1. ENVIRONMENTALLY AND SOCIALLY
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Organizing Knowledge
for Environmentally
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Proceedings of a Concurrenit Meeting,
of the Fifth Annual World Bank Conference
on Environmentally and Socially
Sustainable Development
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3. ENVIRONMENTALLY AND SOCIALLY
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
OrganizingKnowledge
for Environmentally
and SociallySustainable
Development
Proceedings of a Concurrent Meeting
of the Fifth Annual World Bank Conference
on Environmentally and Socially
Sustainable Development,
"Partnerships for Global Ecosystem Management:
Science, Economics and Law"
CosponsoredbyUNESCOandtheWorldBank
andheldattheWorldBank
Washington,D.C.,October9-10,1997
Ismail Serageldin, TariqHusain, Joan Martin-Brown,
GustavoL6pez Ospina,and JeanneDamlamian, Editors
TheWorldBank
Washington,D.C.

4. Copyright © 1998
The International Bank for Reconstruction
and Development/THE WORLD BANK
1818H Street,N.W.
Washington, D.C.20433,U.S.A.
All rights reserved
Manufactured in the United States ofAmerica
First printing September 1998
Thisreport has been prepared by the staffof the World Bank.The judgments expressed do not
necessarily reflect the views of the Board of ExecutiveDirectors or of the governments they represent.
Cover photograph by Curt Carnemark. Mosque detail, Morocco.
Ismail Serageldin is vice president, SpecialPrograms; TariqHusain is senior advisor, Capacity Building,
Operational Core Services;and Joan Martin-Brown is adviser to the vice president for SpecialPrograms,
all at the World Bank. Gustavo L6pez Ospina is director,Transdisciplinary Projecton Educating for a
Sustainable Future, and Jeanne Damlamian is senior programme specialist, Transdisciplinary Project on
Educating for a SustainableFuture, both at the United Nations Educational, Scientificand Cultural Or-
ganisation (UNESCO).
Library of CongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
International Conferenceon Environmentally Sustainable Development
(5th: 1997: World Bank)
Organizing knowledge for environmentally and socially sustainable
development: proceedings of a concurrent meeting of the fifth
annual World Bank Conference on Environmentally and Socially
Sustainable Development / Ismail Serageldin, ... [etal.], editors.
p. cm. - (Environmentally and socially sustainable
development)
ISBN0-8213-4250-9
1. Sustainable development-Research-Congresses. I.Serageldin,
Ismail, 1944- . II.Title. IV.Series:Environmentally and
socially sustainable development series.
HC79.E515333 1998
333.7'07'2-dc2l 98-3988
CIP
The text and the cover are printed on recycled paper, with a flood aqueous coating on the cover.

5. Contents
Preface v
Setting the Agenda
Introduction TariqHusain 1
Turning Education Around Benjamin Ladner 5
Putting New Bite into Knowledge Gustavo LopezOspina 9
Shifting Gears for the Application of Knowledge
Don Aitkin 13
Shifting Requirements for Knowledge to Advance a Sustainable South
ParthaDasgupta 19
Discussion 26
Obligations of Academic Leaders to the Demands of Sustainable Development
Moderator: Wadi Haddad 29
Panelist Remarks: Alvaro Umana 30
VeenaDas 33
The Critical Path: Linking Knowledge to Advance Environmentally and Socially
Sustainable Development
KennethPrewitt 36
The Social-Natural Science Gap in Educating for Sustainable Development
IsmailSerageldin 43
Peter Thatcher 48
Global Ecosystem Governance and Transboundary Requirements
ClaudioGrossman 51
Discussion 54
iii

6. iv OrganizingKnowledgeforEnvironmentallyandSociallySustainableDevelopment
Knowledge, Finance, and Sustainable Development
Vinod Thomas 57
TheodorePanayotou 68
Discussion 72
How to Proceed-How to Connect?
Saad Eddin Ibrahim 74
Clovis Maksoud 77
Appendixes
A. Program 81
B. Presenters 83
C. Excerpt from the Report of the UNESCO Secretary General to the Commission
on Sustainable Development, Chapter 36 of Agenda 21: Education,
Public Awareness, and Training 85
D. The Ecology of Knowledge Jerzy Wojciechowski 89

7. Preface
T he United Nations Educational,Scientific of sustainability.The challenges are formidable,
and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) and including reorienting formal education systems
the World Bank cosponsored this event to at all levels, mobilizing all sectors of society be-
engage academic and development leaders in hind education as an indispensable instrument
considering the requirements for organizing and for attaining sustainable development, training
linking knowledge, research, and disciplines to nearly 60 million teachers in interdisciplinary ap-
appropriately respond to the challenges of envi- proaches, and reaching beyond schools to define
ronmentally and socially sustainable develop- education as a lifelong endeavor for people of all
ment (ESSD). ages and from all walks of life.
Faculty and scholars from higher education, For the World Bank, UNESCO, other interna-
including the schools of law, economics, inter- tional development institutions, and the United
national relations, business, public administra- Nations system as a whole, and nations to re-
tion, natural resources and the environment, spond most effectively to the challenges inher-
and natural and social sciences were invited. ent in ESSD, there must be a commitment to
Included were members of the Task Force on develop candidates for employment who are
Higher Education and Society recently con- each skilled in a specific discipline, yet who also
vened by UNESCO and the World Bank. The systematically consider the impact of their exper-
workshop was organized as a Concurrent tise on other disciplines and sectors and who are
Meeting of the Fifth Annual World Bank Con- aware of the connections of their disciplines with
ference on ESSD. other areas of specialty. At the same time these
actors need to consider how institutions ofhigher
Rationale education and research can contribute to devel-
oping a citizenry prepared to support sustain-
The World Bank is undergoing a transformation ability through changes in values and lifestyles-
in its organizational arrangements and mission. changes that must be based on understanding the
Two requirements of this effort are to improve issues and what is at stake for the future. This
the integration of cutting-edge knowledge in more broadminded, interdisciplinary approach
Bank operations, and to mainstream social and is needed to support environmentally and so-
environmental concerns in the Bank's develop- cially sustainable development.
ment financing. Key to both efforts is establish-
ing institutional processes that link knowledge Key Questions
and practice. UNESCO, an institution devoted to
education and the environmental sciences for The two-day meeting addressed four questions
over fifty years, is also working to come to grips related to the academic preparation of those par-
with the intellectual and organizational demands ticipating in the development and commercial
v

8. vi OrganizingKnowledgeforEnvironmentallyandSociallySustainableDevelopment
realms through law, economics, business, foreign 3. To encourage new initiatives among aca-
service, rural development, urban planning, and demic and research organizations, UNESCO,
the natural and social sciences: the World Bank, and other international
1. What are the new content elements and bodies to reorient higher education to ad-
parameters required by the ESSDparadigm dress the requirements of environmentally
in specific disciplines? and socially sustainable development.
2. What content links are necessary among
disciplines to ensure that such disciplines Conclusion
explicitly address cross-sectoral require-
ments in development? Developing nations are seeking technology trans-
3. What are the research gaps related to imple- fer, undertaking new partnerships with the pri-
menting ESSD, and how can they be ad- vate sector, and pursuing the development of
dressed by doctoral and post-doctoral their own scientific and technical capacities. As
research? they do, the quality and content of academic en-
4. How do the disconnects among disciplines deavors and research agendas become critical in
affect sustainable development at the na- organizing and investing in knowledge for sus-
tional level? tainable development, and in building interna-
tional networks and partnerships to exchange
Objectives knowledge and experience. For development to
be done differently, those being educated must
The conference had three objectives: be empowered to perceive and connect their dis-
1. To encourage partnerships among the aca- ciplines differently, and to develop knowledge
demic, development, and finance commu- that will be useful for decisionmakers outside the
nities working in a given field to link academic and research worlds.
disciplines and sectoral initiatives and to This conference explored the critical tasks con-
avoid economic, social, and ecological li- fronting educators and development practitio-
abilities in development processes ners, and the need for a new discourse between
2. To encourage graduate research agendas them. Perhaps among disciplines we need to
that link disciplines to respond to the chal- adopt the principle of porosity. The World Bank
lenges of environmentally and socially sus- and UNESCO remain committed to working in
tainable development this direction in the future.
Ismail Serageldin
Tariq Husain
Joan Martin-Brown
Jeanne Damlamian
Gustavo L6pez Ospina

9. SettingtheAgenda
Introduction
TariqHusain
T his is an important occasion,with think- Someofyou werepresent when we assembled
ing and caring minds from all over the here last year, and some of you are new entrants.
world getting together to consider how to Jacques-Yves Cousteau was among us then, and
organize knowledge for environmentally sustain- he asked us at that time to assemble again this
able development. The meeting is sponsored year and report on what we have accomplished
jointly by UNESCO and the World Bank's Learn- since that meeting.
ing and Leadership Center.
"Sustainability" is a word increasingly in our A Warning to Humanity
vocabulary. The goal it reflects is that we follow
policies and take actions to ensure that while we For perspective on this immense subject we
try to meet present needs, the needs of future should also keep in mind some other important
generations are not compromised. This is a very events. Think of what happened in 1992,for ex-
complex, multifaceted objective. It requires the ample: it was not just the Rio conference that was
organization of knowledge on an unprecedented highly significant that year. I have in mind the
scale to enable humankind, or much of human- occasion when about 1,600scientists jointly de-
kind, to act sustainably. clared "A Warning to Mankind." The scientists
The purpose of this meeting is to continue to were from all disciplines and from all parts of
pursue the critically important task of organiz- the world; more than 100Nobel laureates signed
ing knowledge that can help address key issues their names.
facing all of us. The issues ultimately concern We all resonated with this statement. Here is a
survival, and they concern the well-being of our paragraph from it:
children and their children.
Specifically, we meet to help further sustain- Human beings and the natural world are
able development that can ensure future genera- on a collision course. Human activities in-
tions' social, economic, and personal well-being, flict harsh and often irreversible damage on
creating conditions which allow them to live har- the environment and on critical resources.
moniously with a protected environment. If not checked, many of our current prac-
Of course, the responsibility for creating these tices put at risk the future that we wish for
conditions falls on the adults of today, particu- human society and the plant and animal
larly adults who are in a position to do some- kingdoms, and may so alter the living world
thing about it, and who also appreciate the need that it will be unable to sustain life in the
for doing so. Indeed this room is filled with manner that we know. Fundamental
people who are both aware of the issues and who changes are urgent, if we are to avoid the
have the knowledge and the capacity to do some- collision our present course will bring
thing about them. about.
1

