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GENERAL
A/CONF.151/26 (Vol. III)
14 August 1992
ORIGINAL: ENGLISH
REPORT OF THE UNITED NATIONS CONFERENCE ON
ENVIRONMENT AND DEVELOPMENT
(Rio de Janeiro, 3-14 June 1992)
Chapter 34
TRANSFER OF ENVIRONMENTALLY SOUND TECHNOLOGY, COOPERATION
AND CAPACITY-BUILDING
INTRODUCTION
34.1. Environmentally sound technologies protect the environment, are
less polluting, use all resources in a more sustainable manner, recycle
more of their wastes and products, and handle residual wastes in a more
acceptable manner than the technologies for which they were
substitutes.
34.2. Environmentally sound technologies in the context of pollution
are "process and product technologies" that generate low or no waste,
for the prevention of pollution. They also cover "end of the pipe"
technologies for treatment of pollution after it has been generated.
34.3. Environmentally sound technologies are not just individual
technologies, but total systems which include know-how, procedures,
goods and services, and equipment as well as organizational and
managerial procedures. This implies that when discussing transfer of
technologies, the human resource development and local
capacity-building aspects of technology choices, including
gender-relevant aspects, should also be addressed. Environmentally
sound technologies should be compatible with nationally determined
socio-economic, cultural and environmental priorities.
34.4. There is a need for favourable access to and transfer of
environmentally sound technologies, in particular to developing
countries, through supportive measures that promote technology
cooperation and that should enable transfer of necessary technological
know-how as well as building up of economic, technical, and managerial
capabilities for the efficient use and further development of
transferred technology. Technology cooperation involves joint efforts
by enterprises and Governments, both suppliers of technology and its
recipients. Therefore, such cooperation entails an iterative process
involving government, the private sector, and research and development
facilities to ensure the best possible results from transfer of
technology. Successful long-term partnerships in technology
cooperation necessarily require continuing systematic training and
capacity-building at all levels over an extended period of time.
34.5. The activities proposed in this chapter aim at improving
conditions and processes on information, access to and transfer of
technology (including the state-of-the-art technology and related
know-how), in particular to developing countries, as well as on
capacity-building and cooperative arrangements and partnerships in the
field of technology, in order to promote sustainable development. New
and efficient technologies will be essential to increase the
capabilities, in particular of developing countries, to achieve
sustainable development, sustain the world's economy, protect the
environment, and alleviate poverty and human suffering. Inherent in
these activities is the need to address the improvement of technology
currently used and its replacement, when appropriate, with more
accessible and more environmentally sound technology.
BASIS FOR ACTION
34.6. This chapter of Agenda 21 is without prejudice to specific
commitments and arrangements on transfer of technology to be adopted in
specific international instruments.
34.7. The availability of scientific and technological information and
access to and transfer of environmentally sound technology are
essential requirements for sustainable development. Providing adequate
information on the environmental aspects of present technologies
consists of two interrelated components: upgrading information on
present and state-of-the-art technologies, including their
environmental risks, and improving access to environmentally sound
technologies.
34.8. The primary goal of improved access to technology information is
to enable informed choices, leading to access to and transfer of such
technologies and the strengthening of countries' own technological
capabilities.
34.9. A large body of useful technological knowledge lies in the
public domain. There is a need for the access of developing countries
to such technologies as are not covered by patents or lie in the public
domain. Developing countries would also need to have access to the
know-how and expertise required for the effective utilization of the
aforesaid technologies.
34.10. Consideration must be given to the role of patent protection
and intellectual property rights along with an examination of their
impact on the access to and transfer of environmentally sound
technology, in particular to developing countries, as well as to
further exploring efficiently the concept of assured access for
developing countries to environmentally sound technology in its
relation to proprietary rights with a view to developing effective
responses to the needs of developing countries in this area.
34.11. Proprietary technology is available through commercial
channels, and international business is an important vehicle for
technology transfer. Tapping this pool of knowledge and recombining it
with local innovations to generate alternative technologies should be
pursued. At the same time that concepts and modalities for assured
access to environmentally sound technologies, including
state-of-the-art technologies, in particular by developing countries,
continued to be explored, enhanced access to environmentally sound
technologies should be promoted, facilitated and financed as
appropriate, while providing fair incentives to innovators that promote
research and development of new environmentally sound technologies.
34.12. Recipient countries require technology and strengthened support
to help further develop their scientific, technological, professional
and related capacities, taking into account existing technologies and
capacities. This support would enable countries, in particular
developing countries, to make more rational technology choices. These
countries could then better assess environmentally sound technologies
prior to their transfer and properly apply and manage them, as well as
improve upon already existing technologies and adapt them to suit their
specific development needs and priorities.
34.13. A critical mass of research and development capacity is crucial
to the effective dissemination and use of environmentally sound
technologies and their generation locally. Education and training
programmes should reflect the needs of specific goal-oriented research
activities and should work to produce specialists literate in
environmentally sound technology and with an interdisciplinary outlook.
