United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization The floating university p. 13

Natural Sciences A World of Quarterly Newsletter

Vol. 2, No. 1

January–March 2004

IN THIS ISSUE EDITORIAL

IN FOCUS The quiet revolution 2 Measuring progress towards knowledge societies cience is not a global endeavour, alas. Just as the world has its info-rich and info-poor, S so too it has its research-rich and research-poor. The digital divide is but a symptom NEWS of the scientific divide. But after the economy and communication, could science, in turn, be globalizing? Caroline 7 Keeping tabs on human Wagner thinks so. A Research Fellow at RAND, a non-profit think tank, she is convinced genetic data that ‘science is becoming a world system’. Wagner notes a 50% increase (to 15% of the total) in the number of articles being internationally co-authored in the ten years to 1997 8 Africa vows to step up Ð still the early days of Internet Ð and calculates that the global network of scientific investment in R&D collaboration consisted of 128 core countries in 2000.

9 Rebuilding Iraq’s universities One of the motors of broader international collaboration has been the development of ties between the diaspora and scientists at home, a process facilitated by the Web. Ana María Cetto 9 Mondialogo challenges wrote in UNESCO’s World Science Report 1998 that an estimated 40Ð60% of all Argentinian, students to engineer Chilean, Colombian and Peruvian researchers were working in industrialized countries ‘where their work is recognized and valued’. In Africa, Bience Gawanas has just deplored, at the First a better world NEPAD Ministerial Conference on Science and Technology (S&T), the haemorrhage of 10 Islam and Science author highly trained experts lost to the continent on account of poor working conditions. among UNESCO laureates Decent working conditions demand sustained investment. It is thus gratifying that the NEPAD meeting should have vowed to raise spending on research and development to 1% INTERVIEW of GDP Ð at least Ð by 2008, a level which would place Africa, in percentage terms, on a par with Central and Eastern Europe. A quantum leap, in sum, if the promise can be 10 Lídia Brito on NEPAD realized; most of the world’s least developed nations are Sub-Saharan. in general and Mozambique There does seem to be a growing awareness of the importance of S&T for development. in particular A study by the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) in this issue reveals that the gap between developed and developing countries is gradually shrinking, albeit at a pedestrian HORIZONS pace with the notable exception of China and the Asian ‘dragons’. Any global survey of S&T today is hampered by imprecise data for many countries. 13 The floating university The UIS and UNESCO’s science policy analysts are currently preparing a review of 17 Margaret’s story progress worldwide in developing-relevant S&T statistics and the difficulties countries encounter in collecting and interpreting such data. IN BRIEF The ultimate goal is to build national statistical systems which are highly responsive to policy and information needs, with UNESCO facilitating this process through standard- 19 Governing bodies setting and the gathering of cross-nationally harmonized data, in particular. 20 Diary W. Erdelen 20 New releases Assistant Director-General for Natural Sciences IN FOCUS

Measuring progress towards knowledge societies

Many of the challenges countries and regions of the world are facing in such areas as sustainable development, economic growth, health care, education and agricultural production are increasingly subsumed to a common denominator: developing knowledge societies and economies. While the process towards knowledge societies is driven to a large extent by the industrialized countries, it is now widely recognized that ‘catching up’ in areas like those mentioned above depends crucially on each country acquiring, developing, managing and properly applying appropriate knowledge. Major factors underlying this trend are global institutions (such as the World Trade Organization, the various development banks and the United Nations system) and agreements, as well as the spread of information and communication technologies.

There are, of course, huge discrepancies between countries diffusion of knowledge, S&T performance and the and (sub-)regions in their approaches to building a ‘productivity’ of the economy, the education system and knowledge society. The form this process takes differs the information infrastructure. These are now being used in greatly for instance between the rapidly growing economies the European Union to give a bird’s eye view of investment of China, Brazil or the newly industrialized Asian and performance in the ‘knowledge’ economy. Even economies (the ‘dragons’), on the one hand, and what we unsophisticated indicators, however, can identify very real are seeing in many resource-based economies, on the other. trends in development. And while the need to follow this path does not go unnoticed in many of the poorer countries, the difficulties A snapshot of global investment in R&D today in jumping on the bandwagon are enormous and the process itself is sometimes perceived as only widening the gap Here, we limit our world survey to a few straightforward between them and the richer countries of the world. indicators of input to research and development (R&D) in Knowledge underpinning development is, of course, not terms of human and financial investment. equal to scientific knowledge. But no country will be able In 2001, the UNESCO Institute for Statistics published a to achieve and durably maintain prosperity and a high report on The State of Science and Technology in the World quality of life without using the results of science and 1996Ð1997. An R&D survey conducted since then of ensuring a well-educated population. Similarly, equitable UNESCO’s Member States, combined with data taken from and sustainable development can only be achieved if all such international sources as the Latin American Network countries Ð and men and women everywhere Ð share in for S&T Indicators (RICYT), OECD, Eurostat and the developing and using science. World Bank, has enabled the Institute to update these figures to 20001. The following analysis presents no more than a Measuring and monitoring progress snapshot of emerging trends; a more in-depth study will be published in a forthcoming UNESCO report on science. Can we see the world’s countries and regions moving towards knowledge societies? Can we measure and monitor this Figure I process? And, conversely, can we interpret whatever World GDP, population and R&D resources in 2000 information we collect on how countries invest in science and use it in terms of progress towards a knowledge society? World GDP World GERD Developing Countries Developing Countries There is a long tradition of collecting data on the efforts 42% 20% of public and private actors in science and technology (S&T), and of turning these data into indicators of a country’s performance. We are used to trying to measure not only input Ð basically investment Ð in S&T, but also Developed Countries Developed Countries 58% output: what do we get in return for our investment? 80% Developed World Population Developing Countries World As we come to understand better how companies and Countries 28% Researchers societies benefit from S&T, there is a growing need for 21% increasingly sophisticated, complex and broader indicators of the actual processes that lead to prosperity and quality of life. A very useful tool for both policy-making and public

debate on a country’s performance, for instance, are Developed Countries Developing Countries 72% compound indicators that combine data on the creation and 79% Source: UIS estimates July 2003

2 A World of SCIENCE, Vol. 2, No. 1, January–March 2004 Oceania Emerging trends in financial investment in R&D North America Asia 1.1% 37.7% 30.5% Although there was a decline in the share of global GERD between 1997 and 2000 in North America (down from 38.2% to 37.7%), the European Union (down from 25.2% to 23.4%) and Japan (down from 15.2% to 13.2%), the triad still dominates world GERD (Figures II and III). The only region to see its participation in world GERD progress is Africa 0.6 % Latin America & Caribbean Asia; its share rose from 27.9% in 1997 to 30.5% three Europe 2.9% years later, a result all the more impressive in light of the 27.2% Source: UIS estimates July 2003 downturn in Japan’s own world share of GERD. Figure II If we dwell for a moment on Japan, it is interesting to Shares of world GERD in 2000 note that, even if growth in expenditure on R&D levelled By region off during the period under study, it still progressed at a faster pace than the economy as a whole (GDP rising only Global gross expenditure on R&D (GERD) rose to an slightly from $PPP 3000 billion to $PPP 3151 billion). As estimated $PPP 746 billion in 2000, up from we have seen above, the increase in GERD (up to $PPP 547 billion in 1997. The volume of R&D investment $PPP 99 billion from $PPP 83 billion) did not prevent a has increased in absolute terms nearly everywhere Ð if at slight erosion in Japan’s share of world GERD. varying rates Ð and in any event much faster than the stock The rise in Asia’s participation in GERD is explained by of full-time equivalent (FTE) researchers, up by only 1.7% significant growth in the world shares of China (6.7% as to just under 5.3 million over the same period. compared to 3.9% in 1997) and the ‘dragons’ (from 4.9% to Even if the general situation of the developing world 6.5%). These countries represent a dramatic progression in remains far from satisfactory, there are signs that the gap investment in R&D. In the case of China, the trend is may be closing little by little. Earlier UNESCO estimates accompanied by sustained strong economic growth, with had suggested that, in 1985, the developing countries represented as little as 12% of total researchers. By 1997, Figure III this figure had climbed to 28%, although it has stagnated Shares of world GERD in 2000. By region/principal countries since (Figure I). Other gaps seem to be shrinking: between 1997 and 2000, the share of GDP of the developing OECD Countries 80.4 countries increased by some 3% to approximately 42% and Developed Countries 80.1 their share in world GERD rose from just under 16% to North America 37.7 20%. This compares with a population size of 79% of the United States of America 35.6 world total in 2000, as opposed to slightly less than 78% in Asia 30.5 1997 and 76% in 1985. Europe 27.2 European Union 23.4 Developing Countries Could the notions of developed and developing 19.9 Japan 13.2 be blurring the picture? Germany 7.1 China 6.7 The very notions of ‘developed’ and ‘developing’ are Newly Industrialized Economies (in Asia) 6.5 increasingly blurring the true picture. The positive France 4.4 developments are to a large extent concentrated in a few United Kingdom 3.6 regions or even a few countries. And grouping some of the Latin America & Caribbean 2.9 very low-income countries in the Commonwealth of Other Asia 2.3 Community of Independent States (All) 1.8 Independent States (CIS) as ‘developed’ when Singapore, Community of Independent States (in Europe) 1.7 the Republic of Korea and the like are still ‘developing’ India 1.6 shows that statistically meaningful conclusions are better Russian Federation 1.4 drawn at a more disaggregated level. Brazil 1.4 What one can say is that the share of the traditional ‘big- Central & Eastern Europe 1.2 spenders’ on R&D, namely Europe, North America and Oceania 1.1 Japan (the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics Africa 0.6 Sub-Saharan Countries (excl. Arab-states) (USSR) having slipped from this group) is diminishing as 0.4 South Africa 0.3 the circle of countries contributing considerably Ð and Argentina 0.3 increasingly so Ð to GERD and R&D personnel widens. Arab States (All) 0.2 Even if we only discuss ‘input’ to R&D here, most of the Arab States in Africa 0.1 commonly used ‘output’ indicators (bibliometrics, patents, Community of Independent States (in Asia) 0.1 Arab States (in Asia) 0.1 international high-tech trade) show a similar phenomenon. Source: UIS estimates July 2003 0102030405060708090

