For other versions of this document, see http://wikileaks.org/wiki/CRS-RS20205 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Order Code RS20205 May 24, 1999 CRS Report for Congress Received through the CRS Web World Conference on Science, June 26-July 1, 1999: Purpose and Issues Genevieve J. Knezo Specialist, Science and Technology Resources, Science, and Industry Division Summary The World Conference on Science, June 26-July 1, 1999 is cosponsored by the International Council for Science and the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization. Over 120 mixed public/private national delegations will discuss controversial issues and will be asked to support a framework for action that focuses on doing more "ethical" and "relevant" science; rectifying gaps between developed and developing countries relating to the conduct of research, technology transfer, ownership of intellectual property rights including indigenous biological resources, and compen- sation for brain drain; and implementing follow-up by UNESCO. The National Academy of Sciences has proposed a private InterAcademy Center for international scientific advice. The U. S. delegation is unlikely to support programs that require new funds or that conflict with U.S. policies. This report addresses issues relevant to formulating U.S. science policy and programs for developing nations. It will be updated after the conference. Background. The World Conference on Science (WCS), Science for the 21st Century--A New Commitment, will be held from June 26-July 1, 1999, in Budapest, Hungary, co-sponsored by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the International Council for Science (ICSU), a nongovernmental organization composed of 95 national science councils or academies, formerly called the International Council of Scientific Unions. The official goal of WCS is to "analyze where the natural sciences stand today and where they are heading, what their social impact has been and what society expects from them. Finally, it will establish what efforts should be invested to make science advance in response to these expectations and to the challenges posed by human and social development."1 It will seek to establish new international guidelines for science policy and a "new social contract for science." An unofficial and probably more realistic goal is to foster better networking and exchange 1 "First Announcement World Conference on Science. Science for the Twenty-First Century: A New Commitment" [http://www.unesco.org/general/eng/programmes/science/wcs/eng/confen.htm]. Congressional Research Service ~ The Library of Congress CRS-2 of views among scientists and between scientists and policymakers. As will be discussed below, WCS discussions are likely to involve some controversial issues, including calls for more public input into decisions about science priorities and applications; proposals for international agencies to fund more indigenous "traditional," as opposed to "modern," research and development (R&D) in some developing nations;2 creation of regional partnerships for cooperation with "southern," or developing country, scientists;3 indigenous ownership of intellectual property rights (IPR) and of biological resources; more equitable ethics for research and for technology transfer; and compensation for brain drain. The policy context relevant to the outcome of the WCS includes failure to implement many recommendations of the 1979 United Nations (UN) conference on science and technology (S&T); U.S. withdrawal from UNESCO; U.S. arrears on dues payments to the UN; and U.S. caution about multilateral S&T development assistance. The WCS will include plenary and panel sessions and is expected to draw between 2000 to 3000 attendees, including 120 official national delegations,4 and others, representing educational and research establishments, scientists, the industrial sector, intergovernmental organizations, nongovernmental organizations, the media, and the general public. Attendance is by invitation. Dr. Neal Lane, Assistant to the President for Science and Technology, will head the U.S. delegation, which also includes Dr. Bruce Alberts, president of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, and other distinguished nongovernmental scientists. See Table 1. Other U.S. scientists will also speak at the meeting.5 Four UN technical agencies will be represented--the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the World Health Organization (WHO), the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO). There will be numerous supplementary meetings held by interest groups and other organizations, and youth meetings hosted by the Hungarian Academy of Science. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, which represents the advanced industrial democracies, will hold parallel sessions on international collaboration in science and on priority setting.6 Also, UNESCO has conducted an Internet survey of youth regarding conference issues. There are "hot links" to the conference planning documents; to national, regional (Africa, Arab States, Asia and Pacific, Europe, North 2 Ehsan Masood, "African Faculties Agree to Link Hands," Nature, March 11, 1999. References in this report to Nature without page numbers are available via an index at [http://helix.nature.com/wcs/]. 3 M.Hassan, "North-south Disparities in the Production and Use of Knowledge," Nature, [http://helix.nature.com/wcs/c00.html] 4 David Dickson, "`Science Summit' Sets Ambitious Agenda," Nature 396, November 26, 1998. 5 U.S. speakers include: Neal Lane, keynote on "The Scientist as Global Citizen;" J. Lubchenco, "A New Social Contract for Science;" B. Moore, "Disturbed Carbon cycle;" M. Frankel, "Normative Issues for Electronic Publishing in Science;" M. Teas, panel on Science Education, chaired by S. Malcolm; J.C. Field, "Open Ocean;" J.N. Galloway, "Human-induced Changes in the Global N Cycle: Implications for Land and Water Ecosystems;" M. Singer, "Advanced in Molecular Genetics and Their Application for Health;" B. Alberts, panel on "Science, Agriculture and Food Security;" J. Lubchenco, "Toward a New Social Contract;" B. Lewenstein, "Initiation of the Scientific Media;" S. Malcom, panel on "The Gender Issue;" P. Berg, "Academia: Science, Industry and Knowledge as a Public Good;" S. Rowland, panel on "Joining Forces for a Sustainable World;" T. Lowi, panel on "Science and Democracy;" C. Rogers, "Listening to Audiences for Science Information;" B. Berlin, "Ethnomedicine: Improving Health Care by Coupling Modern and Indigenous Medical Knowledge." (Draft Progamme: World Conference on Science.) 6 "Five International Agencies Agree to Participate," Nature, April 1, 1999. CRS-3 America, Latin America and Caribbean), and interest group preparatory meetings7; to satellite events for interest groups and students; and to secondary analysis at [http://www.unesco.org/science/wcs/]; [http://www.wcs.budapest.hu]; via Nature at [http://helix.nature.com/wcs/]; and at [http://www4.nas.edu/oia/oiahome.nsf.]. Table 1. U.S. Delegation to the World Conference on Science, June 26 - July 1, 1999, Budapest, Hungary (Source: http://www4.nas.edu/oia/oiahome.nsf) U.S. DELEGATION: Bruce Alberts, President, National Academy of U.S. GOVERNMENT STAFF: Jasemine Chambers, Senior Policy Sciences; Paul Berg, Robert W. and Vivian Cahill Professor in Cancer Analyst, Office of Science and Technology Policy, Executive Office of the Research and Director, Beckman Center, Stanford University School of President; Gerald Hane, Acting Assistant Director for International Medicine; M.R.C. Greenwood, Chancellor, University of California, Santa Affairs, Office of Science and Technology Policy, Executive Office of the Cruz; Neal Lane, Assistant to the President for Science and Technology, President; Brooke Holmes, Director, Office of Science and Technology Executive Office of the President, Office of Science and Technology Policy; Cooperation, Department of State; Ray Wanner, International Leon Lederman, Director Emeritus, Fermi National Accelerator Organization Affairs, Department of State; David E. Schindel, Head, Laboratory; Jane Lubchenco, Distinguished Professor and Wayne and National Science Foundation Europe Office. Gladys Valley, Professor of Marine Biology, Department of Zoology, Oregon State University; Shirley Malcom, Director of the AAAS NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL STAFF: John Boright, Executive Directorate for Education and Human Resources Programs, American Director, Office of International Affairs, National Research Council; John Association for the Advancement of Science; F. Sherwood Rowland, Campbell, Program Director, InterAcademy Programs, National Research Foreign Secretary, National Academy of Sciences and Donald Bren Research Council; Ken Fulton, Executive Director, National Academy of Sciences; Professor of Chemistry and Earth System Science, Department of Chemistry, and Wendy D. White, Director, Division of International Organizations University of California, Irvine; Maxine Singer. President, Carnegie and Academy Cooperation, Office of International Affairs, National Institution of Washington; Michael Southwick., Deputy Assistant Secretary, Research Council. Bureau of International Organization Affairs, Department of State; and Keith Winstein, Student, IMSA. The last international meeting on S&T, the U.N. Conference on Science, Technology for Development, (UNCSTD), was held in 1979 in Vienna, with mixed results. It recommended establishing a large UN fund to support S&T projects in developing countries. This never occurred and accorded with U.S. policy not to contribute to a UN fund, but to use the UN and its agencies "...to play a broker role bringing