SCIENCE AGENDA-FRAMEWORK
FOR ACTION
Text adopted by
the World Conference on Science
1 July 1999. Definitive version
PREAMBLE
We, participants in the World Conference
on Science for the Twenty-First Century: A New Commitment, assembled in Budapest,
Hungary, from 26 June to 1 July 1999 under the aegis of the United Nations
Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the International Council
for Science (ICSU), state the following:
Advancing the objectives of international
peace and the common welfare of humankind is one of the highest and most noble goals of
our societies. The creation of UNESCO and of ICSU, more than half a century ago, was a
symbol of the international determination to advance these objectives through scientific,
educational and cultural relations among the peoples of the world.
The above objectives are as valid now as
they were 50 years ago. However, while the means of achieving them have developed
considerably over this half-century through scientific and technological progress, so have
the means of threatening and compromising them. In the meantime, the political, economic,
social, cultural and environmental context has also changed profoundly, and the role of
the sciences (natural sciences such as physical, earth and biological sciences, biomedical
and engineering sciences, social and human sciences) in this changed context needs to be
collectively defined and pursued: hence the grounds for a new commitment.
Having adopted the Declaration on Science
and the Use of Scientific Knowledge, and inspired by the Introductory Note to the
Science Agenda - Framework for Action,
We agree, by common consent, to the present
Science Agenda - Framework for Action, as guidelines and instruments for
action to achieve the goals proclaimed in the Declaration.
We consider that the guidelines for action
formulated hereafter provide a framework for dealing with the problems, challenges and
opportunities confronting scientific research and for the furthering of existing and new
partnerships, both national and international, between all actors in the scientific
endeavour. Such research efforts and partnerships must be consistent with the needs,
aspirations and values of humankind and respect for nature and future generations, in the
pursuit of lasting peace, equity and sustainable development.
1. SCIENCE
FOR KNOWLEDGE; KNOWLEDGE FOR PROGRESS
We commit ourselves to the advancement of
knowledge. We want this knowledge to be at the service of humanity as a whole, and to
produce a better quality of life for present and future generations.
1.1 Role of
fundamental research
Each country should aim at having
high-quality scientific institutions capable of providing research and training facilities
in areas of specific interest. In those cases where countries are unable to create such
institutions, the necessary support should be granted by the international community,
through partnership and cooperation.
The conduct of scientific research should
be supported by an appropriate legal framework at the national and international level.
Freedom of opinion and protection of intellectual rights are particularly important in
this respect.
Research groups and institutions and
relevant non-governmental organizations should strengthen their regional and international
cooperation activities, with a view to: facilitating scientific training; sharing
expensive facilities; promoting the dissemination of scientific information; exchanging
scientific knowledge and data, notably between developed and developing countries; and
jointly addressing problems of global concern.
Universities should ensure that their
programmes in all fields of science focus on both education and research and the synergies
between them and introduce research as part of science education. Communication skills and
exposure to social sciences should also be a part of the education of scientists.
In the new context of increased
globalization and international networking the universities are faced not only with new
opportunities but also with challenges. For example, universities play an
increasingly important role in the innovation system. Universities are responsible for
educating a highly skilled workforce for the future and equipping their students with the
capabilities needed to deal with global issues. They should also be flexible and regularly
update their knowledge. Universities in developed and developing countries should
intensify their cooperation, for example through twinning arrangements. UNESCO could act
as a clearing house and facilitator.
Donor countries and agencies of the United
Nations system are urged to foster cooperation in order to improve the quality and
efficiency of their support to research in developing countries. Their joint effort should
be focused on strengthening national research systems, taking into account national
priorities and science policies.
Professional organizations of scientists,
such as national and international academies, scientific unions and learned societies,
have an important role to play in the promotion of research, for which they should be
given wide recognition and corresponding public support. Such organizations should be
encouraged to further international collaboration on questions of universal concern. They
should also be encouraged to be the advocates of the freedom of scientists to express
their opinions.
