges that we face. There is In fact to practice science in a university or ano question that we need reform in terms of the research laboratory or elsewhere, we must cre-governance of the universities, their autonomy ate an atmosphere that is based on certain val-and independence, and their sense of account- ues. What are those values?ability to the community of the university itself. The first is truth. The worst thing that scien-In loco parentis, as it used to be called, needs to be tists can do is to falsify their data. It is an inex-reaffirmed. More than this, though, the gover- cusable transgression in the entire global scientificnance of universities needs a purpose, and the community.sense of purpose itself has been lost. The second value is honor. The second worst

crime for a scientist is to plagiarize the work ofA Possible Answer someone else rather than recognize and honor

other scientists.Today I hear talk about preparing people for the Third is honoring imagination. Clearly, whatmarket. Well, maybe. Employment is important. is most honored about all the great advances inIf that is the case, though, then universities will science is the imaginative leap that carried us tohave been degraded to vocational schools. That a new frontier. It is not simply the rote replicationis not the purpose of the university. There has to of what has already been done, but the creativebe more, a greater purpose. breakthrough that is most valued; imagination is

It is here that I would like to suggest a slightly an essential element.different nuance on this whole debate. It is that Finally, perhaps unique to science, is a certainto function in tomorrow's market it will not be constructive subversiveness. Why do I say that?through the acquisition of vocational skills but Because the scientific paradigm is such that wethrough the ability to master knowledge. Thus, advance only by replacing the current orthodoxythe need is to develop a cadre of people who can in such a way that it does not diminish respectcreate out of a nation a "learning nation," one and the honor for that which already exists. Whenthat can adapt to the most recent developments Einstein's view of the world replaced Newton's,

The Social-Natural Science Gap in Edutcatingfor Sustainable Development 47

it did not diminish Newton, and Hawking's view Why is it that in a developing country in Sub-does not diminish Einstein. Saharan Africa, for a relatively modest amount of

In this way of thinking, we are in the great money, you can have not just world class science,world of Newton when he said "If I have seen but sustained world class science being practicedfurther, it is because I have stood on the shoulder at the cutting edge for fifteen years or more?of giants." We are in fact honoring the past but It is not the money, or the buildings, or the labs,advancing beyond. Thus, the entire scientific en- and it is not even the people, because you canterprise requires openness to the most extreme import the people, as we have seen in many ofideas, whatever they may be, however outrageous the universities in Kuwait or Saudi Arabia, wherethey may be, subject to a system of verification. people were invited to come from all over. Rather,

In this way of thinking, the youngest person it has to do with the kind of atmosphere that wascan challenge the most established order. A good created in that center, where people have beenfriend of mine was commenting earlier on the fact intellectually challenged to do this kind of scien-that so many Nobel laureates in science have tific work. It is not the geographic location, themade their breakthroughs when they were so size, or the population. There is something, in-young. In fact there has rarely been a break- stead, to be said about the values that govern thethrough in physics that was of Nobel quality by enterprise, the institutional culture, if you will.someone who was older than forty. The practice I submit that unless we bring this back intoof science, then, is not just a matter of seniority: it the educational system, and find ways to createis a constructive subversiveness, because we such centers of excellence, in terms of the free-know that implicit in the enterprise is the ability dom of inquiry that is necessary for people to doto change. research and challenge society, we will not be able

I submit to you that these values are not just to advance.necessary for the practice of science. They are This is the role not just of those in government,societal values, deserving to be retained for the but it is also of the educators in the universitydevelopment of society itself. system who inculcate these values into the new

generation. It is a big challenge, and I regret toA Key to Good Science and Good Education say that many of the educators one sees today in

the universities of the developing world are notIn this sense, therefore, we cannot dissociate the rising to this challenge. Some are people who arevalues of science from those of society. For those just banking on seniority, or on political connec-interested in higher learning and science in de- tions, or on other criteria, and in fact cannot playveloping countries, this has a real bearing on that role or impart it to others.what can be achieved, as indicated by an empiri- Consequently, we may perhaps have to seekcal case I will give you: the International Labora- an even greater break from the status quo thantory for Research in Animal Diseases, based in would otherwise be the case, and to do that, weNairobi, Kenya, with an annual budget of seven may have to turn to the young, as in the examplemillion dollars. of the scientific breakthroughs.

ILRAD has made scientific breakthroughs such I leave you now with these lines from Robertas the development of the first parasitic vaccine. Frost:Twenty percent of the worldwide effort on themapping of the bovine genome is done there. The Now I am old my teachers are the young.caliber of scientists it has attracted include Peter What can't be molded must be crackedDoherty, who just won the Nobel Prize last year. and sprung.He was, for six years, the program chair of I strain at lessons fit to start a suture.ILRAD. I go to school to youth to learn the future.

The Social-Natural Science Gapin Educating for Sustainable Development

Peter Thatcher

am going to start in the late 1950s. The United funded and was led by the World Meteorologi-States had some meteorological satellites and cal Organization and a number of national acad-there was a temptation in the Eisenhower Ad- emies and meteorological departments around

ministration to "go it alone," to follow, in effect, the world.the Manhattan Project mold of one state with verylittle foreign participation to create a break- Interdisciplinary Thinkingthrough, in this case, in weather forecasting.

The problem was handed over to the incom- The real hidden agenda for GARP was to forceing Kennedy administration in 1961, and it be- useful dialogue between two disciplines that didcame clear that there would be greater benefits not in the 1960s have common algorithms or com-for the United States if the effort were carried out mon formulas, or even common models. Hereinternationally with collaboration, including a was one way to achieve a multidisciplinary orsharing of costs and benefits. interdisciplinary approach.

I had a small hand in a speech that President Years later in 1991 we had a meeting in prepa-Kennedy made in which the United States pro- ration for the Earth Summit in Rio in which theposed something called a world weather watch. International Council of Scientific Unions triedThis was in the fall of 1961, as I recall. My point to combine with the International Social Sciencehere is first that the United States had a specific Council for a multidisciplinary discussion hostedobjective-a reliable two-week weather forecast. by the Austrian government. The idea was to helpWith the meteorological satellites, we thought we plan what would be the science research agendacould see how to get there. for the next century, that governments would

In order to get such a forecast, it was evident look at in Rio in June 1992.that there had to be an exchange of information, It was really embarrassing to sit in the roomthinking, and ideas-real communication- and watch as the chemists, the physicists, the bi-between atmospheric science and ocean science, ologists, and all of the related multidisciplinary,because the key was the energy exchange across hard science, and natural science people commu-the surface of the ocean. Yet, at that point there nicated with other in a way that was unthink-was no way for those two disciplines to commu- able just a few decades ago and then to watchnicate with each other. them in the audience as the economists spoke.

An ancillary part of the United States proposal I am picking on the economists because we arefor the world weather watch was that there at the World Bank. The audience was like schoolshould be something called GARP, the Global children laughing and giggling at each other,Atmospheric Research Program. This was well- because they heard the hapless economists

48

The Social-Natural Science Gap in Educatingfor Sustainable Development 49

using a language designed not to communicate but it had seemed to be the only way, given theoutside their field of specialty. Anthropologists severity of the crises being faced in this country,had no trouble at all in communicating, and so they decided to try to find a way for a bottom-geographers have always served as a conver- up approach.gence group where so-called hard science and In New England there are 12 so-called sole-soft science can be interrelated in socially useful source aquifers. Such an aquifer produces theways. water for more than 50 percent of the inhabitants

The remark that was made by one person this of the watershed around it. The one that was cho-morning was absolutely right: knowledge, per- sen by the federal agencies as a pilot project forhaps including the trend of increased specializa- protection is called the Pawkatuck aquifer, servingtion, does force collaboration. 14 towns, 10 of them in the state of Rhode Island

Now what does collaboration mean? It doesn't and four of them in Connecticut, where I live.mean programs per se. Instead, it means process, The purpose of this pilot effort in which sev-and it means that the way that a process is de- eral federal agencies are engaged, and, increas-signed to force different disciplines to rub shoul- ingly, there are stakeholders at the town level isders is absolutely critical. to find out what top-down agencies can contrib-

We had some success with this approach re- ute to the quality of decisionmaking where itgarding the Mediterranean in the mid-1970s, counts, at the ground level, at the local level.when the UN Environment Programme was A year and a half after this project began, wecharged with creating what became the Mediter- are trying to set up networks among elected offi-ranean Action Plan. cials; appointed town planners; tourist bureaus

In that project it proved easy to get the scien- in Rhode Island; the Turf Growers Association-tists together, as well as the fisheries people and a very significant user of water-Rotary Clubs;the mayors, and then carry out a process so that and "tree-hugging greenies." I chair the conser-the results of each of these rather specialized pre- vation commission of the town where I live.paratory meetings could be played off against a In this experience it is remarkable to see thedifferent discipline, ending up with the ultimate degree to which federal agencies can be useful inarbiters, namely, the governments who signed spite of the widespread current American feel-the Barcelona Convention in 1976, that ining that the federal government is not very help-cluded research programs for the economic ful, that it really just takes money away from thedevelopment of both the North and the South of taxpayers.the Mediterranean.

The process of collaboration, that is all the A Strategy the World Bank Could Followmore necessary today, is critically important andcan be achieved. In short we are beginning to have some success

in this New England project, and I suggest thisParticipatory Approach participatory approach as something that inter-

governmental agencies, particularly the WorldOn another point Alvaro Umana reminded us Bank, should be trying to emulate.earlier today of the need for bottom-up partici- Interestingly, in the UN reform program nowpation. How true it is. How silly anyone was, underway, the notion is to build a house in every30 or 40 years ago, to think of top-down world country that the UN is trying to serve, and to letgovernment. the house in that country be the focal point for

Let me describe something happening in this information, technical assistance, the provisioncountry in which I am involved. The Environ- of knowledge, and, of course, for money. The aimmental Protection Agency (EPA) came to the con- is to help local people make better decisions andclusion not long ago that the whole top-down draw up their own strategies for sustainableregulatory approach had accomplished about all development.that could reasonably be expected of it in terms By the way, I believe that geographic informa-of clean air and clean water. Not that the top- tion systems (GIS) is a valuable tool for analysisdown approach was a very efficient way to go, that integrates both natural science data and


information, along with social science results, and advantage of Dr. Serageldin's background in ar-I want to note that the World Bank is applying it. chitecture and engineering will be criticized toJust before lunch I went to see how the Bank is the point of eventually becoming irrelevant.using this system in the region of Bangladesh,eastern India, Nepal, and Tibet. The power of a Applying Collaboration to Educationgood GIS program is striking, even if it is on aportable computer, which is the way it was shown In the same vein I hope that the design processin the exhibit across the street. In that case the for academic institutions will somehow find aprogram integrates hydrographic data with the more active way to involve a forced mixture ofeducational values of different districts within, different disciplines, not necessarily within thefor example, India. same classroom, but as much as possible on cam-

Continuing in the vein regarding bottom-up pus, even in terms of dormitories.participation and increased agency effectiveness, I was shocked at my own university. With allit seems to me as an outsider who has been criti- of the money that Yale had, until a few years agocal of the Bank over the years, that promotions there were computers all over the campus butare given in the Bank to officers who complete a no way for medical students to talk to law stu-project preparation at the moment that the money dents or undergraduates. I do think it has im-becomes available to use it, and that anything that proved now.gets in the way of that timely processing of a pro- One of the characteristics of North Americanposed project is going to limit one's future job academic curricula is that we have seen advancedpotential. degrees being awarded in multidisciplinary mat-

That is a basic problem of all the financing in- ters at the University of California in Berkeley andstitutions I am familiar with. Not enough time is even at Massachusetts Institute of Technology,given, nor enough attention paid, to process, en- where chemical engineers are now talking to civilgaging different disciplines, especially thinking engineers who are talking to mechanical engi-from the bottom up. neers and even political scientists and historians.

Can we afford to slow down in our processes These are the qualities that are needed if uni-in order to achieve more sustainable development versities are to shape students who are capablein the design of national or local strategies? I do of engaging in multidisciplinary work for sus-not know, but I think that what Clovis Maksoud tainable development. It takes a certain atmo-said this morning about an interdisciplinary ap- sphere-the shape of the tables and commonproach to sustainable development is absolutely facilities to draw students from different disci-unavoidable. Any organization that fails to take plines together-to make a big difference.

Global Ecosystem Governanceand Transboundary Requirements

Claudio Grossman

Jam a member of the Inter-American Commis- A very interesting phenomenon now is that in-sion on Human Rights at the same time that dividuals acting at the international level as pe-I work in a university. The commission is a titioners are represented by lawyers, advocates

7-member body elected by the General Assem- in the realm of human rights, whomever theybly of the Organization of American States We may choose. They can even act against their gov-are now conducting hearings concerning alleged ernment, mostly against their government, as aviolations of human rights. The commission is a matter of fact. It is a very dramatic and uniquesemi-judicial body. We receive petitions by citi- situation, compared to the past where we did notzens, or even noncitizens, and we process those, have the concepts nor the instruments to checksaying whether or not there have been violations the way in which governments behaved towardof international concerns. their own citizens.

We see reflected in such a human rights instru-ment a significant and dramatic change. Imag- A Small Club of Nationsine that only 50 years ago the way in which agovernment treated its own citizens was consid- Let me provide some background so that we canered to be no one else's business. Now we have better assess just how dramatic the change is,universally accepted norms that really constitute because I want to make some comments on in-a yardstick to determine compliance with some ternational law and link them to the current situ-values of human dignity. ation and then, if time allows, share a couple of

Another dramatic change is that we now thoughts related to legal education.have supervisory mechanisms with indepen- First, in comparing the present with the past,dent experts who, as I have been describing, classic international law is the term we use toact in accordance with legal traditions to in- refer to that law developed in the eighteenth cen-vestigate cases and to reason and decide on the tury by a small club of Christian Western coun-various interpretations advanced by govern- tries, particularly those of Western Europe.ments and petitioners. The characteristics of this club were pretty in-

In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and teresting. First, it was a small group of nations.the beginning of the twentieth century all of this Second, the members were gentlemanly, free towas not possible. There were no conditions for it do what they wanted inside their own territory.to happen. Independent experts who might de- Another component was that, internally, mostcide whether a state was responsible for human matters of concern could be solved by the nationrights violations? It just was not done. state. By the way the degree of commercial inter-

51


action of any one nation with other members of century. Interaction with others has become un-the club certainly was not major. avoidable.