10. 2 OrganizingKnowledgeforEnvironmentallyandSociallySustainableDevelopment
That was a very large group of very bright, agricultural production in the next thirty-five
caring minds expressing a deep concern. We years; global energy use is expected to double
might ask, has there been any progress since? As as well.
Jacques-Yves Cousteau might ask, what have we * We are already taxing the productivity of
accomplished-we in this room, and we, the hu- Earth's natural systems, including the oceans.
man race? Imagine the consequences of these additional
In fact there has been forward movement. The environmental stresses and the need for sci-
progress has not been comprehensive, but yet it ence, mitigation actions, and development of
is still noteworthy. For instance, about 100devel- less environmentally stressful alternatives in
oping countries have now prepared national en- order for sustainability to be a viable option
vironmental strategies setting priorities for for the future.
action. Of course, the implementation of these * Pollution continues to worsen in many cities
action plans will require knowledge and capac- of the developing world, with 1.3billion people
ity. That is where educators and leaders are affected. This situation carries severe implica-
needed. They will help achieve the implement- tions for health, productivity, and for the over-
ing capacity for these plans and help ensure that all quality of life for these people.
the priorities are being chosen correctly. * The lost productivity of soil in many African
One hundred forty-three developing countries countries has been estimated to cost 3 to 5per-
have ratified the Biodiversity Convention. That cent of their GDP. Some of this soil damage is
is considerable progress. Someone must help irreversible.
weigh the tradeoffs that face humankind as these * Depletion and pollution of water-a basic
actions are implemented. Someone must under- resource-has caused the real cost of provid-
stand the public support that is needed for the ing drinking water to quadruple in many ar-
benefits that will flow to the children of our chil- eas. Food costs are being similarly affected.
dren, benefits that may be treasures not just be- * Relating to biodiversity, species continue to be
cause they contribute to biodiversity, and to lost at a level between 1,000to 10,000times the
which no one has prior or exclusive claim. natural extinction rate.
Other signs of progress include the fact that * The world's carbon emissions have increased
138countries have ratified the framework Con- 60 percent over the last 25 years. If action is
vention on Climate Change. In addition 119have not taken to control them, they will increase
ratified the Montreal Protocol of the Vienna Con- by about 60 or 70 percent more in the next 25
vention to protect the stratospheric ozone layer. years.
Meanwhile, the World Bank launched the Glo- All of these figures may be familiar to this au-
bal Environmental Facility in 1994in collabora- dience, but for many of the world's leaders and
tion with many countries of the world, along with for much of the rest of humankind they are not.
taking other joint environmental steps. Here again is an education function, one which
needs to be carried out with great conviction and
Much to Do passion.
All of these measures add up to a very modest Need for Partnerships
beginning. A great deal remains to be done, as
pointed out by our president, Mr. James D. Such huge issues are involved, however, that no
Wolfensohn, when he gave the opening address single institution, country, or discipline can do
to the overall World Bank conference on environ- the job. There is the need for partnership, a need
mentally and socially sustainable development that is being emphasized by the World Bank, and
earlier this week. For the purposes of our dis- that was reiterated by our president at a global
cussion here, let me list several of the points conference in Hong Kong and in Mr.
he made: Wolfensohn's opening address earlier this week
* In terms of factors posing major claims on the at the overall conference of which this meeting is
environment, we see the need for doubling a part.

11. SettingtheAgenda 3
Such a partnership concerns the acquisition and 3. Improved mechanisms for building indig-
sharing of knowledge in the largest sense of the enous capacity in the natural sciences and,
word, across disciplinary boundaries. The knowl- importantly, an integrated, interdisciplinary
edge regards problems,but it alsoregards solutions. assessment of societal issues. The point is
The challenge that we have in this community, that there are boundaries between disci-
and in the community that we represent outside plines that will need to be crossed in a very
these rooms, is to educate students from all parts deep and systematic way.
of the world, those who are not only young, but 4. The study of technologies and the strategies
the ones who are already working in the world, for sustainable development. In under-
mostly as adults. standing the importance of this item, we
The task is to systematize the existing knowl- need only recall the heavy additional claims
edge base and share it widely, using all the pow- that will be placed on natural ecosystems
ers of modern technology, made possible by its just to feed the world and provide the
plummeting costs. Indeed technology has created water that it will drink, given the projected
great educational possibilities, but will and ac- requirements.
tion are necessary, too. 5. Networks, treaties, and conventions to pro-
Our agenda at this meeting and beyond is to tect the global commons-overall, a very
address critical questions related to the academic different, interactive kind of relationship
preparations of the students I have referred to, across national boundaries, so that we can
including those in the process of developing their protect the global commons for today and
own capacity to study, teach, and provide advice. tomorrow.
Explaining our challenge, I borrow here several 6. Worldwide exchanges of scientists in edu-
items from the statement by the 1,600scientists cation, training, and research-another in-
to which I referred earlier. It is in their warning dication of the need to share and broaden
and advice that we can find invaluable guidance our knowledge base. There is no alternative
as to what we collectively need to do now, to- but to see the condition of the world and its
morrow, and the day after. people as a common problem and to solve
it together.
Ideas for an Agenda
A Call for a Global Ethic
What follows are issues that the scientists said
are targets of concern and attention. Of course, We should point out that technical excellence
this is just a sampling from their statements: by itself will not meet these challenges. Bound-
1. Global and local environmental change and aries must be crossed into areas from which we
its causes, including poverty, population can draw more energy, particularly in the do-
growth, government policies, and policies to main of values and ethics. For instance it is very
mitigate effects. important in our educational institutions to talk
2. Providing advice on, and a study of, the con- about this critically important matter that can
ditions for human development in the larg- enable students, especially the youth of today,
est sense of the word, in which each one of to bridge the divisions that separate us un-
us is helped to reach our potential, particu- necessarily, divisions that should exist for pur-
larly considering the impediments that re- poses of identity only, not for different treatment.
sult from social inequality, and the other I am speaking once more of the dividing lines
biases that exist in the world, based on dif- of ethnicity, color, gender, income level, and
ferences that shouldn't matter, such as religion.
ethnicity, color, gender, income level, and Let me close then, with this emphasis on
religion. It is the totality of human econom- commonality rather than separation, and I will
ics, that knows no boundaries, that must be quote again that significant 1992 statement of
studied and addressed. the scientists:

12. 4 OrganizingKnowledgeforEnvironmentallyand SociallySustainableDevelopment
A new ethic is required, a new attitude to- cators, and including business leaders and many
ward discharging our responsibility for car- others.
ing for ourselves and for the Earth. This ethic The challenge for all of us is to teach not only
must motivate a great movement, convincing technical excellence, addressing and advising
sometimes reluctant leaders, governments, on relevant issues, but to teach the values that
and people to effectthe needed changes. will permit and promote a new global ethic.
Without such values, common action and a real
We need the help of many people to achieve sense of common bonds will be very difficult
this vital goal,beginning with scientists and edu- to achieve.

13. TurningEducationAround
BenjaminLadner
n The Orderof Things philosopher Michel versities, library lists, articles in learned
FoucaultcitesapassagefromBorgesinwhich journals,worksofcriticism.Thewholegreat
he quotes "a certain Chinese encyclopedia" building stands entirely on its own. Belief
to the effect that "animals can be divided into: in its own existence as an expert in special-
A. Belonging to the emperor ized skill prohibits it from any intercourse
B. Embalmed with other similar structures. The towers of
C. Tame other disciplines also rise up in isolation all
D. Suckling pigs over the place like ziggurats on the sandy
E. Sirens plain of Babylon. We are quite familiar with
F. Fabulous closed worlds of this kind of functioning
G. Stray dogs efficiency, functioning on their own terms,
H. Included in the present classification producing plenty of results, only these re-
I. Frenzied sults make sense inside the system and do
J. Innumerable not bear relation to whatever is in real life.
K. Drawn with a very fine camel hair brush Maybe it is not a horrid accident, but a logi-
L. Et cetera cal conclusion of how we think.
M. Having just broken the water pitcher and
N. That [which] from a long way offlooks like A Self-Absorbed Academic Structure
flies."
This incredible taxonomy imposes upon us a Sewell is raising a fundamental question about
stark impossibility of thinking this way, not only the kind of order we have in our academic struc-
because these are strange images in odd juxtaposi- tures. We have constructed orders of mind that
tion but also because there is no common ground have become orders of inquiry that have
on which a coming together of these things could spawned institutional structures that perfectly
be imagined or would be possible. reflect our orders of mind. It is not the content of
British-American writer Elizabeth Sewell knowledge but the social and professional orga-
once described the American academic struc- nization of knowledge that has been institution-
ture as: alized in universities and that sets the boundaries
of the disciplines of inquiry. The order of these
A huge dream mansion, a kind of crazy sky- disciplines has mesmerized us for so long that,
scraper that is continually being added to collectively, we now spend just as much of our
in all directions-up, down, sideways-a institutional resources and time preserving pro-
fantastic superstructure of which the mate- fessional prerogatives as we do actually deepen-
rials are theses, dissertations, courses in uni- ing human insight.
5