1.2 The public
and private sectors
Through participatory mechanisms involving
all relevant sectors and stakeholders, governments should identify the needs
of the nation and give priority to support for the public research needed to achieve
progress in the various fields, ensuring stable funding for the purpose. Parliaments
should adopt corresponding measures and levels of budget appropriation.
Governments and the private sector should
achieve an adequate balance between the various mechanisms for funding scientific
research, and new funding possibilities should be explored or promoted through appropriate
regulation and incentive schemes, with public-private partnerships based on flexible
schemes, and governments guaranteeing the accessibility of generated knowledge.
There should be close dialogue between
donors and recipients of S&T funding. Universities, research institutes and
industry should develop closer cooperation; financing of S&T projects should be
promoted as a means of advancing knowledge and strengthening science-based industry.
1.3 Sharing
scientific information and knowledge
Scientists, research institutions and
learned scientific societies and other relevant non-governmental organizations should
commit themselves to increased international collaboration, including the exchange
of knowledge and expertise. Initiatives to facilitate access to scientific information
sources by scientists and institutions in the developing countries should be especially
encouraged and supported. Initiatives to fully incorporate women scientists and other
disadvantaged groups from the South and North into scientific networks should be
implemented. In this context efforts should be made to ensure that results of
publicly-funded research will be made accessible.
Countries that have the necessary expertise
should promote the sharing and transfer of knowledge, in particular through support to
specific programmes set up for the training of scientists worldwide.
The publication and wider dissemination of
the results of scientific research carried out in the developing countries should be
facilitated, with the support of developed countries, through training, the exchange of
information and the development of bibliographic services and information systems better
serving the needs of scientific communities around the world.
Research and education institutions should
take account of the new information and communication technologies, assess their
impact and promote their use, for example through the development of electronic
publishing and the establishment of virtual research and teaching environments or digital
libraries. Science curricula should be adapted to take into account the impact of these
new technologies on scientific work. The establishment of an international programme on
Internet-enabled science and vocational education and teaching, alongside the conventional
system, should be considered in order to redress the limitations of educational
infrastructure and to bring high-quality science education to remote locations.
The research community should be involved
in regular discussion with the publishing, library and information technology communities
to ensure that the authenticity and integrity of scientific literature are not lost with
the evolution of the electronic information system. The dissemination and sharing of
scientific knowledge are an essential part of the research process, and governments and
funding agencies should therefore ensure that relevant infrastructure and other costs are
adequately covered in research budgets. Appropriate legal frameworks are necessary as
well.
2. SCIENCE FOR
PEACE AND DEVELOPMENT
Today, more than ever, the natural and
social sciences and their applications are indispensable to development. Worldwide
cooperation among scientists is a valuable and constructive contribution to global
security and to the development of peaceful interactions among different nations,
societies and cultures.
2.1 Science for
basic human needs
Research specifically aimed at addressing
the basic needs of the population should be a permanent chapter in every countrys
development agenda. In defining research priorities, the developing countries and
countries in transition should consider not only their needs and weaknesses in
terms of scientific capacity and information, but also their own strengths in terms of
local knowledge, know-how and human and natural resources.
For a country to have the capacity to
provide for the basic needs of its population, science and technology education is a
strategic necessity. As part of this education, students should learn to solve specific
problems and to address the needs of society by utilizing scientific and technological
knowledge and skills.
Industrialized countries should cooperate
with developing countries through jointly defined S&T projects that respond to the
basic problems of the population in the latter. Careful impact studies should be conducted
to ensure better planning and implementation of development projects. Personnel engaged in
such projects should receive training of relevance to their work.
All countries should share scientific
knowledge and cooperate to reduce avoidable ill-health throughout the world. Each country
should assess and so identify the health improvement priorities that are best suited to
their own circumstances. National and regional research programmes aimed at reducing
variations in health among communities, such as collecting good epidemiological and other
statistical data and communicating corresponding best practice to those who can use it,
should be introduced.