A World of SCIENCE, Vol. 2, No. 1, January–March 2004 3 IN FOCUS

Japan 2.9 progressed from 1.0% to 1.2%. The accession of United States of America 2.8 10 countries to the European Union in 2004, including North America 2.7 Germany 2.6 Poland and Hungary, will naturally boost the European OECD Countries 2.3 Union’s world share. Developed Countries 2.3 Latin America and the Caribbean, the all-African France 2.2 Source: UIS estimates July 2003 continent and Oceania still only make a modest United Kingdom 1.9 contribution to world GERD and their roles appear in European Union 1.9 WORLD 1.7 decline (from 3.1% to 2.9% in Latin America, from 1.3% Newly Industrialized Economies (in Asia) 1.7 to 1.1% in Oceania and from 0.7 to 0.6% in Africa). In the Europe 1.7 Latin American and Caribbean group, about half the Oceania 1.5 estimated R&D effort may be attributed to Brazil; for its Asia 1.4 part, South Africa accounts for broadly the same share as Other Asia 1.0 the remainder of the entire African continent. (In passing, China 1.0 Russian Federation 1.0 it is interesting to note that the funding structure of South Central & Eastern Europe 0.9 Africa differs little from the median for the OECD Brazil 0.9 countries: national firms currently fund some 50% of Community of Independent States (All) 0.9 South-African R&D, the government sector 33%, other Community of Independent States (in Europe) 0.9 national sources 10% and foreign funds the remainder.) Developing Countries 0.8 South Africa 0.7 Two groupings of countries span two continents. The Latin America & Caribbean 0.6 Arab States stretch over parts of Africa and Asia, and the India 0.5 CIS Ð the former USSR Ð over Europe and Asia. Whereas Argentina 0.4 the Arab States’ already small contribution to world GERD Sub-Saharan Countries (excl. Arab-states) 0.3 has declined in relative terms from 0.4% to 0.2%, a small Community of Independent states (in Asia) 0.3 expansion is observed in the CIS, from 1.5% to 1.8%, Africa 0.3 Arab States in Africa 0.2 essentially underpinned by the recovery of the Russian Arab States (All) 0.2 Federation after a decade of absolute decline or, at best, Arab States (in Asia) 0.1 stagnation. Nearly 85% of overall Arab GERD was 0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 3.5 performed in the following seven countries in the late 1990s: Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Figure IV Syria and Tunisia, the fifteen remaining states of the Arab GERD as a percentage of GDP in 2000 By region/principal countries League together accounting for the remainder. Several of the most R&D-intensive Arab States are GDP increasing from $PPP 3543 billion in 1997 to geographically situated on the African continent and their $PPP 5029 billion (still at current prices) only three years R&D is strongly supported by public finance. In the past later. In comparison, GDP rose in the USA over the same 10Ð15 years, R&D resources have seriously dropped in the period from $PPP 7511 billion to $PPP 8868 billion. The countries of ‘median Africa’ and what little R&D is being leap in GERD for China is equally spectacular: from performed there is essentially project-financed from abroad $PPP 21 billion to $PPP 50 billion. With $PPP 48 billion, by international agencies, NGOs and, in exceptional cases, the ‘dragons’ have now fallen slightly behind China in by industrial corporations. terms of R&D investment but this amount still represents a In 1997, nearly 85% of all R&D performed around the significant increase from just under $PPP 27 billion in world could be credited to the Member countries of the 1997. The ‘dragon’ countries have managed to withstand OECD. This share had dropped to around 80% by 2000, a the financial crisis of the late 1990s and chosen to increase decline explained by the retreating shares of North massively investment in R&D, despite limited growth in America, the European Union and Japan. GDP (from $PPP 2323 billion to $PPP 2866 billion). Turning to India, we find that its world share of GERD Comparing financial resources actually dropped slightly between 1997 and 2000, from 2.0% to 1.6%. National investment in R&D (up from just GERD as a percentage of GDP is the most commonly used under $PPP 11 billion to $PPP 12 billion) has indeed indicator for international comparisons and for defining failed to keep pace with healthy growth in GDP (from national policies for S&T. High-income countries usually $PPP 1530 billion to $PPP 2242 billion). However, this spend considerably more than 1.5% of GDP on R&D and trend may be reversed in the next few years. The even up to 3% in some cases, a figure which is now the Government of India has since bolstered research spending European Union’s policy target for 2010. Still higher ratios and plans further increases (see Comparing financial are observed in a number of much smaller economies, such resources). as Israel (4.4%) and Sweden (3.8%). India has set itself a Within Europe, the Russian Federation’s share is up to target which would place it among the nations of the world 1.4% from 1.0% and Central and Eastern Europe has which devote the greatest share of GDP to R&D: it plans

4 A World of SCIENCE, Vol. 2, No. 1, January–March 2004 governments recently reaffirmed their determination to raise Oceania spending on R&D to 1% of GDP (see p.8). 1.4% North America 22.7% Spending on R&D in Latin America and the Caribbean broadly represented some 0.6% of the region's GDP in Latin America & 2000, an increase of one decimal point over the previous Asia Caribbean study, with a median intensity of around 0.27% (the level of 38.5% 2.4% Costa Rica). Brazil reported the highest GERD/GDP ratio

for Latin America (just under 0.9% in 1999), closely Africa Europe followed by Cuba (0.8%). The figure for Mexico, the 1.2% 33.8% region's only OECD member, was 0.4% in 1999. Source: UIS estimates July 2003 Figure V Be it north or south of the Sahara, Africa remains by far World researchers in 2000 the least R&D-intensive of the continents. Sub-Saharan By region Africa allocates only 0.3% of its resources to R&D, the most R&D-oriented country being South Africa (0.7%). to hoist research spending to 2% of GDP by 2007, The Arab States (in Africa and Asia combined) devote only according to a national policy document published in 2003. 0.2% of their resources to R&D. This low figure merits a Indicative of India’s commitment, GERD had already more detailed look to ascertain to what extent the overall climbed to 1.08% of GDP by 2002. Arab GDP is inflated by the values of important petroleum In 2000, approximately 1.7% of world GDP was devoted production figures (although not all the states concerned are to R&D, compared to 1.6% in 1997 (Figure IV). The all- oil producers). In point of fact however, the presence of OECD ratio for 2000 was around 2.3% and that of the researchers from the Arab region, albeit negligible by European Union approximately 1.9%, compared to 2.2% international standards, is still about three times higher and 1.8% respectively in the previous analysis. Within the (0.6%) than the region’s share of world GERD. group of OECD countries, the median GERD/GDP ratio Regional ratios are, of course, directly biased by the hovered around 1.8%, approximately the level of Canada. weight of the major countries (Brazil, South Africa, China, The great majority of countries around the world, however, Japan, etc.), which can cloak the reality of other countries still spend only a tiny fraction of GDP on R&D. For most of in the same region. these, the GERD/GDP ratio was even smaller in 2000 than in 1997. There are winds of change in Africa, however, where Standing up to be counted

Figure VI Researchers per million inhabitants in 2000 There were some 876 research scientists and engineers By region/principal countries (RSE) per million inhabitants worldwide in 2000, down from 985 in 1997. This overall decline is explained by the Japan 5206 rapid population growth in the developing countries, for United States of America 4006 which the number of RSE fell from 347 to 313 per million North America 3904 between 1997 and 2000. The indicator remains unchanged Russian Federation 3464 in the developed regions over the same period. We are Germany 3109 Developed Countries 3034 seeing a very low presence of RSE in the Arab States and, Community of Independent States (in Europe) 3016 above all, in Africa (Figure VI). OECD Countries 2830 Japan is the most R&D-intensive of the major players in European Union 2458 R&D, outstripping both the USA and the Russian Europe 2458 Federation. Again, there are large disparities both between Oceania 2399 and within regions. Central & Eastern Europe 1280 930 Community of Independent States (in Asia) Conditions that favour brain drain WORLD 876 Newly Industrialized Economies (in Asia) 591 China 554 Expenses per researcher (Figure VII) in a country are Asia 552 composed of three elements: his/her own salary, the salaries Developing Countries 313 of technical and support staff, and the average amount of South Africa 309 capital and other expenses per researcher, with the total Other Asia 289 salary element typically representing more than half of the Latin America & Caribbean 251 total Ð and often up to two-thirds or more Ð depending on Arab States in Africa 169 the sector or the discipline of R&D. India 143 Arab-States (All) 124 The UIS figures for GERD per researcher in absolute Africa 78 terms, as well as relative to GDP per capita, suggest several Sub-Saharan countries (excl. Arab-States) 51 important issues for governments wishing to build up

