/ Vl=IlRW MONITOR /

Progress in sustainability

UNU Monitor is a quarterly review of the United Nations University’s current research, publications and forthcoming projects in the area of global environmental change. This issue’s Monitor details two conferences held in the wake of last June’s Earth Summit: In Manaus, Brazil, on Environmentally Sound Socio-economic Development in the Humid Tropics, attended by Dr Juha Uitto and reported by MS Rosemary Buffington; and in Washington, DC, on Definition and Measurement of Sustainability: The Biophysical Foundations, attended by Dr Walter Shearer.

Thanks are due to Dieter Koenig, who has finished his UNU Monitor responsibilities and has returned to New York to take up new duties at the UN De U rp

artment of Economic and Social Development. Also, please note that U has moved to permanent headquarters in Tokyo from its former

tern orary location. Any questions or comments, lease contact MS Rosemary Bu f-F ington, The United Nations University, 53-7 g Jingumae S-chome, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo 150, Japan.

Measuring sustainability Indicators, measurements, and predictive models were the goals, but a workable definition of sustainability proved a difficult challenge for the 67 experts from 15 countries who met in Washington in June to discuss the topic. Initiated by the UNU and hosted by the World Bank, the meeting was cosponsored by The USEPA Environmental Monitor- ing and Assessment Program, The East-West Center’s Environment and Policy Institute, The Smithsonian In- stitution, and The Ecological Society of America. The meeting was led by Dr Thomas Lovejoy, Assistant Secret- ary for External Relations of the Smithsonian Institution.

When looking at Earth from the perspective of renew- able natural resources, one could define the goal as the sustainance of its productive potential - that is, its ability to meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. This level of sustenance, however, has been traditionally found only after decreased production results, after which it is sometimes too late.

ideally in this scenario, we need biophysical measure- ments that monitor the condition of ecosystems under current management practices and that predict conditions under proposed alternative practices, or conservation or restoration activities.

Current measurements of sustainability have large un- certainties due to natural inadequate ecological theory, incomplete models and sampling/analytical errors. At the same time, populations demand maximum production of food, fibre and other natural products. Decisions to err on the safe side because of uncertainties may be costly to

human health and welfare, while overstressing ecosystems may degrade their productivity. In the end, these measure- ments will become the basis for economic calculations that guide development strategy.

The objectives of the conference were:

0 To develop a biophysical definition of sustainability that could be of assistance in defining sustainable development.

0 To assess the current state of biophysical measure- ments related to the sustainability of natural and managed ecosystems.

0 To assess proposals for measurements or indices of sustainability that could be collected easily and frequently, and used to monitor sustainability in regions of local, national and continental dimen- sions.

l To propose topics for research on sustainability measurement, and policy studies on the application of these measurements.

Presentations were organized around:

0 The major renewable natural and production ecosy- stems, ie agriculture, forestry, fisheries, range land, wildlife/wildlands, and water resources.

a Cross-cutting themes, including biological diversity, climate, and natural variability.

a Aspects associated with the regional and global perspectives of sustainability measurement.

The attendees created lists of sustainability characteristics as part of the whole sustainability picture, including water quality and quantity; atmospheric composition; climatic

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characteristics; soil properties; energy balance; nutrient balance and cycling; landscape composition and pattern; biodiversity; productivity; human influence; population demography; and human well-being.

It became clear that sustainability parameters changed depending on the scale from micro to macro regions, and that coming up with leading indicators would take more than one meeting.

The conveners will be publishing the papers from the conference in the near future. Contact UNU for more details.

Targeting the humid tropics The humid tropics circumscribe a belt that makes up one-fifth of the world’s land area. In a move to further tropical sustainability, among other goals, universities and research institutes from the eight countries in the Amazon region (Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, Surinam and Venezuela), formed an organization to share ideas and learn from each other’s experiences. Called UNAMAZ (The Association of Amazonian Uni- versities), this group became the starting point for creating direct South-South links, where in the past sole contact had been with Europe or North America. Thus, a world- wide humid tropics meeting was planned to follow the Earth Summit and coordinate with the UNAMAZ Gener- al Assembly III meeting in June, espousing the goals of social equity, ecological sustainability, and economic effi- ciency. Interdisciplinary contact of natural and social scientists was an important objective, as well as an inven- tory of all the institutions working in humid tropical areas.