together potential projects in developing countries with sources of financing and technology in the developed world, including the private sector."8 Also left unresolved was the issue of a code of conduct for technology transfer between developed and developing countries. Among the more successful follow-up activities to UNCSTD was creation of a UN "Intergovernmental Committee on Science and Technology for Development," whose projects were administered by the UN Development Program (UNDP), through UN technical agencies, such as the FAO, and through the World Bank, UNESCO, and the private sector. In 1992, the "Intergovernmental Committee" was replaced by a UN Commission on Science and Technology for Development, as part of the UN Economic and Social Council. Planning and Agenda. The scientific community has played a significant role in WCS planning. In 1997 UNESCO set up a 509-member International Scientific Advisory Board, including the President of ICSU, "to give working scientists a greater say in a planned reform of the way the agency supports science" and to "...help prepare the agenda 7 For instance, physicists have proposed creation of "an impartial international body...under...either the UN or UNESCO to adjudicate `damaging disputes' involving scientific issues, ranging from cold fusion to ...informational issues...." (David Dickson, "Physics workshop Calls for New `Contract' With Society," Nature, April 15, 1999.) There have been preparatory meetings by the Leadership for Environment and Development group, by women's groups, to ensure full participation of women in S&T and its applications, ("Draft Declaration `Pays Insufficient Attention to Women's Issues," Nature, May 13, 1999), and by the "Pontifical Academy of Sciences: Science for Survival and Sustainable Development," Nature. 8 Department of State, United States Participation in the United Nations. Report by the President to the Congress for the Year 1985, 157. CRS-4 for a UN world science conference...."9 In December 1997, to dispel "uncertainty about the value of the...[Conference]," a meeting was "...convened at the initiative of the U.S. National Research Council and involving senior representatives from a dozen American science NGOs and foreign embassies...in Washington, D.C. to hear the [UNESCO] Assistant-Director-general for Science, ...and the President of ICSU."10 Also, the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) was asked to participate in WCS planning.11 UNESCO press papers say the WCS will discuss and "be invited to approve" two documents--the Draft World Declaration on Science and the Use of Scientific Knowledge and the detailed Draft Framework for Action, that will "embody the new commitment that the conference calls for, as well as its implementation." These documents incorporate the views of a background report prepared by ICSU.12 These three documents are available on the Internet. They reflect the complex notions that S&T should be supported because of their benefits to society, but that "science is facing difficulties of confidence and investment, as well as problems of an ethical nature" and that scientists from the developing nations have less access to science than those from the developed nations.13 Some of the sponsors' views may be inconsistent with prevailing views in most industrialized nations and with U.S. national interests. For example, some would disagree with the categorical statements in UNESCO press release 99-66, that says that while scientific progress has promoted development, "the general public is alarmed at both the rate and the direction of progress. The after-effects of the Chernobyl accident and new developments in genetic engineering--whether cloning sheep and cattle or breeding `transgenic' pigs to provide organs for transplantation to man, or creating new strains of food crop--raise fears of `mad scientists' fiddling dangerously with nature." The press release also says that the WCS will challenge the industrialized countries to find solutions to complex issues such as climate change and adequate food, energy and water resources and to do so without "ignoring the two-thirds of humanity that lack the financial, technical and human resources--and perhaps the political commitment--to contribute." Reportedly, UNESCO is also interested in persuading the UN General Assembly to declare the first decade of the millennium as a "Decade for Science."14 The Declaration addresses "four main principles that underlie science in the 21st century:" (in paraphrase) 9 Declan Butler, "The `s' in UNESCO Seeks Out a New Role," Nature, January 23, 1997, 286. 10 "Not Just Another General Conference: A Look to the Future?" Americans for the Universality of UNESCO 14, February 1998, 10. UNESCO's director-general, who reportedly originally conceived the idea for a conference, "made it clear that the Conference