Back to WMY2000 summary Mohamed H.A. Hassan
Executive Director, Third World Academy of Sciences (TWAS)
Secretary General, Third World Network of Scientific Organizations (TWNSO)
The South enters the third millennium facing monumental challenges when it comes to efforts for economic progress and sustainable and equitable development. At the core of these challenges is the ability of the South to participate in and benefit from the rapid advances in scientific research and technological innovations that now drive economic and social development. These powerful forces are largely controlled by industrialized countries in the North and are mostly directed to address the problems and needs of rich countries. The South, as a whole, contributes little to modern science and technology. Yet, if acquired and properly utilized, new trends in science and technology offer immense possibilities for solving many of the problems impeding economic and social progress in the South.
The South must therefore intensify co-operative efforts to enhance its indigenous capacity to generate, manage and utilize science and technology in ways that address its own basic needs. For this to take place, regional and inter-regional efforts must be vigorously pursued. The ultimate goal of these efforts should be to develop collaborative programmes in capacity building for scientific education and research, and to establish new regional alliances among academia, governments and industries to address real-life problems.
This background paper discusses the challenges and opportunities for South-South co-operation in science and technology and presents several strategies for strengthening collaboration among developing countries. Such strategies, which must be firmly anchored to the best available science and technology in the South, are most likely to succeed through networked centres of excellence focusing on problems of common concern.
The most critical challenge facing the developing world is how to bridge the huge gap between the North and the South in the production and utilization of scientific and technological knowledge. Measured in terms of publications, the science-rich North, representing 20% of humanity, contributes more than 90% of the worlds share of current scientific knowledge; meanwhile, the science-poor South, representing 80% of humanity, generates less than 10% of this knowledge. In terms of technological output, measured by patents, the inequality is much greater. The South's 1995 share of patents, held by the two largest and most international patent systems in the USA and Europe, amounted to less than 1% of the world's total.
What is more disturbing is that the North-South divide in scientific output and technological innovations is constantly widening. On the one hand, the North, with its huge investments in research and development (R&D), is rapidly advancing the frontier of scientific knowledge. On the other hand, developing countries are spending small proportions of their gross domestic product (GDP) often less than 1 percent on R&D. Put another way, the world's total R&D expenditure in 1994 was about US$470 billion; only 10% of that amount was attributed to the South. This makes it very difficult for the South to develop their capacity to catch-up.
Huge investments in scientific research and knowledge in the past 30 years have been the driving force behind the considerable wealth and high living standards now being enjoyed by the North. In 1995, the income share of the richest 20% of humanity was 86% of the world's total. Other statistics tell the same story. For example, the richest 20% of humanity's ratio of income compared to that of the poorest 20% of humanity rose from 30:1 in 1960, to 61:1 in 1991, to 82:1 in 1995.
Reducing these disparities will be a major challenge facing South-South co-operation in the 21st century. Previous efforts by national governments and international development agencies to overcome poverty and stimulate growth in developing countries have not recorded much success. Rapid globalization, driven by revolutionary advances in technology and information and communication systems and characterized by economic liberalization, free trade, and increased competition have often widened the gap between poor and rich nations. The impact of globalization on the composition of financial flows, for instance, has been dramatic. Overseas development aid, a major source of external funding for development projects in poor countries, slid from US$56.4 billion in 1990 to US$44.2 billion in 1996. At the same time, foreign direct investment and private financial flows soared from US$41.9 billion to US$256 billion. Such trends have benefited only a few developing countries with large economies. The primary challenge, then, is how South-South co-operation can help the majority of developing countries close the knowledge gap and effectively respond to and benefit from rapid globalization by enhancing their capacities in science, technology and knowledge. Such efforts will serve as cornerstones for the transition of the South to sustainable economic growth and development.