Achieving this critical mass involves building the capabilities of
craftspersons, technicians and middle-level managers, scientists,
engineers and educators, as well as developing their corresponding
social or managerial support systems. Transferring environmentally
sound technologies also involves innovatively adapting and
incorporating them into the local or national culture.
OBJECTIVES
34.14. The following objectives are proposed:
(a) To help to ensure the access, in particular of developing
countries, to scientific and technological information, including
information on state-of-the-art technologies;
(b) To promote, facilitate, and finance, as appropriate, the
access to and the transfer of environmentally sound technologies and
corresponding know-how, in particular to developing countries, on
favourable terms, including on concessional and preferential terms, as
mutually agreed, taking into account the need to protect intellectual
property rights as well as the special needs of developing countries
for the implementation of Agenda 21;
(c) To facilitate the maintenance and promotion of
environmentally sound indigenous technologies that may have been
neglected or displaced, in particular in developing countries, paying
particular attention to their priority needs and taking into account
the complementary roles of men and women;
(d) To support endogenous capacity-building, in particular in
developing countries, so they can assess, adopt, manage and apply
environmentally sound technologies. This could be achieved through
inter alia:
(i) Human resource development;
(ii) Strengthening of institutional capacities for research and
development and programme implementation;
(iii) Integrated sector assessments of technology needs, in
accordance with countries' plans, objectives and priorities
as foreseen in the implementation of Agenda 21 at the
national level;
(e) To promote long-term technological partnerships between
holders of environmentally sound technologies and potential users.
ACTIVITIES
(a) Development of international information networks which link
national, subregional, regional and international systems
34.15. Existing national, subregional, regional and international
information systems should be developed and linked through regional
clearing-houses covering broad-based sectors of the economy such as
agriculture, industry and energy. Such a network might, inter alia,
include national, subregional and regional patent offices that are
equipped to produce reports on state-of-the-art technology. The
clearing-house networks would disseminate information on available
technologies, their sources, their environmental risks, and the broad
terms under which they may be acquired. They would operate on an
information-demand basis and focus on the information needs of the
end-users. They would take into account the positive roles and
contributions of international, regional and subregional organizations,
business communities, trade associations, non-governmental
organizations, national Governments, and newly established or
strengthened national networks.
34.16. The international and regional clearing-houses would take the
initiative, where necessary, in helping users to identify their needs
and in disseminating information that meets those needs, including the
use of existing news, public information, and communication systems.
The disseminated information would highlight and detail concrete cases
where environmentally sound technologies were successfully developed
and implemented. In order to be effective, the clearing-houses need to
provide not only information, but also referrals to other services,
including sources of advice, training, technologies and technology
assessment. The clearing-houses would thus facilitate the
establishment of joint ventures and partnerships of various kinds.
34.17. An inventory of existing and international or regional
clearing-houses or information exchange systems should be undertaken by
the relevant United Nations bodies. The existing structure should be
strengthened and improved when necessary. Additional information
systems should be developed, if necessary, in order to fill identified
gaps in this international network.
(b) Support of and promotion of access to transfer of technology
34.18. Governments and international organizations should promote, and
encourage the private sector to promote, effective modalities for the
access and transfer, in particular to developing countries, of
environmentally sound technologies by means of activities, including
the following:
(a) Formulation of policies and programmes for the effective
transfer of environmentally sound technologies that are publicly owned
or in the public domain;
(b) Creation of favourable conditions to encourage the private
and public sectors to innovate, market and use environmentally sound
technologies;
(c) Examination by Governments and, where appropriate, by
relevant organizations of existing policies, including subsidies and
tax policies, and regulations to determine whether they encourage or
impede the access to, transfer of and introduction of environmentally
sound technologies;
(d) Addressing, in a framework which fully integrates environment
and development, barriers to the transfer of privately owned
environmentally sound technologies and adoption of appropriate general
measures to reduce such barriers while creating specific incentives,
fiscal or otherwise, for the transfer of such technologies;
(e) In the case of privately owned technologies, the adoption of
the following measures, in particular for developing countries:
(i) Creation and enhancement by developed countries, as well as
other countries which might be in a position to do so, of
appropriate incentives, fiscal or otherwise, to stimulate the
transfer of environmentally sound technology by companies, in
particular to developing countries, as integral to
sustainable development;
(ii) Enhancement of the access to and transfer of patent protected
environmentally sound technologies, in particular to
developing countries;
(iii) Purchase of patents and licences on commercial terms for
their transfer to developing countries on non-commercial
terms as part of development cooperation for sustainable
development, taking into account the need to protect
intellectual property rights;
(iv) In compliance with and under the specific circumstances
recognized by the relevant international conventions adhered
to by States, the undertaking of measures to prevent the
abuse of intellectual property rights, including rules with
respect to their acquisition through compulsory licensing,
with the provision of equitable and adequate compensation;
(v) Provision of financial resources to acquire environmentally
sound technologies in order to enable in particular
developing countries to implement measures to promote
sustainable development that would entail a special or
abnormal burden to them;
(f) Development of mechanisms for the access to and transfer of
environmentally sound technologies, in particular to developing
countries, while taking into account development in the process of
negotiating an international code of conduct on transfer of technology,
as decided by UNCTAD at its eighth session, held at Cartagena de
Indias, Colombia, in February 1992.