Arab States (in Asia) 38 Source: UIS estimates July 2003 effective and sustainable R&D systems in terms of salaries 0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 6000

A World of SCIENCE, Vol. 2, No. 1, January–March 2004 5 IN FOCUS

and a proper working environment that provides access to United States of America 238 capital equipment, instruments and other research facilities. North America 233 What is certain is that countries which pay RSE low Germany 207 salaries Ð certainly in terms of GDP per capita when France 196 compared with other countries Ð are the first to fall victim OECD Countries 191 Brazil 190

to brain drain. Source: UIS estimates July 2003 Newly Industrialized Economies (in Asia) 184 European Union 180 A new phenomenon United Kingdom 170 Latin America & Caribbean 167 In a new twist, we are seeing the phenomenon of ‘brain South Africa 163 drain’ not of people but of jobs: a Deloitte survey of 600 Arab States (in Asia) 161 firms in Western Europe and North America in October Developed Countries 158 20033, for example, shows that 14% of these firms have Japan 150 WORLD 141 R&D activities in China, a figure that is expected to rise to Oceania 120 20% in three years’ time. This trend is reflected in the Europe 114 share of foreign expenditure in total Chinese R&D Asia 112 expenditure. Sub-Saharan Countries (excl. Arab-States) 102 It can reasonably be expected that private companies will Developing Countries 99 increasingly set up research activities abroad, including in Argentina 93 a wider spectrum of developing countries. This is not yet Other Asia 89 India 85 clearly visible from the current data but will no doubt show Africa 69 up in the future. China 72 Central & Eastern Europe 56 There’s no turning back Arab States (All) 48 Arab States in Africa 35 It is clear that the problems of collecting truly comparative Russian Federation 21 data and making sense of them are huge for the many Community of Independent States (in Europe) 20 Community of Independent States (All) 19 countries which play only a minor role in S&T. Community of Independent States (in Asia) 9 Yet the stakes are high. No single country has succeeded 050100 150 200 250 300 350 in achieving and sustaining high levels of prosperity and

comfort without investing in S&T and exploiting them. Figure VII The effort therefore must be sustained. As we have seen in GERD per researcher in 2000 (in thousands $PPP) the foregoing, even the most straightforward of input data By region/principal countries can offer a solid base for policy-making and point to very real trends in development. More often than not, alas, these trends are only too indicative of the snail’s pace at which 1. Data for some countries may be for 1999. Similarly, data for 1997 may we are progressing towards the overall goal of equitable be for 1996 in some cases: www.unesco.org/uis global development. 2. Purchasing power parities 3. www.deloitte.com

4 5 4. UNESCO consultant, former OECD statistician Gunnar Westholm , Bertrand Tchatchoua 5. Statistician at UIS and Peter Tindemans6 6. Science policy analyst, former OECD Megascience Forum Chair

‘Science is becoming a world system’

Caroline Wagner, Research Fellow at the non-profit think tank RAND, notes a 50% increase in the number of articles being internationally co-authored in the ten years to 1997, henceforth 15% of the total. 'Science is becoming a world system', she claims. All regions have developed their international collaboration, with the notable exception of the Middle East. As many as 50 countries could now be labelled 'scientifically proficient', according to Wagner, who estimates that the global network of scientific collaboration consisted of 128 core countries in 2000. Wagner made these observations in her paper entitled Can the Global Network of Science Contribute to Development?, presented to the IDRC-UNESCO meeting in April 2003 on Future Directions for National Reviews of Science, Technology and Innovation in Developing Countries. For further information: [email protected]

6 A World of SCIENCE, Vol. 2, No. 1, January–March 2004 NEWS

Keeping tabs on human genetic data Human genetic data tell us a great deal and

promise to tell us much more. Yet, like many other Elena Kozlova, Moscow State University aspects of the ongoing genetic revolution, they © pose as many problems as they resolve. Many people fear they lend themselves to uses that are contrary to justice and civil liberties, and open the door to discrimination by employers, insurance companies and others. The International Declaration on Human Genetic Data adopted by UNESCO’s General Conference on 16 October addresses these concerns. By establishing ethical principles governing the collection, processing, storage and use of human genetic data, the Declaration should guide states in formulating national legislation and policies which respect human dignity and fundamental freedoms, while giving due consideration to freedom of thought Strollers in Iceland’s capital, Reykjavik. Iceland is one of several and expression, including freedom of research. countries which have decided to undertake a genetic census of their entire population Collected from biological samples (blood, tissue, saliva, sperm, etc.), human genetic data are playing an increasingly international instrument on human genetic data through its important role in our lives. They are already providing answers International Bioethics Committee (IBC). The Declaration to questions asked by judges and police: proof of paternity, adopted in October is the result of the IBC’s deliberations but identity of a sex criminal or of an accident victim. To varying also of an extensive international consultation. Discussions on degrees, they are also answering medical questions: genetic the Declaration’s content continued right up until its adoption, tests can already predict such diseases as the degenerative, to take into account the widest possible range of situations, hereditary Huntington’s chorea. Other, less conclusive tests Ð including unequal scientific development but also more or less indicating only a predisposition Ð provide invaluable developed legislation in this domain. information for prevention. Research based on human genetic The option of a declaration, which is not a legally binding data is extremely promising and likely to lead to more tests of instrument, was chosen in favour of a convention to facilitate increasing reliability, as well as to new approaches for consensus and allow for adaptations in a domain where the understanding and treating innumerable diseases. variety of situations covered, and the complexity of the As a result, human genetic data banks are multiplying. subject, is constantly evolving with new scientific discoveries. Given that today even the smallest hospitals possess, if not The respect of international laws protecting human rights is the processed genetic data, at least a collection of DNA samples principal safeguard and a recurring theme evoked each time ready for processing, it is difficult to know how many banks the Declaration allows exceptions or restrictions to the major exist. The largest, of them have already gone beyond the mark principles it sets out. of one million data. The trend is irreversible and entire For example, the Declaration emphasizes at the collection countries Ð Iceland and Estonia soon, Latvia and Tonga stage, ‘prior, free, informed and express consent, without thereafter Ð have decided to undertake a genetic census of their inducement by financial or other personal gain’ of the person entire population. providing the data. Limitations are possible but ‘should only One issue is that of property. Common sense suggests that be prescribed for compelling reasons by domestic law, my blood, my saliva, etc, belong to me. But do they no longer consistent with the international law of human rights.’ The belong to me once they have been extracted from my body? right to withdraw consent is affirmed, ‘unless such data are Without claiming an absolute property right, do I not at least irretrievably unlinked to an identifiable person.’ have a say in what use is made of my cells or a product derived The Declaration considers that data collected for one from my cells? Sometimes, this right is recognized: in the use purpose should not be used for another purpose incompatible of embryonic stem cells, certain legislations authorize research with the original consent. When a husband gives a sperm but demand the consent of the couple who, in the course of sample to help police investigating his wife’s rape, for fertility treatments, provided one of their multiple embryos. example, he believes that the sample (used in a process of It had become urgent to establish ethical guidelines. elimination) will be destroyed, along with the genetic data UNESCO, which had already drawn up the Universal extracted from it. In many cases, he is wrong: the data end up Declaration on the Human Genome and Human Rights, in police files where suspects, non-suspects and even victims adopted in 1997 Ð therefore undertook the drafting of an are thrown together, simply for technical reasons.

A World of SCIENCE, Vol. 2, No. 1, January–March 2004 7 NEWS

The key issue at the processing stage is confidentiality. The foundations of a continental forum which would develop a Declaration stipulates that genetic data linked to an strategy and plan of action for S&T. Such a plan, he said, identifiable person may neither be disclosed nor made would need to identify both projects and a calendar for their accessible to third parties, in particular employers, insurance execution, as well as necessary actions at the national, regional companies, educational institutions and families, except for an and continental levels. important public interest reason in cases restrictively provided Walter Erdelen, Assistant Director-General for Natural for by domestic law that is consistent with the international Sciences at UNESCO, applauded this approach. He urged law of human rights. ‘The privacy of an individual NEPAD to make the African Ministerial Conference on S&T a participating in a study using human genetic data, proteomic permanent mechanism, in order to harmonize S&T policy both data or biological samples should be protected and the data between countries and between the different sectors of the should be treated as confidential,’ states the text. economy (industry, education, research, etc). Recalling the On sharing benefits, the Declaration affirms, ‘In accordance high priority UNESCO accords NEPAD, he offered to work with domestic law or policy and international agreements, hand in hand with the NEPAD Secretariat to design and benefits resulting from the use of human genetic data, implement NEPAD’s plan of action for S&T. proteomic data or biological samples collected for medical and One of the problems African scientists face is that of being scientific research should be shared with society as a whole cut off from the economic system. Ministers discussed ways of and the international community.’ developing universityÐindustry partnerships, technology The Declaration proposes that independent, incubators, innovation hubs and the like. In the Declaration, multidisciplinary and pluralist ethics committees be promoted they undertake to promote a dialogue between stakeholders in and established at national, regional, local or institutional S&T and to elaborate an appropriate regulatory and policy levels. It also calls for bilateral and multilateral agreements to environment, including intellectual property protection, to enable developing countries to build their capacity to share encourage private investment in R&D. They also plan to scientific information and generate knowledge concerning develop and adopt common sets of indicators to benchmark human genetic data. their national and regional systems of innovation. The Outline of A Plan of Action is to serve as the basis for the elaboration Pierre Gaillard7 of NEPAD’s Commercial Project for S&T between now and November 2004. Read the Declaration at: www.unesco.org/shs/bioethics Ministers resolve to build consensus and strategies to address concerns emerging with advances in new technologies, including biotechnology, nanotechnology and ICTs. They Africa vows to step up undertake to improve bilateral and multilateral co-operation and investment in R&D to put in place national and regional programmes promoting public understanding of S&T and their role in development. The Ministers of S&T of 20 African countries have reaffirmed their commitment to increasing public spending on R&D to at least 1% of GDP within five years. This endorsement is enshrined in the

Declaration and Outline of A Plan of Action adopted Horst W. UNESCO / © by the First NEPAD Ministerial Conference on S&T in Johannesburg (South Africa) on 3–7 November. Were the 1% target to be realized, it would constitute a mini-revolution for the African continent, where South Africa is currently the only country to devote as much as 0.7% of the public purse to R&D.