The second important challenge relates to finding solutions to the critical real-life problems confronting most Third World countries. Such problems include poverty; tropical diseases; food, energy and water shortages; and their adverse impacts on biological resources, climate and water quality. Harvard University economist, Jeffrey Sachs, contends that since poor countries are mostly located in ecological zones different from those in the North, they face different health and agricultural problems and that those differences are often a fundamental cause of persisting poverty. The challenge for South-South co-operation, therefore, is how to mobilize the best science in the South and elsewhere and direct it towards development problems in the developing world.
The revolution in information and communication technologies has created unprecedented opportunities to narrow the knowledge gap between the North and the South by providing equitable access to the world's stock of scientific knowledge to everyone, everywhere. Through electronic mail and the internet, data can now be instantly transferred across vast distances, providing science-poor countries with the possibility of access to the latest scientific and technological information for addressing local and global problems. In fact, scientists in the South with internet facilities can now communicate easily with each other and their colleagues in the North to form new virtual networks and global research teams.
But many members of the world community cannot fully participate in and benefit from this information revolution. Unfavourable economic conditions and the high cost of wire-line infrastructure have made it difficult to provide these facilities to people in poor Third World countries, particularly those living in remote areas. The total number of telephone lines in the 48 LDCs is 1% of the number of lines in the USA. Only 1% of the world's telephone lines are in Africa and about half of these are in South Africa alone.
On the other hand, rapid advances in wireless digital systems based on satellites or cellular transceivers can provide a much less expensive and permanent solution to communication problems in developing countries. Among the many advantages of wireless telecommunication systems over wire-based systems are that they can be developed quickly and are not affected by natural hazards. Several developing countries Argentina, Brazil and China, for instance are investing heavily in digital communication systems. Telephone networks in such small countries as Botswana, Djibouti, Ghana, Maldives, Mauritius and Qatar, are now completely digital, bypassing the older wire-based systems and leapfrogging to this new technology. This trend deserves to be emulated by other developing countries. The new information age will soon make it possible for any scholar, teacher or student to acquire a cheap small portable computer that will provide access to virtually any source of information anywhere, anytime.
Another important opportunity relates to the applications of innovative techniques in biotechnology and genetic engineering to improve food production, preserve the environment and natural resources, and combat tropical diseases. Although most of the current research in this rapidly advancing field is carried out in the laboratories of the North, several developing countries, including Argentina, Brazil, China, Cuba, India, Mexico and Singapore, have established research programmes in modern biology and biotechnologies of high standard. These countries are in a strong position to assist others in the South to develop their local capacities in this vitally important field.
Still another opportunity for developing countries is related to the distribution of the world's natural resources. The developing world is blessed with vast natural resources and possesses most of the world's biodiversity, as well as much of the deeply rooted traditional knowledge associated with these genetic assets. The South, however, has not yet gained much from its natural riches. Many developing lack the scientific and technical skills and financial resources to protect and sustainably exploit these irreplaceable biological resources. In a world economy driven by globalization and competitiveness, the South will likely find its natural resources to be one of its best comparative advantages. Meanwhile, big multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies in the North have expanded their bioprospecting and gene-hunting in developing countries. In 1990, world sales of medicine derived from plants discovered by indigenous people totalled US$43 billion. Yet, people in the South received little financial benefit from these commercial efforts. Similarly, the 1998 World Development Report noted that a unique plant in Madagascar used by a global pharmaceutical company to develop two anti-cancer drugs generated more than US$100 million in sales with no financial returns to the country. Such large developing countries as India, Brazil and China have devised biodiversity laws to protect their genetic resources from biopiracy. However, the trade-off between stricter protection laws as called for by India and China and relatively liberal legislation as advocated by Brazil must be carefully assessed against the ultimate goal of protecting local interests and encouraging foreign investment. Developing countries must work together to build their capacities in genomics science and develop skills in international property right and patent issues, to be able to negotiate bioprospecting agreements with foreign companies that would maximize the benefits to their economy and local communities.