Thus, each government had real power to do I am certain that it has not escaped your atten-certain things inside its territory. It had sover- tion that there is some universality of values. Ineignty, and sovereignty was a legal term for a fact we have come a long way in this regard. Nowmaterial reality, a reality of the power of a gov- there is something known as the democratic en-ernment to affect the life and property of its own titlement. Some people in international law claimcitizens. This small club of Western Christian that if democracy is not a right, then it certainlynations also had outside sovereignty. I do not is an entitlement, reflecting a growing consen-want to get very technical, but the point is the sus that democratic governance is no longer anfollowing: The agreements of the members of the option for everyone to choose or not to choose.club would cease and terminate if one member Indeed there are considerations of legitimacydecided to wage war on someone else. The atti- moving in that direction.tude was "Nobody's going to tell me what I need In the Council of Europe, for example, a coun-to do, internally or externally." This small club try is not seen as a member if it is not a democ-also was free to colonize, and distinctions were racy. Meanwhile, the nations of this hemispheremade here that are still in some legal documents. have passed a resolution resulting in a new pro-If you take a look in the statute of the Interna- vision in the charter of the Organization of Ameri-tional Court of Justice, you will find the follow- can States to the effect that a nondemocraticing phrase: "Principles of law accepted or government cannot be a member of the organi-common to civilized nations." zation and can be suspended if it is not.

At that time Africans and people from the We see all this change, and it indicates some-Middle East might not have been considered civi- thing very important:lized by Western cultures. The Japanese werenot considered a civilized nation in the not-too- We recognize the nature of the problemsdistant past, as a matter of fact. When I read Ar- facing humankind; since we are all part ofticles 36 to 38 of the statute for the International the problem, we must all be part of the so-Court of Justice, I always wonder what remains lution. In the past, many problems could bethere that has legal force, because the expression, solved exclusively, or primarily by the"civilized nation" is still used. single act of a state. Now there is hardly a

My point is that sovereignty was important. problem that could be solved by one coun-In another illustration an international court de- try alone. It is a very different situation thancision upheld this reasoning in the so-called under classic international law.Lottos case between France and Turkey in theearly twentieth century. To paraphrase the court Impacts on International Lawfinding, countries do not have any internationalobligation if they did not accept it. There is no How has this new reality affected the law of theinternational legal responsibility without accept- present? It has in 3,000 ways, many of which areing it. difficult to quantify. First, decision-making has

changed. We have moved from the Lottos caseNew Reality of International rationale-no obligation without agreement-toInteraction other types of possibilities that may create obli-

gation. In fact it may sometimes seem that forMuch time need not be spent comparing this kind the purposes of generating legal obligationof thinking with the current reality, including the everyone is important. As a result some lawyerstremendous changes in the nature of life in the are going to be totally exhausted, or we mighttwentieth century. We all know the economic have a war, or violations of human rights.links-trade and the requirements of produc- As a result we see that through different in-tion-as well as the connections through technol- struments or mechanisms, international organi-ogy, now and as we move into the twenty-first zations are taking an expansive view of the

Global Ecosystem Governance and Transboundary Requirements 53

powers in their charter. They are coming up with While the distinction between legal and po-interpretations allowing bodies of restricted com- litical agreements was very clear in the past, thatposition to take the responsibility to produce nor- is changing. It is more a continuum because,mative instruments of different force that allow while some political agreements might not be infor obligations without agreement. force in a court of law, you can still develop ex-

Article 25 of the UN charter says every member pectations concerning such agreements.of the General Assembly is compelled to abide by So we see individuals playing a role on the in-the decisions of the Security Council. Somebody ternational plane, and our roles change depend-will say, "That is a treaty obligation." Another pro- ing on the type of instrument. You have watchedvision says that even nonmembers of the United the debate in this country involving fast track.Nations have to accept such decisions. Treaties have gotten very cumbersome, involv-

I would recommend that those who have an ing many issues, and not only in the Unitedinterest in international law read the North Sea States. Domestically, internally, there also areContinental Shelf case by the International Court impacts and we develop new mechanisms allow-of Justice. The case provides another rationale for ing us more flexibility to deal with the complexi-obligations arising from general treaties that have ties created by the situation.universal ratification, where such ratificationdoes not mean everyone, but just a representa- State and Global Affairs:tive group. Thus I would suggest that we are A Fuzzy Distinctionmoving away from this idea of no obligationwithout agreement. I could go on, but what I would suggest is that

We are also moving away from the idea that the distinction between internal and externalonly states are actors. Again, this is not an ideo- matters has become fuzzy. In fact it is very diffi-logical decision. Rather, it is a pragmatic shift re- cult now to find a purely domestic issue. Articleflecting the realities of contemporary life. States 2, paragraph 7, of the Charter of the United Na-are no longer the only actors because we have, tions says that nothing in the charter allows thefor instance, liberation movements and terrorist organization to interfere in matters that belonggroups. Not everything is good news here in in the domestic jurisdiction. What is domestic ju-terms of transnational movement. We also have risdiction? Certainly not human rights. Certainlymultinational corporations, which play positive not peace and security. Certainly not various en-roles, although there are international issues vironmental damages.involved. Practically speaking, the distinction between

domestic and international matters does not ex-New Roles for Individuals ist anymore, and legal education is trying to cope

with this situation.We see a proliferation of actors-and when I use Even if the United States is in a comparativelythat term, I include you and me. Individuals can good position in the legal realm regarding inter-now operate on the international plane in human national issues, our lawyers continue to be edu-rights and in more or less related fields. We are the cated in the classic mold of the nineteenthobjects of norms and then, through interpretation, century. By contrast, we need to organize educa-we are creating and developing certain norms. tion in such a way as to promote the values we

I will cite my own experience in the Inter- are discussing here, values which reflect that theAmerican Commission on Human Rights. We distinction between domestic and internationalinterpret human rights treaties that apply in the matters is no longer very meaningful.hemisphere and we are persuaded by argu- Yes, it is a world that needs cooperation. Wements presented by petitioners. We see peti- need to work together at prevention. We needtioners having an influence in the development early warning capacities, and we need to learnof legal standards. that we share a common destiny.

Discussion

Vinod Thomas: I would like to open up the dis- The news is not that some governments stillcussion and invite people to comment on the is- argue that these cases are purely domestic. Thesues that Claudio Grossman and Peter Thatcher news is that now this position does not have le-have addressed. gitimacy in some situations.

For instance consider the following: We mayAudience comment: I would like a little clarifi- have an accusation of genocide against a coun-cation on this "domestic/international" question try. Somebody says, "Well, whether I kill or not,that has been raised. Interestingly, the experience this is a domestic matter." Thus the accusationof countries such as India has been that when they may not carry any weight. I would suggest,have wanted the international system to inter- however, that we are in the process of movingvene, they have failed to find the ways of bring- away from that way of thinking. We are chal-ing this about. I am thinking of the Bhopal case lenging it through treaties and through cus-in which the matter was first brought to the toms, softening the requirement of absoluteAmerican courts and dismissed on the grounds agreement on such matters as obligation andof them being an inconvenient forum, so that they responsibility.then had to go back to domestic courts and do- If a state is behaving in a totally irresponsiblemestic legislation. fashion, is it possible at the current level of de-

The other example I am thinking of is Rwanda, velopment of international law for that state towhere there was supposedly only limited geno- say, "This is only a domestic problem"? In factcide. The will to completely eliminate an ethnic we have debatable situations: the process of struc-group was, according to international agencies, turing a new reality is complex, with elements ofnot demonstrated. Thus, it was again assumed rational decisionmaking through treaties, confer-that the matter did not fall to the international ences, and agreements, and through trial, error,community to intervene, at least not for a very and practice.long time. Your question is very important. In no way do

I want to imply that we are at the end of the road,Claudio Grossman: The domestic/international with a clear charter that says whether or not adichotomy or distinction is being increasingly problem is going to be tackled by the internationalchallenged. For example, are matters of internal community. In any case, however, in terms ofdue process-in cases where someone is accused the World Bank and the International Monetaryof a crime-always domestic issues? In fact we Fund the way in which countries conduct eco-have treaties, norms of custom, and customary nomic policies in the Western Hemisphere islaw that create international expectations, entitle- no longer a matter of exclusively domesticments, and rights. jurisdiction.

54

Global Ecosystem Governance and Transboundary Requirements 55

Audience comment: I wish to address the sci- recognized as either scholars or good engineers?ence problem described earlier. I have been in all As it is now, we are producing people who arethe countries of Asia and have seen the more in- frustrated. They cannot get employment. Nowspired governments setting up scientific research what is the role of UNESCO with regard to thisinstitutes and scientifically based universities. particular problem?They are capable of throwing capital at the prob-lem, but they are not able to throw skilled Audience comment: A presenter spoke in glow-humans at it. ing terms about science. Of course we need sci-

Thus, you may see a building that looks very ence, but I would remind the people here thatimpressive, and you go into it and you realize science is not a universal mode of knowledge. Itthat everyone you talk to, except the director, has is not a path to knowing all of reality.only a bachelor's degree. They cannot do the Actually, science is a very particular mode ofwork. There is at least a generation of learning knowing a certain aspect of reality, quantitativeneeded. This is an area in which the developed reality. Its modus operandi is objectivity, whichnations can and should assist, and there are ways excludes subjectivity, and therefore excludes val-of doing it. ues, and, therefore, ethics. Why has education

What we must remember is that more than failed this lofty aim that it gave itself at one time?three-quarters of all the universities in the world You can answer this with one word: materialism.have been created since the Second World War. We have reduced our interests to material objects,You just cannot have what was. What was is gone. to material aims. As long as we look just at mate-We now have a multiplicity of universities, and rial aims, we will not be able to cope with thewe have learned something that is fundamentally world's problems and provide humanity withimportant to humanity: that all of us are intelli- what it needs to lift itself to a higher level ofgent. It is not true that the world consists of very humanness.intelligent people and dummies. All humans areintelligent enough to receive benefits from higher Audience comment: I would like to focus youreducation. Our problem is that we do not have attention on the following: first, I would like tothe structures that would enable us to create a point to the distortions and falsifications of his-world in which universal higher education is tory and world cultures, especially by developedpossible. and Western societies, and I would like to advo-

Anyway, we should not just talk about the mis- cate the establishment of an agency to monitorsion of the university. We should talk about the these negative effects. There may already be in-missions-plural-of the universities, because stitutions doing this, but there is a need to havehigher education is now such a large system that one agency to channel and centralize the resultsthere should be diversity and there should be a of the monitoring.multiplicity of possibilities and purposes. The second point is the hoarding of knowl-

edge. The latest culprit in this respect, as wasAudience comment: We are talking about knowl- pointed out yesterday, is the intellectual prop-edge, and universities are those institutions that erty rights agreement. This is clearly a tool bydeal with the production and the sharing of this the developed nations to exploit and makeknowledge. We are talking about universities in money out of their knowledge and advanceddeveloping countries that no longer have the technologies. Therefore, I would advocate a cam-basic functions to be called true universities. I am paign to eliminate this agreement.wondering what UNESCO, the institution of theUN dealing with such matters, is doing as we Claudio Grossman: Rome was not built in a day,face this particular concern. and it is dramatic that there has been acceptance

For instance is there a way to close the univer- of this mechanism. I can see a pattern of agree-sities that no longer meet basic higher education ments that would not result in binding decisionsfunctions, instead of allowing them to give stud- but would provide recommendations that go toies that are not adequate and having people who a political body. I think that is the motive. Go toget their degrees from those universities not be the Bank's board, correct?


Of course reality does not always goes in one However, we need to understand that thedirection. Looking at the experience of numerous problem is not only the need for cooperation andsupervisory bodies, these have created situations solidarity. It is also a structural problem at bothwhere we move from soft political commitments the global and the national levels, and, particu-to binding commitments and, in this process of larly, we need political support.establishing an authorized body that can arrive For example, at the national level if a govern-at a binding decision, there is a political price to ment does not give priority to education, it is vervbe paid for rejecting a recommendation. difficult for UNESCO to take the responsibilitv.

We do not have this responsibility. Today, hou-Gustavo L6pez Ospina: In answer to the ques- ever, with globalization, there are new possibili-tion about UNESCO and universities, every- ties for cooperating with specific regions andbody knows that UNESCO is an intellectual specific universities, and for linking up interna-organization and that we work with govern- tionally. Today we have important pertinent pro-ments and people on this issue of university grams, including networks for working togethercapacity, promoting human development, and with the universities and governments on knowl-basic science. edge and information.

Knowledge, Finance, and Sustainable Development

Vinod Thomas

t is well known that societies underinvest in Addressing underinvestment in knowledgeenvironmental protection and that financial and learning can stimulate financial invest-investments in environmental activities re- ments for the environment.

main inadequate. Policies to correct these prob- This paper looks at these three types of relatedlems are lacking, as is investment in knowledge underinvestments-in knowledge, in policies,on the environment to support these actions. Why and in financing. We focus especially on the roleis underinvestment so extensive? of knowledge to support policies and investment* Damages from environmental degradation are opportunities for improved environmental pro-

inequitable and go beyond the present to af- tection. The motivation is to highlight howfect future generations. These costs are seldom knowledge is being utilized by stakeholders forfactored in decisionmaking by individuals sustainable environmental management. Figurewho see only their own private and short term 1 illustrates how knowledge can be infused intogains. Thus private returns on investment in NGO and civil society and into financiers, finan-environmental protection are significantly cial markets, and the public sector to promotesmaller than the benefits that accrue to soci- environmentally sustainable investments.ety today and in the future. Based on the analysis in this paper, we find

* Policies (taxes, incentives, and regulations) that successful examples of synergy amongcan, in principle, correct such underinvest- knowledge, investments, and environmental pro-ments in environmental protection. However, tection may be divided into three categories:partly because of inadequate information on 1. Achieving "win-win" outcomes throughthe causes of environmental degradation and trade or business contracts between two orpartly because of higher priority being as- among more groupssigned to other activities (growth and macro- 2. Improved environmental standards througheconomic stability), countries seldom take a "carrot-and-stick" approachadequate policy measures to correct the neglect 3. New opportunities for profitable environ-of the environment. mental investments.

* All this is compounded by the lack of diffu- We find that the public sector has beension of knowledge on the environment to in- highly proactive in the collation and dissemi-dividuals in the public and private sectors who nation of knowledge across all three categoriescould press for stronger environmental actions. of initiatives. Not surprisingly, NGOs and the

Editor's note: This paper was prepared by Vinod Thomas, Nalin Kishor, and Tamara Belt.