The Conference was hosted by the NEPAD secretariat in collaboration with the South African Ministry of Art, Culture, Science and Technology, represented by the Minister, Dr Ben Ngubane. A Council of Ministers of S&T within NEPAD was established by the conference, of which Dr Ngubane was elected first President Rural Zimbabwe in 1998. The NEPAD Declaration identifies In his welcoming remarks, Professor Wiseman Nkuhlu, food insecurity, malnutrition, homelessness, unemployment, President of NEPAD’s Steering Committee, described the lack of affordable energy sources and the fight against disease (especially HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria) objective of NEPAD’s S&T initiative as being to lay the as priority areas for scientific research and technological innovation, the ultimate goals being to promote sustainable 7. UNESCO Bureau of public Information development and eradicate poverty

8 A World of SCIENCE, Vol. 2, No. 1, January–March 2004 They also undertake to improve enrolment levels and the standard of teaching in science, mathematics and engineering. Bience Gawanas, a lawyer and the African Union’s NESCO / D. Roger

Commissioner for Social Services, and Acting Commissioner ©U for Human Resources, Science and Technology, pinpointed brain drain as a serious challenge for African countries. The continent had lost a large number of highly trained experts in S&T, she said, and would need to tackle the problem of poor working conditions head-on if it wanted to retain talent. Regional centres of excellence are a key NEPAD strategy for staunching brain drain. They concentrate limited resources in a single centre which is then in a position to make world- class equipment and facilities available to scientists and engineers from all participating countries. Professor Nkuhlu noted that the strategy was beginning to pay dividends. NEPAD had already attracted resources for S&T from Medical students in Baghdad in better days. This photograph development partners, he recalled, including C$ 30 million in dates from 1983 funding only weeks earlier from the Canadian Fund for Africa for the International Livestock Research Institute war-related damage on Iraqi universities has been devastating. headquartered in Nairobi (Kenya). The institute is set to While levels of damage vary widely across the country, become the first centre of excellence in the biological sciences enormous investment will be required to serve the needs of to be supported by NEPAD, thereby enabling national some 300,000 students from Iraq’s 20 universities and 47 agricultural institutions, including universities, to benefit from technical colleges and institutes. The total cost of the centre’s state-of-the-art facilities. Canada is also providing reconstruction and rehabilitation of higher education facilities a grant of 3,850,000 South African rands (approximately is expected to top US$ 2 billion. C$ 783,000) to support the NEPAD Secretariat via its International Development Research Centre. For further information: [email protected]

For further information: www.nepad.org: [email protected], Mondialogo challenges students to in Nairobi: [email protected] engineer a better world

The Germano–American automobile company Rebuilding Iraq’s universities DaimlerChrysler and UNESCO launched the Mondialogo Engineering Awards on 16 October to A multi-million dollar initiative to rebuild and challenge young engineers and technologists to revitalize Iraq’s once thriving universities was find solutions for a better world. launched on 13 October in Doha (Qatar). The International Fund for Higher Education in Iraq is to Through the awards, Mondialogo will be looking for students provide both immediate and longer-term assistance, who are keen to use their knowledge and expertise to improve closely co-ordinated with Iraqi universities living conditions durably in developing countries. Students themselves to ensure that priority needs are the first from over 6,000 universities in developed and developing to be addressed. countries will be encouraged to work together on sustainable development projects. UNESCO’s Director-General was in Doha to launch the fund Students are invited to focus their project on any one of the together with Her Highness Sheikha Mozah Bint Nasser Al following themes: water supply, food production and Missned, First Lady of Qatar, Chairperson of the Qatar processing, housing and shelter, sanitation and waste Foundation for Education, Science and Community management, medicine and health care, energy development, Development and UNESCO Special Envoy for Basic and transportation and mobility, communication, industry and Higher Education. manufacturing, development of natural resources, emergency Administered by UNESCO and governed by the Fund and disaster response and reconstruction. Directorate chaired by the Qatar Foundation, the Fund is open An international jury will select the top entries and decide on to all interested donors for contributions in cash or in kind. The the final attribution of the 20 Mondialogo Engineering Awards state of Qatar has provided a first donation of US$ 15 million in March 2005, each of which carries a purse of € 15,000. to the Fund. Several other countries have expressed interest in participating in the initiative. To register for the Award and find a project partner: After so many years of economic hardship, the impact of www.mondialogo.org

A World of SCIENCE, Vol. 2, No. 1, January–March 2004 9 NEWS INTERVIEW

Islam and Science author Lídia Brito among UNESCO laureates

Pervez Amirali Hoodbhoy is a passionate believer On NEPAD in general and in the value of understanding science. He is also a nuclear and high-energy physics specialist at the The New Partnership for Africa's Development Department of Physics, Quaid-e-Azam University, (NEPAD) is a programme of the African Union, in Islamabad (Pakistan) and this year’s winner of which groups some 53 countries; NEPAD has been the Kalinga Prize for the Popularization of Science. endorsed by the United Nations as the framework Professor Hoodbhoy is notably the author of Islam within which the international community should and Science: Religious Orthodoxy and the Battle concentrate its efforts for Africa’s development. for Rationality (ZED Books, London, 1991). He has Mozambique assumed the one-year Presidency of also produced three major television series on the African Union in July 2003. science and a documentary film on Pakistan and India under the Nuclear Shadow. Lídia Brito is Minister for Higher Education, Science and Technology of Mozambique. Here, she Professor Hoodbhoy was joined in Budapest on World Science speaks about the goals of NEPAD in general and Day for Peace and Development (10 November) by the Mozambique’s own drive to develop S&T in recipients of five other UNESCO science prizes, at an award particular. ceremony organized at the closing of the first World Science Forum (8Ð10 November). In Budapest, Antonio Peña Diaz was awarded UNESCO’s What motivated the creation of NEPAD? Carlos J. Finlay Prize for Microbiology. An active promoter of modern biophysical techniques in Mexico, Professor Peña NEPAD was launched in 2001 as an initiative of leading Diaz has published books and newspaper articles on science African statesmen who believed that the time had come for policy. In 1994, he was appointed the first Emeritus Professor Africa to address its development challenges by defining of the Cellular Physiology Institute, National Autonomous its own development agenda. It is a partnership at two University of Mexico (UNAM). levels. Internally, it includes all African nations which The Javed Husain Prize for Young Scientists was awarded to subscribe to this new agenda. Externally, it is a partnership Ravi Silva of Sri Lanka, Professor of Solid State Electronics between Africa and the rest of the world, in particular at the University of Surrey (United Kingdom). Aged only 34, those nations that control the means to help Africa uplift he leads the Large Area Electronics and Nanotechnology itself. Through NEPAD, Africa has been able to place itself Research Group, which is part of the university’s Advanced prominently on the political agenda of the G8. Technology Institute. He also recently set up a Nano- electronics Centre at the university. The Sultan Qaboos Prize for Environmental Preservation was awarded jointly to the Venezuelan Centre for Ecology and to Norwegian biodiversity specialist Peter Johan Schei (see AWorld of Science, Vol. 1, No. 5 for details). The Institut Pasteur Ð UNESCO Medal was awarded to Fadila Boulahbal for her contribution to making the Algerian national programme against tuberculosis a success by creating a national network of tuberculosis laboratories. In 1970, Lídia Brito Professor Boulahbal was made head of the Laboratory of Tuberculosis and Mycobacteria at the Pasteur Institute in Algiers. Thanks to her efforts, the laboratory became a WHO Collaborative Centre for tuberculosis in 1984. The UNESCO Science Prize was awarded to Somchart Soponronnarit of Thailand for his research on renewable energy and drying technology. The award particularly recognizes his contribution to the creation of a fluidized bed paddy dryer and cyclonic rice husk furnace, as well as a recent ‘heat pump dryer’, which have been used and commercialized widely in Thailand and elsewhere.

For further information: [email protected]

10 A World of SCIENCE, Vol. 2, No. 1, January–March 2004 Mozambique in particular

The African Union is the successor of the Organization The Council of Ministers approved Mozambique’s of African Unity (OAU). The creation of the African Union S&T Policy on 22 July. What are your priorities in 2002 shows that the African leadership itself realizes and the time-scale for realizing these? itself that, in order to resolve the problems their peoples face, they have to create a united front, a power block not The Policy consists of an action plan covering four major dissimilar to those other pan-continental blocks emerging areas: research, education, the productive sector and the in the Americas and in Europe. However, Africa is still far communication, or dissemination, of S&T information and removed from the level of co-ordination and integration data. The action plan, as it stands, has a time-span of five attained by the European Union for example. years and a total budget of US$ 18.8 million.