Innovative and cost-effective mechanisms
for funding science and pooling the S&T resources and efforts of different nations
should be examined with a view to their implementation by relevant institutions at the
regional and international levels. Networks for human resources interchange, both
North-South and South-South, should be set up. These networks should be so designed as to
encourage scientists to use their expertise for the benefit of their own countries.
Donor countries, non-governmental and
intergovernmental organizations and United Nations agencies should strengthen their
programmes involving science to address pressing developmental problems as indicated in
this Science Agenda while maintaining high quality standards.
2.2 Science,
environment and sustainable development
National, regional and global environmental
research programmes should be strengthened or developed, as appropriate, by governments,
concerned United Nations agencies, the scientific community and private and public
research funding institutions. These research programmes should include programmes for
capacity-building. Areas requiring special attention include the freshwater issue and the
hydrological cycle, climate variations and change, oceans, coastal areas, polar regions,
biodiversity, desertification, deforestation, biogeochemical cycles and natural
hazards. The goals of the existing international global environmental research programmes
should be vigorously pursued within the framework of Agenda 21 and the action plans of the
global conferences. Cooperation between neighbouring countries or among countries
having similar ecological conditions must be supported in the solution of common
environmental problems.
All components of the earth system must be
monitored systematically on a long-term basis; this requires enhanced support by
governments and the private sector for the further development of the global environmental
observing systems. The effectiveness of monitoring programmes depends crucially on the
wide availability of monitored data.
Interdisciplinary research involving both
the natural and the social sciences must be vigorously enhanced by all major actors
concerned, including the private sector, to address the human dimension of global
environmental change, including health impacts, and to improve understanding of
sustainability as conditioned by natural systems. Insights into the concept of
sustainable consumption also demand the interaction of natural sciences with social and
political scientists, economists and demographers.
Modern scientific knowledge and traditional
knowledge should be brought closer together in interdisciplinary projects dealing with the
links between culture, environment and development in such areas as the conservation of
biological diversity, management of natural resources, understanding of natural hazards
and mitigation of their impact. Local communities and other relevant players should be
involved in these projects. Individual scientists and the scientific community have a
responsibility to communicate in clear language the scientific explanations of these
issues and the ways in which science can play a key role in addressing them.
Governments, in co-operation with
universities and higher education institutions, and with the help of relevant United
Nations organizations, should extend and improve education, training and facilities for
human resources development in environment-related sciences, also utilizing traditional
and local knowledge. Special efforts in this respect are required in developing countries,
with the cooperation of the international community.
All countries should emphasize
capacity-building in vulnerability and risk assessment, early warning of both short-lived
natural disasters and long-term hazards of environmental change, improved preparedness,
adaptation, mitigation of their effects and integration of disaster management
into national development planning. It is important, however, to bear in mind that we live
in a complex world with an inherent uncertainty about long-term trends. Decision-makers
must take this into account and therefore encourage the development of new forecasting and
monitoring strategies. The precautionary principle is an important guiding
principle in handling inevitable scientific uncertainty, especially in situations of
potentially irreversible or catastrophic impacts.
S&T research on clean and sustainable
technologies, recycling, renewable energy resources and efficient use of energy should be
strongly supported by the public and private sectors at national and international levels.
Competent international organizations, including UNESCO and the United Nations Industrial
Development Organization (UNIDO), should promote the establishment of a freely accessible
virtual library on sustainable technologies.
2.3 Science and
technology
National authorities and the private sector
should support university-industry partnerships also involving research institutes and
medium, small and micro-enterprises, for promoting innovation, accelerating returns
from science and generating benefits for all the participants.
Curricula relating to science and
technology should encourage a scientific approach to problem-solving. University-industry
cooperation should be promoted to assist engineering education and continuing vocational
education and to enhance responsiveness to the needs of industry and support from industry
to the education sector.
