1Y E A R 2 0 0 3JA N - M A R

VOL.15 NO.1

Published with the support of the Kuwait Foundation for the Advancement of Sciences

newsletterTWAST H E N E W S L E T T E R O F T H E T H I R D W O R L D A C A D E M Y O F S C I E N C E S

CONTENTS 2 EDITORIAL 5LINKS AND PROGRESS 7DRYLAND BIODIVERSITY

15DISCIPLINE DIVIDE 21RENEWABLE ENERGY 29TWOWS’ FIRST GRADUATE

33MAKING SCIENCE COUNT 36WORDS…DEEDS…ACTION? 40NEW MEMBERS

42PEOPLE, PLACES, EVENTS

TWAS NEWSLETTER

PUBLISHED QUARTERLY WITH

THE SUPPORT OF THE KUWAIT

FOUNDATION FOR THE

ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCES (KFAS)

BY THE THIRD WORLD

ACADEMY OF SCIENCES (TWAS)

C/O THE ABDUS SALAM

INTERNATIONAL CENTRE

FOR THEORETICAL PHYSICS

STRADA COSTIERA 11

34014 TRIESTE, ITALY

PH: +39 040 2240327

FAX: +39 040 224559

E-MAIL: INFO@TWAS.ORG

WEBSITE: WWW.TWAS.ORG

EDITOR

DANIEL SCHAFFER

ASSISTANT EDITOR

PETER MCGRATH

MANAGING EDITOR

GISELA ISTEN

TWAS SUPPORT STAFF

HELEN GRANT, SHEILA KHAWAJA,

HELEN MARTIN, LEENA MUNGAPEN,

SANDRA RAVALICO

DESIGN & ART DIRECTION

SANDRA ZORZETTI, RADO JAGODIC

(WWW.STUDIO-LINK)

PRINTING

STELLA ARTI GRAFICHE, TRIESTE

UNLESS OTHERWISE INDICATED,

THE TEXT OF THIS NEWSLETTER

IS WRITTEN BY ITS EDITORS AND MAY

BE REPRODUCED FREELY WITH DUE

CREDIT TO THE SOURCE

T he Third World Academy of Sciences (TWAS) has gained an international reputation

for its efforts to promote science in the developing world. Since the Academy’s incep-

tion nearly two decades ago, a pair of basic strategies have driven its overall man-

date: first, to acknowledge and honour the most eminent scientists in the developing world

by electing them to the Academy, and, second, to develop a wide range of programmes

designed to enhance both the skill levels of scientists and the capacity of scientific institutions

throughout the South.

Progress on the first front can be measured by the more than 600 world-class scientists

who have been elected to the Academy in fields of basic science. Progress on the second front

can measured by the growing recognition and impact of the Academy’s core activities: TWAS

prizes in basic and applied sciences (among the most prestigious science prizes in the devel-

oping world), research grants (that have assisted more than 1600 scientists in the South);

fellowships and associateships (which have helped to foster South-South and South-North

cooperation); and

the sponsorship of

meetings and lec-

tures (including the organization of biennial general conferences, which are among the

South’s largest and most significant scientific meetings).

The enduring strength of TWAS has been largely due to its ability to stand true to its

mandate and steadfast in the strategies it pursues to advance its goals. The Academy’s clar-

ity of purpose and faithful reliance on a consistent set of tactics has helped it to achieve a

distinct identity among scientific communities both in the South and North. Yet the Acade-

my has also been willing to alter its core strategies when changed circumstances warrant

such reforms. That is the case in TWAS’s decision to welcome social scientists and economists

into its membership class of 2001. The official induction of these members took place at the

TWAS 8th General Conference in New Delhi this past November.

Since TWAS’s founding in 1983, the Academy’s membership has been comprised of basic

scientists. There have been just two exceptions: Fernando Henrique Cardoso (TWAS Associ-

ate Fellow 1984) who, early in his career, was a professor of political sciences at the Uni-

versity of São Paulo, Brazil, and, more recently, president of Brazil, and the late Arthur

Enlarging the Science Circle

EDITORIAL

[CONTINUED PAGE 3]

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[CONTINUED PAGE 4]

Lewis (TWAS Associate Fellow 1985), who was awarded the Nobel Prize in economics in

1979.

There are several reasons why TWAS has decided to broaden its membership roster beyond

the basic science community.

First, the Academy, often in cooperation with its affiliated organization, the Third World

Network of Scientific Organizations (TWNSO), has become more engaged in projects designed

to apply scientific knowledge to critical economic, environmental, and social problems facing

the developing world. These efforts are testimony to the success that some developing coun-

tries have achieved over the past several decades in building their scientific expertise. The time

has now come, the Academy believes, to put that expertise to work on issues of significance

not only to the global scientific community but to the people living in the countries where

Academy scientists live and work.

Second, governments throughout the developing world – like their counterparts in the devel-

oped world – are increasingly demanding that scientific research should focus on national con-

cerns. Scientific communities would be foolish not to be responsive to our governments’ requests.

Third, it has become clear that many of the critical problems facing the developing world

cannot be solved by the insights provided by a single discipline. Efforts to address such concerns

– whether access to safe drinking water, the application of renewable energy sources, the con-

servation of biodiversity, or broad-based efforts to combat disease and improve public health –

all require multidisciplinary strategies that engage not only findings provided by the basic sci-

ences but also contributions from the social sciences and economics.

And, fourth, the global scientific community itself has become more interested in multi-

disciplinary science. This is a trend that TWAS, which has emerged as a major player in interna-

tional science, intends to embrace in order to be even more responsive to the needs of scientists

in an ever-more globalized world.

For all these reasons, TWAS extends an especially warm welcome to its new members in the

‘social and economic sciences’ category:

• Roberto Cardoso de Oliveira, Visiting Researcher at the Center for Research and Graduate

Studies on the Americas (CEPPAC) at the University of Brasilia, Brazil, whose long list of

scholarly and scientific publications make him one of the world’s foremost anthropologists

studying indigenous people in the Americas. He has also earned acclaim as a teacher, advi-

sor and consultant. de Oliveira’s on-site research of the Brazilian Terêna and Tukúna peo-

ples has broadened our knowledge of indigenous cultures and deepened our understanding

of the roots of human civilization.

• Partha Sarathi Dasgupta, Frank Ramsey Professor of Economics at the University of Cam-

bridge, UK, one of the pioneers in the development of the field of ecological economics. His

breakthrough studies on the links between the local natural resource base and the state of

the local economy have helped transform not only our view of rural societies in the develop-

ing world but the way in which international aid should be allocated. (For a detailed dis-

cussion of Dasgupta’s career, see page 15).

R. Cardoso de Oliveira

P. S. Dasgupta

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3 • Miguel Leon-Portilla, Emeritus Researcher at the Institute of Historical Research of the

National Autonomous University of Mexico, a world-renowned anthropologist and historian

who has been teaching in his home country for nearly half a century. Leon-Portilla founded the

prestigious Seminar on Nahuatl (Aztec) Culture, which has served as a training ground for sev-

eral generations of scholars who have adopted and refined Leon-Portilla’s methodology for the

study of indigenous texts and his research protocols for enhancing our understanding of indige-

nous cultures.

• Ali A. Mazrui, Director of the Institute of Global Cultural Studies at Binghamton University

in Vestal, New York, USA, an internationally recognized political scientist who was born in

Kenya and has devoted his career to the study of North-South relations, African politics and

the organizational culture of international institutions. Mazrui has not only authored numer-

ous scholarly books but has written for the popular press and served as a consultant for televi-

sion documentaries and news programmes. He has been involved in several United Nations pro-

jects ranging from efforts to protect human rights to programmes to limit nuclear proliferation.

He is also an internationally recognized expert on Islamic culture and history.

• Niu Wen-Yuan was the founding director of China’s first sustainable development research

institution, the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Policy and Management. In 1998, he

also launched China’s first nationwide sustainable development programme. His basic research

efforts have led to the development of internationally recognized theoretical paradigms and

quantitative models for sustainable development and generalized frameworks for understand-

ing the impact of regulations on environmental protection and economic growth. Niu devised

what has come to be called the ‘Niu index’, which has become a standard tool for economists

interested in this problem.

• Ismail Serageldin, director of the Bibliotheca Alexandrina in Alexandria, Egypt, is an inter-

nationally recognized economist and former World Bank official who has published extensive-

ly on issues relating to sustainable economic development in the South. During his tenure at

the World Bank, Serageldin promoted efforts to improve the Bank’s relations with nongovern-

mental institutions and coauthored several reports demonstrating the importance of human

resource capital in economic growth. Early in his career, Serageldin taught at Cairo and Har-

vard universities. He has served on a number of advisory committees for academic institutions

and international research centres both in the South and North. ■

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M. Leon-Portilla

A. A. Mazrui

Niu Wen-Yuan

I. Serageldin

W ith the launch of the firstEuropean Framework Pro-gramme in 1984, the Eu-

ropean Union (EU) embarked on acontinent-wide science policy strat-egy designed to bolster Europe’sscientific foundation through thecreation of cross-boundary net-works among its national scientificenterprises.

This year, the EU announced itsSixth Framework Programme,which will remain in place from2003 to 2006. The willingness ofthe EU to issue a series of frame-works is testimony to the pro-gramme’s success – and so too isthe ever-expanding budget. TheSixth Framework will receive €17billion, representing a 17 percentincrease in budget over the previ-ous framework. The budget, more-over, represents 3.9 percent of theEU’s total budget. Europe as awhole spends only 1.9 percent ofthe EU’s member states’ gross do-

mestic product for research andtechnology. By 2010, the EU hopesthat the budget for scientific re-search will increase to 3 percent ofGDP, which will then be among thehighest percentages in the world.

Progress under the frameworkstrategy has been due largely to theprogramme’s ability to set prioritiesand forge partnerships among sci-entific institutions throughout Eu-rope. In the past, European sciencehad been handicapped by the twinproblems of funding dispersalamong nations (small sums ofmoney spread over a myriad of pro-jects) and activity fragmentation (agreat deal of project overlap andduplication).

These ongoing issues will betackled with increasing commit-ment through the European Re-search Area (ERA) initiative, whichis a cornerstone of the new frame-work. The purpose of the ERA is tocreate an ‘internal research mar-

ket,’ an area marked by the freemovement of knowledge, re-searchers and technologists thatthe EU hopes will stimulate both in-creased cooperation and competi-tion among scientists.

A unique feature of the SixthFramework Programme is that it al-so allows for and indeed promotescooperation with individual scien-tists and scientific communities inthe developing world. About €600million of the €17 billion budgethas been set aside for encouragingso-called ‘third countries’ – that is,non-EU member states – to workcooperatively with EU scientific in-stitutions on the framework’s the-matic priorities. These priorities in-clude genomics and biotechnologyfor health; information technolo-gies; nanotechnologies and nano-sciences; aeronautics and space;food quality and safety; sustainabledevelopment; and citizen and gov-ernance in a knowledge-based soci-

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COMMENTARY

LINKS AND PROGRESS

[CONTINUED PAGE 6]

THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION ’S CHRISTIAN PATERMANN RECENTLY VISITED TWAS

TO OUTLINE A NEW MULTI -YEAR STRATEGY FOR EUROPEAN-WIDE SCIENTIFIC

RESEARCH. HIS MESSAGE? THE EUROPEAN UNION IS SEEKING PARTNERSHIPS

WITH THE DEVELOPING WORLD.

ety. Most of these funds will beused to build partnerships betweenscientific communities in the EUand the developing world.

The knowledge and networksthat TWAS and its affiliated organi-zations – specifically, the ThirdWorld Network of Scientific Orga-nizations (TWNSO) and the ThirdWorld Organization for Women inScience (TWOWS) – have devel-oped over the past several decades

could be invaluable to the EU’s out-reach efforts. The Academy’s chan-nels of communication, for in-stance, could help EU-based scien-tists make valuable contacts withpeople and institutions in the de-veloping world. Moreover, TWAS’sstrong links with scientific expertsfrom the South could help the EUestablish a large pool of consultantsable to assess and judge the grantapplications that the EU expects toreceive.