(c) Improvement of the capacity to develop and manage environmentally
sound technologies
34.19. Frameworks at subregional, regional and international levels
should be established and/or strengthened for the development, transfer
and application of environmentally sound technologies and corresponding
technical know-how with a special focus on developing countries' needs,
by adding such functions to already existing bodies. Such frameworks
would facilitate initiatives from both developing and developed
countries to stimulate the research, development and transfer of
environmentally sound technologies, often through partnerships within
and among countries and between the scientific and technological
community, industry and Governments.
34.20. National capacities to assess, develop, manage and apply new
technologies should be developed. This will require strengthening
existing institutions, training of personnel at all levels, and
education of the end-user of the technology.
(d) Establishment of a collaborative network of research centres
34.21. A collaborative network of national, subregional, regional and
international research centres on environmentally sound technology
should be established to enhance the access to and development,
management and transfer of environmentally sound technologies,
including transfer and cooperation among developing countries and
between developed and developing countries, primarily based on existing
subregional or regional research, development and demonstration centres
which are linked with the national institutions, in close cooperation
with the private sector.
(e) Support for programmes of cooperation and assistance
34.22. Support should be provided for programmes of cooperation and
assistance, including those provided by United Nations agencies,
international organizations, and other appropriate public and private
organizations, in particular to developing countries, in the areas of
research and development, technological and human resources
capacity-building in the fields of training, maintenance, national
technology needs assessments, environmental impact assessments, and
sustainable development planning.
34.23. Support should also be provided for national, subregional,
regional, multilateral and bilateral programmes of scientific research,
dissemination of information and technology development among
developing countries, including through the involvement of both public
and private enterprises and research facilities, as well as funding for
technical cooperation among developing countries' programmes in this
area. This should include developing links among these facilities to
maximize their efficiency in understanding, disseminating and
implementing technologies for sustainable development.
34.24. The development of global, regional and subregional programmes
should include identification and evaluation of regional, subregional
and national need-based priorities. Plans and studies supporting these
programmes should provide the basis for potential financing by
multilateral development banks, bilateral organizations, private sector
interests and non-governmental organizations.
34.25. Visits should be sponsored and, on a voluntary basis, the
return of qualified experts from developing countries in the field of
environmentally sound technologies who are currently working in
developed country institutions should be facilitated.
(f) Technology assessment in support of the management of
environmentally
sound technology
34.26. The international community, in particular United Nations
agencies, international organizations, and other appropriate and
private organizations should help exchange experiences and develop
capacity for technology needs assessment, in particular in developing
countries, to enable them to make choices based on environmentally
sound technologies. They should:
(a) Build up technology assessment capacity for the management of
environmentally sound technology, including environmental impact and
risk assessment, with due regard to appropriate safeguards on the
transfer of technologies subject to prohibition on environmental or
health grounds;
(b) Strengthen the international network of regional, subregional
or national environmentally sound technology assessment centres,
coupled with clearing-houses, to tap the technology assessment sources
mentioned above for the benefit of all nations. These centres could,
in principle, provide advice and training for specific national
situations and promote the building up of national capacity in
environmentally sound technology assessment. The possibility of
assigning this activity to already existing regional organizations
should be fully explored before creating entirely new institutions, and
funding of this activity through public-private partnerships should
also be explored, as appropriate.
(g) Collaborative arrangements and partnerships
34.27. Long-term collaborative arrangements should be promoted between
enterprises of developed and developing countries for the development
of environmentally sound technologies. Multinational companies, as
repositories of scarce technical skills needed for the protection and
enhancement of the environment, have a special role and interest in
promoting cooperation in and related to technology transfer, as they
are important channels for such transfer, and for building a trained
human resource pool and infrastructure.
34.28. Joint ventures should be promoted between suppliers and
recipients of technologies, taking into account developing countries'
policy priorities and objectives. Together with direct foreign
investment, these ventures could
constitute important channels of transferring environmentally sound
technologies. Through such joint ventures and direct investment, sound
environmental management practices could be transferred and maintained.
MEANS OF IMPLEMENTATION
Financing and cost evaluation
34.29. The Conference secretariat has estimated the average total
annual cost (1993-2000) of implementing the activities of this chapter
to be between $450 million and $600 million from the international
community on grant or concessional terms. These are indicative and
order-of-magnitude estimates only and have not been reviewed by
Governments. Actual costs and financial terms, including any that are
non-concessional, will depend upon, inter alia, the specific strategies
and programmes Governments decide upon for implementation.
END OF CHAPTER 34
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