14. 6 OrganizingKnowledgeforEnvironmentallyand SociallySustainableDevelopment
Where did this self-absorbing fascination with A Split in Education and in Living
ideas and structure come from? Eric Heller wrote
many years ago in TheDisinheritedMind: Of all the ills that presently beset us-social, po-
litical, militaristic, and economic-perhaps none
Common sense in each epoch consists of is more pernicious than the fragmentation of the
an astonishingly complex agglomeration of academy, which mandates separations between
highly sophisticated half-truths. One such specialization and generalization, between teach-
half-truth in which our common sense in- ing and research, between the arts and the sciences.
dulges, and much in our higher education Why is this split so pernicious? There are two
is based upon it, is the doctrine that any kind reasons. One is simply that the divisions are false.
of knowledge, as long as it supplies us with Whatever benefits may be claimed in the name
correctly ascertained facts, is worth teach- of specialization and however securely estab-
ing and learning, and that the more such lished are the bureaucratic walls that protect these
correct facts we accumulate, the nearer we separate areas, these divisions profoundly mis-
come to truth. represent the real nature of inquiry, and, for that
matter, the nature of our experience of reality.
We are convinced that truth is determined Second, these divisions reflect and perpetuate
through a plebiscite of facts. The disciplines in a fundamental disorientation that marks our cul-
which so many of us work and have been trained tures. It is a disorientation created by, among
are really mediating constructions of thought that other things, our inherited assumption of what
give pattern, order, and, hence, meaning to our knowledge is.
experience. A key question, however, is whether We need not appeal to a complicated episte-
we have so ordered the structure of knowledge mology to recognize the seemingly self-evident
that have unwittingly undermined our capacity assumptions in our culture and in our universi-
to hold in our understanding, as well as in our ties that thinking is one thing and feeling is some-
lives, a common experience and a common thing else, that theory and practice are altogether
world. separate, and that clarity is always closer to truth
It may be that what we put between us as than ambiguity.
mediating structures of thought has severed our These assumptions, and the institutions that
sense of our common responsibility for what is embody them, have deprived us of confidence
actuallybetween us. Our tolerance for abstraction in our ability to comprehend rightly our own
as a mediating instrument for violence, depriva- minds, our bodies, and our world, with the re-
tion, degradation, indignity, and death has be- sult that we have slowly been losing our minds
come so familiar and so normal that it is now a at the same time that we have been losing our
global way of life. world. Yet,Maurice Merleau-Ponty helpfully re-
There are academics and literary critics, one minds us that the world is not what we think but
being George Steiner, who have commented on what we live through.
this extraordinary phenomenon of the impact of Hannah Arendt wrote in TheHuman Condition:
high abstraction being translated into high cul- "It could be that we will forever be unable to un-
ture that serves as a justification for murder and derstand, that is to think and speak, about the
death. Tobe specific, it was highly literate guards things which nevertheless we are able to do." This
who, after shoveling Jewish bodies into Nazi situation has come about, she explains, because
ovens, often concluded their day listening to the truths of the modern scientific world can be
Mozart and reading Rilke. demonstrated only in highly technical and math-
A major part of our professional task in a new ematical formulations that do not lend themselves
century will be to imagine the shape of new to expression in normal speech and thought.
frameworks of knowledge that are congenial not
only to our daily habits of thinking, talking, lis- A Human Crisis
tening, reading, writing, and administering, but
also to the larger significance of our lives and Nevertheless, on the basis of such abstract for-
world. mulations, we are now able to unleash powerful

15. Setting theAgenda 7
events into nature that are beyond our ability to When we really come to believe-and we may
understand precisely-either what is happening be perilously close to this now-that what our
or what the consequences are for our human minds most closely resemble is a computer, and
lives. In other words we can do what we cannot what the world most closely resembles is a ma-
think. We can cause to happen what we cannot chine, then it is no wonder that we can so easily
understand. This signals the possibility of a part- disregard and destroy Earth and our fellow hu-
ing of the ways between knowledge that is know- man beings.
ing how to, on the one hand, and knowledge that There is now a social order, or, some would
is knowing the meaningof, on the other. say, disorder, that has gorged itself on quick-fix
When skills and techniques lose their connec- solutions and temporary measures for satisfying
tion to meaning and significance, there is a hu- hollow, weary lives. Sadly, even in our success,
man crisis of the first order. This is true whether even in our academic and technical success, the
the setting for the crisis is a second grade class- fact is that on an ordinary Thursday afternoon,
room or a graduate seminar, or whether a nuclear sitting in our family rooms, we really do want to
bomb or a space shuttle is being constructed. know where pain and joy intersect; how time
The fact is, as Arendt observes, insofar as we fulfills itself in a single life; what we are working
live and move and act in this world, we can ex- for; how we can make delight permanent; in
perience meaningfulness only because we can short, how the thousands of episodes and events
talk and make sense of the world to each other. It in a single life, my life, hold together.
is not the theoretical formulation of reality that
holds the meaning of our lives together: it is com- Challenge of Modem Education
mon, ordinary, garden-variety speech with our
fellow human beings. It is in the midst of these kinds of questions that
My sense is that the divisions in the modern contemporary educators must do their work. In
fragmented university between disciplines, the range and variety of formulations, education
schools, colleges, and colleagues have become so and academic inquiry must cut into the daily
intractable, not primarily because of theoretical lives, the predicament, the yearning, that lie close
disagreements or methodological disputes, but to the root of our being.
because we can no longer talk and make sense to The challenge of contemporary education is
each other in ordinary language about the things not so much a matter of discovering what we do
that matter most to us. not yet know. It is, instead, having the courage
to say plainly what we really do know. It is time
Loss of a Public Space for us to make clear that those who characterize
and Shared Values the big questions of truth, meaning, beauty, and
goodness as being vague and unknowable are
When we can no longer recognize what we hold wrong.
in common as colleagues or as citizens, then in Indeed, after several thousand years of inquiry,
the strictest sense imaginable we have lost our we have learned a great deal about the difference
common sense, our sense of what is common to between the trivial and the profound, and the
us. It is, after all, what is between us, what is not difference between the humane and the inhu-
possessed by any single one of us, that is the ba- mane, and we have learned much about what
sis of a civilized people. things debase and what things ennoble human
The loss of the commons, the loss of public existence.
space where we speak meaningfully toeach other We know, too, that there are unavoidable ex-
despite our private, specialized interests, also periences in human life shared by all persons,
reduces our sense of shared values. The disap- experiences that professors and students hold in
pearance of commonly held values is an indica- common. These unavoidable conditions-birth,
tion that there is no compelling image of sexuality,promising,lying,forgiving,remember-
ourselves as human beings and of our world ing, dreaming, dying-are all as provocative as
that we mutually affirm and spontaneously they are mysterious. It is these aspects of life that
delight in. have led to the configurations of writing, speak-

16. 8 OrganizingKnowledgeforEnvironmentallyand SociallySustainableDevelopment
ing, drawing, singing, counting, remembering, The professional issues are ones that we can
praying, and acting that have become the con- and will solve-one way or another-if for no
tent of our academic courses. And they are also other reason than the majority of our colleagues
what we all are always in the process of experi- will spend a great deal of time solving them. Let
encing and rationalizing. us devote reasonable attention to such issues.
Teaching about and inquiring into these But our prior obligation, one that is in accord
things-things we know not as information but with our cultural and professional responsibil-
as meaning-ultimately is a matter of priorities ity, is to turn education around through an im-
and values, not of technique. This is because if mediacy of thought and action that embodies
our own insights are truly known and under- what we claim are really the purposes of teach-
stood, they cut deeply into our lives-which is, ing and research.
after all, theheart of the matter. The end of knowl- We must now work, in other words, as if our
edge is not the accumulation of bits of informa- lives and our Earth are at stake. Thirty or forty
tion, however interesting they may be. It is years ago R. D. Laing wrote:
always, finally, the focusing of what we know on
the living of our lives, and on having the cour- What we think is less than what we know;
age to live in light of our deepened awareness. what we know is less than what we love;
and what we love is so much less than what
Working as if the EarthIs at Stake there is. And to that precise extent, we are
so much less than what we are.
Certainly we are infinitely fascinated with the
prospect offixing the giant bureaucratic machine Towork at the intersections of love, knowledge,
that is displayed in higher education. It is a gar- and being-to work not just in our heads but in
gantuan task, perhaps impossible. There is no the world-will require a radical shift in the ar-
single formula, no intricate combination of re- chitecture of knowledge, so that it more clearly
sources, that will do the trick. resembles the architecture of the human spirit.