It is the EU’s firm belief that itcan help bring developing countriesinto the mainstream of modern de-velopment and that science andtechnology are powerful engines fordriving this effort. The fact is thatwe all live in a knowledge-based so-ciety and that this knowledge –drawing largely from advances inscience and technology – can serveas a primary tool for eradicatingpoverty, reversing environmentaldegradation and combating suchmajor diseases as HIV/AIDs, mal-aria and tuberculosis.

Efforts to address these criticalglobal concerns depend, in largemeasure, on the exchange of schol-ars (both North-South and South-South), the forging of closer linksbetween research and industry, andthe fostering of an atmosphere thatstimulates technological and man-agerial innovation.

While the EU’s efforts to engagethe developing world is driven, inpart, by moral and ethical consider-

ations, it should be noted that self-interest is also a compelling factor.In some ways, the framework’s goalof engaging developing world sci-entists represents an extension ofthe EU’s ongoing efforts to broadenthe circle of scientific cooperationin order to make science more in-novative, efficient and effective.

It is believed that the success al-ready achieved in meeting thesegoals by promoting cooperation onthe European continent can now beextended beyond the borders of Eu-rope itself. Similarly, opening upthe competitive tendering processto an even larger pool of institu-tions will lead to higher quality re-search proposals and project out-comes. That, in turn, will mean agreater return on the investmentthat Europe makes in science andtechnology. There may be no betterway of helping others as we helpourselves. ■

> Christian PatermannDirector of Environment

Directorate General for ResearchEuropean Commission

Brussels, Belgium

For additional information aboutthe EU’s Sixth Framework

Programme, see >europa.eu.int/comm/research/fp6

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The pyramids of Giza – the world famousdesert structures still standing and stillstunning after 5000 years – served as anideal backdrop to an international confer-ence for “Promoting Best Practices in theConservation and Sustainable Use of Biodiver-sity of Global Significance in Arid and Semi-AridZones in the Developing World” held recently by theThird World Network of Scientific Organizations(TWNSO).

T he conference, which took place from 14-17 De-cember 2002, marked the concluding event of a

two-year project sponsored by the Global EnvironmentFacility (GEF). The Desert Research Centre of Egyptserved as the local organizer of the event, which wasattended by more than 100 people from 32 countries.

As Adoub Hadid, chief executive director of the

Egyptian Environmental Agency, point-ed out in the opening session of the con-ference, the ancient civilization of thepharaohs learned to live in harmony

with – indeed to prosper in – Egypt’s dry-land environment by respecting nature’s

bounty and avoiding excessive use of itsresources, including its biodiversity.

More recently, he noted, Egypt has again focusedattention on the country’s resources by adopting a vig-orous programme for the creation of protected habitatareas. Plans call for the official designation of 40 pro-tected areas, covering some 17 percent of the nation’slandmass. To date, the national government has estab-lished 23 protected areas covering nearly 10 percent ofthe country.

Hadid’s description of Egypt’s on-going efforts tocreate protected habitats and, by implication, to con-

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FEATURE

DRYLAND BIODIVERSITY:

NEXT STEPSAFTER WORKSHOPS IN MONGOLIA, OMAN AND CHILE, THE GLOBAL ENVIRONMENT

FACILITY-SPONSORED PROJECT ON DRYLAND BIODIVERSITY CONCLUDED

WITH AN INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE IN EGYPT. LESSONS LEARNED

AND FOLLOW-UP ACTIONS DOMINATED THE DISCUSSIONS.

[CONTINUED PAGE 8]

serve the nation’s dryland biodiversity, was just oneexample of the many experiences – at local, nationaland regional levels – that have been examined duringthis two-year GEF-sponsored initiative. Regional work-shops – held in Ulanbataar, Mongolia; Santiago, Chile;and Muscat, Oman – together attracted more than 140delegates from 60 countries in Africa, Asia, Europe andNorth and South America.

Project participants described wide-ranging effortsto conserve and protect biodiversity resources in dry-land regions – efforts that have proven to be as variedas the locations in which the participants lived andworked, including Chile’s Andean foothills, northeastBrazil’s semi-arid caatinga zone, Tunisia’s Matmatamountains, Morocco’s Ziz valley, Mongolia’s Gobidesert, China’s Horqin sandy grasslands, Oman’s man-grove forests, South Africa’s Bokkeveld plateau, andsouthwest Africa’s Namib desert (see article on page11).

A major outcome of this project will be the publi-cation later this year by Kluwer Academic Publishers of35 of these shared experiences. Ten to twenty addi-tional experiences will be included in a policy-orientedbooklet now being prepared by the TWNSO secretari-at. The full texts of all of these case studies will also beplaced on the project’s website (www.gefbiodiversity.org)where browsers can review the reports and respond tothe issues raised by the authors. Project organizershope that the site will help promote a vigorous inter-active dialogue on issues related to the protection and

conservation of biodiversity resources in drylandregions in developing countries.

The international conference in Egypt was domi-nated by two concerns. The first focused on the broadlessons that could be derived from the case study expe-riences presented at the workshops, while the secondconcentrated on the steps that may now be taken, inthe words of advisory committee member LeonardBerry, “to advance the good work that has been doneover the past two years.” Berry is director of the Flori-da Center for Environmental Studies at FloridaAtlantic University, USA.

“Lessons learned,” notes lead project consultantJohn Lemons, professor of environmental science atthe University of New England, USA, “include a widerange of issues related to scientific research, publicpolicy and management, local participation in deci-sion-making, and institutional partnerships and capac-ity building.”

“One of the most valuable lessons learned from thisproject,” says Hassan Hassan, a former World Bankofficial who serves on the advisory board, “is that thedeveloping world has gained a broad range of scien-tific experience in the conservation and use of bio-diversity.

“Much of this experience,” Hassan adds, “hasremained localized. As a result, one of the next steps inthis process should be the promotion of a dialogueamong scientists and policy makers so that the scien-tific experience acquired in laboratories and fields

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throughout the South can gain a more prominent rolein larger policy discussions and decisions.”

Gloria Montenegro, another member of the adviso-ry board, agrees. “It is critical,” she asserts, “for scien-tific institutions and grassroots organizations tobecome more involved in policy making.”

“This is a two-way street,” she adds. “On the onehand, scientists must be willing to pursue policy-orient-ed research issues and to present their findings in waysthat policy makers can understand and find useful. Pol-icy makers, meanwhile, must be willing to open not justtheir corridors but their meetingrooms and offices to scientists.”

In discussions concerning theconference’s other major concern –the steps that should now be taken– Mohamed Hassan, secretary gen-eral of TWNSO, observed that pro-ject participants raised a number ofpossible options, ranging fromefforts to improve the project web-site so that participants can continue to communicatewith one another, to the development of a full-scale

research and training programme that wouldinclude fellowships, travel grants, scientific

exchanges, field demonstrations andjoint research initiatives. The latterwould help expand the expertise in bio-diversity conservation and use that had

been at the heart of the initial project.“Responsibility for such com-

prehensive programmes,”Hassan adds, “would

rest with a small number of institutions, carefully cho-sen after a vigorous competition. These institutions, ineffect, would serve as catalysts to boost scientificcapacity throughout the region in which they are locat-ed. Ultimately, the institutions could even serve asnational and even international centres of excellence.”

An intermediate stage in this process will takeplace in late summer when a workshop will be held atAlakhwayan University’s Center of EnvironmentalIssues and Regional Development in Ifrane, Morocco.The three-day event, scheduled for 27-30 August, will

bring together research scientists,science administrators and policymakers from throughout the devel-oping world to discuss how the vaststorehouse of scientific expertise onissues related to biodiversity can bemore fully integrated into the policy-making arena at both national andinternational levels. GEF has givenTWNSO approval to use unspent

funds from the existing project to cover the expensesof the Morocco workshop.

The international conference in Egypt ended with a‘statement of intent’ that endorsed the creation of anetwork on biodiversity in arid and semi-arid zones inthe South.

“Although many institutions in the developingworld have been involved in pioneering innovativeprojects related to the conservation and sustainableuse of biodiversity resources in arid and semi-aridzones,” participants declared, “insufficient mecha-nisms are in place for the sharing of information on

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Scientific institutionsand grassroots

organizations mustbecome more involved

in policy making.

[CONTINUED PAGE 10]

successful experiences.” Therefore, participants urgedthat the proposed network:• Identify and disseminate information on best prac-

tices.• Encourage collaboration among

centres of excellence in theSouth.

• Sponsor training and researchprogrammes.

• Assist efforts by local communi-ties to conserve, develop andeffectively manage biodiversityresources, especially to meetlocal needs.

• Serve as a bridge between scientific institutions,local communities and national and internationaldecision makers for the promotion of science-basedstrategies for biodiversity resource conservationand sustainable use.As Lemons declared at the conclusion of the work-

shop: “This project has been driven by the fundamen-tal importance of dryland biodiversity to our globalenvironment and global community.”

Some simple statistics confirm Lemon’s observa-tions: More than one-third of the world’s land mass isarid or semi-arid and more than one billion people,many of whom are among the world’s most impover-ished and vulnerable inhabitants, depend on drylandbiodiversity resources for their survival and well-being.

The knowledge that this project has shed on theseissues and the public attention that it has drawn tothese often-neglected resources may represent its mostsignificant outcome. Equally important, however, has

been the project’s ability to fosteran exchange of information amongparticipants who have long-laboured on like-minded issues butoften in isolation from one another.

How to transfer the lessonslearned from each of these experi-ences into a larger policy setting isthe major challenge that projectorganizers and participants alike

will have to tackle in the years ahead. All thoseinvolved in the project would agree that successfullymeeting this challenge should prove enormously bene-ficial for both the treasure trove of biodiversity foundin dryland regions and, more importantly, the peoplewho have depended on these resources for their sur-vival and material well-being for aeons of time. ■

For additional information about the project,

please contact > Helen MartinTWNSO Secretariat, Trieste, Italy

phone: +39 040 2240 683fax: +39 040 2240 689e-mail: info@twnso.org

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More than one billionpeople depend on

dryland biodiversityresources for their

survival.

What’s the climate like in Namibia, a country ofnearly 2 million people located on the southwest

coast of Africa? In a word: dry. Or, if you prefer twowords: dry and drier. Yet such conditions do not pre-vent the country from enjoying a rich diversity of bio-logical resources. In fact, these resources form the basisof an intricate ecological mosaic that illustrates howbiologically rich drylands can be.

Namibia’s climate ‘varies’ from ‘dry subhumid’ inthe northeast, through arid and semi-arid in the cen-tral regions, to extremely dry along the southernAtlantic coast.

These different climatic zones help create acheckered landscape, including the Succulent Karoo,an internationally renowned ‘biodiversity hotspot’

that is home to almost 5000 plant species,nearly 2000 of which are found nowhereelse in the world. Namibia also has lesswell-known local and regional zones thatcreate a diverse template of biodiversity.For example, the central Namib Desert,supports many endemic species of rep-tiles, invertebrates and lichens, allsustained by water from the frequent

fogs that roll in off the Atlantic coast.For more than 40 years, the Desert

Research Foundation of Namibia, a non-governmental organization previouslycalled the Desert Ecological ResearchUnit, has worked in partnership withNamibia’s Ministry of Environment andTourism. The most noteworthy product ofthis collaboration has been the establish-ment of the Gobabeb Training and

Research Centre, created in 1962 and reorganized asa joint venture in 1998. The Centre focuses onresearch and training programmes that draw on therich ecology of the Namib Desert for hands-on inves-tigations, complementing the Centre’s classroomwork and laboratory sessions.

Moreover, because so much of Namibia’s protect-ed area falls within the Namib Desert, the Centre hasserved as a focal point for understanding not onlythe specific region in which the desert is located, butthe rich biodiversity found in the country’s other dryareas. Centre researchers, in turn, have providedinformation for both policy analysts and decisionmakers, especially on issues related to the develop-ment of the nation’s tourism industry.

BEETLE MANIAWhile most other ecological research programmes inAfrica have targeted the so-called ‘charismatic mega-fauna’, such as lions and elephants, research at theDesert Research Foundation has focused on findingexplanations for the high species richness of tenebri-onid beetles in the Namib Desert. In effect, the foun-dation has been propelled by the belief that smallthings can cast revealing light on the behaviour ofecosystems.

In Namibia, this beetle family, known for its abil-ity to survive in dry environments (flour beetles, forinstance, which can extract the moisture they needto survive from dried cereal products, are in thesame family), is represented by more than 200endemic species, many with their own peculiaradaptations to life in a hot dry climate.