What bearing will Mozambique’s Presidency of The major slot, US$ 10 million, will go towards building the African Union have on NEPAD’s S&T agenda? a science museum network. At the moment, Mozambique has basically three small science museums: one on NEPAD and the African Union have different origins. ethnology in Nampula in the North of the country, one on Currently, NEPAD is a programme of the African Union natural history in Maputo, the capital, and a third on under the latter’s Assembly. NEPAD’s Steering Committee geology, also in Maputo. As you can see, the network is consists of the personal representatives of the five restricted in scope and geography. All have relatively old initiating presidents (NDLR: of Algeria, Egypt, Nigeria, collections and are characterized by a classical museum Senegal and South Africa). Mozambique is not a member approach. The Natural History Museum has regionally of this group. However, as President of the African Union, important collections but has had many difficulties in Mozambique is a member of the Heads of State and conserving these. Interactivity does not exist. There are no Government Implementation Committee (HSIC) that museums to help people understand national traditional comprises three states per region of the African Union, as techniques or industrial technologies and no exhibits to mandated by the OAU Summit of July 2001 and ratified by acquaint people with modern technologies. Our strategy the African Union Summit of July 2002. The HSIC’s main entails using the existing museums as a starting point by function is to set policies and priorities and define the adding the interactive component, including virtual Programme of Action. The HSIC is expected to meet three collections. Later on, we will proceed with creating other times a year. It reports annually to the African Union thematic science museums throughout the country. Summit. The museums might be a flagship of the policy and even The Steering Committee develops the Terms of consume most of its budget but they are not its core. The Reference for identified programmes and projects, and policy is based on the assumption that each of the four oversees the NEPAD Secretariat, which co-ordinates components I mentioned earlier should be strengthened implementation of projects and programmes approved by internally and that the interconnections between each of the HSIC. them should be improved.

Over the next year, how does Mozambique intend What does the plan foresee for formal education? to define the S&T cluster within NEPAD? We need to build the capacity of schools to teach S&T at It is clear to us that a lot remains to be done with regard different levels, for instance through the microscience kits to the S&T agenda of NEPAD. We believe it is essential UNESCO has developed, in combination with actions that that NEPAD constitute a mechanism of synergy that will reinforce the pivotal role of schools in community serve its individual members by integrating the scientists development. of different countries in regional and continental networks that enhance social relevance and scientific quality for the One of the reasons why pupils drop out is that they benefit of all involved. These networks should not be consider the curriculum of little relevance to their daily exclusively academic but rather embedded in society so life. The S&T policy wants to change this by dedicating that they become part of hubs that speed up innovation in US$ 500,000 in 2004Ð2005 to hooking up schools to rural society in general. This is what Mozambique is defending and health extension services in such a way that these in relation to a S&T agenda within NEPAD. schools become motors of technological innovation.

A World of SCIENCE, Vol. 2, No. 1, January–March 2004 11 INTERVIEW

Extension services should train and assist teachers in key Community radios can play a key role in both fields, areas such as nutrition, hygiene, health, agricultural especially as their penetration is much deeper than other production and basic industrial skills. In turn, teachers means of communication and independent of, for example, should transfer this knowledge to the communities in the conditions of roads Ð during the rainy season, when which they work, either indirectly via the children or agriculture is most intensive, many roads are inaccessible. directly to their parents. The experiments conducted in Moreover, community radios use local languages. Radio Sofala province, in the centre of the country, indicate that programmes, for instance, can transmit information on teachers can exercise this role successfully, for instance by technologies for plant protection or on new tools, provide promoting improvements in nutritional habits. To take weather forecasts, etc. And they can disseminate market these experiments further is a key innovation in information. This is important because, independently of Mozambique’s approach to education and the relation the scale of his or her production, a producer will only between education and community development. invest time, effort and money when he or she has minimal guarantees of a return on that investment. Market You spoke earlier of the need to enhance the social information, therefore, is crucial to the success of relevance and quality of R&D? How do you plan to technological innovation, as it will make the market more translate this objective at the national level? transparent and strengthen the position of producers in their negotiations with traders. The S&T policy also intends to reinforce the national scientific research system and its relations with the rest of Does this action plan imply a greater allocation society. For that reason, the government wants to create of financial resources to S&T than previously? stakeholder-managed competitive funds worth a total of just over US$ 4.1 million in at least four priority areas to Mozambique is a poor country. Despite that, the total be defined following an assessment by major national budget for research equals 0.6% of GDP and a further 6.5% stakeholders, bearing in mind our country’s position in the goes to education. The level of investment proposed by the region, its options for development and the needs of its S&T policy requires additional inputs for which we are, population. Within this system, sectoral scientific councils unfortunately, highly dependent on donors. Thus, in the composed of scientists and research clients from civil end it will not only depend upon us, the Government of society and the productive sector will allocate funds Mozambique, but also on our international partners, which through a bidding process. In this way, we hope to achieve components we will be able to implement when and to two things simultaneously. Firstly, those in need of the what extent. application will be able to influence the research agenda. This will make science more relevant to economic growth Last but not least, what are Mozambique’s plans and poverty alleviation. Secondly, competition will force for celebrating World Science Day for Peace and scientists to improve the quality of their work. Development on 10 November?

Although the increasing rate of authorship of Mozambique celebrated the first World Science Day last international scientific publications shows that year. At the time, we wove several provincial and national Mozambique’s scientists are producing scientifically initiatives into a single nationwide programme. This year, acceptable results, international competition is getting we are organizing a science fair. At the fair, over 40 stronger. In a context of integration at different levels Ð Mozambican scientists will show samples of their output at regional through the Southern African Development a session illustrated by more than 100 posters. There will Community (SADC) and continental through NEPAD and also be presentations, debates and roundtables on different the African Union Ð Mozambique will have to achieve at topics related to science, research and development. This least the same level of excellence as its neighbours, will be combined with a trade fair where various research although the resources at our disposal are far fewer than entities will have a chance to display their activities. The those of most of them. trade fair will also involve the participation of enterprises exhibiting the S&T component of their work. The entire Won’t Mozambique’s limited resources make it event will take place on the commercial fairgrounds in difficult to disseminate S&T information to rural Maputo. In this way, we hope to take science to the public. areas? We had hoped to be able to use World Science Day as a I have already mentioned that one action in the area of platform for relaunching the Maths-by-Internet dissemination, concerns the revitalization and expansion of competition on a national scale. However, for various the national museum network. The plan also devotes reasons, we have been unable to finalize the programme in US$1 million to supporting community radio programmes time. Now we hope to launch the competition in February. and on markets. Technological innovation depends on the availability of information and on market conditions. Interview by Susan Schneegans and Folar Osotimehin

12 A World of SCIENCE, Vol. 2, No. 1, January–March 2004 HORIZONS

The floating university

On 20 September 2003, the Professor Logachev berthed in St Petersburg (Russia) harbour at the end of a Sub-Arctic research cruise that had taken it to ports of call in Copenhagen (Denmark), Tromsø (Norway), Reykjavik (Iceland), Nuuk (Greenland) and Dublin (Ireland). The students and senior scientists who disembarked here had just spent ten weeks studying the deep sea with the help of sophisticated acoustic and televisual imaging equipment and samples taken from the seabed.

Over the past 13 summers, more than 600 undergraduate the ‘ocean margin.’ This zone may vary from one hundred to and post-graduate students from 25 countries have taken several hundred kilometres in width, depending on the part in cruises like this one. Under the guidance of senior morphology of the seabed. scientists from international academic, governmental and Ocean margins harbour most of the world’s marine industrial backgrounds, students conduct cutting-edge biodiversity, making them crucial for fisheries. Yet many of marine research in the Mediterranean and Black Seas, and in the ecosystems at the ocean margin are poorly known. Take the North Atlantic Ocean. Many will go on to become the deep-sea, cold-water coral reefs for example, which are research leaders. found at depths of several hundred metres to 1 km; able to do The TrainingÐthroughÐResearch programme was launched without sunlight (photosynthesis), they rely on in 1991 by UNESCO and the European Science Foundation. chemosynthesis for their life energy. Researchers only now For the past eight years, it has been sponsored by UNESCO’s acknowledge the existence of the Great European Barrier Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC). What Reef, which occupies the frontier between the outer shelf and makes it different from other on-the-job training exercises is the deep sea. that students go through the entire cycle: from being provided The ocean margins are home to myriads of microbes and with knowledge on the subject of their research to data bacteria which use fluids originating from the geosphere collection, laboratory analyses and, ultimately, the (geofluids) as the source of chemical energy in their life cycle. presentation and publication of the research results. The Resent research has shown that these micro-organisms are UNESCO Chair in Marine Geosciences at Moscow State ‘housekeepers’ of the Earth’s climate. On the seabed, they University serves as the programme’s training arm. consume most of the methane and other hydrocarbon gases In addition to providing students with advanced training in rising from the geosphere through the hydrosphere into the marine science, the programme contributes to knowledge of atmosphere, thereby limiting any rise in the Earth’s ocean margins, a new frontier where many exciting temperature. But the amount of ‘greenhouse gases’ escaping discoveries have been made over the past decade or so. into the atmosphere is now reaching inacceptable limits: air pollution in Europe soared to new heights last summer. Living on the edge According to the WMO, the summer of 2003 was yet another