Any strategy to promote South-South collaboration must bear in mind the diversity of countries in the South. These countries vary enormously in size. China has a population of 1.2 billion, almost twice the population of the 48 Least Developed Countries (LDCs). Some large countries, such as Argentina, Brazil, China, India, Mexico, South Africa and South Korea, have enviable records of scientific achievement compared to the others. A few for example, South Korea, Malaysia, Singapore and China (Taiwan) have made considerable economic and technological progress in recent years. Yet, many LDCs have not experienced significant development for some time. Nevertheless, regardless of their size and stage of development, every country in the South lags behind every country in the North in terms of wealth, scientific and technical productivity, and military power.
The most productive and beneficial South-South co-operation strategies are those anchored to the best science in the South. Without the full engagement of the South's most outstanding institutions and most accomplished scientists, South-South co-operation will not make a real difference. For this reason, it is necessary to develop a comprehensive audit of institutions and individuals that have achieved excellence in scientific research and training in the South. The Third World Network of Scientific Organizations (TWNSO), in collaboration with the Third World Academy of Sciences (TWAS) and the South Centre, recently took a major step in this direction when, in 1998, the three organizations published a book profiling the capabilities of 430 scientific institutions of excellence in 52 developing countries. These institutions have expressed a readiness to participate in regional, inter-regional and international networks, and scientific exchanges and training programmes for young scientists from developing countries other than their own. Many of the institutions have achieved levels of competence comparable to institutions in industrialized countries.
Human resources development should be a top priority in South-South co-operation strategies. The dearth of highly qualified scientists and technologists in most Third World countries has hampered the development and application of science and technology to the socio-economic needs in the South and has been a key factor behind the large number of foreign consultants in the LDCs. As Thomas Odhiambo, former president of the African Academy of Sciences, recently observed, roughly 100,000 high-level experts, equivalent to the number of foreign experts working in Africa, were part of Africa's brain drain during the 1990s.
Major efforts, therefore, should be mounted to fully utilize institutions of excellence in the developing world to train young scientists from countries with inadequate research and training facilities. To facilitate this goal, governments in the South and international development agencies should co-sponsor a massive programme of scholarships to enable students to pursue graduate and postgraduate education in these institutions. South-South co-operation in postgraduate training at institutions of excellence in the South has several advantages. Apart from being much less expensive than training in the North, it promotes the indigenous generation and application of knowledge and could help slow the brain-drain. Furthermore, training a new generation of scientists in Southern institutions will encourage these scientists to build scientific collaboration with their peers in the South and to build permanent links with the institutions at which they obtained their training.
An important initiative in this direction has recently been taken by the Third World Organization for Women in Science (TWOWS) in collaboration with the Third World Academy of Sciences (TWAS). With financial support from the Swedish Agency for Research Co-operation with Developing Countries (Sida-SAREC), a postgraduate fellowship programme has been established to enable young female students from the LDCs to pursue their PhD studies at centres of excellence in the South. The large number of applications received from talented female students more than 150 for 25 openings demonstrates the demand for such South-South initiatives.
The South's efforts to achieve science-led sustainable development depends on fully engaging its most able and talented minds. Special programmes, like the Math and Physics Olympiads, aimed at identifying and encouraging youthful talent should be supported through South-South collaboration at the regional and inter-regional levels. Gifted children selected for these programmes should be nurtured in an environment conducive to the development of their talent. This can be achieved through the creation of a specialized system of schools and colleges for gifted children. The South Korean government pursued such a strategy when it established several highly competitive high schools for training talented children and the Korean Institute of Technology (KIT) to enable them to pursue their university undergraduate education. The system has been instrumental in the development of a critical mass of highly qualified and talented leaders in science and technology. The creation of such a pool, in turn, has been a key factor in South Korea's unprecedented pace of economic growth.