There are, for example, beetle species with whiteor yellow patches on their abdomens that reflect the

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[CONTINUED PAGE 12]

DRY AND DRIERNEW CHALLENGES IN THE WORLD’S OLDEST DESERT

sun’s rays. The average body temperature of thesebeetles is up to 5oC lower than the average bodytemperature of other, darker species. As a result,these white- and yellow-marked beetles can foragefor longer periods during the heat of the day.

The fog-basking beetle and the fog-trappingbeetle, on the other hand, are well-known for theirdrinking habits. Picture this. By standing on theirheads when the fog rolls in, water condenses ontheir abdomens and subsequently trickles down intotheir mouths. In this way, the beetles can guzzleenough water to survive in the harsh desert climate.Engineers have even analysed the surface structureof these beetles to improve the design of ‘fog har-vesting’ equipment that can provide clean drinkingwater in dry environments.

PLANT LIFEThe Namib Desert not only displays a rich diversityof ‘upside-down circus beetles’; it is also home to awide-range of plants that have successfully adaptedto this dry, harsh environment by developing inno-vative water intake and retention mechanisms.

Members of the Welwitschiaceae family are oneintriguing example. These unusual plants, whichharvest water from fog, consist of just two long,strap-like leaves, whose edges are constantly wornaway by blowing sand.

Research on the desert environment’s rich biodi-versity is being carried out with the help of the Top-naar, one of the area’s indigenous peoples. The Top-

naar, who live along the seasonal Kuiseb River in theNamib Desert, are the only people that reside withinthe borders of a Namibian park. Scientists workingat the Gobabeb Training and Research Centre on thelower Kuiseb River live among the Topnaar. Thisarrangement has facilitated an exchange of informa-tion between university-trained researchers andlocal residents, enabling both parties to learn fromone another.

Several research projects, undertaken directlywith the Topnaar, focus on developing markets forindigenous fruit as well as community-based tourismand fog harvesting. A number of developmental non-governmental organizations have also joined theeffort, lending their expertise on market develop-ment strategies.

The Desert Research Foundation is also a sourceof interpretive information for the growing numberof tourists that visit the desert, the second mostimportant destination in Namibia after EtoshaNational Park.

BEST IS BESTDue to the arid nature of much of Namibia, largetracts of land have remained undeveloped. However,changing global perceptions of the value of suchlandscapes and the biodiversity they contain havefuelled international tourism. This, in turn, hasaffected public policy, as tourists, attracted by theunspoiled landscapes and the region’s unique floraand fauna are themselves adversely impacting the

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fragile desert ecosystem, placing at risk the ecologi-cal conditions that lured them there in the firstplace.

Obviously, there is a need to develop ‘best prac-tices’ for the conservation and sustainable use ofNamibia’s unique biodiversity, and this is beingundertaken by a loose partnership of public, privateand nongovernmental organisations. Taking thelead, the public sector manages a number of estab-lished national parks, game parks and reserves.Today protected areas cover more than 10 percent ofNamibia.

The private sector’s initial forays into biodiversi-ty protection took place in the 1970s when new leg-islation gave commercial farmers, with freeholdtenure, ownership of the game found on their farms.New regulations allowed neighbouring farmers toform conservancies and thereby gain the rights toharvest their game.

This has led to a variety of managementapproaches, ranging from benign game viewing andbird watching to more controversial trophy huntingof such protected species as elephant. Private-sectorinvolvement, however, generates much-needed for-eign exchange income, thus motivating the publicsector to expand its interest in biodiversity.

Namibia’s public sector is also working closelywith nongovernmental organizations to promotecommunity-based natural resource managementthrough conservancies on commercial and commu-nal farming lands. In the mid 1990s, new legislation

permitted communities, with support from non-governmental organizations, to form conservanciesthat have allowed them to benefit from the wildlifeand tourism activities on conservancy land.

This initiative, moreover, is helping communitiesto gain control over other resources such as grazingand water. In the absence of a communal land act,the conservancy movement appears to be givingcommunities a way of protecting their biodiversitywhile preventing further land degradation.

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENTThe Desert Research Foundation and the GobabebTraining and Research Centre are also part of theNamibian government’s Biodiversity Task Force,which plays a leading role in the country’s long-termresearch on biodiversity.

For example, under the aegis of the Task Force’sEnvironmental Observatories Network of Namibia,an environmental observatory has been establishedat Gobabeb that has become a member of the Inter-national Long-Term Ecological Research Network, agroup of research centres in 25 countries sponsored,in large part, by the US National Science Founda-tion.

In collaboration with Namibia’s Department ofWater Affairs, the Desert Research Foundation hasalso worked with communities that depend on waterfrom the Kuiseb River basin to pilot the creation ofbasin management committees, a key administrativecomponent of Namibia’s draft water act. A similar

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3 approach has been devised to address national con-cerns about desertification through the formation offederal government partnerships with rural commu-nities. Such partnerships are designed to forgestrategies for the sustainable development of naturalresources – focusing on the conservation and wiseuse of biodiversity – in Namibia’s driest regions.

At the international level, the Directorate of Envi-ronmental Affairs in the Ministry of Environmentand Tourism has also played a part in the country’sratification of such international agreements as theConvention on Biodiversity, the Convention to Com-bat Desertification, the Ramsar Convention, whichprotects wetlands, and the Convention on Interna-tional Trade in Endangered Species. These effortshave enabled Namibia to participate in internationaldiscussions on the global management of criticalresources.

The Desert Research Foundation, together withsuch partners as the Polytechnic of Namibia and theUniversity of Namibia, also offers hands-on trainingopportunities for students and researchers through-out Namibia. In the past year alone, 1,200 studentsand scientists visited the Centre. In a young devel-oping country like Namibia, this approach has result-ed in many graduates assuming positions in both thepublic and private sectors with enhanced capacityand understanding of the relevance of biodiversity.

BACK TO BASICSDissemination of science-based information to gov-ernmental agencies, in general, and the tourismindustry in both the public and private sectors, inparticular, has increased the nation’s knowledge ofits dryland ecosystems and rich biodiversity. How-ever, much of this information has been designed totap the commercial value of these resources.

Basic research, in contrast, has become a sec-ondary concern. As a result, new information withpotential long-term value for the conservation andsustainable use of biodiversity resources has not keptpace with the challenges that are emerging as theseresources become used more intensely.

Such a shift in balance from basic research toecotourism development could have a negativeimpact on the long-term health of biodiversityresources. If such worries prove to be correct, nei-ther the environment nor the economy will be well-served. This may prove to be the most compellingreason for pursuing a vigorous scientific researchprogramme – both basic and applied – for the con-servation and sustainable use of dryland biodiversityresources in Namibia. ■

> M K Seely, Executive DirectorDesert Research Foundation of Namibia

> J R Henschel, Executive DirectorGobabeb Training and Research Centre

Windhoek, Namibia

This article is based on a case study report prepared for the TWNSO/GEF project “Conserving Biodiversity in Arid Regions -

Best Practices in Developing Nations”For additional information, contact > info@twnso.org

T he Academy’s core strength,” notes C.N.R. Rao, TWAS’s president, “has been – and will remain– focused on honouring and rewarding scientific excellence and accomplishment in basic sci-entific research – biology, chemistry, physics and the medical sciences. However, we have also

come to realize that the Academy’s growing concern for putting science to work to address criticalproblems in the developing world requires not just insights provided by basic scientists but also ideasthat only experts in the social sciences and economics can provide.”

For this reason, in 2001 TWAS decided to open its membership to world-class experts in the socialsciences and economics. “We hope that such efforts will not only broaden the reach of the Academy,”Rao observes, “but also create greater synergy between our knowledge of the natural world and ourunderstanding of human nature and behaviour.”

The TWAS class of 2001, which totals 51, included six social scientists and economists among itsranks: Roberto Cardoso de Oliveira, Brazil; Miguel Leon-Portilla, Mexico; Ali A. Mazrui, Kenya; NiuWen-yuan, China; Ismail Serageldin, Egypt; and Partha Sarathi Dasgupta, India.

Like their counterparts in the basic sciences, the Academy’s newest members in the social sciencesand economics represent the world’s foremost researchers. And like their counterparts in the basic sci-ences, these members have either worked in the South or have lived in the North but devoted a majorportion of their research efforts to issues of critical importance to the South (see pages 3 - 4 for briefbiographies).

The work of Sir Partha Sarathi Dasgupta, Frank Ramsey Professor of Economics at the Universi-ty of Cambridge, UK, represents world-class research that stands on its own as a unique contributionto our understanding of global issues and complements insights into such fields of basic science asbiology and environmental science. More specifically, Dasgupta’s pioneering efforts in the field of eco-logical economics have not only transformed our perception of the developing world’s ability to man-age its natural resources but have also highlighted the ingenious ways in which residents of the devel-oping world have managed their own natural resources despite a lack of financial resources and lim-ited access to technology.

At first glance, ecology and economics appear to have little in common. The study of economicstraces its roots back to the work of Adam Smith in the late 18th century. About 100 years later, in1869, the German biologist Ernst Haeckel coined the word ‘ecology’. Ecology itself, however, onlyentered mainstream science in the early to mid 20th century. The merging of the two – into what hascome to be called ecological economics – is, therefore, a relatively new phenomenon.

Despite its recent origins, though, the importance of ecological economics has not been lost on a

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BRIDGING THEDISCIPLINE DIVIDE

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wide range of institutions involved in sustainable development. In 2002, the prestigious Volvo Envi-ronment Prize, for example, was awarded to two pioneers and long-time collaborators in the field,Karl-Göran Mäler, professor of economics at the Stockholm School of Economics, Sweden, and ParthaDasgupta.

What exactly is ’ecological economics’ and why should organizations like TWAS, that are inter-ested in science-based sustainable development, especially in the developing world, take an interest inits findings? At a recent meeting in Trieste, the editor of the TWAS Newsletter spoke with Partha Das-gupta to find out.

What is ecological economics? What are its roots and what are your contributions to thisfield?Ecological economics has its roots in the classical works of political economists like David Ricar-do, who published his Principles of Political Economy and Taxation in 1817. Ricardo thought thatland, which is obviously finite in area, placed a limit on an economy’s potential because its innateproductivity was fixed. His research took place during the early stages of the Industrial Revolu-

tion. The wealth-creating success of the revolution, however, shifted the focus ofeconomics from such constraining factors as land to boundless technologi-

cal advances that observers came to believe could overcome land-based –indeed resource-based – constraints. Basically, the Industrial Revolutionindicated that human beings could override resource constraints by being

clever. The history of economics is largely rooted in the history of theIndustrial Revolution. That has been unfortunate, not only for Ricardo, but

for all students of economics, because for nearly 200 years, economicsshort-changed concerns about natural resource constraints.

Economists concluded that, if you had a sufficient number ofinnovative ideas and funds to invest in technology (mainlymachinery), you could ignore natural capital. As I said, Ricar-do saw land as finite, but land’s productivity lies in how it is

used. The global land mass may remain the same, but its fruit-fulness can change – for better or worse. Since the time ofRicardo, there have been occasional writings on resourceconstraints. For example, in the 19th and 20th centuries, pub-lications in England examined whether the nation’s coalreserves, the UK’s main energy source, could eventually beexhausted. But such studies appeared only sporadically andeventually became even less common as coal gave way to oiland natural gas. Then, in the early 1970s, scholarly atten-tion focused on the potential exhaustibility of naturalresources in general, mainly in response to a dramatic risein oil prices. Since then, studies on resource limitationshave been conducted on fisheries, timber and water sup-plies, to name just a few. These studies are all part and par-cel of the field of economics. Nonetheless, they haveremained largely outside the mainstream of the profession.

