Unleash the power of science

By Peter H. Raven And Alan I. Leshner

As published in the St. Louis Post Dispatch, Monday, August 19, 2002.

The plight of the hundreds of millions of people whose individual survival hinges on less than $1 a day has again caught the eye of world leaders, who will gather on Aug. 26 in Johannesburg to begin the 2002 World Summit for Sustainable Development.

Once again, a willing community of scientists and engineers will be asked to do something about the problems of poor nations -- soil erosion, pollution and the lack of clean water -- to help feed the hungry without damaging the environment. But recent history shows that good science and good intentions aren't enough.

The ambitious blueprint for scientific solutions that came out of the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro remains to a great extent a paper dream. Few provisions were ever funded. Many were not implemented. But it remains an influential document, and its demand for help is difficult to ignore.

The solutions exist, and many scientists are ready to help. Their participation ill be meaningless, however, unless industrialized and developing nations commit to cooperation in building a scientific infrastructure everywhere.

There is a powerful humanitarian argument for such assistance, but it is not the only one. The gap between rich and poor countries is growing. It fuels distrust and anger among people who are increasingly aware of the disparities between their way of life and the way we live in the developed world. Environmental hazards and reports of illnesses that don't respect national boundaries have made clear that no nation is immune from the impact of what happens elsewhere in the world. Conversely, a recent report in the journal Science suggests that the destruction of biodiversity causes irreversible loss to our common future, and that protecting natural habitats in developing nations generates enormous economic benefits for all of humanity.

In cities throughout the developing world, millions of people are breathing air that is below acceptable standards. Poor sanitation is the norm for 2 billion people; more than 1 billion people lack clean water. Half of the world's people are malnourished, and hundreds of millions of women and children are denied the opportunity for education.

Science has gone far in finding answers to such problems, but most developing nations lack an infrastructure that would allow them to apply scientific advances locally and for the long term. We must help them to develop for our common benefit. The recently published rice genome, for example, could lead eventually to improvements that could raise the yield of this primary food source for hundreds of millions of people. But unless explicit efforts are undertaken to ensure that such advances are translated and transferred to the developing world, and made workable in local contexts, knowledge of the rice genome will not be applied properly.

To increase the number of scientists in developing nations, science and engineering societies have begun to influence the way science and mathematic are taught, even in the primary grades. Such efforts are widely needed, but particularly so in some of Africa's poorest nations, which average less than one scientist for every 10,000 people.

The National Research Council reported in 1999 that existing technologies could bring about such a transformation within two generations -- without any dramatic advances in new technologies, or changes in human society. Women can be given access to education and help in reducing the size of their families. Improvements can be made in the quality of air and water, in the development and use of energy, and in the methods used to produce agricultural products. Conservation programs can be implemented to reduce the amount of land converted to commercial use.

But this can only happen if the world's citizens gain significant basic knowledge and the technical and social ability to put it to use. This, in turn, will come about only if the political will exists -- not only in the countries of the developing world, but in the United States and other industrialized countries, where 90 percent of the world's scientists live. The United States has a robust scientific enterprise that fuels our economic and social health. Development assistance is a necessary part of the solution to the plight of developing nations. But experience shows that our truest and most lasting gift is to guide other nations in creating an enterprise of their own. We scientists know what to do, but we need your help, and the political will your interest will inspire.

COMMENTARY\A FORUM FOR OTHER VOICES, IDEAS AND OPINIONS\Peter Raven is director of the Missouri Botanical Garden and chairman of the board of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). Alan I. Leshner is CEO of AAAS and executive publisher of the journal Science.

Published in Editorial on Monday, August 19, 2002.

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