Countries should adopt best practices for
advancing innovation, in a manner best suited to their needs and resources. Innovation is
no longer a linear process arising from a single advance in science; it requires a systems
approach involving partnerships, linkages between many areas of knowledge and constant
feedback between many players. Possible initiatives include cooperative research centres
and research networks, technology "incubators" and research parks, and transfer
and advisory bodies for small and medium enterprises. Specific policy instruments,
including initiatives to encourage national innovation systems to address
science-technology links, should be developed taking into account global economic and
technological changes. Science policy should promote the incorporation of knowledge into
social and productive activities. It is imperative to tackle the issue of the endogenous
generation of technologies starting from problems faced by developing countries. This
implies that these countries should have resources available to become generators of
technologies.
Acceleration of technology transfer to
promote industrial, economic and social development should be supported through the
mobility of professionals between universities and industry and between countries, as well
as through research networks and inter-firm partnerships.
Greater emphasis should be placed by
governments and institutions of higher learning on engineering, technological and
vocational education, also in the form of lifelong learning and through the means of
international cooperation. New curriculum profiles which are consistent with the
requirements of employers and attractive to youth should be defined. In order to mitigate
the adverse impact of asymmetric migration of trained personnel from the developing to the
developed countries and also to sustain high-quality education and research in developing
countries, UNESCO could catalyse more symmetric and closer interaction of S&T
personnel across the world and the establishment of world-class education and research
infrastructure in the developing countries.
2.4 Science
education
41. Governments should accord the highest
priority to improving science education at all levels, with particular attention to the
elimination of the effects of gender bias and bias against disadvantaged groups, raising
public awareness of science and fostering its popularization. Steps need to be taken to
promote the professional development of teachers and educators in the face of change and
special efforts should be made to address the lack of appropriately trained science
teachers and educators, in particular in developing countries.
42. Science teachers at all levels and
personnel involved in informal science education should have access to continuous updating
of their knowledge for the best possible performance of their educational tasks.
43. New curricula, teaching methodologies
and resources taking into account gender and cultural diversity should be developed
by national education systems in response to the changing educational needs of societies.
Research in science and technology education needs to be furthered nationally and
internationally through the establishment and networking of specialized centres around the
world, with the cooperation of UNESCO and other relevant international organizations.
44. Educational institutions should
encourage the contribution of students to decision-making concerning education and
research.
45. Governments should provide increased
support to regional and international programmes of higher education and to networking of
graduate and postgraduate institutions, with special emphasis on North-South and
South-South cooperation, since they are important means of helping all countries,
especially the smaller or least developed among them, to strengthen their scientific and
technological resource base.
46. Non-governmental organizations should
play an important role in the sharing of experience in science teaching and education.
47. Educational institutions should provide
basic science education to students in areas other than science. They should also provide
opportunities for lifelong learning in the sciences.
48. Governments, international
organizations and relevant professional institutions should enhance or develop programmes
for the training of scientific journalists, communicators and all those involved in
increasing public awareness of science. An international programme on promotion of
scientific literacy and culture accessible to all should be considered in order to provide
appropriate technology and scientific inputs in an easily understandable form that are
conducive to the development of local communities.
49. National authorities and funding
institutions should promote the role of science museums and centres as important elements
in public education in science. Recognizing the resource constraints of developing
countries, distance education should be used extensively to complement existing formal and
non-formal education.
2.5 Science for
peace and conflict resolution
The basic principles of peace and
coexistence should be part of education at all levels. Science students should also be
made aware of their specific responsibility not to apply scientific knowledge and skills
to activities which threaten peace and security.
Governmental and private funding bodies
should strengthen or develop research institutions that carry out interdisciplinary
research in the areas of peace and the peaceful applications of S&T. Each country
should ensure its involvement in this work, whether at the national level or through
participation in international activities. Public and private support for research on the
causes and consequences of wars, and conflict prevention and resolution should be
increased.
Governments and the private sector should
invest in sectors of science and technology directly addressing issues that are at the
root of potential conflicts, such as energy use, competition for resources, and pollution
of air, soil and water.
Military and civil sectors, including
scientists and engineers, should collaborate in seeking solutions to problems caused by
accumulated weapon stocks and landmines.
A dialogue should be promoted between
representatives of governments, civil society and scientists in order to reduce military
spending and the orientation of science towards military applications.