The ‘floating university’ conducts research in a zone which marks the transition between land and the deep sea,

A World of SCIENCE, Vol. 2, No. 1, January–March 2004 13 HORIZONS

know the true extent of these energy resources, nor even whether it will be possible to exploit them commercially in the near future. It is also at the ocean margins that you find the recently

Elena Kozlova, Moscow State University discovered carbonate mounds. These ‘rolling hills’ may be © 200Ð300 m high. Some researchers believe that carbonate mounds act as natural beacons, pinpointing the spot where hydrocarbons lie buried beneath the surface. Others are less categorical; they point to the fact that carbonate mounds are the result of microbial activity which disintegrates hydrocarbon gases and accumulates carbonates. These same carbonate mounds may also be found in mountainous areas on land which were originally under the sea. On land, the mounds are known to geologists as ‘stromatolites’, one of the oldest indications of life on Earth. Ocean margins provide an important record of global change on various temporal and spatial scales. In recognition of their specific role, the European Commission has established the Ocean Margin Deep-water Research Deep-sea corals live in water of approximately 4°C. If deep- Consortium, which overseas a dozen projects studying water coral reefs are valued today for their ability to absorb hydrocarbon gases and nourish fish populations, they were European margins. long neglected and have been decimated in recent decades by large-scale trawling. Known at the Norwegian margins as The mysterious past and uncertain future of gas early as the 18th century, deep-sea corals only began attracting hydrates attention in the 1990s with the advent of oil exploration at ocean margins, in parallel to growing understanding of the need to protect the ecosystems of the high seas By some estimates, methane in gas hydrates has an energy potential equivalent to twice the known reserves of oil, coal climatic anomaly and the hottest in the 143 years for which and gas combined. Reserves of methane seem to be abundant records have been kept. Glacier records tell the same story. at the ocean margins in many parts of the world, including

In the pre-industrial world, atmospheric CO2 concentrations Alaska, Antarctica, Europe, the Gulf of Mexico and the USA. oscillated on roughly 100,000-year cycles between 180 parts The TrainingÐthroughÐResearch programme was among the per million by volume (ppmv) during glacial periods and first to begin a detailed investigation of this phenomenon on 280 ppmv during the warmer interglacial periods. We are today the European Margin. at an unprecedented 370 ppmv and this is showing signs of Methane is stored as a ‘gas hydrate’ trapped inside frozen rising. water molecules. Under certain conditions Ð combining low Ocean margins are attracting increasingly intense interest temperatures and high-pressure on the seabed Ð, gas hydrates from researchers and industry. Little over a decade ago, it was will solidify, forming what look like jagged rocks. discovered that they contain huge, largely untold reserves of Gas hydrates are notoriously unstable. When sudden energy sources like methane gas. At this stage, we still do not changes in sea level, underwater earthquakes, landslides or other geohazards change the pressure and/or temperature, gas Students on board the Professor Logachev studying carbonate hydrates evaporate quickly. This prompts the release of an chimneys recovered from the Gulf of Cadiz immense volume of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere Ð methane is a greenhouse gas ten times more powerful than carbon dioxide. It is thought that massive releases of methane in the distant past could have accelerated global warming and precipitated the end of the last ice age. This is one reason why the TrainingÐthroughÐResearch programme is interested in geohazards. Elena Kozlova, Moscow State University ©

Students lose no time in measuring gas hydrates once they have been brought to the surface because these ‘disappear Elena Kozlova, Moscow State University

into thin air’ within © seconds unless put in a freezer for further analysis

14 A World of SCIENCE, Vol. 2, No. 1, January–March 2004 Spain Strait of The subject of my At present, it is not technically Portugal Gibraltar studies is mud St Petersburg feasible to exploit gas hydrates on a 1000 volcanoes at the 0 large scale. There are also concerns - 1000 Yuma Kidd ocean margin of - 2000 Tasyo that deep-sea exploitation of hydrates - 3000 Jesus Baraza Adamastor Morocco. On board - 4000 TTR Ginsburg the Professor could destabilize the ocean floor and Carlos Ribeiro Rabat Morocco Logachev [in 2002], 37¡N release large volumes of methane into Olenin I admired the quality the atmosphere. Bonjardin of interpretation of this phenomenon, the 36¡N secrets of which are The potential of mud volcanoes 6¡W not yet well 7¡W Southampton Oceanography Centre (UK) Akhmetzhanov, Andrew for oil exploration 35¡N © understood by 8¡W researchers. With the 9¡W assistance of the TTR Mud volcanoes are another focus of 34¡N 10¡W Water Depth, m programme, I have an the TrainingÐthroughÐResearch 1000 0 - 1000 - 2000 - 3000 - 4000 - 5000 opportunity to programme. These exist both on land continue my studies and at sea. Tectonic movements Major mud volcanoes discovered in the Gulf of Cadiz, which and carry out research within the Earth’s crust build up lies between Europe and Africa, during the 1999 and 2000 in a domain that cruises on board the Professor Logachev requires heavy pressure. When this pressure becomes equipment and too intense, deeply buried mud bursts ocean margins have been published by participants in the considerable through the upper layers of the research cruises since 1991, most of these co-authored by resources, otherwise unavailable to me. sedimentary cover, transporting students. fragments of deep-seated rocks and Merouane Rachidi, post-graduate hydrocarbon gases. In the ocean, these Meeting the costs of deep-sea research student, University fragments settle on the seabed. Mohammed V (Rabat, Studying them provides key insights Deep-sea research is a costly business. The secret of the Morocco) into an area’s geological history. programme’s success lies in co-funding involving research Certain fragments may even contain organic matter indicative groups from many European countries. Notably, Russia of the area’s hydrocarbon potential. contributes to costs by providing a well-equipped research As early as 1991, the TrainingÐthroughÐResearch vessel, the Professor Logachev, a crew and technical staff to programme discovered the first mud volcanoes in the Black operate the sophisticated equipment. The seed contribution Sea. Many others have since been discovered and studied provided by the UNESCO-IOC attracts funds for field along the European and African margins in the Mediterranean operations from mostly European universities, from oil Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. prospecting companies and national geological surveys, as well as from projects funded by the European Commission. Coming to grips with an underwater world The funds available to the programme are always earmarked for research of specific interest to the sponsors, which hail The TrainingÐthroughÐResearch programme focuses on mostly from Eastern and Western Europe. emerging global issues. In the area of oil exploration, research seeks to determine the source of geofluids and the level of maturity of organic matter located in deep-formed hydrocarbons. Scientists then attempt to develop palaeo- environmental reconstructions based on palaeontological and other records. A wide range of interdisciplinary research methods are used encompassing the geophysical and the

biogeochemical. The collected data serve to assess the ocean Elena Kozlova, Moscow State University margins’ petroleum potential. © Several special issues of international scientific journals and a wealth of research articles on geofluids, gas hydrates, carbonate mounds, geohazards and sand bodies (the latter represent potential reservoirs for hydrocarbon deposits) at

Students examine an oil pellicle in the crater of a mud volcano in the Kerch peninsula (Ukraine). Found both on the seabed and on land, mud volcanoes are normally of a conic shape with a crater at the centre surrounded by a rim. Under the sea, mud volcanoes are generally a few hundred metres in height and width, although young ones will be smaller. Some are active and still growing – mud and gases erupt periodically into the water – but many are inactive or dormant, the shifting seabed and currents having partly destroyed them

A World of SCIENCE, Vol. 2, No. 1, January–March 2004 15 HORIZONS

Within the TTR greater number of participants from The complex interaction between programme, we learn non-contributing countries. This about the ocean and said, every effort is made to involve the geosphere and biosphere its resources. We also study how hydro- young researchers from developing The concept of the biosphere was first introduced carbon fluids nourish countries, who represent about 10% by E. Suess in 1875 and further developed by the biota on the seabed of total students on board. Over the and are transformed past decade, students have come V. Vernadsky (1926), who considered the ensemble of by the latter, thus living organisms (or biota) as the geological force at contributing to global from some 25 countries, including the surface of the Earth which influenced virtually all chemical cycles, etc. Algeria, Bangladesh, Brazil, geological processes. I came to the programme Bulgaria, Chile, Georgia, Morocco, as a young student but, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia and Ukraine, Recent research, in particular that on ocean margins during my last cruise, and mid-ocean ridges, has demonstrated that the I was a Co-chief in addition to the USA and interaction between the geosphere and the biosphere Scientist conducting practically all countries in Europe, is of a more complex nature: fluids seeping from the research and sharing including land-locked Switzerland. my knowledge with The organizers ensure that all Earth’s crust into the oceans – or from the geosphere younger students. to the hydrosphere – contribute substantively to the governments contribute what they Alina Stadnitskaya, entire Life System on Earth. The concept of interaction can to the programme, be it PhD student at Royal between the geosphere and the biosphere has set the Netherlands Institute scientific knowledge, sophisticated stage for new disciplines such as biogeology, for Sea Research equipment, funding, personnel or biogeochemistry and geomicrobiology, which open up (Den Burg) free port calls, and that their young truly novel research avenues. scientists all walk away from the cruise having gained from the experience. Every year, the research teams’ results are presented to post- There are not enough experts in marine resource exploration cruise conferences and other fora, such as the international today, despite the fact that governments, academia, Ocean Margin Research Conference last September in Paris universities and the private sector all need to be able to call on (France). At the invitation of the European Commission’s them. The situation is particularly worrying in developing Ocean Margin Consortium, the IOC and Division of Earth countries where, with the odd exception, there is no critical Sciences of UNESCO co-sponsored the latter event. One of mass of specialists trained to the point of being able to interpret the invited lectures was a summary of research on board the research results and advise their governments and other Professor Logachev over the years. stakeholders on matters related to the exploitation of deep-sea resources within their exclusive economic zones. Alexei Suzyumov8 The harsh realities of sponsorship prevent the TrainingÐthroughÐResearch programme from inviting a 8. UNESCO Programme Specialist: [email protected]