57


Figure 1 Knowledge for environmental systems and their relationship with socioeco-financing nomic systems. Better knowledge management

(both its production and dissemination) is criti-cal to increase the demand for environmental

/ 9 \ quality; to improve the supply of options (policyand technology) for the management of the en-vironment and natural resources; and to incre-mentally increase the financial investments

NGO/ Financiersl Public necessary to address environmental sustain-civil society * financial markets 4 sector ability. It also helps to expand the menu of choices

o Foundations + Foreign direct investrrent * Poicy framework for dealing with the environment.* User groups * Domestic investnent + Research andO Advocacy groups development

* Coordinabon Knowledge Base for Sustainability

During the past two decades of economic re-forms, the accumulation of knowledge on theenvironment in the public and private sectors and

I nvestmet civil society has significantly lagged behind mar-ket dynamism. In particular, an understandingof the effects of environmental damage on hu-

civil society have had an important role in the man and ecosystem health and its ill effects onfirst two categories of activities. In these cases, efficiency is lacking. Knowledge of the environ-the public sector and NGOs have worked toment tends to be amassed in crisis situations, suchgether to identify investment opportunities of as oil spills, chemical contamination, cholera epi-both the win-win and carrot-and-stick ap- demics, nuclear meltdowns, or forest fires. Mostproaches. Finally, the private sector has benefited recently, the intense environmental crisis infrom being a recipient of knowledge (typically Southeast Asia caused by the combined effect offrom the public sector), except for one instance fires caused by humans, El Nifno, and droughtwhere it directly applied basic knowledge for brought environmental damage to the interna-profitable environmental investment. tional spotlight once again.

Without exception all the innovative cases The shortcomings of this pattern of informa-for environmental management discussed in tion accumulation are threefold. First, knowledgethis paper owe their success to the infusion of of and information on the environment becomesknowledge. Such examples are occurring the available only after the damage has occurred.marketplace in recent years, and their numbers Second, the information is only an advisory ofare likely to accelerate even further, as diffu- poor environmental conditions. Third, proactivesion of knowledge identifies opportunities that steps to immediately reverse the trend are notthe private sector can exploit. Thus in the fol- outlined. Eventually clean air statutes may belowing section we focus on the potentially pow- enacted, or forest management policies imple-erful contribution that knowledge can make to mented, but these occur well after the damagebreak the logjam of underinvestment in environ- has been done. In fact, this process of the accu-ment and encourage improved environmental mulation of knowledge on the environment maypolicies and management. explain why "grow now, clean up later" has been

the conventional way to manage environmentalUsing the Power of Knowledge problems in the past in both industrial and de-

veloping countries.Lasting changes in the way resources are used Increased knowledge of ecosystems and thecan only be achieved if common values and costs of environmental damage and clean up hasconsensus among stakeholders exists for sus- however shown that "grow now, clean up later"tainability. The essence of this necessary condi- is not an effective approach to deal with envi-tion is a fundamental understanding of ecological ronmental damage. Research on the costs of in-

Knowledge, Finance, and Sustainable Development 59

dustrial pollution in Japan on human health, par- phase may fail to yield useful results unlessticularly in the cases of Minamata and Itai-Itai dis- knowledge of technical, scientific, and economiceases and Yokkaichi asthma, has shown that the possibilities is urgently disseminated. If increasedcosts of clean up and compensation to victims knowledge of the convention were diffused toare anywhere between 1.4 to 102 times the costs stakeholders, it is much more likely that bindingof prevention (Kato 1996). The investments re- financial agreements could be made with jointquired to clean up the Chesapeake Bay in the implementation projects. An example of a suc-United States and the Danube in Europe, both of cessful application of knowledge is discussed inwhich were once highly productive natural as- the next section regarding a carbon-offset con-sets, reinforce the lesson that neglecting the en- tract facilitated by the government of Costa Ricavironment to promote growth is a costly mistake (see below Case 2: Certifiable Tradable Offsets inthat should not be repeated by developing coun- Costa Rica).tries. Given that improved knowledge and data In addition to communicating the substanceon the environment is available regarding the of these frameworks and conventions to encour-ecological and economic expense of the "grow age win-win actions, the public sectors can alsonow, clean up later" approach and that an ex ante draw on a wide base of knowledge from the in-approach is more cost effective than ex post, who ternational community, universities, and researchare the most effective actors for the diffusion of institutions. National and local governments canknowledge? use this information to influence resource use and

promote cleaner environments. For example, inCommunicating Knowledge Indonesia the environmental protection agencyfor Environmental Improvements (BAPEDAL), with assistance from the World

Bank, has compiled information on pollutionAn effective way to motivate environmental fi- emissions from industrial firms. The agency pro-nancing is to change the values of people today vides local communities with this informationthrough the effective communication of environ- that in turn motivates dirty firms to clean up (seemental issues. Complex scientific information below Case 5: Indonesia: A PROPER program forneeds to be made accessible so people can readily pollution control). In addition, the Europeanunderstand ecosystem functioning. Knowledge Union has initiated a Blue Flag Campaign thatis embodied in people, and people (ecologists, disseminates environmental information to themarine biologists, environmental specialists, and public to raise environmental awareness andsociologists) who often have the knowledge clean up their beaches in order to attract touristsabout ecosystem health and sustainability, are (see below Case 6: The Blue Flag Campaign). Inthose who are not making management decisions Costa Rica, the United States, and Western Eu-or designing and implementing policy. Thus, es- rope the public sector is facilitating the dissemi-pecially in the short term, knowledge per se is nation and application of scientific discoveriesnot always the problem, but increasing the flow of compounds found in biological compounds forof information and thereby expanding the knowl- commercial application (see below Case 7:edge base to all stakeholders is the problem. Bioprospecting: Public-private Investments to

Potentially it is the public sector (national and Conserve Resources and Earn Profits). In theinternational) that can mobilize knowledge on Maldives the government has used scientific andthe environment, and link it to proactive re- economic information to promote sustainablesponses in the form of policy frameworks and tourism (see below Case 8: Integrated Tourismguidelines. For example, under the aegis of the Development in the Maldives).2

Framework Convention on Climate Change In the private sector, increased knowledge of(FCCC), a pilot phase to test joint implementa- win-win changes that benefit the producertion initiatives-as an approach to carbon off- through lower production costs and also benefitsets-has been approved. However, only a few the environment through reduced consumptionparties to the convention are informed on the or degradation can have tremendous results forprocess of design and implementation of these a cleaner environment. The major way in whichprojects. Thus there is a high risk that the pilot these changes can be made is through the diffu-


sion of new practices such as waste minimiza- diffusion of specific knowledge, the NGO wastion in industrial processes or integrated pest able to make a private sector energy companycontrol and composting in agriculture. In the invest in conservation (see below Case 1: Protec-United States, the Honda Motor Company itself tion of Watersheds for Hydropower Generation).has acted upon the information on product recy- In India, grassroot level NGOs have been effec-cling and efficient product packaging made avail- tive in the dissemination of information to arti-able by the EPA and elsewhere to streamline costs sans on the benefits of adopting solar-poweredand increase its profits. However, in many cases, sewing machines (see below Case 3: Exploit-in order to enable sustainable investments, facili- ing the Potential of (Green) Niche Markets intation of the flow of knowledge to all those in India).the business community is critical (see below These examples point the way in which knowl-Case 1: Protection of Watersheds for Hydropower edge contributes toward improved environmen-Generation, and Case 3: Exploiting the Potential tal management. The dearth of knowledge andof (Green) Niche markets in India). its diffusion in the past on the environment has

Civil society, including NGOs, has an impor- resulted in ex post solutions to environmental is-tant role to play in encouraging sustainable de- sues. In order to pursue truly sustainable poli-velopment initiatives. At the policy level, by cies, a forward-looking vision of environmentaldisseminating knowledge-especially to those protection, coupled with values of environmen-who gain from the policy reform process-a tal stewardship, are needed. A fundamental waydialogue on policy reforms can be activated this can be motivated is through increased knowl-and the opposition of vested interest groups edge and diffusion on the environment.can be neutralized. By infusing knowledge toall stakeholders affected by environmental deg- Synergy among Knowledge,radation, the gridlock created by weaknesses Investments, and the Environmentin institutional capacity for monitoring andenforcement, lack of political will, and corrup- Increased accumulation and dissemination oftion can all be addressed. knowledge to all stakeholders can turn untenable

NGOs have consolidated diverse pieces of situations into opportunities for investment, in-knowledge and disseminated it to initiate suc- creased economic efficiency, and environmentalcessful environmental projects. In niche areas stewardship. Increased knowledge will illumi-this has occurred in the cases of specific endan- nate the discussions of narrow interest groupsgered large mammals (for example, the el- who perceive losing by proposed changes andephant or the white rhino). The protection of will facilitate changes in how the environment isthese mammals was motivated by increased in- managed. Many of these changes are profoundformation and awareness of the importance of and involve difficult decisions regarding prop-these species for the global environment. Be- erty rights and resource access and use. By facili-cause of the immensely successful public cam- tating the flow of knowledge from those whopaigns organized by international NGOs, possess to those who can support, encourage,significant financing was channeled to these implement, and enforce policies and mobilizeareas. On a local level, some unique ecosystems investments, a cadre of environmentally awarehave been identified and recognized by local stockholders is created and a fillip given to envi-populations and governments, or both, and have ronmental sustainability.been designated for in-situ protection (see below The following nine cases illustrating theCase 4: Communal Area Management Program synergistic relationship among knowledge,for Indigenous Resources [CAMPFIRE] in Zim- investments, and environmental protectionbabwe). These areas are protected with regard to may be divided into three subcategories asthe understanding and support of the local popu- follows:lations. Usually this is done within the context 1. Achieving win-win outcomes through tradeof supportive government policy and institutions. or business contracts among two or moreIn the case of FUNDECOR in Costa Rica, with the groups. Cases 1 to 4 fall into this category.


2. Improved environmental standards through Case 2. Mitigating Global Climate Change:a carrot-and-stick approach. Cases 5 and 6 Certifiable Tradable Offsets in Costa Ricafall into this category.

3. New opportunities for profitable environ- Under the pilot phase of the joint implementa-mental investments. Cases 7 to 9 fall into tion program, industrialized countries are col-this category. laborating with developing countries to identify

Opportunities in each of these categories are the cheapest options for the control of greenhouselikely to exist in diverse countries; thus a repli- gases. Costa Rica has designed an instrument thatcation and scale-up of these cases holds the prom- can be used to sell greenhouse gas offsets in theise of managing for a sustainable environment. international marketplace, called the Certifiable

Tradable Offset, or CTO. A CTO represents a spe-Case 1. Protection of Watersheds cific number of units of carbon dioxide gas emis-for Hydropower Generation sions expressed in carbon equivalent units

reduced or sequestered through, for example, treeGlobal Energy is a private electric utility com- planting. The quality of the CTO is ensuredpany that owns and operates two hydroelectric through independent verification and monitoringplants in the watersheds of Rio Volcan and Don by a private sector company (Castro, Tattenbach,Pedro in the central valley of Costa Rica. Global Olson 1997).Energy enjoys a reputation for being an environ- In July 1996 Costa Rica sold its first batch ofmentally responsible company that works in CTOs. The governments of Costa Rica and Nor-close cooperation with the government. way, along with private sector companies from

FUNDECOR is the largest NGO in Costa both countries, agreed to cooperate on a JI projectRica, with a clear mandate of preventing and that involves, among other things, reforestationreversing deforestation in the Central Valley and forest conservation. The Norwegian partiesarea where these hydropower plants are lo- are contributing US$2,000,000 to the Private For-cated. Due to its excellent track record over the estry Project: US$1.7 million from the Norwegianlast five years, FUNDECOR has earned the re- government, financed by a Norwegian carbon tax,spect and confidence of the government and and US$300,000 from Consorcio Noruego (a con-the local landowners. sortium of three private sector Norwegian com-

FUNDECOR approached Global Energy and, panies) in exchange for 200,000 CTOs.using satellite data on deforestation, was able to The direct benefits of this scheme are twofold.demonstrate to the utility that its watershed ar- Costa Rica received additional funds for protect-eas were threatened by deforestation. As a result, ing its forests and expanding reforestation. Nor-a contract was signed whereby Global Energy has wegian companies receive CTOs that could beagreed to pay FUNDECOR $10 per hectare per used to cheaply offset its carbon emissions in theyear against assured protection of its watershed event the greenhouse gas emissions quotas be-areas against deforestation. come binding.

The contract is a case of a win-win situation. By tapping the climate change knowledge baseThrough infusion of very specific knowledge, (FCCC and IPCC, that lays out the scientificFUNDECOR succeeded in making Global Energy evidence; and the framework and guidelines fora willing partner in investing for environmen- international cooperation, IPCC 1996) and invest-tally sustainable development. This willingness ing significant amounts of resources in researcharose largely because Global Energy could ben- and development, the government of Costa Ricaefit from reduced risk and increased profitabil- was able to develop this scheme. From the otherity. Finally, the government sees this as a start in side, the Norwegian government invested US$1.7replicating similar contracts in other parts of the million to encourage private sector confidencecountry, and has already started disseminating and investment in the scheme. With this success,information in this regard. This is likely to set off Costa Rica is now actively seeking to enter intoa virtuous spiral of environmentally sustainable partnerships with other countries, with a viewinvestments. to making CTOs into a fully marketable commod-


ity with the potential to be traded on commod- demonstrate a capacity for sustainable wildlifeity boards worldwide. Considerable progress has management are granted legal authority to man-already been made in this direction. age natural resources on their communal lands.

The committees-in conjunction with technicalCase 3. Exploiting the Potential assistance from the government and NGOs-of (Green) Niche Markets in India decide how best to use wild species to contrib-

ute to rural development.The solar sewing machine conversion kit of the Most communities opt for a combination ofGreen Electrons Eliminating Poverty (GEEP) ret- ways to use their wildlife, depending on localrofits a conventional pedal sewing machine to run environmental and economic conditions. Con-on solar power. A shirt made on this machine has trolled safari hunting is currently the most prof-a logo to identify that it is an environmentally itable option. Other options include wildlifefriendly (green) product. This is sold in niche tourism and marketing of natural products suchmarkets for such products where it commands a as hides, meat, and wood that are harvested on ahigher price relative to its non-green counterpart sustainable basis. Revenues generated from these(Gay 1997). natural resources have contributed to community

In order to promote adoption, garment retail- development projects such as the construction ofers have collaborated with the conversion-kit schools, clinics, and roads, and installing wellsmanufacturer to provide easy credit. The govern- and grinding mills. Revenues are also used toment has aided retailers in the identification and compensate villagers for livestock lost due todevelopment of niche markets for garments, damage by wildlife (description of programs,while NGOs have been instrumental in dissemi- Africa Resources Trust).nating information on the benefits of adoption The reason this scheme has been successful isof the solar-powered sewing machine to rural because it has been strongly supported by na-artisans. tional government policy in consultation with

This scheme generates several benefits. For the local governments or communities. Knowledgetailor, the benefits accrue in the form of increased from technical experts and indigenous localproductivity (this can double from 9 to 18 shirts communities has guided the management de-a day), assured income, and onsite work. Second- cisions and has resulted in the sharing of risksary benefits linked to packaging and transporta- of wildlife preservation between the govern-tion will also accrue at the village level. For the ment and local communities. Because revenuesretailer, there is the attraction of additional in- are shared between the national government andcome through exploiting new markets and de- user groups, monitoring and enforcement are re-veloping a green image that could translate into duced to a minimum. Finally, initial financingmore profits if environmentally conscious con- was obtained from the government, NGOs (es-sumers switch to this company. Environmental pecially international NGOs), and local commu-benefits come in the form of reduced emissions nities. Revenues in the medium and long termof polluting gases, had these goods been pro- derive from tourists and from sales of naturalduced with fossil fuel energy. products.