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While the issues have been viewed as interesting, they are considered isolated problem areas bymost conventional economists. Moreover, nearly all of these studies focused exclusively on eco-nomic problems of importance to developed countries. My own interest in ecological economicsevolved from my interest in rural poverty in such regions as sub-Saharan Africa and the Indiansub-continent. One question was: If you are in a poor society, what do you do about borrowing?Suppose, for example, there is a drought: How do you borrow enough money to get through it?No formal credit markets exist but informal networks often do. I became interested in learningmore about these poor-country networks where people can borrow, lend and obtain insurance,for example. Anthropologists have studied these networks for a long time and, after reading theirfindings, I realized that many resources in poor rural areas – for example, ponds, grazing landsand local forests – were not privatized but held as common property. The key question waswhether such resources were well managed. Scholarly literature suggested that they were notnecessarily badly managed, even when heavily used. So I tested various economic analyses to tryto understand how such cooperative action could take place without the intervention of the stateand, in the 1970s, developed several models. In carrying out this research, I realized that thecommunal capital assets these people relied on were almost entirely natural resources, and thattheir income was derived from such assets as land, forests, water and the services that these nat-ural resources provided. Ecological economics, therefore, is really about ‘ecological factories’: thetransformation of the goods and services that nature is providing and their entry into human pro-duction systems. It takes information about natural ecosystems and embeds it into economicmodels in the same way we have embedded information about coal mines, steel mills, factoriesand roads into more conventional economic models. Previous economic models had never beforeconsidered such ecological inputs and were thus flawed.

You started out as a student of physics. How did you make the transition to ecological eco-nomics?I was born in Dacca – which was then in India and is now in Bangladesh – in 1942, and earnedmy undergraduate degree in physics at the University of New Delhi. I planned to be a theoreticalphysicist because in the 1960s that is what my brightest student colleagues wanted to do. My nextmove was to go to Cambridge, UK, to do a bachelor’s degree in applied mathematics. During mysecond year, I began to discuss various issues with economics students – issues that I found veryinteresting. Fortunately, even after I completed a pre-PhD year in theoretical physics, the facultyat Cambridge was flexible enough to allow me to switch my major. As a result, I graduated witha PhD in economics in 1968. As you can see, none of this background had anything to do withecology; it was all mathematics, physics and economics.

What were the issues that initially engaged you?The key chapter of my dissertation, which has become one of my most cited publications, focus-es on population. It asks the question: How many people should there be in the world? Philoso-phers have been examining this perplexing issue for a long time, but they were unable to ask thequestion in a precise way. The philosopher Henry Sidgwick, for example, in his book The Meth-ods of Ethics (1874), addressed the question. He concluded that the total number of people in theworld should be a number that maximizes human happiness and well-being. Sidgwick’s reasoning,however, only gave us a way of thinking about the problem, not the answer. What I did was to put

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that same question into an economic model. In other words, I put Sidgwick’s utilitarianism to usein a world with finite resources. I concluded that the ideal number of people was finite, for thesame reason that the Earth’s resources are finite. However, perhaps the interesting conclusions ofmy study was that the optimum average well-being is not much higher than the well-being atwhich life is only just worth living.

So does your model predict an unsustainable maximum?Yes. Several years ago, Joel Cohen, head of the Laboratory of Populations at Rockefeller Univer-sity, New York, published a book: How Many People Can the Earth Support? (1995), in which heconsidered the issue of sustainability. Cohen contends that defining the limits of land, food pro-duction and water supply will lead to a more definitive estimate of the number of people theEarth can sustain. But I was not asking the question of sustainability, I was asking the questionof optimality. The optimal number of people, of course, would be lower than the sustainable num-ber because you have to leave room for human happiness – well-being. Sustainability doesn’t takehuman well-being into account. In joint work with Nobel laureate Kenneth Arrow of StanfordUniversity and Karl-Goran Mäler of the Beijer Institute in Stockholm, I have recently connectedsustainability of human well-being with sustainability of an economy’s productive base in a waythat is usable empirically.

What mechanisms do people living in societies without markets or infrastructure use tomanage their natural capital?In the absence of a market, they devise their own mechanisms. Some African villages, for exam-ple, remain very isolated. Yet without any markets or infrastructure, they are able to tradeamongst themselves and agree on how to manage the property on which they depend – buildinghouses and creating ‘marketable’ products that they buy and sell with each other. However, theyare mainly subsistence farmers and most of their capital is natural capital drawn from the natu-ral environment. Such assets often are localized – for example, a pond in thecentre of a village, which belongs to one village and not to another. Thepond, however, doesn’t belong to a particular person within the village.Therefore everyone must agree on how to share and use the water. These arecritical issues for which the key question is: How will the rules and regula-tions be enforced? This is another area of ecological economics in which Ideveloped an interest, turning to ‘game theory’ to better understand the pro-cesses involved. For example, several hundred people could be trying todevise a scheme that is both enforceable and sustainable. They need tounderstand the social and ecological dimensions of the problem in order toforge a long-term sustainable solution. When people say that local commu-nities know more about local ecology than an outsider – no matter howexpert he or she may be – they’re often right. Scientists obviously knowmore about chemistry than local villagers, but villagers know certain pat-terns: the time of year particular flowers bloom or trees grow most rapidly.These local ecological processes, in turn, must be understood to make senseof the social agreements and norms of behaviour that respond to them. Thatis the heart of ecological economics: a deep appreciation for local back-

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ground factors – both in the community and in nature – that drive the system and are an intrin-sic part of it.

Could you give us an example of how such non-market institutions work?One example that helps shed light on the relevance of ecological economics in policy makinginvolves the case of a small group of farmers in Nepal who relied on a canal system to irrigatetheir crops. Upstream farmers could siphon off the water first. If they took too much, little waterwould be left for farmers downstream. However, the poorly constructed canals required constantmaintenance. Upstream farmers therefore needed the help of their downstream neighbours tokeep the system going. Over the centuries, the two groups developed detailed agreements onwater and labour allocations. Everyone knew what was expected of him or her. An outside aidorganization subsequently decided to finance the construction of a durable canal system. Such aneffort, designed to save both time and money, seemed to be a good thing. But when the agencyimplemented its plan, the outcome turned out to be contrary to the desired effect. A more effi-cient and durable canal was indeed constructed, and labour and maintenance costs werereduced. However, upstream farmers now enjoyed even greater leverage in deciding how muchwater to allocate to their downstream counterparts. Inevitably, the upstream farmers reduced theamount of water going downstream. The moral of the story? The well-intentioned aid policy hadserious adverse repercussions because it failed to consider the local community’s long-standingnon-market rules and regulations. Economists, in short, are more adept at dealing with marketinstitutions and arrangements and forecasting the consequences in terms of price fluctuations.Their scholarly perspective, however, may not always match the perspective of those living on theground.

Your work has been a blend of social and basic science. Could you describe the ‘bridging’strategy that has guided your efforts?

Human history dates back just 10,000 to 15,000 years. In an evolutionarysense, we have existed for just a blink of an eye. Commonalities amonghuman beings, therefore, should be significant. Since we all come from acommon stock, how is it we have we have moved along such different pathsin such a short time? In other words, we should be asking why cultures dif-fer rather than accepting that they are different. Philosophically, this view dif-fers significantly from the post-modernists’ view and from mainstream socialresearch, which focuses on differences, not similarities, between people andcultures. I don’t see, for example, why there should be a North-South scien-tific divide. After all, the tools of scientific exploration and application areneutral. Of course, we should expect a village in sub-Saharan Africa to beorganized differently than a village in rural India, and for a neighbourhoodin Rio de Janeiro to be organized differently than a neighbourhood in NewYork City. Nevertheless, because of our common origins we should be able todetect significant commonalities in social organization and behaviour amongall of these places. This is one way that I have built bridges between eco-nomics, the social sciences and the ‘hard’ sciences. Historically, economicstudies have been wedded to philosophy and the humanities. At the Univer-

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sity of Cambridge, for instance, economics did not become an independent discipline until 1903.Such pioneering British economists as John Stuart Mills and Adam Smith were often regarded asmoral philosophers and, because of the British Empire, that sentiment percolated in India andother members of the British Commonwealth as well. After World War II, however, economicsbecame increasingly mathematical in its orientation, and by the time I was a student in the 1960s,mathematical reasoning dominated economics research. In a sense, this mid-20th century trendrepresented a rebellion against the philosopher-economist point-of-view. An entire generation ofpostwar economists analysed the global economy as if it were a natural system allowing theirmathematical calculations and models to describe what was happening but rarely offering theirown take on events. A number of us, however, believed we needed to pay critical attention to theinterplay between economics and such factors as social systems and the environment. Economicparadigms, in short, were not simply to be formulated but observed. In addition, we believed thatour understanding of economic principles would be enhanced, not compromised, by the integra-tion of economics with the social and basic sciences. That is how the field of ecological economicstook root within the intellectual terrain initially tilled with more conventional tools of analysis.Early practitioners in the field, however, held fast to one thing: their inquiries could not be basedon philosophy. If, for example, a village depends on a natural asset such as a river, stream or pondfor its economic well-being, philosophical musings won’t help in understanding how these assetscan be sustained. It was clear to us from the beginning that such resource issues require a rigor-ous analytical blending of economics, social science and basic science. As a result, efforts to dis-tance ourselves from the economic profession’s recent preoccupations with mathematics did notmean a return to its philosophical roots. In fact, it led us to a place where we could draw insightsfrom both the social and ‘hard’ sciences. Perhaps the most serious bottleneck in our inquiries hasbeen our limited understanding of the way in which fundamental scientific forces influence thenatural environment in which the social system operates. I believe that what economics needs nowis a closer relationship with such basic sciences as biology, chemistry and physics (as compared tothe humanities) and that ecological economics as an interdisciplinary field of study will continueto grow in both size and importance. It is for these reasons, among many others, that I am hon-oured to have been elected a member of the Third World Academy of Sciences. ■

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The Third World Network of Scientif-ic Organization’s (TWNSO) Work-shop on Promoting Best Practices forRenewable Energy Technology Appli-cations was held from 7-9 October2002 in Trieste, Italy.More than 30 participants, arriving from countries asdiverse as Argentina and Zimbabwe, attended the meet-ing, which was sponsored by the United Nations Devel-opment Programme’s Special Unit for TechnicalCooperation among Developing Countries (UNDP/TCDC) and the Abdus Salam International Centre forTheoretical Physics (ICTP). The World Renewable EnergyNetwork (WREN), headquartered in Reading, UnitedKingdom, served as a cooperating agency.

“M ore than 1.5 billion people – one fourth of theworld’s total population – do not have access

to electricity,” Francisco Simplicio, UNDP/TCDC’s

information manager, noted in hisopening address to workshop partici-pants. “Most of the world’s electricity-deprived people live in sub-SaharanAfrica and south Asia, which are alsothe regions with the largest number of

the world’s least developed countries. The relationshipbetween a lack of electricity and a lack of developmentis not coincidental. If your house doesn’t have electriclights, you’re likely to be poor.”

While national electricity grids, anchored by largecentralized fossil-fuel-based power plants, have servedas the conventional means of supplying electricity inthe past, new strategies for decentralized electricityproduction, which draw on renewable sources of ener-gy, could well represent the future of electricity pro-duction, most notably in the developing world’s ruralareas.

Simplicio cited several reasons for this outlook.

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FEATURE

RENEWABLE ENERGY FOR THE

DEVELOPING WORLDMORE THAN 1.5 BILLION PEOPLE IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES DO NOT HAVE

ACCESS TO ELECTRICITY. HOW WILL THEIR ENERGY NEEDS BE MET?

RENEWABLE ENERGY MAY BE PART OF THE ANSWER.

[CONTINUED PAGE 22]

First, conventional strategies for supplying electric-ity have been designed for densely populated urbanareas where a large consumer base justifies heavy cap-ital expenditures for the construction of the power sys-tem’s infrastructure. Such systems, as a result, willprobably continue to be built to serve megacities thatare growing both in number and size throughout muchof the developing world.

However, sparsely populated rural areas, where asignificant portion of the world’s ‘power-less’ peoplestill live, pose energy challenges likely to be better metby decentralized electricity net-works that are both faster andcheaper to build. In sub-SaharanAfrica, for example, 70 percent ofthe population lives in rural areasand only 8 percent of them haveaccess to electricity.

Second, Simplicio noted thatdecentralized electricity systems,which rely on more benign sources of renewable ener-gy, do not carry the same environmental liabilitiesassociated with conventional power plant facilities –most notably, such unwanted but unavoidable by-products as air-borne particulates that cause urban airpollution and greenhouse gases, especially carbondioxide, that are widely recognized as a major cause ofglobal warming.

