IMPACT OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY LAWS ON TECHNOLOGY TRANSFERS CONSIDERED BY COMMISSION ON SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
Press Release
ENV/DEV/471
IMPACT OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY LAWS ON TECHNOLOGY TRANSFERS CONSIDERED BY COMMISSION ON SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
19980423 While intellectual property laws were important for protecting ideas and technologies, they should not hinder the transfer of technologies, the representative of Indonesia said this morning, as the Commission on Sustainable Development confirmed its consideration of technology transfers, capacity-building, education, science and awareness-raising.Speaking on behalf of the "Group of 77" developing countries and China, he said the full application of intellectual property rights could pose an additional barrier to technology transfer in developing countries. Too much regulation could undermine the commitment to transfer technology fairly, he said.
Developed countries often imposed standards that developing countries could not meet without adequate resources and technological capacity, he told the Commission. The representative of the United States said that intellectual property rights did not damage developing countries; rather strengthening their observance promoted development.
The representative of China said that international cooperation had to be strengthened to achieve global sustainable development. Developed countries needed to fulfil promises they made by giving priority consideration to the transfer of environmentally sound technologies to developing countries. The development and transfer of such technologies would enhance the research and development capacities of developing countries.
The representative of Pakistan said technology transfer and capacity- building were both important for sustainable development. There were constraints with respect to environmentally safe technologies from both the supply and demand side. Protection of intellectual property rights and the investment of time were constraints on the supply side, while affordability was a constraint on the demand side, he said.
Sustainable Development Commission - 1a - Press Release ENV/DEV/471 8th Meeting (AM) 23 April 1998
Statements were also made by the representatives of Greece, the Netherlands, Spain, the Republic of Korea, the United Kingdom (for the European Union and associated States), Poland, Brazil, Peru, Mexico, the Russian Federation, Australia, Kazakhstan, France, Japan, Norway, Canada, India and Cuba, and by the Observer for Switzerland.
Also addressing the Commission were representatives of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), and the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR), as well as of the following non-governmental organizations: UNED-UK, the International Youth and Student Movement, and the Youth Caucus.
The Commission will meet again at 3 p.m. today to conclude its discussion on these cross-sectoral issues and to begin its consideration of the sustainable development of small island developing States. It will also hold a general discussion on industry and freshwater management.
Commission Work Programme
The Commission on Sustainable Development met this morning to continue its consideration of the transfer of technology, capacity-building, education, science and awareness raising. (For background, see Press Release ENV/DEV/466 of 20 April.)
Statements
MICHAEL SCOULLOS (Greece), President of the International Conference of Thessaloniki, reported on a three-day conference held in December in joint sponsorship with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). At the conference on education and public awareness for environmental sustainability, 1,200 participants from 84 countries considered formal, non-formal and informal education and training measures contributing to sustainability. Its declaration stated that education and public awareness were pillars of sustainability, together with legislation, economy and technology. They should therefore be an integral part of government and group policies.
BOB NEKKER (Netherlands) reported on the outcome of the International Expert Meeting on Environmental Practices in Offshore Oil and Gas Activities, held in his country during November. Its conclusions recognized that the offshore oil industry operated in concert with organizations in a sustainable manner to varying degrees in parts of the world. The overall conclusion was that the oil industry could be brought into line with sustainable development goals through joint discussion between the industry and others and through shared information. An international steering group set up by the Expert Meeting was preparing an outline of resources within a worldwide framework.
AURELIO FERNANDEZ (Spain) reported on the work of the Commission for Social Development, describing it as a pillar of sustainable development. The Commission met in February to consider the theme of social integration. The issue was approached from the perspective of social participation, reducing vulnerability, and strengthening social mechanisms in order to affect the factors causing social deterioration, such as crime and drugs.
The results of two expert meetings held last year were considered during the session, he said. The conclusions of the Social Commission were relevant to sustainable development in such areas as the promotion of social justice and the consideration of social objectives in context of entrepreneurship and improving consumption patterns. He said there were five key elements of action to bring about social improvement: governments and civil society had to participate jointly; ethics had to be fostered to ensure that macroeconomic policies generated social aspects through voluntary codes of conduct; the importance of integrated societies for supporting the social framework had to be stressed; emphasis had to be placed on education, quality training, and
Sustainable Development Commission - 4 - Press Release ENV/DEV/471 8th Meeting (AM) 23 April 1998
equal access to them; and all relevant actors must be encouraged to consider the impact of programmes and policies on social integration.