Case 4. Communal Area Management Case 5. Indonesia: A PROPER ProgramProgram for Indigenous Resources for Pollution Control(CAMPFIRE) in Zimbabwe

The Program for Pollution Control, EvaluationThe CAMPFIRE program in Zimbabwe was and Rating (PROPER) in Indonesia targets pol-launched by the government in close consulta- lution reduction by publicly disclosing pollutiontion with local users of natural resources and tech- information (Wheeler and Afsah 1996). The gov-nical experts, with the aim to more effectively ernment, in an effort to clean up polluting indus-manage wild species and natural resources to tries, compiled information for 187 highlycontribute to sustainable rural development polluting factories and then ranked companies(Muir-Leresche 1996). Rural communities that on the level of emissions. Highly polluting firms


were given six months to clean up: otherwise Over the years the standards of environmentaltheir pollution emissions would be disclosed quality have been raised to provide dynamic in-publicly, centives for improved environmental manage-

Through government policy and increased ment.environmental awareness, polluting industries The governments see this as an efficient waywere forced to clean up. The compilation of in- to promote environmental awareness and alsoformation was conducted with the technical as- increase revenues through increased domesticsistance of the World Bank and illustrates how and foreign tourists. Private sponsors see this asinformation dissemination by the public sector an opportunity to attract more tourists throughto civil society can effectively mobilize the pri- the Blue Flag award.vate sector to move toward more sustainableproduction patterns. In this case the monitor- Case 7. Bioprospecting: Public-Privateing and enforcement is shared by the govern- Investments to Conserve Resourcesment and civil society. Financing of the policy and Earn Profitswas conducted mainly by the government ofIndonesia with financial and technical assis- Governments are beginning to understand thetance from the multilateral development banks. economic potential of local natural resources andFinancing for clean-up, of course, rests with the biodiversity. The United States and many coun-private sector. tries in Western Europe are offering tax breaks,

grants, and regulatory reforms to attract privateCase 6. The Blue Flag Campaign, sector firms such as pharmaceuticals to invest inEuropean Community bioprospecting. For example, in Germany re-

cently US$86.6 million in grants was awarded inThe European Blue Flag Campaign is operated three regions for use as biotech seed money (Timethrough a network of national organizations and 1997). These awards build on local expertise andcoordinated by the Foundation for Environmen- knowledge found in public universities and pavetal Education in Europe (World Bank 1993). Its the way for the creation of new industries. Formain objective is to encourage citizen under- the last 35 years the US National Cancer Insti-standing and appreciation of the coastal environ- tute has supported a program that has searchedment and the incorporation of environmental the Earth's biodiversity for chemical structureconcerns in the decisionmaking of coastal au- that might have utility. A similar example isthorities. The EC has been financing about 25 found in Costa Rica with the creation of INBiopercent of the campaign's budget (presently (National Biodiversity Institute), a public agencyover ECU 1 million) and the rest by private that partners with private enterprises, most no-sponsors. tably Merck Sharp and Dohme, in addition to

A beach or marina has to meet three sets of research institutes to explore and develop com-criteria to receive the blue flag. The first tests the mercial applications of compounds found in theenvironmental quality of the locality. The second biodiversity contained in the rainforests (Figueresconsiders management and safety. The third 1997).emphasizes environmental education and infor- Critical to the success of all these initiativesmation, that ensures that visitors are provided are the incentives from the state to bear some ofwith environmental information on the coastal the risks for venture capitalists and at the sameenvironment. time support research and development to in-

Based on a completed questionnaire, maps, crease the knowledge base on the environment.photographs, and water samples, a national jury There is also a visible change of thinking amongselects sites to be presented to a European jury European academics who are beginning to feelthat makes the final selection by unanimous vote. less inhibited about turning cutting-edge researchThe results are announced in the beginning of into corporate profits, in the name of the envi-June before the main holiday season. The cam- ronment. These actions in turn are fueling invest-paign has attracted several commercial sponsors ments. According to the European Venturein addition to schoolchildren and other citizens. Capital Association, its members invested nearly

64 Organizing Knowledgefor Environmentally and Socially Suistainable Development

$160 million in biotech firms last year, an increase propagation of ornamental marine life based onof 53 percent over 1995. a total ecosystem approach for the classroom or

private residences. The first installations were inCase 8. Integrated Tourism Development Tennessee and Indiana.in the Maldives This company is building on a forward-look-

ing vision of marine biodiversity preservation byCoastal tourism is difficult to manage in devel- moving away from teaching approaches whereoping countries and is typically characterized by children are encouraged to capture a species suchspontaneous development and clearing of coastal as exotic fish and place it in an aquarium, only toforest and mangroves, leading to coastal and soil have it die months later. Now the company is us-erosion. Other common environmental problems ing advanced scientific methods and heightenedassociated with coastal tourism is the lowering awareness of the destruction of coral reefs to en-of the groundwater table, resulting in inflows of courage the propagation of coral reefs for the en-saltwater as fresh water is pumped out; improper joyment of children. Exposure to the reef andsolid waste disposal sites; and littering. other marine ecosystems in the classroom or in

Proactive government policy in Maldives that private homes may increase future generations'targets foreign direct investment in the tourism sensitivity to and need for the protection of theindustry has resulted in favorable economic and world' reefs (Walch 1995).environmental outcomes. After the first thorough The driving forces in this example is buildingevaluation of tourism in Maldives took place in on increased public awareness and knowledge1983 ten years after tourism development, spe- of the need for preservation of coral reefs. Withcific policy actions were made to curb spontane- that as a basis, the financing is solely driven byous settlements. In conjunction with scientific the private sector.information and economic data, governmentplanners designed an integrated tourism plan. Findings and RecommendationsStrict government regulations were enacted thatgave a clear signal to foreign direct investment The above examples show that the traditionalof the viability of short and long term returns on roles of private and public sectors are evolvingtheir investments. This actions were undertaken in new areas and much is being left to the work-together with fiscal and monetary adjustments ings of the market. Table 1 draws out the mainto achieve macroeconomic stability in the lessons from the above examples. It illustrates theeconomy. extent to which three key agents-the public sec-

The result was a boom in the tourism indus- tor (international and national), the private sec-try. Tourism in 1995 contributed 17percentof the tor, and civil society (including NGOs)-canGDP, over 25 percent of government revenue, and become involved in activities to protect and man-60 percent of the country's foreign exchange earn- age natural resources. Three basic factors are nec-ings. It is the second largest contributor to the essary for these activities to succeed: knowledgeeconomy and is increasing in importance every about the opportunities; financing; monitoringyear (Saeed 1997). and enforcement; and (enabling) environmental

policy.Case 9. Sustainable Mariculture On the basis of the information in table 1 some

of the important emerging lessons are:SeaPhix, LLC., associated with the marineaquarium industry, aims to preserve coral reefs * The role of knowledge in inducing environ-through the propagation of coral reefs and ornamental investments is critical in all cases. Thusmental sea life, instead of harvesting coral reefs FUNDECOR disseminated information on thefor exotic fish species for sale on the market. The threat of deforestation to Global Energy; andcompany markets the equipment, (for example, knowledge of scientific research was appliedinsulated larval rearing tanks and daylight spec- for the propagation of coral reefs for commer-trum lights) and mariculture installations for the cial profits.

Table 1 Characteristics of successful environmental investments

Contributions to success factors by agents potentially involved in environmentally sustainable activitiesSuccess factors for Public sector Public sector! Civil societyenvironmental activities (international) government (national) Private sector and NGOs

1. Knowledge At the international level dissemination of knowledge (by FCCC In the examples considered, Highly specific knowledge dissemi-management and IPCC) is critical to the success of the CTOs in Costa Rica, the private sector has not been nated by the NGO FUNDECOR re-

and of the Blue Flag Campaign of the EU. active in dissemination but has suited in an agreement with thebenefited from being a recipi- hydropower company in Costa Rica.

At the national level the public sector has played a key role in ent of information, with the In Zimbabwe, active contributions todisseminating knowledge for controlling industrial pollution in exception of sustainable mari- the knowledge base by the NGOsIndonesia, CTO scheme in Costa Rica, developing a green niche culture in the Caribbean. and civil society enabled implemen-market in India, communal management of indigenous resources tation of CAMPFIRE.in Zimbabwe, bioprospecting in the United States and Europe,and tourism development in the Maldives.

2. Sources of No involvement in these The government of Norway in- Except in the case of CAMP- The local communities and NGOsfinancing case examples (but note role vested as a one-time induce- FIRE in Zimbabwe, private sec- contribute to financing for CAMP-

of GEF). ment to the private sector to buy tor financing has been a cha- FIRE in Zimbabwe.CTOs in Costa Rica. The gov- racteristic feature of all theseernment provided initial seed case examples.money in Zimbabwe and forbioprospecting in Costa Rica.

3. (a) Monitoring and No significant contributions With the exception of hydro- In the example of Costa Rica In Costa Rica hydropower an NGOenforcement in this area. power in Costa Rica, govern- CTOs a private sector company will undertake monitoring and en-

ments have a pivotal role in has been contracted for moni- forcement. In Indonesia civil societymonitoring and enforcement in toring and enforcement. is involved. In Zimbabwe both NGOsall cases. and local communities are respon-

sible. In India NGOs will monitor forgreen labelling.

(b) Environmental Significant contributions in Governments have been prima- Not much involvement in devel- In Zimbabwe NGOs and local com-policy and laws the case of CTOs in Costa rily responsible for the design opment of policies and laws. munities have collaborated with the

Rica. and implementation of enabling government on the legal and policypolicy. aspects of CAMPFIRE.


* Knowledge has been disseminated primarily Next, in the case of investment flows, the mainby the public sector. However, in some infocus of this paper, we have seen how the infu-stances knowledge has been disseminated by sion of knowledge has often provided a sufficientNGOs and civil society. spark for financing for the environment. Based

* The private sector emerges as the predominant on the case examples presented in this paper, itplayer in financing environmental invest- is found that the public sector is strategicallyments. In two cases (CTOs in Costa Rica and placed for the building and the diffusion ofCAMPFIRE in Zimbabwe) the public sector knowledge and establishing policy frameworkshas provided finance, but only as a one-time that encourage environmentally sustainable in-inducement. vestments. The private sector has a comparative

* Monitoring and enforcement is not only the advantage for financing environrmental activities,responsibility of the public sector. Increasingly, because it is most closely linked to financial mar-the civil society and NGOs can assist in this, kets. Finally, NGOs and the civil society have aand are often more effective and may indeed critical role in knowledge diffusion to the publicbe critical (for example, pollution control in In- in order to build up a multistakeholder consen-donesia) to ensuring the desired outcomes. sus on environmental issues; and also to privateTwo additional lessons that emerge from the companies with regard to motivating and moni-

case examples and the discussions in this paper toring cleaner business practices.more generally are: It is clear that the most innovative cases for* Typically, highly specific learning and infor- environmental management have arisen due to

mation is necessary and sufficient to spark the infusion of knowledge by the public and pri-off the investment, such as occurred with the vate sectors and civil society. Such examples willhydropower in Costa Rica. However, in some increasingly proliferate the marketplace, as thecases a holistic approach comprising of dis- diffusion of knowledge identifies opportunitiessemination of knowledge, technological inthat the private sector can exploit. Thus, if thesenovations, policy, credit, and product market examples can be scaled up and rolled out, pros-development is required to induce invest- pects for a sustainable environment would lookments (for example, the green niche market much brighter. Knowledge management is likelyin India). to be a powerful tool to improve environmental

* The role of the public sector to establish a management.framework of policies and property rights thatcan attract the interest of the private sector is Notesbecoming increasingly important. The inter-national public sector is responsible for setting 1. Without implicating them, we would like to ac-global framework and convention guidelines. knowledge the helpful comments received fromGovernments are the primary agents that can Wilfrido Cruz, Mansoor Dailami, Farrukh Iqbal,implement these guidelines into policy. In all Mohan Munasinghe, and Yan Wang.instances knowledge helps formulate more ef- 2. Other innovative examples include U.S. Presi-fective policies. dent Bill Clinton's recent educational event on glo-

bal warming for weather forecasters in the hope thatduring weather forecasts, they would be able to in-fluence public thinking about global warming (TheNew York Times, October 3,1997). In Sweden, where

First, in the area of environmental policy reforms, the military draft is compulsory, education on envi-we have already seen how diffusion of knowl- ronmental issues is integral to the curriculum foredge can contribute to achieving consensus be- military recruits (personal communication).tween diverse stakeholders on the one hand, andneutralize the opposition of narrow interest Bibliographygroups, on the other. The result is positive bothin the better design of policies and in their effec- Castro, Ren6, F. Tattenbach, and N. Olson. 1997. "Thetive implementation. Costa Rican Experience with Market Instruments


to Mitigate Climate Change and Conserve Seminars for Southern Africa, Harare, Zimbabwe.Biodiversity." Paper prepared for Global Knowl- November 19-22, 1996.edge '97 Conference, Toronto, Canada, June 22-25, Saeed, Simad. 1997. "Environmental Impact Manage-1997. ment in the Tourism Industry of Maldives." Paper

Figueres, Jose Maria. 1997. "Political Dimensions of presented at the EDI/World Bank/SAARC Semi-Rural Well-Being and How to Achieve Results on nar on Economic Globalisation and Environmentalthe Ground." In Ismail Serageldin and David Steeds, Sustainability in South Asia, June 2-6, 1997.eds., Rural Well-Being: From Vision to Action. Wash- Schmidheiny, Stephan, and F. Zorraquin. 1996. Financ-ington, D.C.: World Bank. ing Change. Cambridge, Mass.: The MIT Press.