A wealth of collaborators

Collaborating in the organization and participating in the worldwide meeting in Manaus was UNAMAZ, under the leadership of its director, Professor Jose Seixas Lourenco; the UNU; UNESCO’s Man and the Biosphere Program- me; and The Third World Academy of Sciences. The meeting was held under the auspices of the Pro-Tempore Secretariat of the Amazonian Cooperation Treaty (PTS/ ACT); The Secretariat of Science and Technology of the Brazilian Government (SCI-Brazil); The Secretariat of Environment of the Brazilian Government (SEMAM/ PR); The Secretariat of Science, Technology and Environ- ment of the Para State (SECTAM-Para); The Secretariat of Environment, Science, and Technology of the Amazo- nas State (SEMACT-Amazonas); and The National Insti- tute for Research in the Amazon (INRA-Brazil).

The 28-nation conference attracted wide media atten- tion and about 230 participants, including representatives from tropical areas in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and Oceania, 35 rectors and directors of the Amazonian network, and representatives of several international and bilateral organizations. Named the ‘Conference on En- vironmentally Sound Socio-economic Development in the Humid Tropics’, the meeting sought worldwide network- ing among the tropical participants, and set a goal of

self-reliance in carrying out the necessary research and training. There were several areas ripe for South-South collaborative research, and the attendees lost no time in comparing their programmes and finding overlaps and gaps. Acting as moderators at the meeting were Dr Ignacy Sachs, a prominent social scientist, Dr Miguel Cliisener Godt from UNESCO’s Man and The Biosphere Program- me, and Dr Juha Uitto, Academic Officer of UNU.

Representing UNU programmes were Professor Harold Brookfield of Australian National University; Professor Rattan La1 of Ohio State University; Professor T.K. Moulik of the Indian Institute of Management; Dr Bede Okigbo of UNU/INRA; Professor Kunio Suzuki of Yoko- hama National University; and Dr Juha Uitto of UNU. Their role was in particular to bring in experiences from Southeast Asia and Africa. Dr Okigbo had an especially important role due to his organization’s established net- work in Africa.

Manaus, the capital of Amazonia in Brazil, was an interesting choice for the meeting’s site. As a frontier town in the middle of the rainforest, its explosive growth has brought it many of the environmental and social problems discussed at the conference.

Research initiatives

There were six focal areas identified at the meeting; Managing renewable resources; urbanization; health and environment; biosphere reserves; mineral resources; and climate/hydrology.

The first step in sustainable development for tropical people (or anyone for that matter) is a sustainable and decent livelihood. The participants emphasized the im- portance of using agroforestry, forest management, and biodiversity rationally to benefit indigenous peoples. Especially important are programmes that can be used by small producers to enhance their productivity. One area that may be fruitful in the future is aquatic systems, because there has been little aquatic study done here with sustainable development in mind. Unfortunately, rehabi- litation of already degraded areas is equally important.

Natural ecology comes first to mind when considering the humid tropics, but understanding urban ecology is a pressing need, as rapid urbanization has created a myriad of problems that require urgent attention. Urban ecology is an important area in which the participants could help each other, and they proposed an in-depth case study of Manaus, comparing it with an African and an Asian city. Researchers in Southeast Asia, particularly Kuala Lum- pur, and MAB-UNESCO have experience with such studies and can provide advice in their design and imple- mentation.

Sad consequences of almost uncontrolled human migra- tion and the growth of cities are the negative effects of health of pollution and environmental degradation. The Amazonian group prepared a plan to study the interac- tions of the environment on people’s health, how to cope with environmentally linked illness, strengthen epidemiological research, and to study relationships bet-

GLOBAL ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE December 1992

ween health, lifestyle and social behaviour. They would like to collaborate with the Asian and African representa- tives, along with UNU and the International Development Research Center.

From intensely crowded cities, the group’s attention swung next to biosphere reserves, pristine areas desig- nated to be preserved in their natural state, and extractive reserves, where some utilization of natural resources is permitted. These areas can be used to conserve and study biodiversity, a topic already under examination by the Diversitas Programme of UNESCO and the International Union of Biological Sciences. Other goals include de- veloping buffer zones around the biosphere reserves, training reserve managers, and encouraging the local people to participate in the process. As a result of the meeting the Amazonian group is establishing linkages with Mananara-Nord, an established biosphere reserve in Madagascar now under study by other institutes.

The Amazon region possesses a wealth of mineral resources, both a blessing and a curse to local people who live in the environmental and social aftermath of mining. The Federal University of Para in Belem, Brazil, with a well established Centre for Geosciences, proposed a work- shop of worldwide participants to trade mining and en- vironmental information. An exchange of teachers and students would be helpful in learning how best to put their resources to use while minimizing the environmental impact. Sadly, rehabilitation of already damaged areas needs to be addressed, too. UNU can be helpful in information transfer through the Mineral Resources Unit of UNU/INRA, UNU’s Programme on Natural Resources in Africa, located at the University of Zambia School of Mines.