On board the Professor Logachev, students discuss freshly obtained seismic data with Dr Neil Kenyon of Southampton Oceanography Centre (UK), the programme’s co-ordinator Elena Kozlova, Moscow State University ©

16 A World of SCIENCE, Vol. 2, No. 1, January–March 2004 HORIZONS

Margaret’s story

Margaret Mathenge is poised to become the first Samburu woman to hold a Master’s Degree in Science. With UNESCO support, she is currently preparing a thesis on the Physico-chemical and microbiological characteristics of NyiriNyiri, a traditional Samburu meat dish, at Egerton University in Kenya. Her accomplishment is a testimony both to her own ability and courage, and to the men and women who have stood by her at each of the crossroads in her brief existence.

Beaten and neglected by her father, Margaret hoped she would never live to see her twelfth birthday. Until the day the first woman teacher walked into her school. ‘She had no man to command her. Men young and old treated her with respect – even my father. She became a symbol of what I wanted to be.’

For decades, UNESCO has been striving to mainstream women’s rights and the education of girls and women. The task is immense. At the same time, UNESCO is trying to satisfy growing donor requirements for results-based programming – not something which is always easy to accommodate, since not all results are immediately tangible. The following account shows some of the positive secondary effects of educating women. This is Margaret’s story. Margaret Mathenge

Margaret was born in the village of Morijo in 1972, some were left in their father’s ‘care’. ‘I had no ambition at this 80 km from the town of Maralal in Samburu District in time’, says Margaret. Northern Kenya. The Samburu tribal community remains a male-dominated society. She no longer wished to die young The fifth of ten siblings, Margaret grew up in a climate of domestic and tribal violence. The area was often raided by ‘This changed when the first female teacher was posted to the rival Turkana tribe on expeditions to steal cattle. School our school. She lived alone in her small house, had her own would be interrupted by the raids, which would force the money and was the first woman I knew who could make Samburu to abandon their homes and take refuge in the her own decisions. She showed me pictures of beautiful forest. Whenever the Samburu had forewarning, the bodies buildings and cars, told me about high school and college. of Turkanas would litter the ground, later to be eaten by I realized I wanted to experience life beyond Morijo, to see dogs and hyenas. At home, Margaret’s polygamist father, roads that were passable even after heavy rain, to see James, used to beat her mother and siblings on the slightest women who could drive cars and women who were bosses.’ pretext, such as for dropping a spoon. Margaret’s teacher told her that the key to her own success At the time of Margaret’s birth, there was only one iron- had been education and refusing to marry before roofed house in the village, which served as catholic completing her schooling, that when the time came, church, school and police administration. Starting out from Margaret could also choose her own husband. a small grass thatched cubicle that doubled as the family From that time on, Margaret ‘had a dream and worked home, Margaret’s mother Mary ran a small business selling even harder at school’. She no longer wished to die young. posho (maizeflour), sugar, shukas9, tealeaves and blankets. With the proceeds, she was able to build a two-room home Hard times with an iron roof for the family. Margaret loved school. For the first three years, village In 1984, James joined Mary in Laikipia for what was supposed children sat under a tree. Classes were taught in English but to be a short visit. He stayed away for a year and a half. Once the children communicated among themselves in either the girls had exhausted the family food stocks, they were taken Kiswahili or Samburu. School also provided Margaret with in by neighbouring families. They had to leave school that year a respite from life at home, dominated by violence and a to mind the livestock with other girls of their age. myriad of household chores, including fetching water over When drought hit the region in 1984Ð1985, food became 10 km away. scarce, so the sisters set up a small business. Starting with Things deteriorated when Margaret's mother left her father, moving onto a piece of land bought for her by her 9. Red, white and blue sheets of tied cloth that the Samburu use to cover brothers in Laikipia. Margaret and her elder sister Esther themselves

A World of SCIENCE, Vol. 2, No. 1, January–March 2004 17 HORIZONS

excision of the young bride’s external genital organs. Margaret was overwhelmed with a feeling of helplessness. But when her father gave consent for Esther to marry a soldier, UNESCO/Georges Malempré UNESCO/Georges © Margaret alerted her mother in time to hide the girl. His ambitions thwarted, James vented his fury on Margaret Ð but this was to be the last beating. Margaret ran away and was taken in by a teacher’s wife. Shortly thereafter, her father married a girl in class six. Margaret came top of her class for the year eight Kenya Certificate of Primary Education examination in 1986. This secured her a place at the low-cost private catholic school of St Theresa’s, which covered the districts of Samburu, Marsabit, Turkana and Isiolo. Margaret spent an anxious first term. ‘I tried to learn as much as I could These Masai girls in the Rift Valley belong to an ethnic group because deep down I knew there was no way I was going to related to the Samburu. Although Kenya has attained gender complete my schooling, since my mother could not afford parity in primary education and is expected to achieve the to pay all the school fees’. Her heart in her mouth, Margaret same in secondary education by 2005, the road to education confided her fears in the Headmistress, Sister Lawrence can be long for girls from pastoralist tribes, many of whom are married off when they reach puberty Nava, after the first term examinations. To her astonishment, the Headmistress offered to pay Margaret’s school fees, as well as pocket money and the bus fare to and a few bags of posho and sugar loaned to them by a truck from her mother’s home in Laikipia Ð on condition that driver, Esther and Margaret began trading food for hides Margaret give her father a wide berth until the end of her and skins. With their earnings, they were able to feed their schooling. adoptive families. When James returned, he took over the It took a few years of coming top of her class for Margaret business and bought himself a second-hand Toyota to realize that the only remaining obstacle between herself Landcruiser with his daughters’ savings, leaving them only and university was her own lack of ambition. enough to buy a single school uniform each. At age 20, Margaret was the only Samburu woman to Barefoot, Margaret returned to school after an 18-month be accepted at Maseno University College. Upon absence, all the more determined to make a success of her life. graduating, she embarked upon a teaching career at Kisima Girls Secondary School. ‘I always wanted to go The end of primary school and the beginning on to higher education but sacrificed this ambition to pay of married life my three younger brothers’ primary and secondary school fees.10 In her last year of primary school, Margaret looked on as all It was at this time that she met and married Mugo the girls in her class were married off forcibly to older Mathenge. After the birth of a son and daughter, the young village men. Each time, the ceremony was preceded by an couple decided she should pursue her education.

Enrolment in tertiary education in Kenya in 1990 and 2000 (%) 1990 2000 Total Male Female GPI (F/M) Total Male Female GPI (F/M) Kenya 1.6 2.4 0.9 0.38 2.9 3.3 2.5 0.77 Sub-Saharan Africa 1.6 2.4 0.9 0.38 2.5 3.3 1.3 0.48 South and West Asia 4.7 5.6 3.8 0.68 6.6 8.5 4.6 0.55

GPI = gender parity index

N.B A ratio of 0.98–1.02 is considered gender parity. Source: UNESCO (2003) Education for All 2003/4 (Table 8)

18 A World of SCIENCE, Vol. 2, No. 1, January–March 2004 IN BRIEF

A thesis inspired by childhood memories Governing Bodies

Margaret applied for a Master’s Degree in Food Science On 16 October, the General Conference approved from Egerton University. Her thesis proposal was inspired UNESCO’s programme and budget for the sciences in by the hardships of her childhood and her experience of 2004–2005. Below are some highlights. women as food-providers. Memories of childhood food insecurity still vivid, Margaret chose to focus her thesis on Two new projects involving UNESCO’s IHP and MAB Physico-chemical and microbiological characteristics of programmes are included under ‘land–water interactions’. NyiriNyiri, a Samburu meat product preserved by deep fat- Both will integrate sustainability into country policies, frying. Using this method, Samburu women are able to target Millennium Development Goals and feed into the preserve meat for up to six months, even in the very hot World Water Assessment Programme hosted by UNESCO. climate of Northern Kenya. The first project concerns the marshy and forested In September 2002, Margaret approached UNESCO’s Palessia region shared by Belarus, Ukraine and Poland. Nairobi office for sponsorship, having learnt that the office Transborder activities will strive to preserve the biological supported training in the biological sciences with a diversity and freshwater resources of a region threatened poverty-alleviating scope. Among other suggestions, by the draining of the marshes between the 1960s and I proposed that Margaret include a strategy for 1980s, and by radioactive contamination over part of its dissemination of the results, so that her research would territory since the explosion of the Chernobyl nuclear directly benefit the people in her area. Margaret power plant in 1986. The second project concerns the consequently added a training session to her project Sustainable Integrated Management and Development of proposal. This will entail her instructing 12 Samburu Arid and Semi-arid Regions of Southern Africa women on how to prepare NyiriNyiri so that it stays edible (SIMDAS). Proposed by 14 SADC countries, SIMDAS for longer. The 12 women will then go to 12 villages to has been developed by scientists and others from the region teach the women there better ways of preserving the meat. who will implement the project with UNESCO’s help and Margaret is currently implementing her research project guidance. SIMDAS will address health and environmental in the food microbiology laboratory of the Department of problems, energy insecurity and communication Dairy and Food Science and Technology at Egerton difficulties, with emphasis on the design of community- University. based projects focusing on the role of rural women. The International Basic Sciences Programme (IBSP) Ditte Dahl Lisbjerb11 was adopted. Expected to be fully operational by 2005, it will: promote excellence in national science and the For further information: [email protected] transfer and sharing of information; provide Member States with international scientific expertise; and foster awareness of science by society at large. The IBSP adopts a region- 10. Since the introduction of free primary education in Kenya in January specific approach, the central role being played by existing 2003 (covering tuition but neither the cost of uniforms nor examination fees), primary enrolment has risen from 5.9 million to 7.2 million centres of excellence or benchmark institutions in the basic 11. Associate Expert in the biological sciences in UNESCO’s Nairobi sciences and science education. office from 2000 to 2002 An international centre on qanats and historical hydraulic structures in Yazd (Islamic Republic of Iran) is to be set up under the auspices of UNESCO. Employed since ancient times, qanats are underground galleries that tap and continuously convey groundwater. They have proved to be an extraordinarily sustainable traditional technology. An International Declaration on Human Genetic Data