Gay, Charles F. 1997. "Private Sector Village Enterprise: Thomas, Vinod, and T. Belt. 1997. "Growth and the En-A New Approach to Sustainable Financing." Paper vironment: Allies or Foes?" Finance & Developmentpresented at Village Power '97 Conference, Arling- (June): 22-24.ton, Va., April 14-15,1997. Time. 1997. "The New Icelandic Saga." (September 29):

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). 62-63.1996. Climate Change 1995: The Science of Climate Change. Walch, John. 1995. "Opportunities in Sustainable Mari-Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press. culture" In Anthony J. Hooten and Marea E.

Kato, Kazu. 1996. "Grow Now, Clean up Later? The Case Hatziolos, eds., Financing Mechanismsfor Coral Reefof Japan." In Ismail Serageldin and Alfredo Sfeir- Conservation. Washington, D.C.: World Bank.Younis, eds., Effective Financing of Environmentally Wheeler, David, and S. Afsah. 1996. Going Public on Pol-Sustainable Development. Proceedings of the Third An- luters in Indonesia: BAPEDAL's PROPER-PROKASIHnual World Bank Conference on Environmentally Program. Washington, D.C.: International ExecutiveSustainable Development. Washington, D.C.: World Reports.Bank. World Bank. 1993. "Worldwide Best Practices: Innova-

Muir-Leresche, Kay. 1996. "Economic Policy and Natu- tive Environmental Management for Brazil." Environ-ral Resources: The Case of Wildlife in Zimbabwe." ment and Agriculture Operations Division, CountryPaper presented at Promoting Growth with Equity Department LAL. Latin America and the Caribbeanand Environmental Sustainability, A Program of Regional Office, World Bank, Washington, D.C.

Knowledge, Finance, and Sustainable Development

Theodore Panayotou

M y experience comes from trying to ing and practice of sustainable development.teach as well as to practice sustainable There is also the kind of knowledge that we needdevelopment, as well as doing research for obtaining the necessary financing for sustain-

on it and advising governments around the world able development.on the subject. My main job is doing research insustainability. Defining Sustainable Development

Recently, I was at the White House Conferenceon Global Warming called by U.S. President My definition of sustainable development isClinton, along with scientists, economists, and development that does not undermine its ownprivate sector environmental CEOs to think about foundations but actually strengthens them. Sus-what the United States' position on global warm- tainable development has a couple of character-ing should be. istics that we are not used to in regular scientific

Despite the persisting uncertainties, science is pursuit. First, we believe in the independence ofthe easiest part. The second easiest, although disciplines-sustainable development is intrin-quite a bit more difficult, is the economics. sically interdisciplinary and holistic.Clearly, the most difficult is the politics of it. Second, in regular subjects, we focus on issues

Today I read a commentary in the Boston Globe that are more tractable, and not laden with valueby Ellen Goodman. She asked several questions judgments. However, in sustainable develop-that are very representative of the political chal- ment, we cannot escape issues of complexity aslenge. First she asked, "How do you get Ameri- well as equity, both contemporary and inter-cans to buy a policy for tomorrow, when it may generational. For example, sustainable develop-cost money today?" Second she asked, "Can a ment addresses the question of how to getcountry with a short attention span focus on economies to simultaneously deal with boththe long run?" Her third question was, "What efficiency and equity, a complex issue laden withdo you do when all politics are local and warm- value judgments.ing is global?" Another point is that sustainable development

These questions summarize the problems we is not simply long-term in character-it is a su-have with sustainable development. Knowledge per long-term issue. Think of global warming orand finance are central to resolving these prob- of biodiversity. If we apply any reasonable ratelems. How do knowledge and sustainable devel- of time reference, any reasonable rate of discount,opment relate? however we adjust it for social considerations,

Under this heading there is the matter of the global warming a couple of hundred years fromkind of knowledge we need for the understand- now counts for little more than zero. The world's

68


GNP, discounted at 5 percent, 200 years from now cluding estimates by the UN Conference on En-is worth less than this building. vironment and Development in Rio, are based

Meanwhile, the tools that we have developed on a "business as usual" scenario.are meant to address the short- to medium-term, That scenario includes a huge number ofor maybe some long-term problems, but certainly distortions-subsidies for energy, water, agricul-not the super-long, the content of which are of ture, transport, and deforestation; all kinds of bar-catastrophic proportions. riers to sustainable development.

Another very important issue is that sustain- We should not be estimating how much it takesable development is interactive. Its most signifi- to air condition this room while the heat is run-cant area is not in the individual components but ning at full blast, and complain that it is too ex-in the interactions, whether we are talking about pensive. We must first turn off the heat, and thenthe science, or the interactions amongst species, estimate how much it will cost to air condition.or the interactions of different ecosystems. Fur- It might cost much less than under a business-thermore, whether we are even talking in eco- as-usual scenario; air conditioning may not evennomic or political terms, interactions are the be necessary after the heat is turned off.critical reality. In contrast, those of us in "regu- Unfortunately, all the estimates of financinglar" science usually like to focus on items indi- needs of sustainable development that I havevidually, assuming away interdependence. seen are based on a business-as-usual scenario,

Here we have some important analytical is- and they come up with figures on the order ofsues to address in the area of knowledge. As I half a trillion dollars a year or more.mentioned before, knowledge is not our only Instead we should first try to remove subsi-need to achieve sustainable development. The dies for environmental degradation. Then wepicture is complicated still further by the fact that should try to change people's behavior byknowledge, in and of itself, may not be the bind- providing them with an improved incentiveing constraint to action. Indeed, much of the structure.knowledge that already exists is presently being The other reality we need to deal with is thedisseminated in a way that it can be internalized, misdeployment of funds. No matter how muchif not by the general public, at least by money we are able to mobilize for sustainablepolicymakers and other decisionmakers. development, it will not make a dent in the prob-

I would add that if we expect politicians to re- lem if we continue to make huge investments inspond to wise public perceptions and public de- "bad" projects in the "wrong" sectors, and ourmands, then we want the knowledge to penetrate investments have significant environmental im-and be internalized down to the citizen level. pacts that could be easily and cheaply avoided,There is presently a big gap between the existing but are not.knowledge and what has been internalized bythe citizens. Below this level there is another gap, Redeploying Investmentswhich is between what has been internalized andwhat has been put into action. While it would be Sustainable development calls for a significantunreasonable to expect to close these gaps en- redeployment of investment funds. For instance,tirely, their narrowing is just as important as the we have tremendous and, in the case of manygeneration of new knowledge. developing countries, increasing resources being

Let me move to the issues of financing, and I allocated toward military purposes around thewill then conclude with some changes, or new world. If 10 percent, or even 2 percent, of thatareas, on which different disciplines need to were reallocated to the education of the poor infocus. developing countries, there would be a tremen-

dous impact on sustainable development in termsAddressing Finance Problems of their empowerment, their increased economic

capacity, the reduction of fertility, the improve-One problem with the financing area is that esti- ment of nutrition, and the education of children.mates of how much is needed to put the world Another example: we spend billions of dollarseconomy on a sustainable development path, in- on building new infrastructure while the exist-


ing infrastructure is falling apart, but we are not Sustainable development requires that the pro-providing sufficient money to maintain and effi- cess of governance be oriented toward service,ciently operate existing infrastructure. that is, toward serving people's needs. We should

A Canadian study showed that it would be have public servants who are less focused on fi-possible to obtain water supply and electricity nancing, managing operations, and supplyingthrough demand management at one-fifth the goods and services, and more focused on regu-cost of additional expansion of the supply system. lating, facilitating, and creating incentive struc-What do we do? We choose expansion. Maybe tures as well as proper rules of the game.one of the problems here is not so much econo- We have not done enough to promote the pri-mists, but engineers. In fact we are all blame- vate sector's participation in sustainable devel-worthy. opment. With the kind of flows that Dr. Vinod

The best financing method for sustainable de- Thomas presented to us, if we ignore the privatevelopment is a mechanism that neither raises nor sector and its role in sustainable-or unsustain-spends a single dollar. The most sustainable and able-development, trying to increase sustain-effective answer is the approach that motivates able development through public expenditurespeople to change the way they do things. alone is a losing game. We must redirect this tre-

Certainly, if we have to spend money directly, mendous and increasing private capital flow to-we must try to find ways to minimize costs. If ward more sustainable activities.we do this and still achieve the same objective,we can accomplish more with the same level of Comments on the Disciplinesresources.

People are not sufficiently comprehending the The following are some suggestions as to howidea of using market-based instruments, commu- different disciplines, including my own, can pro-nity, informal regulations, and voluntary agree- mote change.ments to advance sustainable development. Most 1. In the area of law we need to have a legalpeople see the market as the enemy to be sub- basis for private sector involvement in whatdued and the civil society as too weak; or they have traditionally been public sector mo-see the broader kind of approach where the com- nopolies, such as the supply of electricitymurLities apply pressure to get things done. We and water.need much more education both in designing 2. We need to establish a truly competitivebetter incentive systems and in helping people. bidding process and the drafting of fairlyOtherwise, the market-based approaches are not complete contracts with the necessary inde-likely to be adopted. Understand them and use pendent regulatory mechanisms. Other-them. Indeed, all must participate in the design wise, while this business of privatizationand implementation of such systems. may sound exciting, when implemented it

does not work for sustainable development:Service-Oriented Government it works for something else.

3. We also need more work on environmentalAnother issue I want to emphasize is that with legislation so that it is effective, enforceable,the exception of some federalist countries and and transparent, and also provides freedomcountries making serious efforts to decentralize, and flexibility for private industry andmost of the developing world has extremely cen- whomever else is being regulated to achievetralized administrative structures and govern- environmental objectives at minimal cost.ments. Most of the regulatory systems now in place

To succeed, sustainable development requires are sanctions and punishment-oriented,financing and decentralization, devolution to the rather than systems that provide incentiveslocal level-devolution of taxing authority, of to change behavior.governing, and of expenditures. Without this, With regard to governance, as mentionedcostly top-down decisions that are unrespon- earlier, we need more work on the decentrali-sive to individual needs at the local level would zation and devolution of authority to local lev-prevail. els. More work is needed on the transparency


and predictability of policy and on getting leaner biology, rather than just focusing on molecularbut tougher, perhaps bolder, governments. Cer- biology.tainly, we need tougher governments that hold In education emphasis is needed on a changethe private sector accountable but at the same of values from the current, consumption-orientedtime give the private sector the flexibility and the lifestyles to more environmentally conscious val-instruments necessary to provide efficient pub- ues. We need more education in business ethics,lic service. and finally, and very importantly, as mentioned

In the area of economics we need to pay more in the paper by Dr. Thomas, there is a need toattention to externalities, including environ- transfer best practices from one country to themental externalities, and to intergenerational other-that does not only mean from North toand contemporary equity. More attention is South, but also, especially, from South to South.needed to ecological thresholds and how they There are a lot of win-win best practices thataffect our economic models. We need to focus could be transferred, but are not. Costa Rica ismore on the super-long run and find ways to doing wonderful things, but other Latin Ameri-deal with it other than by simply saying, "use can countries have never heard about them.social discount rate." We need more emphasis To conclude, knowledge and financing are cen-on the matter of uncertainty, and we need to tral to sustainable development, but how theyfocus on substitution limits, especially in the are generated and deployed is far more impor-short run. tant than their absolute levels in bringing about

In the cases of sociology and anthropology we change on the ground. True knowledge, effec-need to pay more attention to making the par- tively applied, is the best substitute for limitedticipation of stakeholders effective, authenticat- financial resources. Without knowledge an abun-ing national policies at the local level, revitalizing dance of finance may do more harm than goodcommunal systems of management, and increas- to the cause of sustainable development. It is theing people's willingness to pay for environmen- synergy between intelligently applied knowledgetal protection. and judiciously deployed incentives and finan-

In science we need more attention to interac- cial resources that holds the greatest promise thattions among different species, environments, and sustainable development will be translated fromecosystems and more emphasis on evolutionary a slogan into reality.

Discussion

Audience comment: This is my first experience could be "sustainable human development," orspeaking at the World Bank, and I appreciate the "sustainable future." In any case there is clearlychance to comment. My name is Nicolai Malshev, a problem with the term. It is difficult for peopleand I am from East Kazakhstan. I am the head of to understand what they mean. We have to spendthe Economic and Management Department of time explaining what is behind them.East Kazakhstan Technical University, and thedirector of a regional center for Junior Achieve- Theodore Panayotou: My hypothesis is that wement, a nongovernmental, nonprofit educational fell behind after Rio because there are some is-organization. sues that we have not addressed properly. For

We are isolated from all the problems of the example, economics is just starting to take intoorganization of knowledge being discussed in account problems such as the irreversibility ofthis room, and it is a pity that in this event there crossing ecological thresholds. Or take science,are no representatives speaking from former So- for instance. For the past three weeks I have beenviet Union countries. trying to find solid information on the fires in

Our region is open for collaboration. Are you Indonesia-where they are, who caused them,interested in an expansion of our ideas on or- how much of the peat forest is burning. I haveganizing knowledge for the environment? In sought such supposedly basic information as thethe former Soviet Union we will be glad to col- location and the extent of the fires. We have calledlaborate with you. I hope to meet somebody Europe, Indonesia, everywhere, yet despite all offrom this auditorium in East Kazakhstan. the modern super-technologies, we could not getThank you. that information.

In fact we are being told now we may not learnAudience comment: I have just a few com- what we are asking about the fires for another sixments. Much of what you have said, Professor months. We are not much better than Nero sit-Panayotou, can be read in many documents and ting there and playing his fiddle while Romeinformation papers, but we have to admit that burned.nothing has really changed during the five years Here science obviously has not been keep-since the Rio summit. I do not really know why. ing up with its job, because we had another fireMaybe the world is so complex that making new in Indonesia 15 years ago that burned some-decisions and taking new directions requires a thing like three or four million hectares of for-lot of time. est. Despite that major case, we still have not

This is to suggest that there could be a prob- done our homework in order to have a quickerlem with the term "sustainable development." response, both in terms of information, such asMaybe we have to make an analysis of these two available satellite images, and in terms ofwords and change them for a new paradigm, that policy responses.