WYOSO PRODJOW ARISTO (Indonesia), speaking on behalf of the "Group of 77" developing countries and China, said that environmentally sound technologies included know-how, goods and services and equipment, as well as organizational and managerial procedures. That implied that, in the discussion of technology transfer, human resource development and local capacity-building aspects of technology choices, including gender-relevant aspects, should also be addressed.
Intellectual property laws were important for protecting ideas and technologies, he said. However, the full application of intellectual property rights could in the developing countries could pose an additional barrier to technology transfer and undermine the commitment to transfer technology fairly. Developed countries had on many occasions been pressured to impose environmental standards, such as the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. There was an unfair imbalance whereby developed countries did not abide by their obligations to help developing countries with resources and technology. At the same time, the developing countries were compelled to abide by those standards. Without adequate resources and technological capacity, developing countries would not be able to meet those standards.
CHANG BEOM CHO (Republic of Korea) spoke on an international expert meeting on the role of publicly funded research and publicly owned technologies in the transfer of environmentally sound technologies, held in Kyongju, Republic of Korea, from 4 to 6 February. He said the meeting found that it was not only governments of developed countries which provide funds for technology development, but also the governments of developing countries. Thus, the scope of publicly funded technology transfer did not have to be a limited unilateral flow from developed to undeveloped countries. Also, unlike other commercial technologies, such as electronics, governments were the main drivers of developing such technologies and regulating them. However, case studies found that 9 out of ten countries had no specific legal or administrative restrictions for the transfer of those technologies.
He said the meeting also found that scientists and researchers were quite willing to engage in transferring their inventions or sharing research results, but they lacked funds to engage in such activities. There was a need to overcome the dichotomy between research communities and official aid or development cooperation agencies. If development agencies improved their support for the transfer of research results to developing countries, it could lead to a considerable improvement in developing country capacity-building.
Sustainable Development Commission - 5 - Press Release ENV/DEV/471 8th Meeting (AM) 23 April 1998
SHEILA McCABE (United Kingdom), spoke on behalf of the European Union and Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Cyprus, Norway, Liechtenstein and Iceland. She said that proposals on freshwater management and industry should give priority to the elimination of poverty and to sustainable consumption and production. Nations should work towards reducing the proportion of people living in extreme poverty by one half by the year 2015. Food scarcity and problems involving health and industrial development were due in part to the poor management of freshwater resources. The development of sustainable industry could assist in the elimination of poverty through the creation of new economic opportunities. Strategies on poverty eradication should give due attention to gender perspectives. Donor countries should build partnerships with developing countries.
It was particularly important to promote positive action by industry for sustainable development, she said. Businesses should integrate a commitment to improving eco-efficiency in all plans and operations, from design through to advertising and marketing. Businesses could make more sustainable patterns of consumption and production a reality, encouraging and enabling consumers of goods and services to make more sustainable choices. Governments at all levels should use their procurement policies to promote sustainable consumption and production. Sustainable consumption was the key to ensuring that everyone had sufficient water of good quality for basic needs. The focus should be on promoting food security, reducing pollution and protecting the environment.
ZHANG KUNMIN (China) said that nation-building based on science, education and sustainable development were the pillars of his country's development strategy. Like most developing countries, China believed that international cooperation had to be strengthened to achieve global sustainable development. China recommended that developed countries make good on the promises they made by giving priority consideration to the transfer of environmentally sound technologies already in the public domain to the developing countries, since developing countries were faced with the challenge of eradicating poverty.
Developed countries should take concrete actions to transfer their mature environmentally sound technologies to developing countries, he said. Research, development and transfer of such technologies would involve the cooperation of research institutions of both developed at developing countries on an equal basis. It would ensure the joint development and sharing of technology, which would enhance the research and development capacities of developing countries. Capacity-building in the absorption of technologies by developing countries was a key to effective technology transfer, determining whether a technology could be smoothly incorporated and used.
Sustainable Development Commission - 6 - Press Release ENV/DEV/471 8th Meeting (AM) 23 April 1998
JOHN McGUINNESS (United States) endorsed national reporting as important to the Commission's work. The four pillars of sustainable development were decentralization, shared authority and responsibility, market mechanisms, and community involvement, and they were all-important for capacity-building for sustainable development.
Education laid the groundwork, he said. In the transfer of environmentally-sound technologies, greater transparency and reporting were needed. International property rights did not damage developing countries. Rather, strengthening their observance promoted development. Research, particularly as related to earth systems, and research in social sciences were critical for sustainable development.
CZESLAW WIECKOWSKI (Poland) said his country supported the sectoral approach towards poverty and changing global conditions. However, recommendations should cover all aspects of globalization. The European Union's proposals should be extended, especially in the sectoral segment of education. Education was not just a self-standing sector but a necessary component for all cross-sectoral improvement, including technology transfer and capacity-building.
