Articles

13 Items

Journal Article - Science

Science and Technology for Sustainable Well-Being

| January 25, 2008

"I would urge every scientist and engineer with an interest in the intersection of S&T with sustainable well-being...to 'tithe' 10% of your professional time and effort to working in these and other ways to increase the benefits of S&T for the human condition and to decrease the liabilities. If so much as a substantial fraction of the world's scientists and engineers resolved to do this much, the acceleration of progress toward sustainable well-being for all of Earth's inhabitants would surprise us all."

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Journal Article - Science

Equity and Greenhouse Gas Responsibility in Climate Change Policy

| Sep. 29, 2000

Under the Kyoto Protocol, industrialized nations have approved commitments to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. These commitments apply only to developed nations, reflecting the international consensus that the industrialized countries should take the lead in mitigating climate change.

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Journal Article - Third World Quarterly

Shaping Human Development: Which Way Next?

| August 1, 1999

The United Nations Development Programme's concept of human development, first presented in the 1990 Human Development Report (HDR), distilled the essence of the evolution in development thinking and effectively reoriented the debate by bringing people back into the centre of development. There has been much discussion of the HDRs in the literature and the reports have also evolved somewhat over the years. But the basic concept of human development seems to have become stagnant and the reports have not lived up to their own initial promises. We feel that if the reports are to maintain their position as frontrunners of the development debate, then they must explore further the relationship between the widening of human choices and the framework within which these choices are exercised, as alluded to in the first report itself. Furthermore, the reports should choose to focus explicitly on the role of the richest people and countries in promoting human development, the plight of the poorest people and countries, and on the growing disparities in today's world. The global perspective afforded by such a focus could be coupled to an exploration of the norms and values on which human development should be based. This should lead to an evolving and improved conception of human development that better reflects current global realities and future global aspirations.

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Journal Article - Science

Underinvestment: The Enegy Technology and R&D Policy Challenge

| July 30, 1999

This Viewpoint examines data on international trends in energy research and development (R&D) funding, patterns of U.S. energy technology patents and R&D funding, and U.S. R&D intensities across selected sectors. The data present a disturbing picture: (i) Energy technology funding levels have declined significantly during the past two decades throughout the industrial world; (ii) U.S. R&D spending and patents, both overall and in the energy sector, have been highly correlated during the past two decades; and (iii) the R&D intensity of the U.S. energy sector is extremely low. It is argued that recent cutbacks in energy R&D are likely to reduce the capacity of the energy sector to innovate. The trends are particularly troubling given the need for increased international capacity to respond to emerging risks such as global climate change.

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Journal Article - Climate Change

Avoiding a COP-out: Moving Towards Systematic Decision-Making Under the Climate Convention

| 1998

The third meeting of the Conference of Parties (COP-3) of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) concluded in December 1997 with the signing of the Kyoto Protocol (UNFCCC, 1997). After much deliberation and negotiation, the Parties agreed to the establishment of a set of binding emission targets for developed countries and economies in transition (Annex-I countries)