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What is the consequence? We have to sit now I was just there. I spent this morning on the phoneand watch the fires burn, with tens of thousands with Indonesian policymakers from the Minis-of people suffering, affected by respiratory and tries of Forestry and Environment. I have talkedother problems. Meanwhile, airports are closed, with satellite information sources, and they doships and planes crash, and people are killed. not yet have the precise figures on the fires: be-Have we done anything? No, because we do not tween 60,000 and 600,000 hectares are burning.have either the science or the proper publicawareness about the issue. If we made a public Audience comment: From a Cambridge Univer-survey, I would bet that even in the United States, sity source I hear two million hectares.95 percent of the people have not even heardabout the fires. Audience comment: Some of these things seem

Furthermore, if there is this tremendous lack to come together. Among other matters thereof knowledge in some critical matters, we have were comments about education. He cited imagi-a lot of other knowledge that may not even be nation, honor, truth, and responsibility as neces-needed. The knowledge that we do have has a sary characteristics, but I would like to addhard time percolating down to the policy- passion, and to suggest that the passion withmakers, the local decisionmakers, and individual which Dr. Serageldin and Dr. Panayotou spokecitizens. were excellent examples of it.

We are not working together, and we are soAudience comment: I would just like to com- afraid of hurting each other. Look at Darwin byment that two weeks ago the grid facility at Sioux comparison. He lost his health because of his sci-Falls, a U.N. Environment Programme facility in entific passion. Look at Galileo-he almost lostSouth Dakota, put on the Web a detailed analy- his life; he certainly lost his job. There are otherssis of the precise location and specific fires that who lost their heads. Let us lose a few heads. Thewere then burning in Sumatra. This was down- Bank has to be a little more open to new ideas.loaded by several thousand people. Let me make one more point. The Africans

My problem with economists generally is that whom I have trained-and I have trained Afri-they are not all like Professor Panayotou. If eco- cans for 20 years-have been socialized by a sys-nomics was being taught in the same way that tem of education in the universities in Africa,he presented, progress on sustainable develop- France, and North America so that they do notment would be a great deal better. We must bet- dare speak passionately about anything in class.ter disseminate the information that is available. The moment they get out of class, though, they

Concerning engineers, there is the World En- say what they feel.gineering Partnership for Sustainable Develop- I am very concerned about this. The Africansment, a large group of engineers who banded have been told, "No, no, in science you have totogether a year before Rio to try to incorporate be dispassionate." That's baloney. Science is aconcepts of sustainability in their practice of en- passion; it is love of knowledge. We have got togineering. There are codes of conduct today that convert ourselves. Otherwise, there is noare really quite superior. sustainability at all.

Audience comment: A brief comment: first, Vinod Thomas: I would like to close the sessionplease know that 2,000 economists, including six on this high note of passion that we all wouldNobel laureates, have signed a letter regarding share, including the president of this Bank. Youthe global warming issue. Second, regarding the will be seeing change reflected in many, manyIndonesian fires, if you really want information, ways in the Bank as we go forward.

How to Proceed-How to Connect?

Saad Eddin Ibrahim

T he amount of knowledge regarding the en- tening to Ismail Serageldin, my son decided tovironment and sustainable development change his college major. He was studying civilthat has accumulated in this one-week con- engineering at the time, and he decided to change

ference is tremendous. to environmental engineering, a new major in hisI have been coming here for the last several university. The change required that he stay one

years since Dr. Serageldin started this tradition more year over his regular program, and it meantof an annual ESSD meeting, and every year I learn $50,000 more for me. That was a lesson that Ia lot. The only problem is that I do not absorb should not invite any member of my family toenough. come and listen to Serageldin.

This brings us head to head with the title of Now the interesting thing about my son-andour meeting: Organizing Knowledge. What do I am sorry to talk about him but his is a helpfulwe do with all this knowledge? How do we or- case for this particular theme-is that after he fin-ganize and use it? Thus the last session today- ished his engineering he did a little bit of train-"How to Proceed-How to Connect?" ing here, and then he was invited to work for one

I have really reflected on this question, and I of the corporations in Egypt, an oil company thatdo not want to make this presentation one more started an environmental division.knowledge bombardment. I will be concentrat- Very quickly he became the deputy chief ofing on answering the question "How?" something that division, and part of his work is to makethat academics sometimes do not concern them- everybody in the firm-something like 600selves enough about, although engineers do. people working in this multinational company-

sensitive to the environment, aware of environ-The Hard Task of Changing Behavior mental hazards, and trained in environmental

safety and conservation.Let me relate two stories. One took place the first He seemed to be doing a very good job, as in-time I came here. My son was studying as an dicated by his very quick promotion in the com-undergraduate in a university in America. He pany. However this son always leaves his lightscame to visit me here in Washington and he at- and his air conditioner on when he leaves thetended some of the sessions of the conference that house in the morning. He cannot observe mini-year. He listened to Ismail Serageldin giving pas- mum conservation rules in his own behavior.sionate, inspiring speeches. Here is a person who is very compassionate,

As a result of that one experience of attending passionate, and well-educated, who is helpingtwo or three sessions at the conference and of lis- others in environmental affairs, but yet his own

74

How to Proceed-How to Connect? 75

behavior in the house does not resemble what he could be both simplified and turned into educa-is training people to be. tional models.

This brings us to the matter of education. How The second constituency that I feel must becould a person be so transformed on the cogni- present somehow is the mass communicatorstive level, but yet on the behavioral level not be themselves, the people who are working in theable to turn off his lights and the air conditioner media-in the press, radio, and television. Thesewhen he leaves? My son's mother and I have even media of mass communication have proven toargued with him about this several times and he be even more effective than schooling in termspromises that he will change. By the way, Egypt of changing people's perceptions and attitudes,is a hot country; we use air conditioning for about and possibly people's behavior.eight months of the year. The third constituency that is missing from this

In short, despite all of our efforts, my son's occasion is the preachers. We heard on two ormother and I have failed to change this one item three occasions when we were listening at theof his behavior. This case tells us a great deal ethics and values workshop this week thatabout what lies ahead in terms of what to do. preachers still have a tremendous weight with

We have these tons of knowledge. The quality ordinary people everywhere. These importantand the quantity of it are overwhelming. The sharers of words and thoughts have to be some-questions are how to convert this knowledge into how incorporated into our movement for con-programs of action, and how to change people's verting knowledge into action.behavior. It is an immense challenge. The fourth constituency is entertainers and

I would like to share several thoughts regard- sports people. If they can be converted to ouring this task, even though I should not claim au- message, they could become role models far morethoritative knowledge on this, since I failed with influential than anyone can imagine, more thanmy own son. As is true with all teachers, even the most eloquent lecturers and scientists.though we fail, we keep preaching. These are, therefore, the four constituencies

that I feel must be incorporated into our effortIncluding the Great Communicators and given a clear, simple message.

The last point that I would like to emphasizeMy first message has to do with what I would in this presentation is that the earlier we start withcall "the missing people," people who cannot children, the more effective we can be in termsonly take this knowledge that we have in abun- of behavioral change. One reason for my failuredance and convert it into do-able programs and with my son is that I started relatively late. Hemodules for action but who also can communi- was already 20 years old and his behavior wascate. The great communicators. already shaped.

This is really one constituency, one stake-holder, that we are missing in this session and Two Powerful Examplesin this conference: the great communicator. Ihave listed who the great communicators are In terms of the possibilities of behavioral change,today. we were recently reminded how people living

We have, for example, the educators, the teach- even in the most primitive and simple of sur-ers; many of us have taught in one form or an- roundings can tune in to the communicators. Theother as academics. The challenge is not just with events that brought home powerfully how peopleour own university students: It is with the hun- can be touched were the deaths of Lady Dianadreds of millions of pre-college students around and Mother Teresa.the world. Different as these two human beings were,

Teachers are an important constituency that they both seemed to have captured the imagina-has to be incorporated into an environmental tion of people across class lines, generations, andmovement, with the knowledge that we have cultures.been accumulating here this week-in the last 20 We ask the question, "Why?" For Diana, per-years in fact. Through the teachers, knowledge haps, it was her glamour and her royalty. And


for Mother Teresa? She was almost the opposite To his amazement, the British journalist foundof Diana in terms of appearance, height, and that everybody in that slum area knew about theseeking glamour. Yet both of these persons cap- death of Diana, knew about her boyfriend andtured the imagination of everyone, including all the details.people in my country. This was four o'clock in the afternoon. The

What lessons from these two people who were accident had taken place seven or eight hoursgreat communicators are here for us in putting earlier, but to the journalist's amazement, notforward an idea-sustainable development- only did the people know all the details of thethat we know needs to reach the hearts and minds accident, they knew a lot about the life of Prin-of people and to bring about change? cess Diana. He wrote and filed his story. The

only part that he could not readily compre-A Surprising Human Response hend is that people did not think it was an ac-

cident: they thought there must be a conspiracyLet me elaborate my point with a story. It has to behind it.do with a British journalist who happened to be When we went back to the area a week later,in my country when Diana died. He is a senior we found the same interest and level of detailedcorrespondent of The Guardian. He had been in knowledge. Where had people gotten their infor-the country on a different assignment altogether, mation? They basically got it from the media, es-but when Diana and her boyfriend, an Egyptian, pecially from television. For people anywhere indied a tragic death, he was asked by his newspa- the world who might be under the poverty lineper to find out the reactions of Egyptians. and may be downtrodden, television has become

He called me and he said, "You know, I've been a standard item in their homes.given this assignment, I'd like to know your re- When the British journalist came with me theaction to the event." I said, "Well, my reaction is second time, we tried to learn what the peopleone of shock, of grief." He said, "What about the saw in common between Princess Diana andEgyptian people?" I said, "I do not know about Mother Teresa. One of the key items was em-the Egyptian people. You are calling me at 9:00 phasized by a commentor in this meeting: pas-o'clock in the morning and I can only give you sion. Princess Diana and Mother Teresa weremy reaction and my family's reaction." passionate about certain things, and that had

I told him that if he was interested in knowing carried through to everybody, even people whothe reaction of the Egyptian people, I was going did not know the details of what Princess Dianato a community in the afternoon, a shantytown and Mother Teresa had been doing in theirthat is one of the worst slum areas of Cairo, and lives.he was welcome to accompany me if he wished.The man, whose Arabic is very good, jumped at Need for a Passionate Messagethe opportunity. He came with me and we startedgoing through the slum. Concern, compassion, passion, and sincerity;

The area is one square kilometer, yet half a once you have these elements people listen, themillion people live in it. Until recently, those message gets across. That may be an importantpeople did not have a school, a hospital, or even lesson for all of us in our effort to convert thisa police station. It was a suffering human jungle. qualitatively superb and huge quantity of knowl-The government discovered the negligence of the edge about sustainable development into some-area three or four years ago and started to do a thing that people cannot only respond to, but alsofew things. The reason I go there regularly is to act on. People are willing to act if the messagecheck on the government programs that are try- gets to them clearly, and if they know that theing to upgrade services there. messenger is sincere.

How to Proceed-How to Connect?

Clovis Maksoud

W A 7hen we talk about organizing knowl- genuine knowledge, comes the matter of sur-edge, we should next reflect on the vival. In the North, with a few individual excep-question "organizing it for what?" We tions, the search for quality of life is the object.

certainly need to ask how knowledge can be or- Thus, having survival as the priority meansganized when we are living in a situation that is that there is bound to be a difference betweendisorganized globally and at times in specific the South and the North in values and moralareas of the world. attitudes.

As we consider the matter of organizing In a globalized economy and in the globali-knowledge at this juncture, the context is that we zation of issues that we face there is the questionare faced with a world in which two simultaneous of the future for pluralistic societies. Further, inyet conflicting trends are taking place. On the one terms of acquiring and sustaining knowledge, wehand there is the globalization of issues-envi- see that in many parts of the world the state sub-ronment and human rights-and on the other sumes society, instead of society and the statethere is the fragmentation of civil and political being in partnership. Interesting as well is thesocieties and states in many developing areas. evidence against the prevailing notion that de-

How can we help these failed societies and mocratization and a free market inevitably gofragmented countries so that they can organize together. We have seen how in a number of in-their own knowledge about global issues? This stances the free market has been transformed intoquestion might appear to be paradoxical, but it something that I would call the "loose" market.reflects the challenge of a new reality in which In some areas of the North, and especially in thegovernments have to reconcile fragmentation East in the former Soviet Union, free market con-with globalization. ditions that might serve as a possible precedent

for democratization have led not only to a greatUnderstanding Differences deal of corruption, but to something quite differ-around the World ent from a healthy free market.

By the same token we have seen economicTo be of assistance, we have to sort out the vari- elites in some developing countries linking upous priorities around the world. Often the prior- with a global constituency and tearing them-ity in developing countries-the Global selves away from social involvement in the re-South-is that in front of the quest for quality of building of their own societies and states. Manylife, which in the final analysis is the outcome of such examples could be cited.

77


Nature of Modern Knowledge The point should be made, however, that inorder for authority to be able to effectively del-

I would also like to make this observation: egate power, it must be realized that, especiallyKnowledge is a peculiar process. It should in- in the Global South, what is legal is not alwaysvolve continuous learning, but it also necessitates legitimate, and what is legitimate is not alwayssome unlearning of things that we thought we legal. My point is that as we study the questionshad known. It is in this process of both learning of legality and legitimacy in countries, we findand unlearning that we have sometimes been that sometimes, where they ought to be cotermi-deficient. As a result some of the things that we nous they are divided. These realities might ex-have learned in the past become dead weight on ist in more diluted versions in the West, but theyour capacity to learn anew and move ahead. certainly are a stark reality in many parts of the

There is another point I would like to make Global South.about learning and knowledge: In this period we What brings this to the forefront of our con-are witnessing what I called earlier the CNN- sciousness is the fact that it is going to be neces-ization of information. Of course this means we sary to extend our moral compass across time,are instantly informed. We know what is taking among generations, across space, among nations,place within an hour of a revolt somewhere, or and within nations, concerning ourselves withprogress somewhere. Our ability to transform many complex issues and concerns across thethis information into knowledge is deficient, be- range of humanity.cause the component of factual analysis that we Let me mention a principle that applies to theare presented with is lacking. sustainable development doctrine. It is the pre-

Of course there are the news commentators. cautionary principle, a part of international law.Their opinions often are informed, but these ob- It is another version of what is being marketedservers tend to substitute for the long-range pro- today as preventive diplomacy.cess of professors, intellectuals, and philosophers Importantly, preventive action should not onlywho could offer a greater depth of knowledge be taught as part of knowledge, but knowledgeand understanding of today's world. really needs to come with what is called struc-

This is an important development, because tural prevention, which is, in the final analysis,when I feel that I am instantly cognizant of events, equivalent to development in a comprehensive,with the aid of the commentators, I tend to be holistic sense.satisfied without the pursuit of further analysis, In the academic field, to convey their interdis-and thus I, and I am sure many others, become ciplinary, holistic character, issues of the Globalsatisfied with half-truths. South and of sustainable development should be

