Science, Technology, and Public Policy

Technological innovation and the politics of global justice are two fields that interact quite extensively in international diplomatic discourse and public debate. Controversial issues, such as accessing essential medicines, reducing greenhouse gases, conserving biological diversity, providing clean energy, and expanding the adoption of green technologies, require answers at the intersection of technological innovation, international diplomacy, and global justice. Our approach is to start off with the broader understanding that justice is rights-based and then proceed to analyze it using a goal-based framework. This brings into sharp focus the relationships between innovation and human rights.

A world environment body would create unnecessary bureaucracy and divert attention from existing goals, says Calestous Juma

At a recent meeting of the World Bank in Paris, Lionel Jospin, the French prime minister, called on the United Nations to establish a world environment organisation to create and enforce environmental regulations. The call reflected the sense of urgency in addressing global environmental problems. But such a proposal might delay, rather than hasten, action.

Juma argues that a new global environmental organization will not replace existing efforts but will add another layer of bureaucracy to an already complex network of treaties and organizations. There is no time to waste on launching a costly, politically divisive and bureaucratic structure.