Equity, Economics and Ecology: New Technologies, New Threats?

The 1972 Stockholm Conference could be said to mark the point when the environment became a global issue. Acid rain, an unwelcome by-product of economic growth, had become a trans-national environmental problem in the 1960s to be followed by other environmental problems with global dimensions, and rooted in economic processes. The World Commission on Environment and Development in the 1980s tried to reconcile economic development while preserving the environment enshrined in the concept of "sustainable development". Global problems required global solutions. The path to sustainable development was to be managed through international agreements, such as the Convention on Biological Diversity and Kyoto Protocol, by international institutions. The World was put on the path to sustainable development with the Rio Conference in 1992 and its plan of action, Agenda 21. Agenda 21 aimed amongst other things to provide a just world, with signatories agreeing to abide by a set of principles including:

All social groups to participate in decision making
Accountability in government decision making
South to gain more control over development paths
Technology transfer on favourable terms
Respect for indigenous knowledge and cultural heritage

These principles imply a more equitable governance system in the "global village". The panel will explore to what extent this notion holds true and to what extent these principles have been applied. The speakers will represent the different dimensions of sustainable development: ecological/environmental, economic and social justice. In particular, the following themes will form the focus of the debate:

The idea of the "global village" leads to a "global commons of natural resources" which makes sustainable management of these resources a subject of global concern. Northern agendas tend to focus on the ecological aspects of managing these resources while those of the South tend to focus on economic and social issues. In the "global village" whose voice predominates at the local level and within the international institutions?
There have been strong voices in the North advocating that environmental problems can be cured by the application of technologies. However, do the new technologies threaten rather than protect the environment? Here we will focus on the new bio-technologies with the implications they have for, amongst others, food security and biodiversity. These technologies are often embedded in global value chains. How have these impacted on the existing social inequalities between and within countries?

Chair:

Jon Lovett
Director
Department of Technology and Sustainable Development
University of Twente
Enschede
The Netherlands

Speakers:

Bina Agrawal
Institute of Economic Growth
Delhi
India

Eliakimu Zahabu
Department of Technology and Sustainable Development
University of Twente
Enschede
The Netherlands

Organizer:

Department of Technology and Sustainable Development
University of Twente
P.O. Box 217
7500 AE Enschede
The Netherlands

Parallel Sessions