17. Putting New Bite into Knowledge
GustavoLdpez Ospina
F orUNESCOas wellas for theinternational program intended togalvanizeand orient action
community this meeting comes at the right at international and national levels. Another im-
time. We are in the process of reflection, portant stream of work relates to implementing
seeking new ideas and trying to arrive at con- the action plan of the Cairo conference on popu-
cretecriteria to promote sustainable development lation, as well as the action plans of the other
worldwide. This is a very big challenge, not only United Nations conferences such as the Social
for the North but also for the South, for both the Summit in Copenhagen, the women's conference
industrialized and the developing countries. We in Beijing, and Habitat II.
are in a period of transition, characterized by Just after the important World Bank meeting
much confusion in terms of content and often in on knowledge held in Toronto, a special session
terms of visions and policies from one country of the United Nations General Assembly was
to another. held to review progress since the Earth Summit.
Before I go further, though, on behalf of our The General Assembly adopted a resolution
Director General, Mr. Federico Mayor, I want to that referred to education as follows: "A fun-
thank the World Bank for inviting UNESCO to damental prerequisite for sustainable develop-
cosponsor this workshop. This is a very impor- ment is an adequately financed and effective
tant marriage of effort between the Bank and educational system at all levels." In describing
UNESCO. Finance, knowledge, intelligence, and effective education for sustainability, the resolu-
solidarity are critical yet very explosive and very tion refers to lifelong learning, interdisciplinary
sensitive interrelated issues. studies, partnerships, multicultural education,
and empowerment. Education for a sustainable
International Initiatives future should, the resolution said, engage a
wide spectrum of institutions and sectors, in-
In setting the agenda for our discussions, Iwould cluding business, industry, international orga-
like to mention some current activities at the in- nizations, youth, professional organizations,
ternational level in the field of education that may nongovernmental organizations, higher educa-
be helpful in this vulnerable time. tion, government, educators, and foundations.
A great deal is being done in the context of the Finally, the resolution requests that the concept
UN Commission for Sustainable Development. of education for a sustainable future be fully
UNESCO is very much involved with this work developed by UNESCO, in cooperation with
in its function as task manager for the implemen- other partners in the UN system and others
tation of chapter 36 of Agenda 21 that addresses in the international and scientific communities.
education, public awareness, and training. In It also notes that "it is necessary to support and
1996,the commission decided to give special pri- strengthen universities and other academic
ority to chapter 36 by adopting a special work centres."
9

18. 10 OrganizingKnowledgeforEnvironmentallyandSociallySustainableDevelopment
To further these goals, in October, 1998, recently made to educational thinking. Education
UNESCO will hold a major World Conference on must no longer be regarded as a one-chance af-
Higher Education in Paris. In preparing this con- fair, restricted to a particular period of a person's
ference, regional meetings on higher education life. It must be seen-at all levels-as a continu-
have been held throughout the world. In addi- ing process, whereby people are offered learn-
tion, we are holding a world conference on sci- ing opportunities throughout their lives by
ence in 1999.Other initiatives of relevance to our means of diversified delivery systems, both for-
discussions are the reports of the International mal and informal.
Commission on Education for the Twenty-first Most people agree that a more educated soci-
Century and that of a similar independent com- ety is, by definition, a more developed society.
mission on culture and development, both pub- At the same time it is also necessary for our pur-
lished last year. poses to view education, even in developed
societies, as a process of changing values and
Education for Sustainable Development lifestyles, disseminating existing knowledge
about the need to achieve sustainable production
Iwould now like to introduce a few elements that and to improve the management of natural re-
I hope will assist our collective thinking about sources, and promoting a willingness within the
organizing knowledge for environmentally sus- general population to accept the changes re-
tainable development. quired. In many countries, it is the people them-
Humanity takes many years, sometimes hun- selves in the end who will decide what they want
dreds of years, to develop and adopt very impor- and need, both in the present and for the future.
tant concepts and definitions such as love, justice, They will also decide how they will meet these
and divorce. Today we are attempting to develop needs. For determining new directions and new
in just a few years and at a global scale a new horizons, knowledge is indispensable for any
way of thinking about and managing human ac- society. Similarly, knowledge is the most impor-
tivity and its impact on natural systems. I believe tant asset of citizens in a genuine democracy: I
sustainable development is possible. Ialso believe participate, therefore I exist.
that such profound change cannot be achieved In this context, the goals of education for
without giving priority attention to the role of sustainable development can be summarized as
knowledge and education. This having been said, follows:
there is much confusion and disagreement about * To promote understanding of the interdepen-
what is meant by the still-evolving concept of dence of natural, socioeconomic, and political
sustainable development. systems at local, national, and global levels
Let us begin at the beginning. We cannot talk * To encourage critical reflection and decision-
about education for sustainability without first making that is reflected in personal lifestyles
addressing the challenge of education for all. * To engage the active participation of the citi-
This is the challenge that UNESCO and its part- zenry to building sustainable development
ners-UNICEF, United Nations Development * To promote effective governance at all levels.
Programme (UNDP), and the World Bank-
took up at the World Conference on Education An International "Democracy
for All, in Jomtien, in 1990, where the interna- of Knowledge"
tional community committed itself to a pro-
gram of action for meeting basic learning I would like to present for your consideration
needs, reducing illiteracy, expanding social ser- four key questions that I think should be at the
vices for children, and improving the quality heart of our debate, all of which are based on the
of vocational education. premise that it is knowledge that will provide
The other fundamental aspect of education- the fuel for change toward sustainable develop-
the prerequisite for all forms of educational ad- ment. These four questions are:
vance-is lifelong education. The concept of 1. What kind of knowledge is needed to sup-
"throughout life" is the most important addition port sustainable development?

19. SettingtheAgenda 11
2. How can we obtain this knowledge? threat to such diversity. As a result, peoples and
3. What is the situation with regard to this cultures that have existed for thousands of years
knowledge today? in equilibrium with the natural environment are
4. What are the necessary steps for us to move disappearing along with the ecosystems that sus-
into the future? tained them.
What is needed is interdisciplinary knowledge At present, however, there is a very serious gap
that provides a basis for understanding and solv- between the availability of scientific knowledge
ing highly complex, real world problems at na- and its effective use as a basis for decision-
tional, regional, and local levels. Such knowledge making and education, including use by the
is not as theoretical as it may sound, or an objec- media.
tive in itself, but rather an approach to action.
Achieving such knowledge and understanding Risk and Imagination
requires the breaking down of traditional disci-
plinary boundaries and the creation of a new ca- Another key notion is that of risk, which is a nec-
pability to address the profound questions posed essary part of innovation and change. Risk with-
by the notion of sustainability. In general we must out knowledge is dangerous, and knowledge
strive for a new degree of knowledge integration without risk is utopian. Here again, knowledge
that will mirror current economic, social, politi- must be out therein the real world, where it can
cal, ecological, and technological realities, as well serve humanity in solving the problems we face.
as the diverse requirements of human society, and The academic community has a dual responsi-
indeed, of life itself. bility in this regard, to make available the wealth
As a step toward such integration, we must of knowledge in its possession, and to make the
reinvent the universities of today so that they can strategic link between this knowledge and the
contribute to what I would call an "international key sectors driving political, economic, and so-
democracy of knowledge," that will help move cial change. Knowledge, the driving force of
the world toward a sustainable future without modern society, should set the course of action
losing regional identities and the diversity of in each of these sectors.
cultures. The challenge, as identified in chapter Another important notion is that of imagina-
36 of Agenda 21, is no less than that of reorient- tion. During periods of real crisis, conflict, and
ing education toward sustainable development. confusion, such as the present, imagination can
Todo so will require a transdisciplinary approach actually be equally important as, or even more
that highlights the interrelationships between dis- important than, knowledge. If we accept this
ciplines and allows for study and research across premise, we need to recognize the urgent need
the traditional disciplinary lines. to shape and communicate a new vision for the
In this process the trend toward cultural ho- future and to anticipate, challenge, and create
mogenization needs to be overcome. All too of- opportunities for positive change in social, sci-
ten because of this tendency, particularly in the entific, cultural, economic, and natural spheres.
developing countries, people find that the infor- At all levels of society, people need security, mo-
mation they have is not what they want, the in- tivation, hope, and a sense of choice. Meeting
formation they want is not what they need, and these human needs is never an easy task, but with
the information they need is not what they can imagination it is possible to look beyond the
obtain. Reversing this paradoxical, unhelpful present period of transition to conceive of a sus-
situation is what I mean by an international de- tainable future based on what people want and
mocracy of knowledge. need.
Modem science, for example, is increasingly How is knowledge necessary for people to
recognizing the value of indigenous ecological transform their future? Part of the answer lies in
knowledge and traditional resource management the issue of how to connect universities with the
practices based on generations of observation, scientific system, and from this link to create and
experimentation, and application in local cul- offer an understanding, a language, an articula-
tures, although globalization is posing a serious tion of values that will be heard in the produc-

20. 12 OrganizingKnowledgeforEnvironmentallyandSociallySustainableDevelopment
tive sector. Today we have new ways to help build consensus of the relatedness and the sanctity of
this link, to organize the academic and scientific all life. However, as Socrates said, it may be easy
communities to provide information resources in to know what is or is not correct, but it is often
different issues such as agriculture and industry, very difficult to know what is right in terms of
making it possible from that point to address action.
specific details of these issues. We also have other In concluding, let me also introduce an impor-
important centers that can be helpful. In short, tant political issue at the international level. We
we have at our disposal facilities from the na- may believe that knowledge, equity, and justice
tional tothe global scale with which to create and are key ingredients for a sustainable future, but
provide new knowledge for sustainability. also, at the community level, we need concurrently
What are the key challenges in the introduc- to reinforce the ideas of solidarity and competi-
tion and application of such knowledge? One is tiveness. Here the university and all the institu-
how to ensure the appropriateness of this knowl- tions of higher education have, today and into
edge for societies' needs. A related challenge is the next century, a four-part key responsibility:
how to provide access to this knowledge at the * Knowledge-building for the real and concrete
community level in order to allow for real par- world problems
ticipation in natural resources management and * Democratization of knowledge at all levels of
utilize the understanding gained from this par- society
ticipation to help address the tremendous com- * Knowledge base for global understanding,
plexities inherent in these issues. However solidarity, justice, and peace
difficult, I am convinced that it can be done. * Knowledge for a permanent transformation
Another challenge is how to give real priority and reinvention of education as a principal in-
to this newly achieved popular knowledge to strument to support a sustainable future.
produce a new societal rationale. There is a great This is the only way to alleviate poverty, to
need at present for a global ethic, transcending achieve a new human security and cohesiveness,
all other systems of values and belief, rooted in a and to work for a real culture of peace.