“Decentralized electricity systems based on renew-able energy sources have indeed become more com-mon in the developing world over the past few years,”says Simplicio. Between 1998 and 1999, for example,China’s windpower capacity increased by more than30 percent to 300 megawatts while, by 1999, India’swindpower capacity had grown to nearly 1,100megawatts. Likewise, over the past five years in Kenya,20,000 to 30,000 rural homes have had solar equip-ment installed, approximately double the 12,000 to14,000 households that were connected to the coun-

try’s electricity grid during thesame period.

“The key to further progress inpower access,” Simplicio adds, “liesin South-South cooperation – notjust in scientific research but also inthe development and application ofnew technologies. That is becausemany of the renewable-energy

technologies developed in the North may not beaffordable – or, for that matter, applicable – in theSouth.”

Renewable energy systems – whether in the Northor South – do not come without their own set of risksand disadvantages. Large hydroelectric power pro-jects, for example, require the displacement of hun-dreds of thousands and sometimes millions of people.

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Decentralized electricitysystems have becomemore common in the

developing world.

Moreover, once the dams are built, the oxygen-de-prived slack water that flows downstream from thedam can cause a dramatic decline in riverbed vegeta-tion and native fish populations. Similarly, the damsand rechanneled riverbeds impede the flow of sedi-ment to the delta, thus sapping what is often a region’smost dynamic ecosystem from the nourishment itneeds to remain a vital source of biodiversity over thelong term.

Meanwhile, solar panels, when placed side-by-sideacross large swathes of countryside in order to gener-ate large amounts of reliable power, can leave behinda scarred landscape. And modern windmills with theirfuturistic propeller-like designs fail to convey the samepastoral ambiance associated with their Dutch coun-terparts built in the 17th century. The whishing soundof the blades makes a relentlessly eerie noise thatbelies the tranquility that is often associated with sucha wholesome source of energy. More importantly, theycan pose a serious threat to native and migratory birds.

Despite these drawbacks, the good news is thatdecentralized electricity systems, which rely on suchrenewable sources of energy as hydro- and solar-power, come in many different shapes and sizes. As aresult, such systems can be adapted to meet a vast

range of energy needs rangingfrom individual house-

holds to business com-

plexes and mid-sized villages. Throughout much of thedeveloping world, where energy demand remainsmeagre, experts estimate that units producing as littleas 100 kilowatts of power would be sufficient for indi-vidual household use. Such flexibility carries enor-mous appeal and utility.

For these reasons, strategies to expand alternativeenergy supplies do not have to focus exclusively on theconstruction of massive dams, extensive arrays of solarpanels, or large wind farms.

For example, the Vietnamese government, with thehelp of international donors, has developed a diversenetwork of mini-scale hydropower systems to provideelectricity to remote rural villages and even to singlehouseholds. These systems have left the environmentvirtually untouched (see article on page 26). Similarly,in Costa Rica, mini-scale solar power systems, sometailored to supply electricity to individual families,generate enough kilowatts for lighting, cooking, listen-ing to the radio and watching television. Meanwhile,in India, larger solar systems are able to meet theneeds of an entire village while leaving a ‘light foot-print’ on the landscape.

It is not only the varied scale of these decentralizedsystems that deserves attention but also the range ofuses to which they are put. In Nigeria, for example,solar systems have enabled poultry farmers to rearhealthier chickens that command a higher price in themarketplace; in India, such systems have been usedfor crop drying and food processing, helping thenation continue its remarkable transformation from anet importer to a net exporter of food; in Saudi Ara-bia, they serve as an energy source for lighting roadtunnels; in Burundi, for providing a power backup forcommunity health clinics; and, in Iran, for generatingsufficient hot water for public baths.

Innovative applications of renewable energy sys-tems are not just a function of advances in technolo-gy. Success also depends on effectively addressingissues related to education, training and public appre-ciation and understanding. If decentralized renew-able energy strategies are to deliver electricity on asustainable basis, then recipient communities mustdevelop the capabilities to finance, build and operatethese power systems over the long term. Experience,moreover, shows that projects are more successful

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[CONTINUED PAGE 24]

when those who use the technologies are consulted atall stages of the project’s implementation – from theinitial planning, to the point when the systems are upand running, to the time that maintenance and refur-bishing becomes necessary.

Historically, such projects have been donor-fundedand, as often happens in such cases, when the fundingruns out, the project languishes. As efforts in Indiaillustrate, a financial system basedon loans and credit may prove to bemore successful in the long termbecause clients are given a directstake in the success – or failure – ofthe effort.

However, trends that draw oninvestment, rather than donorstrategies, must recognize thatregardless of the financial system put in place, the poolof potential customers for decentralized power sys-tems in the developing world usually includes the

poorest members of society. Thereforethe cost of installing and, equally

important, maintaining the sys-tem must be kept as low as possi-ble. For example, solar-panel, bat-tery-recharging centres, devel-oped and operated by Zimbabwe’sScientific and Industrial Research

and Development’s (SIRDC) Energy Technology Insti-tute (ETI) have cut the cost of solar energy use in ruralhouseholds by 50 percent.

The system works like this: Individual householdspurchase two sets of rechargeable batteries and thencontinually exchange the fully charged set for thespent one (the latter is taken to a nearby community-based solar-recharging centre).

By adopting such a ‘battery andswitch’ strategy, users have beenable to forego costly investments insolar panels. Such an effort reflectsthe kind of thinking that must takeplace if renewable energy projectsin the developing world are to suc-cessfully meet the needs of theirclient base.

As plenary speaker Brendan McNamara, director ofLeabrook Computing, United Kingdom, noted in hisaddress to workshop participants, global assessmentson future oil supplies, which have recently been issuedby such diverse groups as British Petroleum, the USGeological Survey, Volkswagen and World ResourcesInstitute, all concur that production worldwide willpeak in 2010 and then decline rapidly in the subse-quent decades. His address, ominously entitled the“Coming Energy Winter,” concluded that “the greatestchallenge yet to science and technology” is likely to liein efforts to “build new global energy systems toreplace oil.”

For the most impoverished segments of the devel-oping world, the energy winter that McNamara fore-casts has been present for generations. Whereas fossil-fuel-based energy sources launched the Industrial Rev-olution in the North and then served as the lifeblood ofeconomic development in the developed world fromthe 18th through 20th centuries (culminating with thebroad adoption of electricity in the first decades of thelast century), the South has always relied on renew-able sources of energy – wood, biomass, the sun’s ener-gy and flowing water – for its survival. If McNamara’sassessment is correct (and, while other experts mayquibble with the exact times of the oil production peakand decline, virtually all agree that the scenario isinevitable and sooner than we previously thought),then the era of fossil-fuel-based energy has passed.

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Science’s greatestchallenge will be tobuild global energy

systems to replace oil.

Renewables are likely to be among the primaryenergy sources of the future – not just for heating, butfor the production of electricity as well. In light ofthese trends, the developing world faces two mainquestions.

First, will the South be able to develop its ownindigenous sources of renewable energy and then beable to deliver that energy in ways that improve thelives of its poorest citizens who face a debilitatingenergy winter every day? And second, will the decen-tralized renewable energy systems that are createdgenerate sufficient amounts of electricity to allowdeveloping countries to ‘leapfrog’ onto an economicdevelopment ‘fast-track’ so that they can begin to nar-row the North-South divide.

As any track athlete will tell you, it is by no meanseasy to devise a strategy that enables you to simulta-neously compete as a sprinter and long-jumper. Yet itcan be – and has been – done.

And that is, metaphorically speaking, the challengethat developing nations now face as they seek to cre-ate, as rapidly as possible, an energy environment thatmeets the pressing needs of their citizens while layingthe groundwork for generating a sustainable supply ofelectricity at a level that ensures robust economicgrowth in the future. Success belongs to those who areboth fast and agile – two attributes that define decen-tralized renewable energy systems at their best.

For all of these reasons, many experts have come tobelieve that renewable energy’s time has finallyarrived. Will the technologies be up to the task? Willthe capital outlays be sufficient to meet the challenge?Are governments fully committed to the effort? Andwill citizens receive the resources and training thatthey will need to harness the new emerging energies?

The answer to these – and a host of other questions– will largely determine the energy future of the devel-oping world. ■

For additional information about the TWNSO and UNDP/TCDC workshop on

Promoting Best Practices for Renewable Energy Technology Applications, please contact > Helen MartinTWNSO secretariat, Trieste, Italy

tel: +39 040 2240 683; email: info@twnso.org

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W hile Vietnam has made notable progress in alle-viating poverty and promoting economic devel-

opment over the past decade (its gross domestic prod-uct increased an average of 7 percent a year between1996 and 2000), the country remains poor – mostnotably in rural areas, where nearly four out of fiveVietnamese citizens continue to live.

As a result, reducing rural poverty is a high priori-ty for the Vietnamese government. One of the majorelements in the government’s overall efforts to improvethe economic well-being of its rural citizens – outlinedin both its five- and ten-year development plans –revolves around providing rural households withaccess to electricity.

Today 75 percent of rural households in Vietnamhave electricity, an enviable figure that has beenreached largely as a result of concerted efforts by thegovernment to electrify the country. By 2005, however,the Vietnamese government intends to extend access toelectricity to 90 percent of the population. Thatamounts to 5 million people, equivalent to the popula-tion of Denmark.

The government’s focus on electricity as a primarypathway to economic growth illustrates a full under-standing of the lessons that history teaches us aboutthe critical factors that drive development.

But it is the sources of electricity that the govern-ment intends to tap over the next few years that revealhow truly forward-looking its strategy is.

Following the same path to electric power pursuedby countries as diverse as the United States and SovietUnion in the 1920s and 1930s, the Vietnamese gov-ernment does indeed plan to extend the national grid.However, it will largely confine this effort to denselypopulated urban areas where the power infrastructure– generating plants, switching stations and high-ten-sion lines – are already in place.

For the nation’s 1100 remote rural or mountain-

side communities with 3 million people (about fourpercent of Vietnam’s population of 80 million) living in750,000 households, the government has devised analternative ‘soft’ path to electric power – one that willbe both more economical and more environmentallybenign than a strategy based exclusively on extendingthe capital-intensive national grid framed by stolid fos-sil-fuelled power plants and thousands of kilometres ofhigh-tension wires laced across the landscape.

What is the Vietnamese government’s alternativepathway for electrifying out-of-the way places? Renew-able energy, or, more specifically, hydropower.

NEW PATH TAKENIn 1999, the Vietnamese government launched aRenewable Energy Action Plan (REAP), supported bysuch international donors as the World Bank, theUnited Nations Development Programme, the JapanInternational Cooperation Agency and the SwedishInternational Development Agency.

As a first step, REAP organized a two-day work-shop in June 1999 that was attended by more than30 representatives of energy-related agencies andorganizations in Vietnam.

Workshop participants identified the followingrenewable sources as having the most promise forfuture development:• Mini-hydropower systems connected to the

national grid.• Mini-hydropower grids, unconnected to the

national grid, that would operate independentlyor in tandem with diesel-powered hybrid systems.

• Household-scale micro-electric systems driven byhydro- or solar power.Hydropower in Vietnam already accounts for more

than 50 percent of the nation’s total electrical capaci-ty, which is currently 6,000 megawatts (MW), enoughto meet the energy needs of 40 million people.

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THE POWER OF WATERRENEWABLE ENERGY IN VIETNAM

Today, moreover, grid-connected mini-hydropow-er systems generate about 60 MW of power. Thiselectricity is derived from 48 separate systems withcapacities ranging from 100 to more than 7,500 kilo-watts.

Such systems have been financed by the govern-ment either directly or through international aid.While the systems have functioned well (only six ofthe 48 are currently nonoperational), their capaci-ties could be increased significantly by upgradingtheir design. Indeed researchers estimate thathydropower-generated electricity, connected directlyto the grid, could rise 8- to 10-fold reaching 400 to600 MW under optimal conditions.

In addition to grid-connected hybrid systems,more than 300 independent hydro-grids have beeninstalled. The collective capacity of these indepen-dent grids, each of which supplies between 5 and200 kilowatts, totals about 70 MW.

These grids, however, have proven to be unreli-able and, today, only about 100 of the 300 remain inoperation. Breakdowns and abandonment havereduced their total output to just 20 MW. Recentstudies, nevertheless, have concluded that commer-cially operated hydropower grids are far less likely tofail than community-operated grids and that reliablesystems could generate between 300 and 600 MW ofpower.