The job of organizing knowledge must always crosslisted in most, if not all, of the constituenttake place in the context of these realities, taking colleges of universities. This is important becauseaccount of and dealing with them. In a way, also, it would bring together issues of gender, popu-we see a segmented, fragmented approach to lation, environmental quality, and human rightssustainable development, just as in the contem- as a part of development studies, as well as otherporary characteristics of knowledge, but I note aspects of education and knowledge.that there are many who want to bring about an I will note here, by the way, that human rightsintegrated approach to sustainability. is one of the major challenges of our time. Nev-

ertheless, we must realize that the issue is notThe Global South and Sustainable Development confined to notions of freedom of speech and as-

sembly or access to an independent judiciary, vi-One of the speakers today mentioned that there tal and important and ennobling as these rightsis a need for central authority, but that it also are.should include the delegation and devolution of Instead, human needs must become an integral,power. This approach must be built into our or- organic part of the idea of human rights. Thisganizational and institutional infrastructures. inclusiveness of human needs into the humanOtherwise, authority will simply be dispersed. rights concept, especially in the Global South,

How to Proceed-How to Connect? 79

must be achieved in a very convincing manner, politicians address the complexity of our issues withnot as a patronizing dispensation. oversimplified answers. That, in my view, is a

prescription for suppression and demagoguery.Public's View of Sovereignty Certainly, simplifying answers is a task of

knowledge; it is one important communicationI would make another comment related to hu- dimension. In contrast, though, the simplisticman rights. In a way that was hinted at this morn- answer can be an advertisement of half-truths ining, sovereignty can be a pretext for dictatorial order to give legitimacy to bad intentions, suchregimes and authoritarian governments to dis- as authoritarian regimes.allow any kind of universal or regional concerns In comparison to going down the wrong pathin the persistent violation of human rights. to simplistic answers, I would say that education

However, I would caution us not to dismiss is an enabling process for what is important. It issovereignty as merely a block preventing hu- important that our access to new knowledge bemanitarian or human rights intervention. Sover- continuous, just as the development of the neweignty for many countries in the Global South is knowledge is continuous. In this way knowledgea very cherished legacy. It has resulted from the can become a tool to at least approximate truth.struggles for independence of these countries, In the final analysis as we live from one gen-struggles producing martyrs and national heroes. eration to the other, there are so many truths. The

Thus in the organization of our knowledge, it task of what might be called "sustainably relevantis important not to mix up the meanings of sov- knowledge" is to bring these truths together soereignty in the Global South. The international that they can reinforce each other in coherentcommunity needs to be able to discern the dif- policies and behavior.ference between the assertion of sovereignty as a My last point is that there are key global con-cherished legacy and as a pretext for suppression stituencies in the NGO communities. There areand obfuscation. the families, environmentalists, human rights

I will refer now to another major issue that we activists, and people who are interested in urban-are witnessing, and being a new professor my- ization problems.self, I am experiencing it firsthand. The issue has In a way these constituencies have a hyphen-to do with the dialogue among generations, as ated identity: I am an Egyptian environmental-characterized by our terms of reference, our nar- ist. I am an Egyptian feminist. I am part of anrative, the words we use. In fact there has been a Egyptian family. The situation applies amongdialogue at the younger generation rather than a NGOs all over the world.dialogue with it. Working properly, the learning In fact NGOs can be very useful. Unfortu-and unlearning process I referred to earlier takes nately, though, they do not coordinate to provideplace as the younger people learn from us, as the dynamism or vitality or a coherent sense ofteachers, and as we learn from them by unlearn- direction. Feminists might say, "Well, our inter-ing some of the patterns that we have developed. est is not in improving the environment." Hu-

man rights activists might say, "Feminist issuesEducation and Truth are not something that we have to deal with."

It is important that these organs of civil soci-Now let me respond to Professor Saad Eddin's ety come together so that they can make theircomments about the role of preachers as commu- impact felt and channel their energies. If theynicators. I am of two minds about it. Not all manage to do so, they would resolve not onlypreachers communicate viable options; that the crisis of identity in their global citizenshipleaves us with the challenge of distinguishing but would also be helping to bring society andbetween simplified communication and simplis- the state into partnership. This is where the uni-tic communication. Some preachers and some versities and knowledge come in.

Appendix AProgram

Organizing Knowledge for Environmentally Sustainable Development

A Concurrent Meeting of the Fifth Annual World Bank Conferenceon Environmentally and Socially Sustainable DevelopmentCosponsored by UNESCO and the World BankHeld at the World Bank, Washington, D.C.October 9-10, 1997

Setting the AgendaTariq Husain, Director, Learning and Leadership Center, World BankBenjamin Ladner, President, American UniversityGustavo Lopez Ospina, Director, Transdisciplinary Project on Educating for a Sustainable

Future, UNESCO

Shifting Gears for the Application of KnowledgeDon Aitkin, Vice Chancellor and President, University of Canberra

Shifting Requirements for Knowledge to Advance a Sustainable SouthPartha Dasgupta, Professor of Economics, Cambridge University

Discussion

What Are the Obligations of Academic Leaders to the Demands of Sustainable Development?Moderator: Wadi Haddad, Special Advisor to the Director General, UNESCOPanelists: Alvaro Umana, Professor and Director of the Natural Resources Management Program,

INCAEVeena Das, Professor of Sociology, Delhi University

The Critical Path: Linking Knowledge to Advance Environmentally and Socially SustainableDevelopment

Kenneth Prewitt, President, Social Science Research Council, on behalf of the Task Forceon Higher Education in Society

The Social-Natural Science Gap in Educating for Sustainable DevelopmentIsmail Serageldin, Vice President, Environmentally and Socially Sustainable

Development, World BankPeter Thatcher, Environmental Advisor and Specialist

Global Ecosystem Governance and Transboundary RequirementsClaudio Grossman, Dean, Washington College of Law, American University

Discussion

81


Knowledge, Finance, and Sustainable DevelopmentVinod Thomas, Director, Economic Development Institute, World BankTheodore Panayotou, HIID, Harvard University

Discussion

How to Proceed-How to Connect?Saad Eddin Ibrahim, Chairman, Ibn Kahldoun Center for Development StudiesClovis Maksoud, Director, Center for the Global South, American University

Appendix BPresenters

Don Aitkin Wadi HaddadVice Chancellor and President Special Advisor to the Director GeneralUniversity of Canberra UNESCOPO Box 1 Belconen ACT 2616, Australia 7 place de Fontenoy 75352Tel: (61-606) 201-5000 Paris 07 SP, FranceFax: (61-606) 201-5036

Benjamin LadnerVeena Das PresidentHead, Department of Sociology American UniversityDelhi University 4400 Massachusetts Avenue, NWIndia Washington, DC 20016-8061, USAFax: (9111) 7257858 Tel: (202) 885-2121

Fax: (202) 885-3265Partha DasguptaProfessor of Economics Clovis MaksoudUniversity of Cambridge DirectorSidgwick Avenue Center for the Global SouthCambridge CB3 9DD, UK American UniversityTel: (44-1223) 335-206 Washington, DC, USAFax: (44-1223) 335-475 Tel: (202) 885-1612

Fax (202) 885-1186Claudio GrossmanDean Gustavo L6pez OspinaWashington College of Law DirectorAmerican University Transdisciplinary Project on Educating4801 Massachusetts Avenue, NW for a Sustainable Future (EPD)Washington, DC 20016-8192, USA UNESCOTel: (202) 274-4002 7 place de Fontenoy 75352Fax: (202) 274-4005 Paris 07 SP, France

Tel: (33-14) 568-0569/0868Fax: (33-14) 568-5635

83


Theodore Panayotou World Bank Group StaffProfessor All staff can be reached at 1818 H Street, NWHarvard Institute for International Washington, DC 20433, USA

DevelopmentHarvard University Tariq HusainOne Elliot Street Senior AdvisorCambridge, MA 02138, USA Capacity BuildingTel: (617) 495-9173 Operational Core ServicesFax: (617) 496-3956 Room MC10-377E-mail: [email protected] Tel: (202) 473-3907

Fax: (202) 522-0365Kenneth PrewittPresident Ismail SerageldinSocial Science Research Council Vice President810 Seventh Avenue Special ProgramsNew York, NY 10019, USA Room MC4-123Tel: (212) 377-2700 Tel: (202) 473-4502Fax: (212) 377-2727 Fax: (202) 473-3112E-mail: [email protected]

Vinod ThomasPeter Thacher DirectorEnvironmental Specialist and Advisor Economic Development Institute54 Gold Street Room G5-003Stonington, CT 06378-1229, US Tel: (202) 473-6300Tel: (203) 535-0633 Fax: (202) 522-1714Fax: (203 535-4787E-mail: [email protected]

Alvo UmanaProfessor and DirectorNatural Resources Management Program

(INCAE)La Garita, Alajuela, Costa RicaTel: (506) 260-4162Fax: (506) 443-0506

Jerzy A. WojciechowskiProfessor of Philosophy EmeritusUniversity of OttawaCanada

Appendix CReport of the UNESCO Secretary Generalto the Commission on Sustainable Development(Sixth Session, 20 April to 1 May 1998)Chapter 36 of Agenda 21: Education,Public Awareness, and Training(Excerpt from document E/CN. 17/1998/5)

A. Current Status and Trends force for changing values and mind sets, whichcan in turn lead to behavioural change. Educa-

15. The first report on education, public aware- tion is an integral element in debates on such keyness and training was submitted by UNESCO to issues as poverty, population, health, employ-the CSD at its fourth session in 1996. At that time, ment, environmental management, consump-a special work programme was initiated in which tion and production and technology transfer,priorities for action and key actors were desig- all of which are essential ingredients of sustain-nated. The nineteenth special session of the UN able development.General Assembly gave added impetus to Chap-ter 36 implementation. The information provided 17. It is increasingly recognized that sustainablebelow includes an expanded version of the work development encompasses all disciplines, andprogramme initiated in 1996. Additional infor- requires that education acknowledge the disci-mation on the issues addressed here can be found plines in their relationship to each other, engag-in E/CN.17/1998/5/Add.2. ing all levels and forms. Education does not mean

formal education alone. It includes non-formal16. There is growing recognition within political and informal modes of teaching and learning,and economic circles of the critical role of educa- such as those that take place in the home andtion as part of the enabling framework for sus- community.tainable development. Education is now widelyacknowledged as a means to prepare people to 18. The background document entitled "Educat-engage with governments, business and indus- ing for a sustainable future: a transdis-ciplinary vi-try; to support changes in governance and the sion for concerted action," is meant to provide amarketplace; and to adapt to a complex and rap- conceptual framework and serve as the basis foridly changing world. Ministries of finance and regional strategy papers, or action programmes.planning, as well as other sectoral ministries, are The intersessional conference of experts on "Envi-increasingly targeting education as an underpin- ronment and Society: Education and Publicning for solving economic, social and political Awareness for Sustainability" co-organized byproblems. Education is recognized as a driving UNESCO and the Government of Greece in

85


Thessaloniki in 1997, addressed this issue, as did national levels, by: (i) preparing regional educa-numerous other meetings held during 1997 to tion strategy papers which would in turn be takencelebrate the twentieth anniversary of the Tbilisi up at the national level; (ii) analysing the actionconference on environmental education, includ- plans of all the major UN conferences, the con-ing the Conference PlanetERE held in Montreal ventions on biological diversity, climate changein 1997 for Francophone countries. and desertification, the UN Agenda for Develop-

ment, and regional action plans for sustain-abil-19. To accelerate progress towards sustainable ity, with a view to promoting the integrateddevelopment, emphasis has been shifting to ac- follow-up to these agreements with respect totion at national and local levels. An important education and public awareness under the um-theme continues to be inadequate financing for brella of chapter 36; (iii) formulating the coreeducation, despite the consensus among govern- messages of education for sustainable develop-ments of its importance. This evolution has im- ment which need to be communicated at all lev-portant implications for how institutions orient els of education and through all channels, andtheir work and for the allocation of resources. The mobilizing diverse networks of experts to thisUN system, for example, is working to improve end.coordination of services at country level. To sup-port this, UNESCO is launching an inter-agency 23. Governments and the media are encouragedinitiative on educating for a sustainable future to undertake information campaigns to commu-in a number of countries. nicate to the public the key messages of sustain-

able development. Governments should provide20. The creativity and risk-taking required for incentives to the media for this purpose.innovation in educational institutions, in meet-ing new challenges, are diminished by (2) Reviewing National Education Policiesdownsizing, reductions in resources, and height- and Reorienting Formal Educational Systemsened competition. Moreover, experience hasshown that partnerships "in the abstract" tend 24. Governments are urged to develop, withinto divert energy and resources without deliver- five years, policy statements for reorienting edu-ing concrete results. The increasing emphasis on cation towards sustainable development, includ-work at country level is expected to help focus ing a definition of what needs to be done at local,joint efforts, since alliances and partnerships tend national and regional levels, so that all actors willto be most effective when they are centred on understand their respective roles and responsi-concrete initiatives where the contribution of each bilities. The participation of local authorities andpartner is essential to achieving common and other local actors in this process should be en-concrete goals. sured. The UN system, other governmental and

non-governmental organizations, and the educa-B. Action Required tion and scientific communities are called on to

provide assistance to this endeavour.21. Further to the programme of work on educa-tion and public awareness adopted in 1996, the 25. Priority needs to be given to teacher trainingfollowing sub-programmes and partnerships in in reorienting formal education systems. Theimplementation are presented below for further approximately 60 million teachers worldwideconsideration. Once agreed, progress made in need to be engaged in this process. Governmentsimplementing the work programme should be are urged to ensure that within five years mea-monitored on a regular basis. sures have been taken in this direction. Interna-

tional and national representatives of teachers(1) Clarifying the Concept and Key Messages (including unions) should be involved, as well

of Educationfor Sustainable Development as specialists in higher education.

22. The concept and key messages must be fur- 26. Institutions of higher education should adaptther developed and implanted at regional and their teaching and research to promoting an in-

Appendix C: Report of the UNESCO Secretary General 87

terdisciplinary approach conducive to addressing consumption and production patterns. Suchsustainable development issues. Governments initiatives could include raising awareness ofand the academic community are urged to sup- the implications of current unsustainable pat-port this process. The World Conference on Higher terns of consumption and production; dissemi-Education in 1998, and its follow-up, should give nation of the revised guidelines for consumerdue consideration to the reform of higher educa- protection; partnerships with industries andtion systems to support sustainable development. the media to work out strategies for advertis-Likewise, the World Science Conference in 1999 ing; making use of educational tools and con-should consider how to ensure that educational sumer feedback mechanisms to facilitatereform draws on scientific knowledge and how to policy-making; and developing and promotingintegrate knowledge emanating from the disci- social instruments through education andplines in the service of sustainable development. training intended to change consumption and

production patterns. The task managers for27. In view of the long-term implications of edu- chapters 4 and 36 (UN-DESA and UNESCO),cational reform, Governments need to ensure the working together with other relevant organiza-continuity needed for reform efforts to be fully tions, including UNEP, the OECD and represen-implemented. Progress made in this regard tatives of business and industry, should developshould be regularly monitored at the interna- concrete recommendations for initiatives alongtional level. these lines.