21. ShiftingGearsfortheApplicationofKnowledge
DonAitkin
M y topic is a straightforward one.It re- effect,win the peace as it had won the war-
gards the need to think about how we through science.
generate knowledge in the interests of Vannevar Bush was especially clear about one
a world in which that knowledge is desperately central aspect of his proposal: scientists should
needed. be allowed to follow their own noses in deter-
I can set out the problem clearly enough-it is mining what research should be done.
that we remain in the grip of an old paradigm He was a great believer in what we would
about the creation of knowledge, one that was now call the linear model of knowledge: that
useful in its day but is almost counterproductive is, that pure, untrammeled research leads to
now. It is hard to get out of the grip of this para- discoveries about the nature of things that in turn
digm because it seems so much to be the normal leads to the application of new knowledge, and,
way of doing things, especially in the universi- in the fullness of time, leads to new products and
ties and the learned professions. new processes through commercialization and
I will make some suggestions about what we development.
should do to escape this situation, and I know The causal arrow is a straight one and there
that these suggestions will be resisted and op- are no feedback loops. The notion that scientists
posed, because Ihave made them before, and that should not only be allowed to follow their own
is what happened then. The need is great, how- noses, but should be given public money to do
ever, so I will make them again. so has been understandably attractive to scien-
tists. Because during that post-war period many
Linear Model of Knowledge of them worked in universities, access to research
funds on what proved to be a large scale helped
In fact the old paradigm is not very old. Nothing in the expansion of the universities and made the
much in the higher education world is really very carrying out of research, in some form, an ordi-
old; it is mostly the creation of the nineteenth and nary expectation of academic life, that it had not
twentieth centuries, despite the way that we re- been prior to the Second World War.
fer to the universities as having outlived every- Since the NSF model was adopted by several
thing but the Catholic Church. other Western countries in whole or in part, the
The current way of thinking got a great boost consequence has been a great increase in research
at the end of the Second World War when activity throughout the Western world. This
Vannevar Bush successfully advised President whole process was greatly assisted by other
Harry S Truman that he should establish a Na- stimuli, the most important of them being sus-
tional Science Foundation (NSF), so that science tained prosperity for three decades; a new inter-
could flourish and the United States could, in est in education, especially higher education; and
13

22. 14 OrganizingKnowledgeforEnvironmentallyand SociallySustainableDevelopment
the growth of an academic profession whose When I was a young academic in the early
members assume that they are not simply to 1960s there were several broad divisions within
teach, but also to carry out research. my own discipline, and you were expected to
One outcome has been a very great increase in become knowledgeable in one but to have at least
the amount of what we call human knowledge, a passing knowledge of the names and the issues
that is perhaps better defined as "what academ- in the others.
ics think they know." It is hard to measure this Accomplishing such breadth would be a
increase accurately, but it has been something in Herculean task today, and the specialties that
the order of 30 to 50 times what was known academics now profess seem, historically, very
around 1950. narrow in comparison.
For instance, there are now more than half a There is a good reason for this change in aca-
million scholarly journals in the world, and li- demic perspective and it is one that I discovered
braries that once aimed at comprehensiveness, only quite recently. An intellectual program, that
such as the Library of Congress or the Bodleian is, a group of people focused on a question that
at Oxford, are no longer able to do so. interests them all and that they think is impor-
In fact every library, every person, and every tant, does not work if the group ofpeople is much
institution now has to be selective. Advanced more than five hundred. Once the numbers be-
information technology has come at just at the come much greater, the question breaks into an
right time, enabling us to select what we want to adjectival or otherwise qualified version of the
know from the mad abundance of knowledge original question, and you have two groups. It is
that is available. By the way, there is much more a kind of cellular fission.
noise than there is knowledge. The information True, knowledge has expanded, but not
technology brings its own problems with it, al- through leaps of insight and the discovery of the
though I am not going to talk about that now. general rules underlying adjoining broad fields
The subject is for another address at some other of study that was one of the great dreams when I
conference. was young. The expansion has been mostly
The great increase in knowledge has come with through incremental additions to what is already
two very powerful concurrent effects. The first known.
has been the continuing atomization of knowl- It is also true that the boundaries between re-
edge, with a consequent kind of elephantiasis in search areas have been fertile ground for new re-
the old scholarly disciplines. Elephantiasis is in- search, but this, in turn, has been followed by the
deed a very painful disease. erection of new boundaries, and the naming of
new specialties. Review articles aside, published
Decline of the Generalists research is, for the most part, restricted to the
small, the narrow gauge, and the incremental.
Johann von Goethe and John Stuart Mill in the Few researchers are brave enough to general-
early nineteenth century have been credited as ize, and they always need to duck the sniping
the last people who knew everything there was fire of the specialists. There is much more that
to be known. Today, it is not even possible to could be said here, notably about the part played
know everything in one scholarly discipline. Ev- by journals and the institution of the Ph.D. as the
eryone is a specialist, and generalists are held in certification of the learned that has fueled much
some suspicion, if not in outright scorn. of the production of knowledge, and about the
Before the Second World War it was possible way in which disciplinary knowledge has be-
to be somebody called a social scientist, or to be come territory, defended against other disciplines
called a scientist, expert in one field but knowl- and the undisciplined alike. This, too, is for an-
edgeable across them all. One celebrated man of other address at another conference.
my own country held chairs at different times
in philosophy, political science, sociology, and A Shift in the Universities
education, and he published in all of these areas,
and well. I cannot think of a single counterpart The second major concurrence of the increase in
today. knowledge has been the elevation of research to

23. ShiftingGearsfortheApplicationofKnowledge 15
its dominant place in the world of higher educa- Meanwhile, pure understanding of the highly
tion, and the shift of universities toward being dynamic contemporary social processes is a long
suppliers of new knowledge rather than hosts of way off,while the need for quick action has been
teaching and of learning. clear for many years.
The linear model that I talked about earlier has
given universities a special place in the genera- A Strategy Regarding Knowledge
tion of knowledge, because it is the universities
that particularly concentrate on pure research, There would seem to be a way out of this di-
which is thought to be the foundation of all lemma. To begin with, we can realize that it is
knowledge. not necessary to think that we must always search
Interestingly, the research university is actu- for new knowledge, especially when we fre-
ally quite a recent phenomenon in the nearly quently cannot wait for it to be generated. We
1,000-year history of institutions of higher edu- already know a great deal about our predicament
cation. Indeed until our own century it would be and it can make sense to employ, first of all, this
easy to show that advances in knowledge came knowledge that we already possess. I would like
more from outside the university than that from to give two examples.
inside it. The first example is the growing discovery
Now let me move from the old paradigm about throughout the nineteenth century of the linked
which I have said enough to the modern prob- importance of clean water, sanitation, hygienic
lem. In this regard, we live in a world of 6billion practices, and fresh air in reducing mortality and
human beings who, if nothing else changes, will morbidity in the urban populations of Europe
number 12 billion by the middle of the next and America.
century. What we now regard as the ordinary munici-
Through our sheer abundance as a species we pal services or public utilities needed for any
already put tremendous pressure on our planet. human settlement other than that of a tiny size
Most of us now live in cities of one kind or an- grew out of that nineteenth century experience
other, and the urban proportion of humanity's in Western countries.
activity is rising steadily. There have been at least 100 years of accep-
Our cities cover great areas; create huge de- tance of this need in our developed world, to the
mands for food and fresh water; require complex point that our contemporary city populations
communications, transport, sewerage, education, probably cannot imagine that it was ever thought
and civil order systems; and create dreadful en- otherwise.
vironments in terms of water, air, and soil pollu- In the rapidly expanding cities of the devel-
tion, not to mention the potential for epidemic oping world, there is neither similar understand-
disease, developed among undernourished ur- ing of such need nor experience with our
ban populations through viral and respiratory solutions. What the situation calls for is not ever
pathogens. The problem is us. ingenious remedies to particular diseases, but
Whatever the solutions are-and I want to major preventative measures that deal with these
suggest some-they need to be general or holis- diseases at the root by avoiding them in the first
tic.Just as a wise physician treats his patient, not place.
the disease that is the symptom of some under- In this case we already have the knowledge
lying cause, so in building a sustainable world that is necessary for the people of these cities. It
in which human beings can thrive, we need to is not dramatic, or new, or a breakthrough. It is
see our major policies as being at the broad level old-fashioned and it still works.
of the societies in which human beings live. The second example is the link between smok-
This holistic approach puts a different demand ing tobacco and the onset of lung cancer and other
on knowledge because, as I have noted, human diseases such as emphysema, a link that has been
knowledge now advances increment by tiny in- well known for two generations. The move to dis-
crement; the guardians of the increments are spe- courage smoking was slow to occur because
cialists who are often unable to link what they people who smoke like to smoke and find it hard
know to what other specialists know. to give up the practice even when they want to,