In the area of climate study one needs good data to make sound decisions, and unfortunately there has been a decline in detailed meteorological and hydrological data in the tropics. Scientists need this data baseline to study the climatic effects of environmental change. An earlier study by CATIE (The Centro Agronomic0 Tropical de lnves- tigacion y Enserianza) and UNU led to a proposal for a South-South cooperative project on cloud forests, which are rapidly disappearing due to their conversion to non- forest uses, almost all of them unstable. Methods for analysis of these changes also need to be worked out, including the study of non-conventional indicators which could complement satellite and instrumental climatic

observations of the area.

Training initiatives

Critical to the success of direct South-South links is a local

pool of scientists and specialists trained in sustainable development. The Third World Academy of Sciences estimates that 1080 scientists per million population will be

required to reach that sort of self-reliance. The Amazo-

nian group has made great strides in this direction, with

graduate programmes at the Federal University of Para in Brazil and Facultad Latin0 Americana de Ciencias Sociales (FLACSO) in Ecuador.

UNU Monitor

However, to have an impact, information about sustain- able development must flow to everyone, from graduate students in universities to farmers in the fields. The Centro Agroambiental de Tocantins has experience to offer, based on its work in linking scientific research and peasant organizations. One appealing proposal called for estab- lishing a doctoral course on Environment and Develop- ment in the Humid Tropics at the Federal University of Para, in cooperation with the Nucleo de altos estudos Amazonicos, a group of major research centres in the city of Belem, Brazil. This would be the first programme of its kind in Amazonia, and would use the facilities of the Centro Agroambiental de Tocantins to bring students close to the field. A doctoral programme in Ecuador may soon follow. South-South networking can bring coordina- tion with similar institutions in Africa and Asia, too.

The attendees saw other areas for training cooperation, from creating a catalogue of sustainable development experiences and training opportunities to establishing a fellowship programme to exchange students among coun- tries of the humid tropics.

The SouthSouth effort

This South-South cooperative initiative (Figure 1) is ex- pected to attract attention from major international sup- port organizations, some of which attended the meeting. The Final Report of the Conference has been forwarded to a large number of bilateral and multilateral institutions and the organizers are now in the process of preparing a programme document for their consideration.

The group estimated the need for a budget of U$2-3 million per year, which would finance a minimal secretar- iat, workshops, some joint field research, preparation of case studies, and a network conference every two to three years. Ambassador Luis Carrera de la Torre, Pro Tem- pore Secretary of the Amazonian Cooperation Treaty, offered the full support of his institution to the projects and proposed that other regional inter-governmental orga- nizations in Asia and Africa be invited to hold a meeting in Quito to assist in the South-South cooperation program- me. The next meeting of the entire network is scheduled for Belem, Brazil, in October 1994, hosted by Empresa Brasileira de Pesquisa Agropecuaria (EMBRAPA). Until then. a steering committee will be seeking funds. review- ing new projects, and developing the network.

Forthcoming papers

Several publications are planned from the conference, including:

0 From the Amazonian group (UNAMAZ), a paper on sustainable development in Brazil, published in Portuguese, and State of the Art Reports on re- search training in UNAMAZ, published in Spanish, Portuguese, and English. For information, contact Professor Jose Seixas Louren$o, President of UN- AMAZ, CP 478 69011, Manaus AM, Brazil.

0 From UNESCO, a summary of the conference as

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Asia Latin Africa

Collaborative Institution Exchange Training Information research building of clearing

scholars house

Figure 1. South-South cooperation programme.

part of the Man and the Biosphere Digest series, and possibly an English summary of the Amazonian papers presented. For information, contact Dr Miguel Cliisener Godt, UNESCO, Division of Eco- logical Sciences, 7 Place de Fontenoy, F-75700 Paris, France.

0 From UNU, a paper on the Asian and African

experiences reported at the conference, published in English. For information, contact Dr Juha Uitto, The United Nations University, 53-70 Jingumae S-chome, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo 150, Japan.

How can UNU help?

UNU sees many ways in which it can facilitate the South-South initiative. It can help by introducing contacts from various humid tropical areas, and can promote the collaborative research proposed at this meeting. It can also assist in the exchange of scholars, and in training - for example, the already established remote sensing course in Brazil.

UNU can also help generate support from others, and promote conferences and disseminate information. The UNLVINRA Programme on Natural Resources in Africa can help in various areas, in particular soil and water conservation and mangement, indigenous African plants, and mineral resources. UNU/INRA can act as an impor- tant focal point of contact between researchers and stu- dents in Africa.

340 GLOBAL ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE December 1992