Household-scale micro-hydropower systems, thethird small-scale hydropower system currently in usein Vietnam, have proven particularly important inisolated rural communities that are located far fromthe national grid but close to suitable water

resources. In fact, Vietnam has one of the world’slargest markets for these systems and between100,000 and 150,000 micro-hydropower generationkits have been sold.

Each micro-system provides between 100 and1,000 watts to a single household or, in larger sys-tems, to a small compact group of households orbusinesses with modest electricity demands. Sincethe late 1990s, 40,000 systems have been sold eachyear. However, only half of these have been boughtby new users. The rest have been purchased by exist-ing users to replace old, worn-out units. Indeed,poor-quality systems account for about 90 percent ofsales.

Such inferior systems keep selling for one basicreason: They are cheap. Each unit, in fact, costsbetween US$15 and US$50 and installation addsUS$50 to $100 to the overall price. That means allbut the most impoverished residents can afford topurchase such a system, which provides enoughelectricity to turn on lights, radios, televisions andfans.

Micro-hydropower systems presently supplypower to about 100,000 households. Together, thesesystems generate a total of 30 to 75 MW. Expertsestimate, however, that such systems could meet theneeds of 200,000 or more households and, in total,supply between 90 and 150 MW.

Micro-hydropower systems, however, carry limi-tations. Low quality translates into high mainten-ance costs. Indeed the system’s annual costs ofoperation often exceed the unit’s initial price. Thesesystems, moreover, only supply electricity to house-

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[CONTINUED PAGE 28]

holds and businesses that are located within 1000metres of a running water source. In addition, irreg-ular voltage due to variations in water flow can dam-age electrical appliances. The most disturbing con-sideration of all is that users often risk electrocutionas a result of poor safety standards.

POWER’S PALSTo counter these drawbacks, engineers at the Viet-nam National Center for Natural Sciences and Tech-nology’s (NCST) Institute of Materials Science (IMS)have designed three new types of micro-hydro Pow-erPal systems: MHG-200, MHG-500 and MHG-1000,each of which relies on new-generation rare-earthpermanent magnets to produce electricity. Power-Pals, which are efficient and productive, have theadditional benefit of being relatively cheap to manu-facture. Indeed they cost about the same as somelower-quality imports.

NCST/IMS scientists have also designed twomodels for each of the three PowerPal systems suit-ed for different levels of water flow. The “sit-down”micro-hydropower system can operate in environ-ments with 6 to 10 metres of headwater and a flowof 7 liters per second. “Stand-up” systems, mean-while, are suited to operate at lower headwaters(just 1.5 metres). As the name suggests, MHG-200,MHG-500 and MHG-1000 produce 200, 500 and1,000 watts of power, respectively.

Among the advantages built into the PowerPals isa new type of bearing made from composite materi-als. Because the bearings are lubricated by water,they do not need to be greased, making them virtu-ally maintenance-free. The PowerPal units also use alow-cost induction generator controller, whichaccommodates a wide variety of power loads, thusprotecting the electrical appliances that are being runoff the system and reducing the risk of electrocution.

To date, PowerPal units have been tested in morethan 20 countries and, more significantly, are com-mercially available in Nepal, New Zealand, PapuaNew Guinea, Peru and the Philippines, testimony tothe fact micro-hydropower can be an effective, non-polluting energy source – at least in areas with year-round supplies of running water.

APPLICABILITYAbout two billion people worldwide – one-third ofthe global population – do not have access to mod-ern forms of energy. In these households, energyrequired for heating, cooking and lighting comesfrom such traditional sources as burning wood, dungor agricultural waste. Such sources of energy compelpeople to engage in time-consuming, often back-breaking work, to manually collect and process theirfuel. That, in turn, leaves little time for the income-generating activities that are necessary for develop-ment to proceed, let alone the leisurely pursuits thatmake life enjoyable.

Cheap, simple and reliable sources of electricitysuitable to local conditions are critical – in fact, irre-placeable – prerequisites for economic developmentin the developing world. Efforts that utilize anation’s previously untapped renewable energysources hold the key to progress throughout theSouth. Vietnam’s current experience in the develop-ment of its indigenous hydropower resources is justone case in point. ■

> N.H. Quyen, P.H. Khoi, N.Q. Dan and L.T. Minh

Institute of Materials Science, National Center for Natural Sciences and

TechnologyHanoi, Vietnam

This article is based on a full-length case study report published in Promoting Best

Practices for Renewable Energy Technology Applications. A copy of the monograph

can be obtained from the TWNSO secretariat,

> email: info@twnso.org.

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The Trieste-based Third World Organiza-tion for Women in Science (TWOWS),which was launched in 1993 under theauspices of the Third World Academyof Sciences (TWAS), has two basicmandates: To foster cooperation amongeminent women scientists from the Southand to help young women who have dis-played scientific potential to advance theircareers.

The TWOWS young women scientists fellowship pro-gramme is a prime example of the organization’s work.Funded by the Swedish International DevelopmentCooperation Agency (Sida-SAREC), the programmeenables promising female students from sub-SaharanAfrican nations and other Least Developed Countries(LDCs) to apply for grants to support postgraduatetraining leading to a PhD.

The programme works like this. Young women (typi-cally below the age of 40), who have a master of science

degree (or, in exceptional circumstances, abachelor of science degree), are eligiblefor a TWOWS Fellowship. Students enrolat an academic institution in their owncountry. However, they spend a portion

of their time – usually one or two years oftheir four-year course of study – conducting

research at a recognized centre of excellence inthe South, which is often, but not always, located in

another country. Fellowship funds cover the cost of trav-el to and from the host institution as well as accommo-dation and living expenses. The host institution, in turn,is expected to provide free tuition, training, and labora-tory supplies.

To date, TWOWS has awarded post-graduate fellow-ships to over 150 young women scientists from 37 coun-tries.

What follows is the story of Aderoju Osowole fromNigeria, the first young woman scientist to graduatefrom the scheme.

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FEATURE

OUT OF AFRICA:TWOWS’ FIRST

GRADUATE

[CONTINUED PAGE 30]

HELPING YOUNG WOMEN SCIENTISTS IN THE SOUTH FULFIL THEIR POTENTIAL

IS THE GOAL OF THE THIRD WORLD ORGANIZATION OF WOMEN SCIENTISTS ’

FELLOWSHIP PROGRAMME.

D espite the inhospitable learning environment shefaced, Aderoju Osowole became hooked on sci-

ence at an early age.Aderoju grew up in Ibadan in southwest Nigeria, a

sprawling city of over three million people, that shenevertheless describes as “a beautiful and peacefulplace filled with many points of interest – both naturaland cultural.” These include Mapo Hill, which over-looks the entire city and was the site of government inthe colonial era, the University of Ibadan, Nigeria’sfirst university founded in 1948, and the Nigeria Tele-vision Authority, the first television station in Africathat began to air programmes in 1959.

During the first year of her secondary school edu-cation, Aderoju was introduced to such classic scientif-ic demonstrations as the ‘popping’ sound created whena lighted splint is inserted into a test tube containinghydrogen, and the decolouration of green plants left togrow in the dark. “These observations,” says Aderoju,“challenged my mind as a young girl and convincedme that I should study science.”

After leaving high school, Aderoju went on to studychemistry at the University of Ibadan, gaining herbachelor’s degree in 1990 and master’s in 1993.

These milestones were followed by her enrolment,in 1997, in the university’s PhD programme to study,as the title of her dissertation opaquely describes, the“synthesis, physicochemical and biological propertiesof cobalt, nickel and copper complexes of various sub-stituted beta-ketoamines and their adducts.”

In simpler terms, Aderoju began to investigate thecharacteristics of molecules containing both organicand inorganic components and, more specifically, howthese molecules could be developed for use in suchbio-industrial processes as the inhibition of corrosioncaused by sulphate-reducing bacteria. Several of thecompounds also showed potential antibiotic activityagainst such food-poisoning bacteria as Staphylococ-cus aureus and Escherichia coli.

During the early stages of this research, Aderojurealized that she would not be able to complete herwork at Ibadan because equipment critical for herresearch – for example, a spectrometer to measure themass and relative concentrations of atoms andmolecules – was not available. A senior instructor,Gabriel A. Kolawole, who has since moved on to theDepartment of Chemistry, University of Zululand,Republic of South Africa, suggested that she might beable to overcome this obstacle by applying to the ThirdWorld Organization of Women in Science (TWOWS)fellowship programme for assistance.

Aderoju submitted her application in 1998 and shereceived notification of her acceptance to the pro-gramme later that same year. TWOWS fellowshipfunds enabled her to travel to the Indian Institute ofScience’s Department of Inorganic and Physical Chem-istry in Bangalore, India – a recognized centre of excel-lence in her line of research. Aderoju spent one year ofher four-year research programme in India.

“At Bangalore, I was able to carry out the micro-

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analysis and infrared and massspectroscopy analyses that I neededto complete my PhD research,”explains Aderoju. “Together, massspectroscopy and the microanalysisof carbon, hydrogen and nitrogenenabled me to determine the cor-rect proportions of these elementsin my chemical reactions and theirproducts. Moreover, by analysingthe infrared spectra, which wasagain made possible by the equip-ment in Bangalore, I could deci-pher whether the metal atoms Iwas interested in were linked to theorganic molecules via carbon-oxy-gen bonds or carbon-nitrogenbonds, which is essential for pre-dicting the behaviour of the com-pounds.”

While at the Indian Institute ofScience, Aderoju also enjoyedaccess to libraries stocked with up-to-date journals and equipped withstate-of-the-art information searchand retrieval systems – criticalintellectual resources for everyresearch project.

Under the supervision of Varadachari Krishnan(TWAS Fellow 1996), whose research has focused onthe biochemistry of cellular processes, Aderoju wasalso able to use the facilities and expertise available atBangalore to venture into a new research area. Shebegan to study porphyrins – organic compounds that,in the plant kingdom, combine with such metals asmagnesium to produce chlorophyll, the moleculeresponsible for trapping light energy and converting itinto chemical energy. In the animal kingdom, por-phyrins combine with iron, to produce haem – as in theblood protein, haemoglobin, which absorbs oxygen inour lungs and transports and releases this essentialconstituent of life to our body’s cells. Porphyrins, inbrief, act as electron transport agents within cells and,for this reason, could have great potential as nano-components in such electronic devices as computerhardware and mobile telephones.

Aderoju obviously used her timein India well and, on returning toNigeria, was able to complete herthesis. In July 2002, Aderoju wasawarded her doctorate degree,becoming the first scientist to grad-uate from the TWOWS fellowshipprogramme.

She is now back in Nigeriawhere both graduate and postgrad-uate students attend her lecturesand benefit from the time she spentin India. She is also continuing herresearch on the chemistry of biolog-ically active molecules that couldfind uses as catalysts and antimicro-bial agents. In particular, Aderojuhas identified a cobalt compoundthat, at optimal concentrations, kills100 percent of Streptococcus pyo-genes bacteria, the causal agent oftonsillitis, within an hour.

She admits that the lack of facil-ities in Nigeria impedes herprogress. Her positive experiencewith the TWOWS fellowship, how-ever, has given her the confidence

to seek another fellowship that would allow her to goabroad to further characterize the complex organo-metal compounds she is interested in and to continueto explore their potential industrial applications.

A recent World Bank study covering 192 countriesshows that human and social capital is responsible, onaverage, for about two-thirds of a nation’s grossdomestic product. If women are unable to fulfil theiracademic promise, one-half of a nation’s humanresource potential is compromised. In today’s world,such a loss carries serious consequences for a nation’ssocial and economic well-being.

In many developing countries (and developedcountries as well), science jobs, especially at higherlevels, tend to be male-dominated. In southern Africa,for example, women account for about 25 percent ofscience students, 10 percent of university teachers,and less than 1 percent of the total number of tenuredscience professors. This makes Aderoju – and other

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[CONTINUED PAGE 32]

In July 2002, Aderojuwas awarded her PhD,

becoming the firstscientist to graduate

from the TWOWSfellowship programme.

women like her (see box below) – true pioneers intheir fields.