24. 16 OrganizingKnowledgeforEnvironmentallyandSociallySustainableDevelopment
and also because growing tobaccois a virtuous If I combine the lessons from the urban ser-
farming activity and making cigarettes is an in- vice and smoking reduction examples, I get the
dustry that employs people. Governments, that possibilityof astrategy,whichis:Usethe knowl-
alsoobtainrevenue through taxingtobaccoprod- edge we already have and tell people what is
ucts, engage in the discouragement of smoking known.
diffidently. Reflecting on my point just a moment ago,
Whatthe governmentsfinallydid was todraw there may bea third element to the strategy:Put
people's attention tothe fact that smokingis bad as mucheffortintoeducationas possible,because
for the health, and compelling the manufactur- the bettereducated people are,the morethey are
ers of tobaccoproducts toprint warnings on the likely to take responsibility for their own wel-
packets. fare. Perhaps there is a fourth element: Ensure
In timenonsmokers and ex-smokersbegan to that governments or national agencieshave the
complain of the risk they ran of disease con- knowledgeand thesupport toundertake thefirst
tracted through other people's smoking,and the three elements of the strategy.
practicebegan tobediscouraged orevenbanned My own view is that these precepts provide
inworkplaces,publicbuildings, restaurants, and all that is necessary for a well-intentioned
airplanes. nationalgovernmentand that internationalfund-
The outcome of this story, that continues to- ing agenciesneed little more than the combina-
day,has been a great reduction in the incidence tion of these precepts plus a well-intentioned
of lung cancerand related disease on the part of government.
those who have stopped smoking. Of course it This seems so easy that of course we might
does continueas a practice and it is still seenby sayit mustbe unworkable.What maybe aworry
some young people as glamorous and adult. is that the strategy runs counter to the prevail-
Overall,though,the reductioninhealthcarecosts ing orthodoxy that government intervention to
has been enormous. produce outcomes is usually wrong, always
Onceagain thisadvancehas notcomethrough productive of unintended consequences, never
a breakthrough in research. If you get lung can- as beneficial as letting the market solve the
certhe treatment ofchoiceis still the oneused 30 problem.
yearsago.Therehas been no great breakthrough Itisbecausemyown principalbackgroundhas
inhow to treatlung cancer,but there has beenan been in history and political sciencerather than
enormous breakthrough in how to prevent ineconomicsthat I am not agreat believerin the
people fromgetting it in the first place,and it is creativecapacityof markets totransform human
that kind of missionthat I suggest is the crucial societies.In any case much of what I have been
one. describing as humanity's problem can be ex-
plained ineconomicsunder the rubric of market
Key Role of Education failure.
Thesmokingreduction efforthas worked partly Links among Governments
because governments have had the resolve to and Universities
keep up their advocacy despite the intense ob-
jection to it from pro-smokinginterests, and be- If such a conclusion is allowed, let us move to
cause our populations are sufficiently the third sectionof this paper which offerssome
well-educated to be able to make up their own suggestions about what might be done in the
minds. knowledge industry.
Thiseducation factor points to another of the Tostart, I want to dispose of any suggestion
great levers availableto us in contemplatingthe that I favor getting rid of pure research or hav-
world of the future. Weneed to alwaysbe aware ing all research targeted or applied. This is not
that a well-educated population can do a great myview.Human curiosityis apowerful weapon
deal through understanding its own dilemma inthe advancementof knowledge, andVannevar
and taking appropriate action to combatit. Bushwas right to think that the intellectualcuri-

25. Shifting Gearsfor the Application of Knowledge 17
osity of researchers themselves will probably get and will. Quite apart from the financial question,
them further than following the mundane pri- we do not think this way any longer. The more
orities of other people. we know, the harder it all seems.
There are other useful human qualities apart
from curiosity, and compassion and problem- Principles and Policies
solving are two others that can work very well
in dealing with human predicaments. We turn now to my suggestions. I have to say at
What we need and what in fact we do not once that there is not much use directing sugges-
have-and here is a connection with Dr.Ladner's tions like this at universities, though I do so, be-
paper-is an easy linkage between govern- cause universities have a strong sense of their
ments and universities in the area of knowledge own virtue and are inclined to see the responsi-
application. bility lying elsewhere.
Some of the reasons for this lack of connection I direct these thoughts mostly at governments
are financial. Our governments are now chroni- and international funding agencies, because they
cally short of money and unable or unwilling to have some capacity, through their actions, to
raise more through increased taxation. change thinking inside universities, and univer-
Some of the reasons are functions of scale. sities have become very, very large parts of the
There is so much knowledge available, but often society in the industrial world.
so little agreement about what is relevant to a The first of my suggestions is this: we need to
given problem. recognize that in dealing with large human popu-
Some reasons are cultural. Governments and lations the policy prescriptions must be simple,
universities have different senses of time, differ- they must be easy to explain, and they must be
ent meanings for the word "deadline," and dif- based on past success somewhere. Developing
ferent imperatives. such policies requires, among other things, the
Some reasons are territorial. Universities see use of historically knowledgeable generalists,
knowledge as their own product and want to which good historians often are.
surround it with various rules, while govern- The second suggestion is to recognize that we
ments and funding agencies are uninterested in already know a lot, and we should be prepared
ownership and recognize that knowledge always to distill that knowledge in a form that allows it
has to be applied in a real and dirty world, not in to be transferred to new situations. Things that
an aseptic laboratory or through a computer work in one country may not work in another,
model. for straightforward reasons of history, culture, or
Other reasons are epistemological. A lot of level of technology.
knowledge is conjectural rather than factual, and Knowing when, and when not, to try to trans-
governments are reluctant outside the area of fer policy successes will require, among other
economics to rely too much on theories and pos- things, the use of generalists who find it easy to
sibilities. They want certainty and do not under- compare, enjoy doing so, and are good at it.
stand the universities' needs for extensive and Third, when in doubt, governments and fund-
continuing critique. ing agencies should prefer the long term, though
What is more-and this is really fundamental- balancing the long term with the short term is
Western governments seem to have lost confi- the hardest part of policymaking. The long-term
dence in their capacity to achieve good outcomes goal is a sustainable world, and the aim should
through social and economic policy. This makes be to empower populations to make good deci-
them especially leery of pinning their faith on the sions for themselves, rather than having to rely
outcomes of research in universities. on others to decide for them.
Thirty years ago things in this regard were dif- Even good short-term policies should have
ferent. There was a prevailing belief that, in prin- excellent long-term outcomes. For example,
ciple at least, all human problems-whether equipping shantytown dwellers with decent
social,economic, or political-were solvable, pro- housing, running water, electricity, and sewerage
vided there was sufficient knowledge, money, will not only improve their material conditions,

26. 18 OrganizingKnowledgeforEnvironmentallyand SociallySustainableDevelopment
but will give them a stake in the preservation of standing before we do things anyway. Life
the society that they live in. is short and the tasks are many.
These first few suggestions are not at all radi- 2. Encourage outcome-oriented social sci-
cal, and indeed they are almost banal. They ence. Attract the best practitioners to work
point to a mismatch with what governments not on models and theories, but on the real
and funding agencies are typically involved in world in all its difficulty and noise.
the world of the university, because these sug- 3. Encourage cross-disciplinary work. The
gestions do not require or depend on much new disciplines of the university are divisions
research. of academic history and convenience, and
Somehow we need to develop many people they get in the way of real world analysis.
who are capable of interpreting research findings They cannot be ignored, however, because
in one field and linking them to those in other the very knowledge that we talk about is
fields, so that the joint use of this knowledge is largely organized within disciplinary
possible. boundaries. The solution is to make sure
This does not mean that we should flood the that projects are based on cross-disciplin-
world with historians: many of them are spe- ary teams that comprise knowledgeable
cialists too. What it does mean is that in seek- specialists.
ing to use the knowledge that universities have While these several suggestions are hardly
developed in the last half century, we need to revolutionary, they do imply a shift in perspec-
start by making clear what results we are seek- tive from the generation of knowledge for its own
ing, and then attract people who find the chal- sake to the generation of knowledge in the inter-
lenge of applying existing knowledge to ests of humankind.
produce a given outcome to be an interesting It is not at all difficult to justify such a shift.
one. The problems facing us are large and daunting
and the speed of change is very great. Surely that
Points on Funding Research ought to be enough. In fact I do not think it is,
and that is why I have made my suggestions to
I finish with three quite pointed suggestions those who actually provide money tosupport the
about the funding of research on the part of gov- generation of knowledge. Academics in univer-
ernments and international funding agencies. sities, as is the case with virtually all actors in
1. Encourage applications and resist the cry modern, Western societies, are quite responsive
that understanding must come first. As to financial incentives. Quite small amounts of
Benjamin Ladner said, we do not ordi- money, intelligently applied, can have powerful
narily devote ourselves to complete under- cultural effects.