2.6 Science and
policy
National policies should be adopted that
imply consistent and long-term support for S&T, in order to ensure the strengthening
of the human resource base, establishment of scientific institutions, improvement and
upgrading of science education, integration of science into the national culture,
development of infrastructures and promotion of technology and innovation capacities.
S&T policies should be implemented that
explicitly consider social relevance, peace, cultural diversity and gender
differences. Adequate participatory mechanisms should be instituted to facilitate
democratic debate on science policy choices. Women should actively participate in the
design of these policies.
All countries should systematically
undertake analyses and studies on science and technology policy, taking into account the
opinions of all relevant sectors of society, including those of young people, to
define short-term and long-term strategies leading to sound and equitable socio-economic
development. A World Technology Report as a companion volume to the present UNESCO World
Science Report should be considered in order to provide a balanced world opinion on
the impact of technology on social systems and culture.
Governments should support graduate
programmes on S&T policy and social aspects of science. Training in legal and ethical
issues and regulations guiding international R&D in strategic areas such as
information and communication technologies, biodiversity and biotechnology should be
developed for scientists and professionals concerned. Science managers and decision-makers
should have regular access to training and updating to cope with the changing needs of
modern society in the areas of S&T.
Governments should promote the further
development or setting up of national statistical services capable of providing sound
data, disaggregated by gender and disadvantaged groups, on science education and
R&D activities that are necessary for effective S&T policy-making. Developing
countries should be assisted in this respect by the international community, using the
technical expertise of UNESCO and other international organizations.
Governments of developing countries and
countries in transition should enhance the status of scientific, educational and
technical careers, and make determined efforts to improve working conditions, increase
their capacity to retain trained scientists and promote new careers in S&T areas.
Programmes should also be set up or promoted to establish collaboration with scientists,
engineers and technologists who have emigrated from these countries to developed
countries.
Governments should make an effort to use
scientific expertise more systematically in policy-making addressing the process of
economic and technological transformation. The contribution of scientists should be an
integral part of programmes supporting either innovation or measures aimed at industrial
development or restructuring.
Scientific advice is an increasingly
necessary factor for informed policy-making in a complex world. Therefore, scientists and
scientific bodies should consider it an important responsibility to provide independent
advice to the best of their knowledge.
All levels of government should establish
and regularly review mechanisms which ensure timely access to the best available advice
from the scientific community drawing on a sufficiently wide range of the best expert
sources. These mechanisms should be open, objective and transparent. Governments should
publish this scientific advice in media accessible to the public at large.
Governments, in cooperation with the
agencies of the United Nations system and international scientific organizations, should
strengthen international scientific advisory processes as a necessary contribution to
intergovernmental policy consensus-building at regional and global levels and to the
implementation of regional and international conventions.
All countries should protect intellectual
property rights, while recognizing that access to data and information is essential for
scientific progress. In developing an appropriate international legal framework, World
Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), in cooperation with relevant international
organizations, should constantly address the question of knowledge monopolies, and the
World Trade Organization (WTO), during new negotiations of the Agreement on Trade-Related
Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), should incorporate into this Agreement
tools aimed at financing the advancement of science in the South with the full involvement
of the scientific community. In this regard, the international programmes of ICSU and the
five intergovernmental scientific programmes of UNESCO should play a catalytic role by, inter
alia, improving the compatibility of data collection and processing, and facilitating
access to scientific knowledge.
3. SCIENCE IN
SOCIETY AND SCIENCE FOR SOCIETY
The practice of scientific research and the
use of scientific knowledge should always aim at the welfare of humankind, be respectful
of the dignity of human beings and of their fundamental rights, and take fully into
account our shared responsibility towards future generations.
3.1 Social
requirements and human dignity
Governments, international organizations
and research institutions should foster interdisciplinary research aimed specifically at
identifying, understanding and solving pressing human or social problems, according to
each countrys priorities.
All countries should encourage and support
social science research to better understand and manage the tensions characterizing the
relations between science and technology on the one hand, and the different societies and
their institutions on the other hand. Transfer of technology should be accompanied by
analysis of its possible impact on populations and society.
