Bayer - Eco-Minds - Project Background

About Eco-Minds

Project Background

Sustainable Development has become the overarching philosophy for many development programs. It is a philosophy that seeks to combine environmental principles with equity and human development. The challenge of the 21st century is how to put Sustainable Development into practice.

Science and technology are clearly recognised as key to the attainment of Sustainable Development; however, it is equally clear that socio-economic and cultural factors also play an important role in the successful adoption of science and technology. The UN Millennium Development Summit identified science, technology and innovation as key components in the success of this program.

On Sustainable Development

What is Sustainable Development?

In 1983, the United Nations commissioned a special international group, called the World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED), to study long-term strategies of development. The WCED, which was led by Gro Harlem Brundtland, worked for three years and interviewed hundreds of people from all over the world, seeking their views on development.

In 1987, the WCED published the document entitled: "Our Common Future: A Global Agenda for Change" (Oxford University Press, 1987). The key recommendation of the commission was its advocacy for "Sustainable Development". What, then, is Sustainable Development? In the now famous words of the commission, Sustainable Development was described as: "development that does not take from the resources that future generations will need."
United Nations Millennium Development Goals

Despite the rapid advances of the 20th century, it is clear that many pressing problems continue to face the majority of humanity. The UN Millennium Development Goals (MDG) have acknowledged the importance of Sustainable Development in ensuring environmental sustainability (Goal 7). Thus, MDG seeks to "integrate the principles of sustainable development into country policies and programmes and reverse the loss of environmental resources."
How can we address Sustainable Development?

The call for Sustainable Development has come to mean many things. To name a few:

Inter-generational equity : The present generation must not consume or pollute beyond the capacity of nature to regenerate.

What is meant by "resources"? : While the first things that come to mind are our natural resources, these resources also include human and institutional resources. The natural resources include both our renewable and non-renewable resources, such as: biodiversity, clean water, clean air, energy, minerals, and everything that makes for a healthy environment. The human and institutional resources include: political, economic and social institutions, health and education, and others.

Maurice Strong, Secretary-General of the UN Commission on Environment and Development in 1992, highlighted the importance of institutional resources as follows: "Sustainable Development involves a process of deep and profound change in the political, social, economic, institutional, and technological order."

Science and Technology (S&T): The availability of S&T per se does not ensure Sustainable Development. Indeed, it has been pointed out that, despite its many positive contributions, many of our current environmental and developmental problems stem also from S&T. Further, S&T currently does not have viable solutions to the world's most pressing problems, such as energy, global climate change, and loss of biodiversity.

Clearly then, the challenge of Sustainable Development requires the use of the best science and technology, together with our best social, economic and political tools.