27. ShiftingRequirementsforKnowledge
toAdvancea SustainableSouth
ParthaDasgupta
The Resource Basis of Human Well-Being ies should be self-evident: Ignore the environ-
and Its Neglect mental resource base and we are bound to ob-
tain a misleading picture of production and
People in poor countries are for the most part consumption activities there. Nevertheless, if
agrarian and pastoral. In 1988 rural people ac- there has been a single thread running through
counted for about 65 percent of the population nearly fifty years of investigation into the pov-
of what the World Bank classifies as low-income erty of poor countries, it has been a neglect of
countries. The proportion of the total labor this resource base. Until very recently, environ-
force in agriculture was a bit in excess of 65 mental resources made but perfunctory appear-
percent. The share of agriculture in gross do- ances in government planning models and were
mestic product in these countries was 30 percent. cheerfully ignored in most of what goes by the
These figures should be contrasted with those name "development economics."
from industrial market economies, which are There were exceptions, of course. What I am
6 percent and 2 percent for the latter two ratios referring to here is a neglect of environmental
respectively. matters in what we could call official develop-
Rural communities in poor countries are bio- ment economics. Thus, for example, the 1986
mass-based subsistence economies, in that poor World Congress of the International Economic
people eke out a living from products obtained Association, held in New Delhi, had as its theme
directly from plants and animals. For example, the appropriate balance between industry and
studies in the Indian subcontinent have shown agriculture. In the 16sessions that comprised the
that as much as 40 to 50 percent of the working congress, none was devoted to the environmen-
hours of villagers are devoted to fodder and fuel tal resource basis of production and consumption.
collection, animal care, and grazing. Moreover Handbooks offer another kind of illustration,
inquiries in Central and West Africa have re- reflecting as they do the attention researchers
vealed the importance of forest products in rural have given to various fields of inquiry. To me it
people's lives. Poor countries, especially those in is a revealing fact that the 2-volume Handbookof
the Indian subcontinent and Sub-Saharan Africa, DevelopmentEconomics,edited by Hollis Chenery
can be expected to remain largely rural econo- and T.N. Srinivasan (1988) contains nothing on
mies for some while yet. environmental matters. The environment ap-
The dependence of poor countries on their pears in officialdevelopment economics in much
natural resources such as soil and its cover, water, the same way as that most famous bark does in
forests and their products, animals, and fisher- literature: it does not.
19

28. 20 OrganizingKnowledgefor EnvironmentallyandSociallySustainableDevelopment
In a similar vein environmental and resource geography, and political science. It offers a new
economics has neglected issues concerning rural perspective on economic development.2 In recent
poverty in poor countries. Thus the 3-volume years the twin subjects, resource economics and
Handbookof Natural Resourceand Energy Econom- environmental economics, have together been la-
ics, edited by Allen Kneese and James Sweeney beled ecological economics. In the remainder of
(1985,1993)contains nothing on poverty and its the article, I will follow this practice.
possible links with environmental degradation. The foregoing remarks have stressed develop-
Development and environmental economics ments in thesupply of ideas. There have also been
have until recently passed each other by, and it changes in demand. As regards timing, the shift
is interesting to speculate why. in attitude can probably be identified with the
Aprime reason often aired is that environmen- publication of the "Brundtland Report" (World
tal and resource economists in Western industrial Commission 1987);today no account of economic
countries (especially the United States) have development would be regarded as adequate,
tended to focus on such problems as local air even by economists in poor countries, if the en-
pollution, including sulfur emissions, and dete- vironmental resource base were absent from it.
rioration of amenities, including national parks, The World Bank's excellent World Development
beaches, and coastlines.' To the development Report1992is an affirmation of this changed view-
economist, environmental matters have appeared point.
a trifle precious, not wholly relevant to the ur- This new awareness, on its own, will not be
gencies of poor countries. On innumerable occa- enough. Until the environmental resource base
sions I have had this explanation offered to me becomes a commonplace furniture of economic
by social scientists in poor countries. Iwould not thinking and modeling in poor countries, it will
wish to doubt it, but the explanation does not continue to be neglected in the design and
tell us why, when they studied development implementation of public policies there. Even
problems, these same social scientists ignored if these policies are implemented, there is the
their own environmental resource base. danger that they will be reached through ad
At an academic level the lack of contact be- hoc measures. Moreover, teachers, researchers,
tween development and environmental econom- and policymakers will remain oblivious of the
ics has been harmful to both. Specialized fields tools that are available for the analysis of social
are often driven by internal logic, and the gap and economic problems. They will remain un-
between topics that are most intensively dis- aware of the need for scientific information on
cussed and those that are most urgent and at once the processes and functions of local ecological
tractable can become large. As it happens, there systems, and they will not recognize an allied
was an additional loss due to the unwillingness point: There is an urgent need for poor countries
of development and environmental economists to encourage the development of information
to talk to one another. The economics of the en- channels that are conducive to good governance.
vironment, heavily involved as it is with the sci- It is imperative that tomorrow's leaders in poor
ence of ecology, is an exciting subject. It is also a countries are not only more sensitive to the eco-
beautiful subject: there is much in it to enthuse logical concerns among their own citizens, but
young people. that they are also able to think on such concerns
There have been exceptions, of course. Over in a natural, unforced, and effective way.
the years a number of social scientists have de- Tomorrow's decisionmakers are today's students.
veloped environmental and resource economics If ecological concerns are to become an essential
within the context of rural populations in poor part of economic thinking in poor countries, eco-
countries. We now have in hand a body of work logical economics has to enter university teach-
that studies the links between rural poverty, ing there. In order for this to happen, however,
population growth, and the environmental re- university teachers of economics at those univer-
source base. The work has involved a fusion of sities need to learn the subject. This thought has
theoretical modeling to empirical findings drawn been the basis of a "Programme of Teaching and
from a number of disciplines, most notably an- Research in Developing Countries" that I have
thropology, demography, ecology, economics, helped initiate at the Beijer International Insti-

29. ShiftingRequirementsfor KnowledgetoAdvancea SustainableSouth 21
tute of Ecological Economics of the Royal Swed- to the Beijer Institute, the World Bank, and the
ish Academy of Sciences, Stockholm, in collabo- Harvard Institute for International Development
ration with the institute's director, Professor (HIID). This particular set of links has arisen be-
Karl-Goran Maler. In the following section I cause our "permanent" teaching staff are associ-
will describe this program (the Programme). ated with these institutions. The Programme could
In section III I will draw lessons from it, and in not have been launched and sustained but for col-
section IV I will suggest what the lessons seem legial friendship: there are little to no financial
to indicate as regards future capacity building in rewards for the Programme's teaching staff!
ecological economics in poor countries. However, teaching workshops, on their own,
would not be enough. At a minimum they need
The Beijer Teaching and Research to be supplemented by such means as would
Programme in Poor Countries enable ecological economists in poor countries
to enter the international network of researchers.
The Programme's first component consists of If, as we economists tend to believe, there are
teaching workshops for university teachers of multiplier effects in the dissemination of knowl-
economics. At each workshop, about 20 to 25 edge, the eventual size of the network could be
participants from poor countries attend a spe- expected to be a good deal larger. The Beijer
cially designed course on ecological economics. Programme's second component consists of re-
In order to save on airfares, the workshops are search workshops at which participants from
held regionally, with each workshop lasting 10 poor countries present their own research find-
to 12 days. Participants and program staff live ings, works-in-progress, and research proposals
and eat together in the same hotel complex.3 This in the presence of foreign peers. My hope is that
means that intellectual and social interactions through such workshops our colleagues in poor
occur from breakfast through late evening every countries will enjoy the benefit of peer-group
day. This interaction has been vital to the evaluation and criticism of the kind that we who
Programme's success. All expenses are borne by are fortunate to work in advanced industrial
the Beijer Institute. It is our hope that over the countries take for granted. These workshops are
next two years or so, about 150university teach- also held regionally, and their expenses are borne
ers of economics in poor countries will have at- by the Beijer Institute.
tended these workshops. Who attends research workshops? To build a
Given that there are no suitable textbooks on comprehensive educational program, we have
ecological economics for use in poor countries, pursued the following approach: we offer the re-
we have had to develop the syllabus ourselves. search workshops as a carrot to those who have
The reading list (and the lecture course) includes attended a teaching workshop. This way, those
articles and book-chapters that offer basic ecol- who have obtained training at the teaching work-
ogy and advanced economic analysis. We spend shops have an incentive not only to teach the sub-
about three days on these two subjects before ject to students in their own universities, but also
entering the meat of the subject-ecological eco- to conduct research on their local environmental
nomics in the development context (see sections problems. We try to hold a research workshop
III and IV). about a year after a teaching workshop, and we
Todate we have conducted five teaching work- invite previous participants to submit research
shops: one in Chile (for participants from South papers to such workshops. To date, we have held
America), one in Jamaica (for participants from four research workshops: in Malaysia, Malta,
the Caribbean and Central America), one in Ma- Tanzania, and Venezuela.
laysia (for participants from Southeast Asia and In addition we will be using some of the grant
Bangladesh), one in Malta (for participants from money to allow authors of the most promising
Sub-Saharan Africa),and one in SriLanka (forpar- submissions to a newly established journal (see
ticipants from parts of Sub-Saharan Africa and immediately below) to improve them on the
the Indian subcontinent). In short, the network basis of visits to the relevant institutions (for
we have created now includes about 120univer- example the World Bank, Beijer Institute, or
sity teachers from poor countries. They are linked HIID).

