Timeline Events
Our wiki-timeline maps 40 years of science and technology for development through marking key events and publications on the calendar above (the green area shows the year of publication, while the white area above pinpoints the month). The timeline is also a 'living archive', giving access to some of these key documents. You can quickly and easily add an item to the timeline by using the web form on this page - and together we will build a valuable resource for research and action over the coming decades.
OECD: Achieving the Successful Transfer of Environmentally Sound Technologies
The paper states that in order to successfully transfer environmentally sound technologies, much has to be done both by the developed and developing countries. For example, the paper suggests that there has to be a transfer of know-how, capacity building and technical skills through training. Governments should eliminate tariffs and other trade barriers. Developed countries have to help with financial resources, and new technologies have to be adapted to the recipient country context.
Source: OECD website
Entry submitted by Rosalie Lehel
XIX Ibero American Summit issues Lisbon Declaration
At the close of the XIX Summit held in Portugal (29 November to 1 December, 2009), the 22 heads of state and government of Ibero-America signed the Lisbon Declaration, which underlies their determination to promote innovation and knowledge in the region. The Declaration recognizes the importance of both as essential tools to eradicate poverty, fight hunger, improve populations’ health and achieve sustainable, integrated, inclusive, equitable and environmentally friendly development. One of the commitments contained in the Declaration is the creation of the biennial Ibero-American Forum on Science, Technology and Innovation. Another one is the implementation of an ambitious program in technology innovation and applied technology to strengthen the quality of the labor supply in the region and thus allow for technology transfer.
Entry submitted by Maira Devisscher
World Business Council for Sustainable Development established
The Business Council for Sustainable Development (BCSD) was founded as a corporate lobby group for Rio Earth Summit in 1990 and merged with the World Industry Council on the Environment (WICE) into the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) in1995 (Clapp & Dauvergne, 2005).
WBCSD is global association dealing exclusively with business and sustainability and consists of world leading companies such as Toyota, GE, Posco, Shell, BP and so on (WBCSD, 2010).
It is based on market liberalism which believes technology can overcome environmental problems. WBCSD has been actively engaged in global discussions on the environment and development (Clapp & Dauvergne, 2005).
Industry are important actors for promoting innovation, and WBCSD has contributed toward sustainable development. However, the emergence of such strong associations representing the voice of business can also become a menace to global environmental governance.
Sources:
Clapp, J. & Dauvergne, P. (2005) Path to a Green World: The Political Economy of the Global Environment. London, MIT Press.
WBCSD website http://www.wbcsd.org/templates/TemplateWBCSD5/layout.asp?type=p&MenuId=MQ&doOpen=1&ClickMenu=LeftMenu
Entry submitted by Miki Hirose
“Our Common Future” UN Brundtland Commission Report
The first internationally commissioned document to declare issues of environmental concern and human development as an ‘interlocking crises’.
Following from the UN Conference on the Human Environment, the report highlighted the need to recognise the interdependence of nations and the need for a multilateral approach in solving global development issues.
The concept of ’sustainable development’ was defined famously as:
“Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. It contains within it two key concepts:
• the concept of ‘needs’, in particular the essential needs of the world’s poor, to which overriding priority should be given; and
• the idea of limitations imposed by the state of technology and social organization on the environment’s ability to meet present and future needs.”
This definition has been under close scrutiny since the report’s publication, providing the basis for political and environmental discourse to this day.
Entry submitted by Gyto Pugh
ILO Kenya Employment Mission: Technical Change, Dualism and Employment
In the late 60s and early 70s there was greater attention to the links between technical change and employment. This was evidenced in several reports in which Hans Singer was involved, especially the later 1972 Mission Report to Kenya for the International Labour Organisation, conducted by Hans Singer, Richard Jolly, and Charles Cooper, which highlighted technical change and the application of ‘modern’ capital intensive technology as an important factor in unemployment and underemployment, and from whence came the ‘distribution with growth’ theory. This was embraced in a speech by World Bank president Robert MacNamara to the Bank’s Governors in Nairobi. The speech was followed by the Bank’s landmark change in policy, “Redistribution with Growth”.
UNCTAD established & UNCTAD-I Geneva
The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) was established as a subsidiary organ of the United Nations General Assembly to promote the integration of developing countries into the world economy in order to accelerate their development. At the first conference, UNCTAD-I, in Geneva in 1964, the developing countries established the Group of 77 to voice their concerns (today, the G77 has 131 members). At the time, many developing countries were only recently independent from colonial rule, and made historic challenges to developed countries demanding economic and political independence.