Therefore, the first element in any strategy for South-South co-operation is to utilize the best research and training centres in the South to train young and talented scientists from other countries, especially those from the LDCs, to create a critical mass of world-class leaders able to address the critical problems facing the countries of the South. This measure should be reinforced by efforts to stem the migration of the best scientists from the South to the North by providing them with incentives and adequate research facilities and by involving them in national development programmes. Many of the best scientists from developing countries continue to leave their homes for better economic and working conditions in the North. A recent IMF study "How big is the brain drain?" presents dramatic and disturbing statistics. In several Third World countries, the migration rate of highly educated individuals to developed countries exceeds 30% of the total at home. And in some countries, more individuals with college degrees live abroad than in their country of origin.
The second element in any strategy for South-South co-operation is to engage leading research institutions in the South in joint research projects aimed at finding solutions to critical real-life problems facing large regions of the South. Such problems include tropical diseases, food security, energy needs, soil and water management, deforestation and desertification. Regional and inter-regional co-operation in science and technology based on efforts to network centres of excellence to tackle specific development-oriented research problems carry substantial benefits for developing countries: Although at different stages of development, many developing countries share similar social, cultural and economic roots. As an example, the Third World Network of Scientific Organizations (TWNSO) with financial assistance from the Global Environment Facility (GEF) has recently formed a network of centres of excellence in dryland biodiversity in 16 developing countries and designed a project to facilitate the sharing of successful experiences in the conservation and sustainable use of genetic resources. Networks to address other problems of critical importance to sustainable development for example, centres focusing on the study of medicinal plants, fresh water and renewable energy are being developed. These networks should take advantage of recent advances in cross-cutting technologies, such as biotechnologies and information and communication technologies, to enhance their efforts to create the new knowledge needed to address the problems of the South. This knowledge must be generated locally because it is not readily available in the North.
The third element is to promote the sharing of innovative experiences in science and technology in developing countries that have been successfully implemented and have directly benefited the quality of life in the South. In co-operation with the United Nations Development Programme's Special Unit for Technical Co-operation among Developing Countries, TWNSO recently published a volume highlighting examples of successful initiatives in science and technology in the South. Titled Sharing Innovative Experiences, the volume, which contains 29 case studies from some 15 nations in the developing world, complements the Academy's efforts to create scientific centres of excellence. The centres have been designed to nurture home-grown brain power for progress; the case studies offer proof of how science has been put to work for the benefit of people providing ground truth that science serves as an indispensable tool when tailored to meet the needs of the population. The next collection of case studies will focus on the use of medicinal and indigenous plants for sustainable development in the South. Work on this volume, which involves 15 centres of excellence, began this autumn. Centres participating in these projects are equipped with modern communication systems to facilitate the sharing of knowledge and best practices.
The fourth element in this strategy is to encourage scientific leaders in the South to offer independent, authoritative opinions to decision-makers on issues of critical importance for example, the potential impacts of advances in electronic communications, biotechnology, alternative energies, resource conservation and new materials. This goal can be realized by assembling interdisciplinary panels of experts that include the South's most prominent researchers in the natural and social sciences. Such independent, scientifically based and timely advice coming from scientific leaders in the South should prove of great benefit to national governments, regional and inter-regional organizations and regional development banks. Indeed linking scientific expertise to the financial resources and know how found in the developing world's development banks might provide an enduring framework for sustainable development in the South.
The policy debate on the application of biotechnology to genetically modified (GM) plants, which is currently taking place both within the South and between the South and North, would be greatly enhanced by an in-depth authoritative study prepared by scientific experts in developing countries. Citizens and decision makers in the South need to know more about recent trends in research activities, field trials and the commercialization of GM crops to enable them to devise appropriate policies both for preserving their genetic resources and capitalizing on this new technology.
As mentioned above, the capacity to generate new scientific and technological knowledge is concentrated in the science-rich countries of the North and is largely utilized to address the basic and material needs of these countries. The fact is that not much of this new knowledge has been used to address the critical problems of poor countries. As Sachs so aptly puts it: "All the rich-country research on rich-country ailments, such as cardiovascular diseases and cancer, will not solve the problems of malaria. Nor will the biotechnology advances for temperate-zone crops easily transfer to the conditions of tropical agriculture....rich and poor countries should direct their urgent attention to the mobilization of science and technology for poor country problems."