30. 22 OrganizingKnowledgeforEnvironmentallyandSociallySustainableDevelopment
Maler and I felt from the start that even this layered one: It locates young university profes-
would not be enough. If capacity is to be built in sors of economics in poor countries (they are typi-
poor countries in the field of ecological econom- cally in their late twenties or early thirties) and
ics, teaching and research workshops need to be offers them training, encouragement, guidance,
supplemented by the creation of opportunities and incentives to both teach ecological econom-
for indigenous scholars to publish their work in ics to their students, and to initiate research on
reputable international journals. The establish- their own.
ment of a quarterly journal, Environment and Toward this end we have tried several meth-
DevelopmentEconomics(EDE),published by Cam- ods to locate suitable candidates for participa-
bridge University Press, has been aimed at meet- tion. We have had help from such organizations
ing this need. The first issue was out in February as the Consortium of African Economists; we
1997; it forms the third component of the Beijer have had help from our own academic contacts
Programme. in poor countries; we have advertised the work-
The goal in starting the journal was to create a shops and solicited applications; we have writ-
space where ecological and development econo- ten to department heads in more than 150
mists from all parts of the world can publish their universities, asking them to nominate young col-
work. It is the intention of the editorial board to leagues; and we have sought the help of past
treat submissions from poor countries with the participants in locating able colleagues who are
same care, sympathy, and critical standard that interested in ecological economics. Selection has
those scholars who work in the West take for proved to be more difficult than we had origi-
granted. One way we are trying to ensure that nally thought (department heads are not often
submissions from poor countries meet the test of reliable, and often nominate themselves!), but we
quality is to have policy forums, where authors have learned quickly from experience.
can report and comment on environmental de- As I mentioned earlier, the teaching staff for
bates and discussions currently being undertaken the Programme has been faithful to the cause
in their own countries. Economists in poor coun- because of friendship. We have a balanced staff,
tries constantly hear about global warming; it combining expertise in ecology, economic analy-
would be good if economists in the Westwere able sis, and applied environmental economics. (The
tolearn of the myriad of localenvironmental prob- participation of John Dixon of the World Bank
lems many in poor countries routinely face. has been particularly useful; the Bank has access
Intellectual infrastructure differs greatly within to a large number of case studies that the
poor countries. Libraries in some universities Programme makes available to participants.) A
subscribe to a wide range of international jour- typical teaching workshop of 20participants and
nals, whereas many others have an extreme pau- seven staff costs about US$120,000. Research
cityof subscriptions. Over an initial period of five workshops cost a bit less, because they are typi-
years, the Beijer Institute is providing free sub- cally held over four to five days. Considering
scriptions to EDE to libraries in the developing everything, this is an enormously productive in-
world recommended to us by participants of our vestment. Even if the success rate eventually were
teaching and research workshops. In addition, the to turn out to be as low as 10 percent-that is,
grant money for the Beijer Programme is being even if only 10 percent of the participants in the
used tosupply, free of charge, a selection of books teaching workshops were eventually to publish
on ecological economics to the libraries of the in EDE-it represents money well spent.
institutions to which previous participants be- What have we learned from our experience?
long. The books in question form the basis of the 1. As expected, talent and background exper-
teaching workshops. tise vary enormously across the conti-
nents. On average, participants from Sub-
Lessons Saharan Africa had the weakest back-
ground, and those from Southeast Asia
It will be apparent to the reader that the Beijer (Vietnam, for example) the best. Latin
Programme I have described here is a multi- America is a lot more promising than I had

31. Shifting Requirementsfor Knowledgeto Advancea SustainableSouth 23
originally expected: there are plenty of The Future
good and concerned minds in Latin Ameri-
can universities. What do these lessons indicate about future
2. There is enormous enthusiasm for the sub- courses of action? Three recommendations sug-
ject. Maler and I had no idea that there is gest themselves: they involve the short run, the
as much hunger for knowledge of econom- medium run, and the long run. I will consider
ics in general, and for knowledge of eco- them sequentially:
logical economics in particular, as we have
observed among our young colleagues in The Short Term
poor countries. In short we do not have to
sell ecological economics to university pro- Of immediate concern is a request we have be-
fessors inpoor countries: they want to learn gun to receive from past participants. A number
it anyway. It is the opportunity they lack. of them now want to prepare syllabi and read-
3. Our colleagues in poor countries have not ing lists for courses on ecological economics they
as yet become dispirited about their own wish to establish at their own universities. They
abilities. They still have ambition to teach have asked the Beijer Institute for help in devis-
new things and to publish the occasional ing the appropriate syllabi. Since the prime in-
article. tent of the Programme was to have ecological
4. Our emphasis on teaching modern eco- economics taught in poor countries, we need to
nomic analysis to participants before get- be able to provide this help. However, if we are
ting down to details of social cost-benefit to give this help, we need funds to enable mem-
analysis has proved to be correct: partici- bers of our staff to visit such universities as those
pants have been particularly excited in see- that seek help, spend a few days understanding
ing how even the most pedestrian the existing economics program, address semi-
problems about the environment are bet- nars in the presence of their senior colleagues in
ter informed when exposed to modern eco- order to legitimize the desire, and then advise
nomic analysis. Maler's (and my own) our hosts on how best they could devise the syl-
prejudice was that it would be a mistake labus. Fortunately, this involves small amounts
to teach participants only the routine of money. We could, for example, select a few key
tools of ecological economics; we felt that universities (totaling six to seven in number in
the right way to go about things would Africa, Asia, and Latin America), and help create
be to create a syllabus that forces partici- the teaching syllabus.
pants to become better economists before
they launch themselves into ecological TheMedium Term
economics. This prejudice was entirely
justified: most of our colleagues in poor Todate the BeijerProgramme has been supported
countries lack a good grounding in mod- by grants from the United Nations University's
ern economics. They know it; and they World Institute of Development Economics Re-
value most highly the fact that by the end search (UNU/WIDER), in 1992 and 1994; the
of a teaching workshop they have seen Swedish International Development Authority
how economic analysis can change their (SIDA), in 1995; and, more recently (1995-98),
perception of how best to pose an envi- from a block grant from the MacArthur Founda-
ronmental problem, let alone analyze it. tion.4 The latter grant will enable us not only to
5. The learning curve is steep. It has been a organize several teaching and research work-
particularly gratifying experience to ob- shops, but also to finance some of the expenses
serve, again and again, the difference in associated with our journal, and support the
the ability of the average participant to completion of research by some of the most prom-
discuss an environmental problem on the ising submissions to the journal from poor coun-
first days of a workshop and on the last tries. The MacArthur grant is being phased over
day of the workshop. four years. It started in 1995,it peaks in 1997,and

32. 24 OrganizingKnowledgeforEnvironmentallyandSociallySustainableDevelopment
trails off in 1998. If the Beijer Programme is to search workshops, such as those in the Beijer
have a lasting impact, it needs to consolidate Programme, could also be located at the institute.
about 250 economists in poor countries into the Professor Salam, I believe, had in mind that
network that we are creating. This means that it the International Centre for Theoretical Physics
needs funding until the end of the century. This would be a place from which outstanding re-
is something the SIDA may wish to consider, search in theoretical physics from poor countries
along with possibly assisting with support for the would be generated. I do not know if he has been
creation of the teaching syllabi. successful in this aim. My own belief is that, in
my own field, we are some years away from the
The Long Term time when we can expect pioneering research
to flow from universities in, say, Sub-Saharan
The emergence of the Internet is going to prove Africa. I am not suggesting that establishing an
tremendously important in enabling our col- institute of the kind Ihave sketched will produce
leagues in poor countries tojoin the international high-quality research output from poor countries
academic network. In the final analysis, however, in the immediate future. Its mission would lie
nothing can replace personal contact. You really elsewhere. It would be a place where scholars
need tobe in close association with colleagues in would be able to rejuvenate themselves intellec-
poor countries to realize how starved they are tually and keep somewhat abreast of contempo-
for the kind of collegial contact, encouragement, rary ideas.
and help that makes academic life creative in the Vast sums are spent annually in the support
West. Many years ago the physicist Abdus Salam of higher education in poor countries. Minor re-
recognized the importance of this and created, channeling of resources could greatly improve
with the help of UNESCO and the Italian gov- the performance of those who teach in these
ernment among other agencies, the International places. Capacity building involves a wide range
Centre for Theoretical Physics in Trieste. A num- of activities. The Beijer Programme that I have
ber of physicist friends of mine working in poor described in this article is a very small part of
countries have told me how important their vis- this. All my experience tells me now that it is a
its to this institute have been in enabling them to very important part. Fortunately it is, relatively
"recharge" themselves intellectually during sab- speaking, an inexpensive part.
baticals and vacations. Over the long run I am
convinced we need to establish something like Notes
such an institute, but located in a university cam-
pus in a poor country with good infrastructure, 1. For confirmationsee Cropper and Oates (1992),
such as Mauritius. which reports almost exclusively on valuation tech-
What I have in mind is an institute that would niquesand cost-effectiveregulation ofpollution.
only have visitors and a minimum permanent 2. See for example C.S.E.(1982,1985),Dasgupta
staff. The institute's purpose would be to facili- (1982,1993,1995),Anderson (1987),Agarwal and
tateclleagues. poor countries in their desir Narain (1989), Barrett (1989), Dixon, James, and
tate colleagues i poor countries in their desire Sherman (1989),Falconer and Amold (1989),Bojo,
to teach and conduct research at the interface of Maler, and Unema (1990), Dixon, James, and
anthropology, ecology, economics, demography, Sherman (1990),Binswanger (1991),Dasgupta and
geography, and political science, where the sub- Maler(1991,1995,1996),Solorzanoand others (1991),
ject of ecological economics resides.5 The insti- World Bank (1992),Dixon and others (1994),and
tute could facilitate scholars' visits during their Ehrlich, Ehrlich, and Daily (1995).I am stressing
vacations and sabbaticals by offering financial rural economies not because urban environmental
aid. The institute would also invite internation- problems do not exist in poor countries-they are
ally distinguished colleagues in these same fields rampant-but because the rural sector reveals novel
to come on short-term visits to deliver lectures, character in the nature of environmental problems
conduct seminars, and interact with the institute's in poor countries.
3. Ithas been our policyto hold the workshops in
prime visitors. In other words the institute's mis- isolatedplaces,notin metropolitancenters,sothatpar-
sion would be to offer an intellectual haven for ticipantsare not tempted tostray fromthe purpose at
scholars from poor countries. Teaching and re- hand.

33. ShiftingRequirementsfor KnowledgetoAdvancea SustainableSouth 25
4.The grant from UNO /WIDER helped us prepare theWorldBankAnnual ConferenceonDevelopmentEco-
material that is of use in teaching ecological econom- nomics 1990.Washington, D.C.: World Bank.
ics to people from poor countries. . 1995. "Poverty, Institutions and the Environ-
5. See Dasgupta (1993). mental Resource-Base." In J. Behrman and T. N.
Srinivasan, eds., Handbookof DevelopmentEconom-
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