Aderoju readily admits that she sees herself as arole-model for other young women. “Female scien-tists,” she says, “must excel beyond the artificiallyimposed limits set for them by society, which often stillbelieves that women cannot attain the same level ofachievement as their male counterparts. I attribute myown success to my strong determination, hard workand perseverance.” Aderoju is now using her experi-ence and knowledge to help other young women stu-dents at the University of Ibadan and elsewhere by giv-ing them moral support and imparting skills and ideasthrough collaborative research.

With the help of TWOWS fellowships, talented anddedicated women scientists, despite their small num-bers, are slowly helping to build the scientific capa-cities of their countries – and, in the process, boost-ing their own careerprospects and help-ing to advance theeconomic and socialwell-being of theirnations too. ■

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FROM THE SLOPES OF KILIMANJARO

Margaret Samiji’s talent for mathematics was recognized at an early age. At one point during her primary schooleducation – in a small town in the Kilimanjaro region of Tanzania – she was taken to the next grade and givenfive maths questions to solve. She got four of them right.Although her ability created some friction with the girls in her class, who told her not to try and compete withthe boys, her proud mother offered encouragement: “They say science subjects are only for men, but you are goodin mathematics. So take the challenge and go for it.”And “go for it” she did, obtaining both bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Dar es Salaam. Itwas during her master’s studies that she learned about the TWOWS Postgraduate Fellowship programme, towhich she applied in 1998.The successful application enabled Margaret to carry out part of her studies on the semiconducting properties ofsilicon carbide in the physics department at the University of Port Elizabeth in South Africa.“I managed to finish my PhD studies in three years, which would have been impossible in Tanzania,” says Mar-garet. “The physics department at the University of Port Elizabeth has well-equipped laboratories, trained tech-nicians and a reliable electricity supply.” She was also helped by having access to powerful computers and bybeing able to partake in regular, vibrant discussions about her work.Margaret graduated in April 2003, becoming one of Tanzania’s first women to obtain a PhD in physics – possi-bly even the first.She has now returned to her native Tanzania where she hopes to encourage more young, female students to takescience subjects. Margaret has also applied for additional funding to continue her research at the University ofDar es Salaam as well as collaborative projects with her South African colleagues.

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The Group of 77 (G-77), establishedin 1964, now comprises 134 nations.It is the world’s largest coalition ofdeveloping countries.

Its first-ever High-Level Confer-ence on Science and Technology, heldin Dubai, United Arab Emirates, from27 to 30 October 2002, was attendedby some 400 ministers and ministerial staff from memberstates and more than 150 scientists from developingcountries. TWAS played central roles, both in helping toselect the scientists who participated in the conference,and in framing the conference’s scientific agenda, whichfocused on issues related to information and communica-tion technologies, biotechnology, and the development ofscience-based strategies for improving access to safedrinking water.

Among the outcomes of the conference was the unan-imous adoption of a Declaration on the Promotion of Sci-ence and Technology in the South, known as the ‘DubaiDeclaration,’ which calls on member states of the G-77 totap the wellspring of scientific expertise that exists in theSouth to address issues of vital concern to the citizens ofthe developing world.

The declaration also calls for thecreation of a trust fund for the pro-motion of knowledge and technologyin the South and the establishment ofa knowledge and technology consor-tium consisting of representatives ofgovernment, nongovernmental orga-nizations and the private sector.

Venezuela’s Ambassador to the United Nations, MilosAlcalay, who serves as chairman of the G-77 in NewYork, called the declaration “a turning point in thestrengthening of South-South cooperation in science andtechnology.”

Apart from its official outcomes, the conferenceallowed the voice of many scientists and ministers fromdeveloping countries to be heard at a major internation-al forum. Among those invited to attend, for example,was Abdul Bari Rashed, president of Afghanistan’s newlyre-established Academy of Sciences. Rashed was alsoasked to participate in TWAS’s 8th General Conferenceand 13th General Meeting held in New Delhi the weekbefore the G-77 event. In the following article, Rasheddescribes the current state of science in the country fol-lowing two decades of war and chaos.

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FEATURE

MAKINGSCIENCE COUNT

LAST OCTOBER, THE GROUP OF 77 HELD ITS FIRST-EVER ‘HIGH LEVEL

CONFERENCE ON SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY’ IN DUBAI, BRINGING

TOGETHER SCIENTISTS AND POLICY MAKERS TO DISCUSS THE FUTURE

OF SCIENCE-BASED DEVELOPMENT IN THE SOUTH.

[CONTINUED PAGE 34]

RESEEDING SCIENCE IN AFGHANISTANFrom the time of the Soviet invasion in December1979 to the ousting of the Taliban government inNovember 2001, it seemed that time stood still inAfghanistan – or, even worse, ran backwards. AnAfghanistan wracked by continual war and straight-jacketed by religious fundamentalism found itselfdevoid of hope.

In 1999, the UN and the World Health Organiza-tion reported that the country had the world’s highestchild mortality rate – a quarter of all children failed toreach their fifth birthday. Between 1979 and 1999, thearea of productive agricultural land fell by more than30 percent and crop yields declined by 50 percent.

Environmental problems abounded too, includingsoil erosion and salination, pollut-ed water supplies, deforestationand desertification, which was nothelped by the worst drought innearly half a century. These prob-lems, and others, were exacerbatedby the Taliban’s systematic disman-tling of the country’s scientificinfrastructure.

When the Taliban fell, Afgha-nistan, including its scientific community, had to startagain – virtually from scratch.

“Everything was destroyed during the decades ofwar Afghanistan experienced,” says Abdul BariRashed, president of the Academy of Sciences of

Afghanistan. “Many Afghan scientistsemigrated to Europe, the UnitedStates and Pakistan during this per-iod. During the Taliban era, pro-fessors who stayed behind but didnot teach Islamic studies wereeventually forced to relinquishtheir duties, and universities were

closed to women. Some stu-dents continued to study

science, but the quali-ty of their educa-tion was poor.”

An engineer bytraining, Rashed

served as vice pres-

ident of the Academy of Sciences of Afghanistan until1996, when he left the country following the ascen-dancy of the Taliban. He remained in exile for sixyears, returning home in early 2002.

“The Academy of Sciences of Afghanistan is 70years old,” explains Rashed. “It has about 180 mem-bers who belong to one of three divisions – humani-ties, natural sciences and Islamic studies.”

Although, like many of the world’s most respectedscience academies, members are accepted on merit,the qualification process for the Afghan academy issomewhat unusual. Prospective members must take awritten examination and present documentation,including a resume and samples of their work, whichis evaluated by professors and academics who are

already members of the academy.They must also pass a proficiencyexamination in one of the officiallanguages of the United Nations.

Despite the severe hardshipAfghanistan has faced, Rashedbelieves that, with help from out-side sources, the Afghan scientificcommunity can bounce back, butonly if peace and security are main-

tained. “We have a number of institutes in Kabul,including the Kabul Polytechnic Institute and the Uni-versity of Kabul, that have a core faculty in place,” hesays. “The University of Kabul has close to 200 facultystaff on its official employment rosters, and the Uni-versity of Balkh in the north of the country and theUniversity of Herat in the west each have about 100.

“However, our research institutions and universitydepartments need funds to re-build their classroomsand re-equip their laboratories,” says Rashed, “Thatmoney has to come from outside sources. The faculty,moreover, needs opportunities to interact with col-leagues from other countries. That is why we are soeager to cooperate with Trieste’s international scientif-ic institutions, including TWAS, the Third World Net-work of Scientific Organizations (TWNSO) and theInterAcademy Panel (IAP).

“During the reign of the less rigid fundamentalistIslamic government that preceded the Taliban, the sit-uation for academy scientists and, more generally,Afghanistan’s scientific community, was relatively

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The Afghan scientificcommunity can bounceback, but only if peace

and security aremaintained.

good. There were opportunities for exchange visits andfellowships with the Soviet Union, for example, andthe academy continued to organize seminars, confer-ences and publications.

“But soon after the Taliban came to power in themid 1990s,” Rashed continues, “scientific exchangeswere halted. Today the Academy estimates that thereis a backlog of 400 scientific papers secretly preparedbut never published. We now hope that the fruits ofour labour will see the light of day and that we canrejoin the global scientific community as full and pro-ductive members.”

More than a year has passed since the fall of theTaliban regime. While major fighting has ceased,efforts to rebuild Afghanistan remain handicapped byinadequate funding, ongoing security concerns, and

the fragility and weakness of the nation’s institutions.Before the Soviet invasion, Afghanistan was self-

sufficient in food production. An aim of the interna-tional community is to get the country’s farmers backto this level of production by 2007.

One of the major problems in this regard is the lackof seeds. Three years of severe drought have meantthat farmers’ limited seed stocks have not been replen-ished. The nation’s seed bank – a repository of varietiesadapted to local conditions – has also been destroyed,not once but twice. First during the civil war in 1992and, more recently, when some scientists, on theirown, tried to collect important varieties and storethem in their basements. Their good intentions cameto naught when the plastic containers were looted withall the seeds left mixed on the floor.

Fortunately, during the 1970s, seeds of manyAfghan varieties had been sent to international seedbanks for safekeeping. Now, organizations such as theInternational Centre for Research in Dry Areas(ICARDA) in Syria and other members of the FutureHarvest Consortium to Rebuild Agriculture inAfghanistan, all members of the Consultative Group onInternational Agricultural Research (CGIAR), are send-ing these seed stocks back to Afghanistan, along withother varieties that could prove useful. To ensure thatthese repatriated seeds are of the best quality andremain healthy while being multiplied, strict scientificprotocols are being followed. Science is also playing alead role in assessing which varieties are best adaptedto the country’s different agro-climatic zones.

Much work still needs to be done to rebuildAfghanistan. Indeed the United Nations Food and Agri-cultural Organization (FAO) estimates that an addi-tional US$25 million is needed – and needed quickly –for the agricultural rehabilitation project to continue;otherwise, the projected plans will have to be scaledback by 70 percent.

Thanks in part to the efforts of scientists – frominternational agencies, foreign universities, the AfghanAcademy of Sciences, and the nation’s own universitiesand polytechnic institutes – Afghanistan has taken thefirst halting steps to re-build its scientific communityand eventually to re-enter the international scientificarena as an active participant. ■

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The World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD)generated two broad reactions.

T he first – and perhaps most prevalent – reactionwas that the summit failed to deliver a substantive

plan of action and therefore was nothing more than aglobal ‘gabfest’ in which groups of people alreadyfamiliar with each others’ points of views simply heardmore of the same.

The second reaction was only slightly more opti-mistic: Not much was expected of the summit in thefirst place. Yet, while the event may not have deliveredmuch, it did help to focus attention on critical globalissues and, at the same time, perhaps lay the ground-work for productive endeavours in the future throughso-called ‘type II’ partnerships that were forgedbetween various nongovernmental entities. More than300 such partnership agreements were signed.

What do these diverse opinions mean, if anything,for the developing world? And what, specifically, canscience-based institutions like the Third World Acade-my of Sciences (TWAS), which has pushed for science-based development in the developing world for thepast two decades, hope to carry forward from the

event that might make their efforts more effective inthe future?

SCIENCE PROMINENTThanks largely to the activities associated with the sci-ence forum, held during the first week of the summit,science gained a much higher profile at WSSD than atany of the previous UN global mega-gatherings,including the Rio de Janeiro Earth Summit, that tookplace a decade before.

Here’s a small sample of some of the science-baseddiscussions and actions that occurred:• At a session of the science forum organized by TWASand the International Council for Science (ICSU), incooperation with the International Foundation for Sci-ence (IFS) and Leadership for Environment and Devel-opment International (LEAD), participant after partic-ipant emphasized the need to build scientific and tech-nical capacity, especially in the developing world. Thefacts speak for themselves: 80 percent of the world’spopulation lives in the developing world, but thedeveloping world produces only 10 percent of theworld’s scientific publications and only 2 percent of itspatents. Indeed scientific and technical capacity-build-

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FEATURE

WORDS…DEEDS…ACTION?