One of the most successful examples of North-South partnerships in science and technology involves the creation of a network of centres of excellence focusing on issues related to tropical agriculture. The system, sponsored by the Consultative Group of International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) since 1971, currently includes 16 international, independent and multidisciplinary institutions located in developing countries. By introducing new plant varieties and cultivation methods, the system sparked the "green revolution" in Asia and Latin America, which doubled global production of cereal crops between 1970 and 1990. The CGIAR system, which helped to combat hunger in large parts of the developing world, is now being challenged by the development and application of modern agricultural biotechnologies. These new tools complement traditional plant breeding programmes by extending GM technologies to such crops as bananas, sorghum, cassava and potatoes that are critical sources of food and income for many poor countries in Africa and Asia. CIGAR has begun to guide developing countries in the current global debate over GM crops. Last year, for instance, it called on developing countries to boycott the "terminator" gene technology introduced by Monsanto. The campaign succeeded in forcing Monsanto to abandon the programme.
Successful operation of the CGIAR system is based largely on the "centres of excellence" model framed by a clear mandate and a mission-oriented strategy. Because the centres are international in scope, local politics has not disrupted the system. Thus far, CGIAR has succeeded in generating stable funding from a large number of international aid agencies. This model needs to be replicated in other fields of critical importance to the developing world, including tropical diseases, information technology, biotechnology and renewable energies.
Another important model of North-South partnerships is based on the creation of networks to facilitate the mobilization of world-wide scientific expertise for addressing issues of global concern. The programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases (TOR), launched by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 1974, to deal with major diseases endemic to tropical countries, is an excellent example of this network approach. With support from several international funding agencies and pharmaceutical companies, WMO has also recently launched two major international programmes in tropical diseases designed to promote North-South collaboration in this field. The first is the Roll Back Malaria programme. Begun in 1998, this programme, which is supported by 12 Japanese pharmaceutical companies, has sought to devise a global strategy for controlling malaria. The second is the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI). Begun last year, this initiative, which is supported by the Gates Foundation, World Bank and UNICEF, is designed to reverse the upswing in preventable diseases by making vaccinations readily available for children living in poor countries. Other important networks that have been established under such international organizations as UNESCO, International Council for Science (ICSU) and WMO, include the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP), Man and Biosphere Programme (MAB), International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP), and International Research Programme on the Structure and Function of Biological Diversity (DIVERSITAS). All of these efforts showcase the important role that UN-affiliated and other well-established international organizations play in global efforts to address critical public health and environmental issues. Such efforts have been handicapped in recent years by the chronic budget crises faced by the UN in particular and international organizations more generally.
North-South partnerships can be of great benefit to South-South co-operation strategies when such partnerships help build and maintain local capacities and excellence in science and technology. Development of Brazil's space programme and satellite technology offers an excellent example of this approach. In 1961, Brazil created a National Space Commission to develop satellite technology. Some 30 years later, in 1993, with assistance from a private US space firm, Brazil launched its first resource-data collecting satellite from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Since then, Brazil has pursued two inter-related space initiatives: the Brazilian Space Mission (MECB) and the China-Brazil Earth Resources Satellites programme (CBERS). These initiatives, which now employ about 1000 scientists and engineers and 2000 technicians, use satellite technology to address down-to-Earth concerns: changes in temperature, humidity and carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere and real-time data on alterations in soil and water quality. Equally important, the information gathered from these satellites has been shared with scientists in other developing countries through some 300 data-collecting platforms on Earth in Brazil and neighbouring countries. Brazil has also offered African nations access to the data through the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
Brazil's evolving space programme is a prime example of how North-South co-operation can be used to foster South-South co-operation. The effort began with the training of young Brazilian scientists and technicians largely in US universities and research laboratories. The programme's initial steps took place with the direct help of private firms and public institutions in the West: Brazil's first satellite was launched from the United States with a US rocket. The knowledge and know-how that Brazilian space scientists and technologists have acquired is now being put to use to help nations throughout the developing world examine critical environmental problems. At the same time, the initiative has raised Brazil's overall scientific skills and facilities. Today, a co-operative partnership with China has set the stage for even more rapid advances in satellite earth observing, data collection and communication in the future. All of this carries the promise of allowing researchers in the South to become true partners on projects devoted to global scientific issues. Such involvement could prove instrumental in 'southernizing' the North's scientific agenda. Research efforts could, as a result, be tied more closely to critical global issues as defined in part by input from scientists in the developing world. Ultimately, the entire global scientific community both in the North and the South would reap the benefits likely to accrue from using scientific data and knowledge to solve real problems faced by real people, especially the two-thirds of the world's population living in the developing world.