UNESCO/S. Schneegans was adopted (see p. 7). Moreover, the name of the © International Geological Correlation Programme (IGCP) was changed to the International Geoscience Programme (the familiar acronym remaining the same) and the General Conference threw its support behind the Earth Charter and an International Year of Physics in 2005 to mark the centenary of Albert Einstein’s theory of relativity.

The Communiqué issued at the close of the Ministerial Roundtable on Towards Knowledge Societies on Raising the American flag at UNESCO for the first time in 10 October is published in UNESCO’s report on Science in 19 years on 29 September in the presence of Laura Bush the Information Society: www.unesco.org/wsis

A World of SCIENCE, Vol. 2, No. 1, January–March 2004 19 IN BRIEF

29–31 January in Jakarta: [email protected], Diary North Atlantic and Labrador Sea www.ihas.nagoya-u.ac.jp/ihp/ 13ihptc.html Margin Architecture and Sedimentary 8–10 January Processes, Intl conf. and 12th post-cruise 29–31 March International Chemistry Olympiads meeting of UNESCO-IOC’s TrainingÐ Fifth Global Ministerial Environment International Consultation on their throughÐResearch programme. Organized Forum, and 8th special session, UNEP future development. UNESCO and and hosted by Geological Survey of Governing Council . Jeju Biosphere National Commission for Latvia. Denmark and Greenland: [email protected] Reserve (Rep. of Korea): Riga: [email protected] www.2004unepkorea.org www.unesco.org/science/bes 2–6 February Pacific Islands Regional Ocean Forum, 31 March–3 April 13–17 January Will plan strategic actions under Pacific Quantitative Ecosystem Indicators for Ocean Surface CO2, Data Integration Islands Regional Ocean Policy. University Fisheries Management SCORÐ IOC intl and Database Development of South Pacific, Suva (Fiji): symposium, will review existing indicators Workshop organized by International [email protected] and consider potential new indicators Ocean Carbon Coordination Project reflecting the exploitation and state of marine to reach agreement on data formats for 9–20 February ecosystems: www.ecosystemindicators.org/ is credited. ocean carbon measurements from Conf. of Parties to Convention on ships of opportunity and set up regional Biological Diversity, 7th meeting (COP 7). partnerships for data sharing to Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia): [email protected]). construct maps of ocean surface CO2 www.biodiv.org/meetings/cop-07/ Space contests entific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), for each ocean basin. Tsukuba (Japan): http://ioc.unesco.org/ioccp 11 February launched for Earth Sciences for Society 17–22 January Intl Conf. co-organized by UNESCO and 6–19 years old of Science A World Biological Sciences, Development IUGS to inform all UNESCO Delegates of and Society. IUBS 28th General intl activities in Earth sciences and their Assembly and International Conference. impact on society, and to request support Cairo, (Egypt): [email protected] for planned UN-wide Intl Year of Planet or [email protected] Earth (2006). Within 32nd Session of Scientific Board of IGCP (9Ð13 February), 26–30 January UNESCO HQ, Salle XII: School pupils everywhere are invited to Building S&T Capacity for Effective www.unesco.org/earthsciences enter an art contest on 'Living in space' Management and Sustainable Use (6–10 years), an essay contest on 'Space of Biodiversity in Dryland Biosphere 2–5 March in our lives' (11–15 years) and science Reserves in West Africa. 1st Global Biotechnology Forum. fiction writing contest on any outer- UNESCO-MAB/UNEP-GEF Organized by UNIDO and Govt of Chile. space theme (16–19 years). The contests project launch. Includes roundtable UNESCO will present teaching kits on are co-organized by UNESCO (within its on Biosphere Reserves as genetically modified organisms. Space Education Programme), EURISY sustainable development laboratories Concepción: www.unido.org/biotech and the Norwegian Space Centre. for NEPAD attended by Ministers For details on how to enter, go to of Environment of Benin, Burkina 7–20 March www.unesco.org/science/earthsciences/ Faso, Côte d'Ivoire, Mali, Niger Effects of Pollutants on Atmospheric sep.htm, or write to Yolanda Berenguer and Senegal. Room XIII, UNESCO HQ: Environment, UNESCO-IHP Training either at y.berenguer @unesco.org or www.unesco.org/mab, [email protected] course for AsiaÐPacific, Nagoya University via the Editor. (Japan): [email protected],

Rays of Hope: Renewable Energy in the Pacific New Releases Video and booklet published by UNESCO Division of Basic Sciences and Engineering, UNESCO Publishing. Towards Integrated Management of Alexandria’s Pacific islanders have been using renewable energies for millennia, Coastal Heritage sailing around the region on wind power, cooking with biomass fuel CSI Papers 14. By S. Morcos, N. Tongring,Y. Halim, M. El-Abbadi and drying crops the sun. Now, within international co-operation, and H. Awad. A joint endeavour by the University of Alexandria, they are extending the range of renewable energies to include Supreme Council of Antiquities (Egypt), Governorate of Alexandria hydropower, solar photovoltaic systems for lighting and water and UNESCO. Exists in English (and in Arabic soon), 79 pp. pumping, solar water heating, improved cooking stoves and coconut Discusses efforts since 1997 to preserve Alexandria’s past while oil as a substitute for diesel. The Pacific states stand a real chance allowing the modern city to develop. Studies have been conducted of becoming the world’s first ‘renewable energy economies’. Their on how to stabilize Qait Bey Citadel without endangering the survival, however, will also depend on international agreements to nearby Pharos Lighthouse site, on the feasibility of establishing an limit greenhouse gas emissions, responsible for global warming, underwater archaeological museum and on how to control marine

climate change and sea-level rise. [email protected], fax: (331) 4568 5823 subscribe for free/unsubscribe: This issue was printed in 7,500 copies. To pollution and manage wastewater in the Eastern Harbour, site of a series of recent archaeological discoveries. Science in the Information Society View at: www.unesco.org/csi/pub/papers2/alex.htm, By Lisbeth Fog. Exists in English and French, 88 p., UNESCO or request a free copy from either: [email protected] or contribution to World Summit on the Information Society www.unesco.org/csi/pub/PubOrderForm.rtf (2003 and 2005), examines policy issues concerning open access, 1, rue Miollis, 75732 Paris Cedex 15, France. All articles are free of copyright and may be reproduced providing that providing of copyright and may be reproduced free 1, rue Miollis, 75732 Paris Cedex 15, France. All articles are Director of Publication: Walter Erdelen; Editor: Susan Schneegans; Art Director: Jacques Zahles; Realization: HEXA Graphic (jac Editor: Susan Schneegans; Art Director: Erdelen; of Publication: Walter Director

data preservation, electronic publishing etc., including by the Natural Sciences Sector of United Nations Educational, Sci is a quarterly newsletter published in English and French Small is Working: Technology for Poverty recommendations from the S&T communities and Ministers: Reduction www.unesco.org/wsis 90-minute video (PAL) and 60-page booklet co-published by UNESCO, Intermediate Technology Development Group and € Study Abroad 2004–2005 Television Trust for the Environment ( 14.80), 32nd edition, 647 pp, ISBN: UNESCO 92-3-003888-1, € 18.50, ISBN: 92-3-103910-5, English only. UNESCO Publishing. Student guide (in English, French and The use of low-cost, small-scale technologies in developing Spanish) on study programmes around the world, distance countries was promoted in the 1960s by E F Schumacher, who education, national education systems, course languages, school of Science A World published Small is Beautiful: a Study of Economics as if People fees, immigration requirements, scholarships and other forms of Mattered in 1973. The current booklet and video show how smaller- financial aid. A database that can be searched by country or domain scale and intermediate technology can reduce poverty and foster of study free of charge is available at: www.unesco.org/studyabroad. sustainable development. A site interface allows authorized institutions and organizations to enter data directly.

To order a sales publication: www.unesco.org/publishing UNESCO natural sciences portal: www.unesco.org/science