The structure of educational institutions
and the design of their curricula should be made open and flexible so as to adjust to the
emerging needs of societies. Young scientists should be provided with a knowledge and an
understanding of social issues, and a capacity to move outside their specific field of
specialization.
University curricula for science students
should include field work that relates their studies to social needs and realities.
3.2 Ethical
issues
The ethics and responsibility of science
should be an integral part of the education and training of all scientists. It is
important to instil in students a positive attitude towards reflection, alertness and
awareness of the ethical dilemmas they may encounter in their professional life. Young
scientists should be appropriately encouraged to respect and adhere to the basic ethical
principles and responsibilities of science. UNESCOs World Commission on the Ethics
of Scientific Knowledge and Technology (COMEST), in cooperation with ICSUs Standing
Committee on Responsibility and Ethics of Sciences (SCRES), have a special responsibility
to follow up on this issue.
Research institutions should foster the
study of ethical aspects of scientific work. Special interdisciplinary research programmes
are needed to analyse and monitor the ethical implications and means of regulation of
scientific work.
The international scientific community, in
cooperation with other actors, should foster a debate, including a public debate,
promoting environmental ethics and environmental codes of conduct.
Scientific institutions are urged to comply
with ethical norms, and to respect the freedom of scientists to express themselves on
ethical issues and to denounce misuse or abuse of scientific or technological advances.
Governments and non-governmental
organizations, in particular scientific and scholarly organizations, should organize
debates, including public debates, on the ethical implications of scientific work.
Scientists and scientific and scholarly organizations should be adequately represented in
the relevant regulating and decision-making bodies. These activities should be
institutionally fostered and recognized as part of scientists work and
responsibility. Scientific associations should define a code of ethics for their members.
Governments should encourage the setting up
of adequate mechanisms to address ethical issues concerning the use of scientific
knowledge and its applications, and such mechanisms should be established where they do
not yet exist. Non-governmental organizations and scientific institutions should promote
the establishment of ethics committees in their field of competence.
Member States of UNESCO are urged to
strengthen the activities of the International Bioethics Committee and of the World
Commission on the Ethics of Scientific Knowledge and Technology and ensure appropriate
representation.
3.3 Widening
participation in science
Government agencies, international
organizations and universities and research institutions should ensure the full
participation of women in the planning, orientation, conduct and assessment of research
activities. It is necessary that women participate actively in shaping the agenda for the
future direction of scientific research.
The full participation of disadvantaged
groups in all aspects of research activities, including the development of policy, also
needs to be ensured.
All countries should contribute to the
collection of reliable data, in an internationally standardized manner, for the generation
of gender-disaggregated statistics on S&T, in cooperation with UNESCO and other
relevant international organizations.
Governments and educational institutions
should identify and eliminate, from the early learning stages on, educational practices
that have a discriminatory effect, so as to increase the successful participation in
science of individuals from all sectors of society, including disadvantaged groups.
Every effort should be made to eliminate
open or covert discriminatory practices in research activities. More flexible and
permeable structures should be set up to facilitate the access of young scientists to
careers in science. Measures aimed at attaining social equity in all scientific and
technological activities, including working conditions, should be designed, implemented
and monitored.
3.4 Modern
science and other systems of knowledge
Governments are called upon to formulate
national policies that allow a wider use of the applications of traditional forms of
learning and knowledge, while at the same time ensuring that its commercialization is
properly rewarded.
Enhanced support for activities at the
national and international levels on traditional and local knowledge systems should be
considered.
Countries should promote better
understanding and use of traditional knowledge systems, instead of focusing
only on extracting elements for their perceived utility to the S&T system. Knowledge
should flow simultaneously to and from rural communities.
Governmental and non-governmental
organizations should sustain traditional knowledge systems through active support to the
societies that are keepers and developers of this knowledge, their ways of life,
their languages, their social organization and the environments in which they live, and
fully recognize the contribution of women as repositories of a large part of traditional
knowledge.