Globalization offered an opportunity for development, but only educated people could make the choices that entailed, he said. Governments were responsible for reforming education for all people at the national level, including the education of politicians. Non-governmental organizations played an important role in educating society regarding to alternative values. Each nation should use its cultural foundation for promoting education in its own way, for its own values.
ENIO CORDEIRO (Brazil) said the great challenge was to move from discussions on sustainable development to actions. However, Commission members seemed to still be far apart in their views on basic topics of discussion, such as the issue of intellectual property rights. There had never been a study on the role of intellectual property rights or a full discussion of it by the Commission. The Commission should also move forward in the formation of regional centres and banks to store information on environmentally sound technologies.
KAREN JORGENSEN, of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), said that although sustainable development was still subject to enormous constraints, signs of progress were evident around the globe. People all over the world could make progress in development if they received support and encouragement. The global community had a reasonable sense of what needed to be done. The main challenge now was to implement that knowledge and encourage nations to use existing capacities. At the national level, efforts should be undertaken to include a full range of national actors in the process of capacity-building, to give more attention to governments' responsibility for
Sustainable Development Commission - 7 - Press Release ENV/DEV/471 8th Meeting (AM) 23 April 1998
the efficient delivery of services, and to effectively monitor and evaluate capacity-building programmes. MONIKA LINN-LOCHER, Observer for Switzerland, said there should be a greater focus on the role of education for sustainable development. The core messages of education for sustainable development had been clarified in recent years. The real challenge was not in formulating new messages but in communicating them to all peoples. Actions to be taken at the national level should include launching discussions for sustainable development, strengthening and encouraging networks and partnerships for development education, and stressing sustainablility at all educational levels. It was not a matter of imposing extra subjects for teachers, but adding development issues in the existing curriculum. Also, girls and women continued to have little or no access to education; the lack of education for them continued to hamper development efforts. ANGELO D'AMBROSIO, Managing Director for Subsectorial Support and Environmental Sustainability of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), said that as the specialized agency mandated to promote industrialization in the developing countries and those with economies in transition, UNIDO had a special interest in technology transfer and capacity- building. Industry was both UNIDO's partner and its client, and sustainable industrial development was becoming the agency's guiding principle. The problems of technology transfer to developing countries were well known, he said. To counter the constraints that developing countries faced in the transfer of environmentally sound technologies, UNIDO had developed programmes to assess needs, identify suitable technologies, demonstrate feasibility, disseminate information, and create or strengthen local capacity to absorb technological solutions through institution-building and policy advice to governments. Recognizing that technology transfer was essentially a business-to- business transaction, UNIDO actively promoted investment and technological cooperation between enterprises in developed, developing and transitional economies. In that capacity, it was an honest broker to facilitate the transfer of environmentally sound technologies. SONIA VALDIVIA (Peru) said there was a positive discussion and dialogue in her country on sustainable development and environmental issues. The Government was taking a number of steps and creating voluntary regulations to promote capacity-building behaviours. Such steps included the promotion of efficient waste management, especially in the construction industry. Environmentally sound technologies had been applied in the mining and fishery sectors as well, which were basic sectors of the economy. There was a great need for education on sustainable development and there should be further efforts to hold seminars and create curricula to advance knowledge on that issue.
Sustainable Development Commission - 8 - Press Release ENV/DEV/471 8th Meeting (AM) 23 April 1998
TREVOR HARVEY, of UNED-UK, an educational non-government organization of the United Kingdom, said that education should be a priority in sustainable development efforts. Government ministries should be encouraged to cooperate with educational efforts to ensure comprehensive and efficient learning. Further efforts should also be made to involve members of the educational community in the creation of sustainable development policies. Greater importance should be placed on national reporting on the implementation of such policies, to help evaluate progress made at the national level.
ULISES CANCHOLA (Mexico) said that technology transfer should not be left to market forces alone. There should be efforts to share technology based on cooperative agreements for the benefit of all nations. Education for sustainable development would benefit from a bottom-up approach, where various sectors of society contributed to the dissemination of information on better environmental practices. The national reports on progress made in the area of sustainable development should be fully utilized by the Commission. Those reports could provide an important resource for analysis and research; they should be used before new studies were taken up.
OLEG RUDENSKY (Russian Federation) said the cessation of environmentally destructive practices and technologies should be a priority of the international community. His country had made considerable efforts in that area. A key problem in sustainable development and capacity-building concerned the access to adequate information by all countries. While the Internet provided an important resource for the dissemination of information, it should be used more effectively. All sectors should contribute information and provide know-how on sustainable development practices; the global information system should be improved.