The greatest challenge facing the developing world in this era of globalization is how to build and sustain its capacity in modern science and technology and how to jointly mobilize and direct its own capacity in science and technology to address the critical problems facing large parts of the South for example, problems related to poverty, shortages of food, energy, and water, inadequate communication and transportation systems and persistent threats to public health posed by environmental degradation and the spread of tropical diseases. Systematically addressing such concerns will require co-ordinated and determined action by governments, private businesses and academia in the South defined by strategies for South-South co-operation.<
The agenda for South-South co-operation outlined in this paper calls on the Souths best scientists and scientific institutions to join forces to direct their talent and expertise to address the Souths problems.
To facilitate the implementation of this agenda, a strong case for supporting the development of science and technology in the South should be made by: (1) providing concrete examples of successful experiences in the application of science and technology to basic human needs in the South and (2) by creating platforms both for research institutions and individual scientists and technologists in the South to interface directly with the ministries of planning and finance the most powerful decision-making bodies when it comes to the allocation of financial resources.
Strong political will backed by firm financial commitments are essential ingredients for successful implementation of the strategies outlined above. The key financial institutions that should support such South-South institutions are the three regional development banks in Africa, Asia and South and Central America. In collaboration with the World Bank and UNDP, these three institutions may propose the establishment of a special fund to support these strategies and other initiatives aimed at lifting the status of science and technology in the developing world to a level that will enable it to address the critical developmental challenges facing the South and indeed the entire world.
All of this means that South-South co-operation holds the key to science-based sustainable development in the developing world. This co-operation, however, must be directed towards two critical goals: (1) enhancing the capacity of development countries, particularly the least developed counties, to fully embrace science and technology and (2) devising science and technology initiatives that seek to address indeed solve everyday problems.
The level of investment that the developed world, particularly the United States, has made in science and technology over the past decade for example, in information technologies, biotechnology and material science poses a daunting challenge to the countries of the South. The bountiful fruits of these investments, which have been harvested largely in the North suggest that developing countries, with their meager budgets and resources, may never be able to match the scientific and technological prowess of developed countries. The increasing privatization of scientific research only compounds the problem.
But it is also important to emphasize that recent developments in science and technology present opportunities as well as challenges in fact, the stage may now be set for unprecedented opportunities for the rapid advance of scientific know how and technological applications. That is because the same forces that are responsible for the increasing gap between the North and South may also serve as the building blocks for a more harmonious and equitable future. If the South can learn to take advantage of the new information technologies; if the potential benefits of biotechnology are applied to the developing world's indigenous resources for the benefit of its indigenous populations; if advances in resource conservation and energy production are integrated into national development programmes; if discoveries in material science find their way into domestic production processes, then the future of the South is likely to be marked by economic progress.
All of these are huge "ifs" and success is by no means certain. But the South has now reached a stage of scientific and technical development where it is possible indeed imperative for developing nations to learn from one another.
Successful steps in South-South co-operation, in short, provide useful markers for additional success in the future. And that may be best news of all. The more deeply entrenched South-South co-operation becomes, the more likely developing countries will be able to chart their own destinies.
Presented to the High-level Forum on South-South Co-operation
in Science and Technology
(Seoul, Korea 14-17 February 2000