(3) Incorporating Education into National Strategies (5) Analysing and Redirecting Investmentsand Action Plansfor Sustainable Development in Education

28. Education and public awareness should be 30. The proposed review by the international fi-made significant components in regional, national nancial institutions on current investment in edu-and local strategies and plans for sustainable de- cation from the perspective of sustainablevelopment. Governments, working with civil so- development, should also consider financing byciety, the private sector, the education community Governments and by major groups. Based onand others need to ensure such integration. Na- such a review, a strategy for mobilizing greatertional and local governments are encouraged to resources to finance education from all sourcesestablish national and local committees for this should be developed.purpose, which should be interdisciplinary, in-volve all sectors, and ensure full participation of (6) Identifying and Sharing Innovativeboth governmental and non-governmental bod- Practicesies. The United Nations system, in partnershipswith other key international institutions, should 31. It is important to continue to identify and sharebe called upon to assist in the integration of edu- innovative practices in support of education andcational concerns into such strategies and plans public awareness for sustainability, at local, na-at country level. A survey of existing regional and tional, regional and international levels. An in-national strategies and plans to determine the ternational electronic registry is being developedextent to which education has been adequately by UNESCO, with the assistance of the Govern-addressed, initiated by UNESCO, in cooperation ment of the United States, to address this needwith DESA and UNDP, should be completed and by establishing a second generation web site andrecommendations developed on that basis. a knowledge management system for chapter

Innovative case studies from non-conventional(4) Educating to Promote Sustainable sources, such as various major groups including

Consumption and Production Patterns industries, women, youth and NGOs, should beincluded in such an inventory. Regional networks

29. Initiatives are needed to link the work and fora for sharing innovative practices shouldprogrammes on education and on changing be encouraged.


(7) Partnerships in Implementation munity level. Inovative programmes such asthe Youth indicators programme should be

32. The following are some ways in which part- identified, encouraged and new ones devel-nerships can be further strengthened. oped. At the same time, they should be made

part of national dialogues and decision-mak-(i) Public-private cooperation should continue ing on education.

to be enhanced for launching effective edu-cation and training of workers, as well as un- (iv) Women, especially in rural communities, usu-dertaking public awareness campaigns, ally play a key role in the economic as wellincluding through media and advertisement, as in the social and cultural aspects of life.in promoting sustainable consumption and The local community and the household areproduction patterns, use of environmentally important entry points for messages on sus-sound technologies and in communicating tainable development, especially for adultsother key issues of sustainable development. and out-of-school children. Programmes to

strengthen the role of women in these contexts(ii) The involvement of the scientific and techno- should be promoted.

logical community in enriching education,training and awareness-raising programmes (v) Non-governmental organizations are criticalneeds to be enhanced, particularly to promote partners in catalysing action and awarenessthe understanding of crucial sustainable de- raising for advancing sustainable develop-velopment issues of concern at local and na- ment and mobilizing civil society to take ini-tional levels. tiatives in their communities. The role of

NGOs at the national and local levels is(iii) Youth have been important advocates for sus- growing exponentially and their innovative

tainable development, especially at the com- practices should be widely disseminated.

Appendix DThe Ecology of Knowledge

Jerzy Wojciechowski

T here is an essential difference between past This again is not accidental. Let us express theand present problems of humanity. In the relationship between problems and knowledgeearlier epochs there was little effective in the following way:

knowledge, and human beings faced the great-est challenge not from other humans, threaten- Law I. The Size and the Complexitying as they were, but from nature. Nature was of Knowledge-Generated Problemslife-giving but overwhelming. People could fight is Proportional to the Level of Knowledge.other people, but they could only fear and wor-ship nature. The present generation neither fears Whoever reflects on the situation of humanitynor venerates nature. Unbelievable as it may cannot but be struck by the role that Western cul-sound, all the great problems of the present times ture has played in bringing it about. All culturesare direct or indirect efforts of the development develop a system of knowledge, but Western cul-of rational knowledge of its systematic applica- tures have developed the most powerful type oftion to the satisfaction of human desires, as de- knowledge, science, and technology to a highersires are fanned by growing knowledge and the degree than anyone else. Moreover, the West hasresulting ability to do things. always viewed knowledge as the most perfect hu-

The positive feedback existing between knowl- man product and valued in mind as the highestedge and desires is the direct cause of our present human faculty. It is therefore not surprising thatpredicament. Such problems as overpopulation, it considers the continuous development ofpollution, growing inequalities among nations knowledge as a major personal and social goal.and cultures, atomic weapons, and future shock Admirable as this attitude may be, it does raiseare not of nature's making. They are knowledge- some difficult questions.based, human problems. What is more, they are We would have to be very uncritical to imag-the products of Western rationality. We cannot ine that the way Western people think is the bestblame them on accidental developments, on fate, way possible, that their hierarchy of values isor on occult forces beyond our reckoning. All fully satisfactory for solving present problems ofthese problems are the logical outcome of a long- humanity and for guiding it into a more ad-lasting, constantly growing, systematic effort equate, sustainable future mode of existence.of the brightest minds pursuing the Western Obviously, this is not the case. As stated by Lawideal of rational knowledge. The irony of the I, our knowledge generates problems as muchsituation is that the dimension of these prob- as it solves them. The hierarchy of values thatlems is the proof of the scope of the intellec- has fuelled the development of Western culturetual achievements that make them possible. is largely responsible for the situation we are in.

Editor's note: This paper is included as relevant to the conference discussions.

89


It would be rather naive to believe that it does state of knowledge in human history. In order tonot require some improvement. understand the condition of humanity and its

Culture-bashing may be politically correct, but causes, it is essential to realize the role that knowl-we must realize that our culture has failed for the edge and its development plays in producing thissame reason that it has been so successful. It has situation. This is why we are forced to think aboutdeveloped a powerful type of knowledge, and has knowledge, whether or not we are interested inused it efficiently to satisfy human desires. philosophical problems. It seems like a strange

The demiurgic powers unleashed by the de- paradox, but the more knowledge advances, thevelopment of Western rationality have been, un- more we have to worry about it. The more knowl-til recently, our pride and joy. Now they are edge is powerful, the more we have to be con-viewed with increasing concern. This concern has cerned with it and with its impact on us and onnot been addressed by the philosophers who the outside world. The more knowledge there is,have been concerned with questions of the na- the more problematic it is for us, and the moreture of knowledge, problems of truth, and the urgent becomes the problem. Let us express thisobjectivity or logical structure of thinking. Nev- relationship in the form of the following laws:ertheless, they always viewed knowledge as aneminently positive fact, the most perfect achieve- Law II. The Problem of Knowledge Isment of the rational animal. They never looked Proportional to the Level of Knowledge.at the body of knowledge as an entity distinctfrom knowers. Consequently, they never studied Law III. The Urgency of Understanding thethe relationship existing between knowers and Causality of Knowledge Is Proportional tothe body of knowledge (the knowledge con- the Level of Knowledge.struct-KC), and did not ask whether this rela-tionship is always positive or whether it may also These laws go against the traditional perceptionbe at times negative. In light of the present pre- of knowledge in Western culture. It is especiallydicament, this question has to be asked. It means baffling for those who make knowing their pro-that the relationship of the knower to the KC has fession. But the question of the role of knowledgeto be considered in a more critical manner than in causing our present predicament cannot beit has been until now. Perhaps this way we will simply dismissed or overlooked. The impact ofbe able to better understand why the develop- knowledge is too powerful for that; its conse-ment of knowledge is a source of problems. quences too important. Moreover, if we want to

Knowledge is the product of the act of know- understand why the development of knowledgeing. It would seem therefore that knowledge creates a growing moral problem, we will haveshould be more knowable than anything else. to look into this question.This, however, is not the case. Knowledge is ob-scure and difficult to know, and so are its conse- Humans as Demiurgosquences. Contrary to what Plato and his schoolbelieved, every act of knowledge produces im- Science and technology have succeeded andmediate or more distant effects of a diverse na- failed at the same time. Our evaluation of theseture, both in the subjective and objective world. two modes of knowledge depends on how weSome of these effects are intentional, others are look at them. Seen in themselves, they are spec-not; some are foreseeable, many are not; some tacularly successful both in their present ac-are good, others are bad. The important fact is complishments and in the vistas that they openthat the sum total of the consequences of an act up for their further development. Through sci-of knowledge is not a finite set that can be cir- ence and technology we know more and morecumscribed and determined in advance. The pre- about nature and gain increasingly greater do-dicament in which humanity finds itself presently minion over it. In the process we make possibleis the best illustration of this situation. the expansion of the human biomass. However

Our present predicament is not a fortuitous when we look at science and technology in aevent. It occurs at the time of the most advanced larger context, we get a very different picture.

Appendix D: The Ecology of Knowledge 91

It is the other side of the coin that makes us kind of impact on nature a particular human ac-

pause and question the value of our scientific tivity has, but science cannot tell us what the

achievements. place of humans is in nature. To answer this ques-

Because of the success of science and technol- tion we would have to know not only why there

ogy, until recently it looked as if we had found are humans on Earth but also why humans are

the magic formula for an earthly paradise. If the as they are, that is, why do they have the nature

mirage of an earthly paradise is now dissipating they have? To be more precise, why do they have

before our eyes, it is not because we have stopped an intellect capable of producing knowledge that

developing knowledge; it is not because of sci- no other animal can produce? Why does the de-

ence and technology as such that we are begin- sire for knowledge transcend the physical needs

ning to question their value. What has changed is of the human body?our perception of the broader contact in andfrom which Even if science cannot answer these specificthese modes of knowledge are seen and judged. The questions, it does not mean that no progress

context in question is the relationship of humans can be made in trying to elucidate the human-to nature. nature relationship. It is through scientific re-

Either humans are seen as part of nature or as search that we gain a better understanding of

standing above nature. It is worth reminding our- the consequences of human activity, and it is

selves that neither of these views was formed in science that makes us aware of the fact that we

a scientific manner. Both are much older than cannot continue to behave as we do. The cru-

science. The second way of conceiving the cial point in this respect is the realization that

human-nature relationship is much more un- nature is not inexhaustible. If the Earth systemusual. Indeed, it is unique in the world. It is ex- to which we are bound were inexhaustible, it

clusive to Western culture and it has produced would not matter much what we do to it. The

and continues to produce extraordinary conse- ecological problem would be nonexistent, and

quences. As far as we can tell, its source, or at there would be no significant differenceleast its first written expression, is the famous betweeen the consequences of the belief that

sentence in the Book of Genesis. What the He- humans are part of nature and the other belief

braic religion did was to assign to humans a spe- that places them above nature. Consequentlycial position above all other creatures and the development of knowledge would not pose

authorize them to rule over nature. This idea, a moral problem.taken up by Christianity, became the cornerstone Unfortunately, this is not the case. The finite-

of modern Western culture. The ideas of Francis ness of the Earth system does not allow an in-

Bacon and the ideology of progress are the direct definite expansion of human physical activity. At

descendants of this religious conviction. It is in a a certain point the feedback existing between

sense ironic that a religious idea has helped to human activity and its consequences changesshape the worldview of the modern, increasingly from positive to negative. In other words the

nonreligious, culture. This is a perfect illustra- pursuit of satisfaction of our needs and desirestion of the fact, stated earlier, that the sum total turns sour. The situation we are in, because of

of the consequences of intellectual constructs can- our demiurgic powers, forces us to be increas-

not be foreseen or determined in advance. ingly more aware of our condition and of the con-

As we said above, neither of the two ways of sequences of our behavior, whether we like it or

seeing the relationship between humans and na- not. The more we know, the more evident is this

ture is scientific; this is not only because these unpleasant necessity. This is by now public

views are older than science. There is another, knowledge. The question that remains wide

more formal reason for that. Both views imply open is the meaning of the present situation.

value judgments-that one way of looking at Does our predicament have a redeeming value?

nature is better than another. Science instead is Is it an evolutionary device forcing us to evolve

supposed to be an objective, value-free cognition to a higher stage of intellectual and moral devel-

based on observation and formulating verifiable opment, or does it portend doom? One thing is

propositions. Science can and does tell us what certain: The demiurgic power that we have


developed with the aid of our knowledge will nothing new, but the context of responsibility hasnot allow humanity to remain in the present state changed dramatically. The Judeo-Christian sys-for long. tem of ethics is based on the Ten Commandments.

The problem is that the Ten Commandments noMoral Problematic longer encompass the variety of human activi-

ties. If Moses went up Mount Sinai today, heMorals are the field of value judgments. The con- would come back not with ten but with manysequences of knowledge are subject to moral more commandments.judgments and always have been. What is new The development of knowledge renders the ex-is the realization of the ambivalence of their isting ethical systems more and more inadequate.value. The reason for the change in our appre- At the same time, it makes ethical judgments moreciation of the worth of knowledge and its conse- and more necessary. Let us express the relationshipquences is the same as the reason for the change between knowledge and its development on thein the perception of our activity in general- one hand, and the need of ethical considerationsnamely, the realization of the finiteness of natu- on the other, in the following way:ral resources. Basically, it is a question ofproportionality existing between humans and Law IV. The Need for Ethical Evaluationnatural environment. of Knowledge and of Its Consequences Is

As we know from mathematics, there is no Proportional to the Power of Knowledge.definite relationship between a number, no mat-ter how big, and infinity; but there is a relation- Law V. The Adequacy of Traditional Ethicalship between two finite numbers. In the latter Systems Is Inversely Proportional to thecase, the proportionality can be calculated. With Power of Knowledge.the development of the science of ecology andthe preoccupation with a sustainable mode of life, The need to improve the existing systems of eth-we began to calculate the proportionality exist- ics may well be the most valuable consequenceing between us and the nature we depend on for of the development of knowledge and the mostsurvival. This calculation may easily turn out to unexpected as well. It is not unreasonable to im-be the most important mathematical operation ply that the impact of the development of knowl-ever undertaken. edge on ethics is, or at least indicates, the

Ethics involves responsibility. We are respon- metaphysical reason of this development. Fur-sible for what we do consciously and with ad- thermore, it may point to the ultimate characterequate knowledge. Moral responsibility is of the evolution of humanity.

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