JOANNE DISANO (Australia), Chairman of the Ad Hoc Working Group on Freshwater Resources, said measures such as public/private partnerships were important for sustaining freshwater resources. Such approaches required partnerships between countries, particularly with respect to education and awareness-raising. That was particularly true for science, which had an overriding role in sustainable development in freshwater management. Nevertheless, the biggest factor for preserving natural resources was the eradication of poverty.
AKMARAL KH. ARYSTANBEKOVA (Kazakhstan) said the Commission's agenda was particularly relevant to global problems at present, many of which were related to environmental disasters that existed because of historical practice. In her own country, the Aral Sea was disappearing, with massive environmental degradation as a result. There was a shortage of water and people were getting sick.
Sustainable Development Commission - 9 - Press Release ENV/DEV/471 8th Meeting (AM) 23 April 1998
Kazakhstan needed to rehabilitate land and water as a result of many years of nuclear testing, she said. The United Nations and donor countries had to take a more active role in transferring information and clean technologies to countries such as Kazakhstan, whose emerging economies were faced with the problems left to them by centralized economies.
Ms. AZIMI, of the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR), said that a seminar held last week on the role of education in sustainable development had identified important areas of relevance. Mainstreaming of sustainable development education was vital. The training of teachers should get priority emphasis; the use of all available resources should be optimized. Funding from informal sectors should not mean taking the pressure off government, however. Building partnerships was vital. It was of utmost importance to influence consumption patterns through education.
JACQUES ADREANI (France) said his Government was making available a report on its experience with the transfer of environmentally sound technologies. The text described specific situations involving both public and private actors.
AMADI AJAMU, of the International Youth and Student Movement, said that education, both formal and informal, was a right for all. It must be free and made available worldwide. Governments should establish resource centres specializing in training for sustainable development on the regional and national levels.
BREMLEY LYMGDOH, of the Youth Caucus, said that governments should also be active in abolishing expensive private education, because it deprived the poor of equal education. Performance reviews should be conducted periodically on what countries had done to promote sustainable development education. A bottom-to-top approach towards sustainable development was needed, because the top-to-bottom approach did not take into consideration the people at the grass-roots level.
KAZUHIKO TAKEMOTO (Japan) said his country gave priority to the transfer of environmentally sound technologies by promoting incentives. Science played an important role in development, and regional cooperation was important. Education and awareness-raising was critical, including the active promotion of environmental education.
NAVID HANIF (Pakistan) said that the transfer of technology and capacity-building were both important for sustainable development. There were constraints with respect to environmentally safe technologies from both the supply and demand side. Protection of intellectual property rights and the investment of time were constraints on the supply side, while affordability was a constraint on the demand side.
Sustainable Development Commission - 10 - Press Release ENV/DEV/471 8th Meeting (AM) 23 April 1998
The present period was one of experimentation, he said. Political will was needed above all else for the transfer of environmentally sound technologies, because market forces alone would not promote such transfers. Only governments could do that -- for example, by making sure public funding for research was turned to that purpose. Human resource development was vital for technology transfer, but lack of it should not be a pretext for denying technology to developing countries.
OLE KRISTIAN HOLTHE (Norway) said action seemed to be lagging behind in the area of education for sustainable development. The key question was how to formulate and implement plans for education. While education remained the responsibility of governments, it could be aided through cooperation with other partners, such as the private sector. All educational efforts, especially at the international level, should be coordinated so that experiences could be exchanged. The Commission should also work in conjunction with the United Nations Educational and Scientific Organization (UNESCO) to create a joint working group to address issues of education in sustainable development.
KEN MACARTNEY (Canada) said experience had shown that cooperation for capacity-building required more than the transfer of machinery but a cooperative learning process. Canada had found that educational efforts improved greatly through the cooperation of all sectors, including the scientific community and indigenous peoples. The private sector remained the major producer of environmentally sound technologies. To ensure further development of those technologies and their proper transfer, governments must create a regulated trade and cooperation environment and ensure mutual cooperation.
ZISHWANATH ANAND (India) said the developed countries must live up to their commitments for the provision of development assistance in all forms to developing countries. All companies should implement environmentally sound technologies. However, companies in developing countries could not cover the full costs of such technology. Developing countries, which were most in need of such technologies, could not pay the full market price for them. Unless the question of affordability was addressed, developing countries would find it difficult to implement improved practices which were good for the environment.
GISELLA ALONSO (Cuba) said that developing countries must have adequate access to environmentally sound technologies without conditions or exclusions. Developed countries must also provide assistance in scientific and technological research to developing countries. While it was important to protect intellectual property rights, they should not act as a barrier to international trade and access to technology.
* *** *