Governments should support cooperation
between holders of traditional knowledge and scientists to explore the relationships
between different knowledge systems and to foster interlinkages of mutual benefit.
FOLLOW-UP
We, participants in the World Conference on
Science, are prepared to act with determination to attain the goals proclaimed in the Declaration
on Science and the Use of Scientific Knowledge, and uphold the recommendations for
follow-up set out hereafter.
All participants in the Conference consider
the Agenda as a framework for action, and encourage other partners to adhere to it.
In so doing, governments, the United Nations system and all other stakeholders
should use the Agenda, or relevant parts of it, when planning and implementing
concrete measures and activities which embrace science or its applications. In this
way, a truly multilateral and multifaceted programme of action will be developed and
carried out. We are also convinced that young scientists should play an important role in
the follow-up of this Framework for Action.
Taking into account the outcome of the six
regional forums on women and science sponsored by UNESCO, the Conference stresses that
special efforts should be made by governments, educational institutions, scientific
communities, non-governmental organizations and civil society, with support from bilateral
and international agencies, to ensure the full participation of women and girls in all
aspects of science and technology, and to this effect to:
promote within the education system the
access of girls and women to scientific education at all levels;
improve conditions for recruitment,
retention and advancement in all fields of research;
launch, in collaboration with UNESCO and
the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), national, regional and global
campaigns to raise awareness of the contribution of women to science and technology, in
order to overcome existing gender stereotypes among scientists, policy-makers and the
community at large;
undertake research, supported by the
collection and analysis of gender-disaggregated data, documenting constraints and progress
in expanding the role of women in science and technology;
monitor the implementation of and document
best practices and lessons learned through impact assessment and evaluations;
ensure an appropriate representation of
women in national, regional and international policy- and decision-making bodies and
forums;
establish an international network of women
scientists;
continue to document the contributions of
women in science and technology.
To sustain these initiatives
governments should create appropriate mechanisms, where these do not yet exist, to propose
and monitor introduction of the necessary policy changes in support of the attainment of
these goals.
Special efforts also need to be made to
ensure the full participation of disadvantaged groups in science and technology, and they
should include:
- removing barriers in the education system;
- removing barriers in the research system;
- raising awareness of the contribution of these groups to
science and technology in order to overcome existing stereotypes;
- undertaking research, supported by the collection of data,
documenting constraints;
- monitoring implementation of and documenting best practices;
- ensuring representation in policy-making bodies and forums.
Although the follow-up to the Conference
will be executed by many partners who will retain the responsibility for their own action,
UNESCO, in co-operation with ICSU - its partner in convening the Conference - should act
as a clearing house. For this purpose, all the partners should send UNESCO information
about their follow-up initiatives and action. In this context, UNESCO and ICSU should
develop concrete initiatives for international scientific cooperation together with
relevant United Nations organizations and bilateral donors, in particular on a regional
basis.
UNESCO and ICSU should submit the Declaration
on Science and the Use of Scientific Knowledge and Science Agenda -
Framework for Action to their General Conference and General Assembly respectively,
with a view to enabling both organizations to identify and envisage follow-up action in
their respective programmes and provide enhanced support for that purpose. The other
partner organizations should do likewise vis-à-vis their governing bodies; the United
Nations General Assembly should also be seized of the outcome of the World Conference on
Science.
The international community should support
the efforts of developing countries in implementing this Science Agenda.
The Director-General of UNESCO and the
President of ICSU should ensure that the outcome of the Conference is disseminated as
widely as possible, which includes transmitting the Declaration and the Science
Agenda - Framework for Action to all countries, to relevant international and regional
organizations and to multilateral institutions. All participants are encouraged to
contribute to such dissemination.
We appeal for increased partnership between
all the stakeholders in science and recommend that UNESCO, in cooperation with other
partners, prepare and conduct a regular review of the follow-up to the World Conference on
Science. In particular, no later than 2001, UNESCO and ICSU shall prepare jointly an
analytical report to governments and international partners on the returns on the
Conference, the execution of follow-up and further action to be taken.
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