MOHAMED HASSAN REFLECTS ON WHAT THE WORLD SUMMIT

ON SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT (WSSD) IN JOHANNESBURG DID

– AND WHAT IT DID NOT DO.

ing emerged as one of the major themes of the summit– a cornerstone of the discussions at each of the venuesand a centrepiece of the type II part-nerships that were signed.• African ministers of science andtechnology met to discuss strategiesfor boosting the role of science andtechnology in efforts to advancesustainable development through-out the continent. Discussionsfocused on the need for greater sus-tained investments in education atall levels to ensure a scientifically literate public andthe importance of building centres of scientific excel-lence to serve as focal points of South-South andSouth-North cooperation.• Representatives of the world’s national scienceacademies spoke about the need to increase the edu-cational and policy advisory roles of science academiesboth among citizens and public officials. National sci-ence academies are repositories of a great deal of sci-entific knowledge; yet that knowledge has too oftenbeen ignored when addressing critical societal needs.• David King, the science advisor to the United King-dom’s Prime Minister, Tony Blair, emphasized the needto build centres of excellence in the developing worldthrough South-North partnerships. He also empha-

sized the valuable role that unbiased scientific infor-mation plays in nations like his own and he urged

other nations to take greater advan-tage of their own scientific exper-tise.• The UN Food and AgricultureOrganization (FAO) and Consulta-tive Group on International Agricul-tural Research (CGIAR) announcedan effort to launch the Global Con-servation Trust to protect andexpand the world’s gene banks as a

fundamental prerequisite to halt the worldwide loss ofbiodiversity. The trust will seek a funding base ofUS$260 million.

PROBLEMSWhile science may have gained a higher profile at theWSSD, the dialogue between the scientific communityand others – most notably, government delegates andgrassroots activists – remained largely muted. Thesummit took place at three major venues which weretoo dispersed – both in geography and disposition – togenerate much interaction. The result was that gov-ernment delegates tended to speak with governmentdelegates, scientists with scientists, and activists withactivists.

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Scientific and technicalcapacity buildingemerged as one

of the major themes of the summit.

[CONTINUED PAGE 38]

Despite the summit’s channelled conversations, alltaking place, in a sense, at different frequencies, thesummit’s rhetorical emphasis on ‘turning words intoaction’ was welcomed. The developing world has themost to gain from devising effective programmes toaddress the critical issues that it faces. This is particu-larly true in confronting the set of issues – water, ener-gy, health, agriculture and biodiversity – that UN Sec-retary General Kofi Annan has highlighted as amongthe most crucial facing the global community.

Yet, there are doubts about how much progress canbe made in addressing these and other concerns whenso much of the responsibility for progress is placed onthe shoulders of small institutions with meagreresources. And that, in effect, was where the emphasiswas placed at the summit. The question is this: Canwe, in effect, generate macrochanges in microsteps?

It is for this reason that the gov-ernments’ unwillingness to actbeyond their critical national con-cerns proved to be such a majorshortcoming at the summit. TheUnited States received the most hos-tile reception for its emphasis onvague, target-less objectives – ‘a vac-uous triumph of rhetoric over sub-stance’ is how many critics viewed the US perfor-mance. But many other countries, both from the Northand South, also displayed an unwillingness to thinkbroadly when proposed concrete objectives in resourceand energy conservation and use conflicted with theirnational agendas for development.

NEXT STEPSThe Rio Earth Summit may have erred in reaching toofar; the WSSD may have erred in not reaching farenough. That is why I suggest the following ‘next steps’for integrating long-range sustainability goals withstrategies for addressing the more immediate environ-mental, economic and social problems that the devel-oping world faces.

It would indeed be reprehensible to continue to fol-low the failed policies of the past; yet we would beequally misguided to ignore efforts that have made apositive difference in the past in the name of tryingsomething different in the future.

• Scientists, especially in the developing world, mustcontinue to lobby their governments to support scien-tific research. Such lobbying must be done on a sys-tematic and consistent basis and must periodically beevaluated to assess its effectiveness. That is why theNigerian government’s decision to create a scienceadvisory council may prove to be such an importantstep forward, and that is why the InterAcademy Panel’s(IAP) efforts to build the capacity of scienceacademies, especially enhancing their ability for deal-ing with public officials and the public at large, mayhelp lay the foundation for more effective science-based policies in the future.• The South – and North – must continue to support thework of the United Nations Development Programme’s(UNDP) Special Unit for Technical Cooperation amongDeveloping Countries (UNDP/ TCDC), the Third World

Network of Scientific Organizations(TWNSO), and other like-mindedinstitutions that have highlightedand analysed examples of successfulapplications of science and tech-nology in addressing critical eco-nomic, environmental and socialconcerns in the developing world.For too long, science in the South

has been labeled inferior science. Yet, a good deal ofexcellent science has taken place in the developingworld, often science of direct relevance to the concernsof the region in which it was done.• The North must continue to emphasize the buildingof centres of excellence in the South in a broad rangeof fields in basic and applied sciences. That is why theMillennium Science Initiative (MSI), now housed atthe Princeton Institute of Advanced Studies within theScience Institutes Group (SIG), may prove to be such avaluable programme. SIG’s efforts in South Americahave helped to bolster the level of scientific research atseveral research institutes and universities. The Southalso welcomes the preliminary efforts of the RoyalInstitute of International Affairs to help develop cen-tres of excellence in Africa dedicated to science andtechnology for sustainable development.• More generally, the North must devise scientificresearch programmes that combine scientific investi-gations of critical global issues with training compo-

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Scientists must continue to lobby

their governments tosupport scientific

research.

nents that enable developing world scientists to even-tually participate in these programmes as full andequal partners. That is why the long-named but care-fully-organized Assessments of Impacts and Adapta-tion to Climate Change in Multiple Regions and Sec-tors (AIACC) project, funded by the Global Environ-ment Facility (GEF) and operated jointly by the GlobalChange System for Analysis Research and Training(START) programme and TWAS, is poised to make animportant contribution to capacity building efforts inthe developing world. By melding research and train-ing on such a critical issue as climate change, it is lay-ing the groundwork for providing a new generation ofscientists from developing countries with the educa-tional background and skills that they need to pursueworld-class research of importance both to their owncountries and the world. And that is why the EuropeanUnion’s most recent framework for research, whichsets aside some €600 million for cooperative researchprojects with scientific institutions outside the Euro-pean Union, may help boost the general level of scien-tific excellence in the South (see article on page 5).

DEPENDENT VARIABLEAll of this suggests that the WSSD did not alter the pre-vailing perceptions of what needs to be done to ensureprogress on science-based sustainable development inthe developing world.

There were, in fact, no paradigm shifts in Johan-nesburg. Indeed the developing world did not need 10more days of discussion to devise a strategy. It knowswhat needs to be done: elicit greater support for sci-ence and technology from their governments; generategreater global recognition and understanding of sci-ence-based initiatives in the South that have achievedsome success; encourage greater investment from theNorth in training individual scientists and promotingcentres of excellence in the South to ensure abroader and deeper base of world-class scien-tific expertise in the developing world; andgenerate greater concern among all parties forthe South to devise and oversee its own sci-ence and technology enterprise as the singlemost important factor for long-term success.

Ultimately, WSSD’s emphasis on bothpoverty and sustainability, which was

widely criticized as politicizing the summit, may haveproven to be its greatest asset and, more importantly,its most likely long-term contribution to efforts tobuild a more equitable world.

The reason is this: Science remains a dependentvariable in all sustainability efforts. Its dependence isderived from two critical factors. First, for science toprosper in the South, the developing world mustbecome a more hospitable place for scientists to liveand work. Second, for science to find a lasting place inthe policy arena among developing countries, theresearch agenda must be devised as a fully cooperativeenterprise between the scientific community and thelarger public.

For the sake of both science and society throughoutthe developing world, science itself must become moreintegrated in the political and economic environmentin which it operates. That, to its credit, was one of themajor themes embedded in all of the discussions thattook place in Johannesburg and that’s the word fromJohannesburg that should be carried forth in themonths and years ahead. ■

> Mohamed H.A. HassanExecutive Director

Third World Academy of Sciences (TWAS)Trieste, Italy

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AGRICULTURAL SCIENCES

• SIQUEIRA Jose Oswaldo, Brazil

BIOLOGY

• ABDUL-SALAM, Jasem M., Kuwait

• AZAD, Ahmed Abdullah, South Africa

• NAIR, Narayanan Balakrishnan, India

• GUZMAN, Maria, Cuba

• PANG, Tikki, Indonesia

• RAO, M. R. Satyanarayana, India

• SINGH, Jamuna Sharan, India

• TSETSEG, Baljinova, Mongolia

BIOCHEMISTRY AND BIOPHYSICS

• COLLI, Walter, Brazil

• DATTA, Kasturi, India

• DESIRAJU, Gautam R, India

• GEVERS, Wieland, South Africa

• SHAH, Farida Habib, Malaysia

• TOMA, Henrique, Brazil

CHEMISTRY

• CHOUDHARY, Muhammad Iqbal, Pakistan

• CURIEN, Hubert, France

• GALVELE, Jose Rololfo, Argentina

• RANGANATHAN, Srinivasa, India

ENGINEERING SCIENCES AND TECHNOLOGIES

• GUO, Lei, China

• IUSEM, Alfredo Noel, Brazil

EARTH SCIENCES

• JAN, M. Qasim, Pakistan

• KAMPUNZU, Ali Basira Henri, Congo

• PETTERS, Sunday, Nigeria

• ROSSWALL, Thomas, Sweden

• SALIH, Abdin M.A., Sudan

• XU, Shaoxie, China

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TWAS

IN 2002, 43 FELLOWS WERE ELECTED MEMBERS OF THE THIRD WORLD ACADEMY OF SCIENCES.

TWAS’S NEWEST MEMBERS ARE:

THE ACADEMY’S NEWEST MEMBERS

MATHEMATICS

• BEVILACQUA, Luiz, Brazil

• CORDARO, Paulo Domingos, Brazil

• GONZAGA, Clovis Caesar, Brazil

• MARCHESIN, Dan, Brazil

MEDICAL SCIENCES

• CAVALHEIRO, Esper Abrao, Brazil

• CHI, Je, Korea

• EL HASSAN, Ahmed Mohamed, Sudan

PHYSICS AND ASTRONOMY

• AL, Guoxiang, China

• ARAGAO DE CARVALHO, Carlos Alberto, Brazil

• DAVIDOVICH, Luiz, Brazil

• MANOHARAN, Periakaruppan, India

• MARISCOTTI, Mario A.J., Argentina

• OGALLO, Laban, Kenia

• SINHA, Bikas, India

• SOMAYAJULU, Bhamidipati, India

• XIAN, Dingchang, China

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TWAS Newsletter, Vol. 15 No. 1, Jan-Mar 2003

Additional information about the new members, including a brief description of the scientific achievements that ledto their election, may be found on the TWAS website at > www.twas.org by clicking on the ‘Membership’ link.

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3DEL PINO VEINTIMILLA HONOURED• Eugenia Maria del Pino Vein-timilla (TWAS Fellow 1989) hasbeen awarded the Sheth Distin-guished International AlumniAward, which recognizes EmoryUniversity (USA) alumni who haveachieved international recognition.In 1972, after receiving her doctor-ate degree from Emory University’sdepartment of biology, del Pino re-turned to the Pontifical CatholicUniversity in Quito, Ecuador, whereshe now heads a research pro-gramme in developmental biology.Her research on the physiology ofthe marsupial tree frog, unique toEcuador, has made significant con-tributions to the broad field of ver-tebrate development. For morethan 30 years, she has collaboratedclosely with the Charles DarwinFoundation, which is dedicated tothe conservation of the GalapagosIslands ecosystem. Among themany awards and honours del Pinohas received are a 1984-1985 fel-lowship from the Alexander vonHumboldt Foundation to conductresearch at the Cancer ResearchCentre in Heidelberg, Germany;election to the Latin AmericanAcademy of Sciences; and electionto TWAS. In 2000 del Pino also re-ceived the prestigious L’Oreal-UN-

ESCO Award for Women in Science.For an in-depth discussion of delPino’s works, see TWAS Newsletter12 (January-March 2000), pp. 6-11.

LIU RECEIVES TYLER PRIZE• Tungsheng Liu (TWAS Fellow1991) has been awarded the 2002Tyler Prize. Liu, who is a professorin the Chinese Academy of Sci-ence’s Institute of Geology andGeophysics, is an internationallyrecognized climatologist who hasdeveloped innovative ways to mea-sure paleoclimatic change over thepast 2.5 million years. His break-

through techniques have focusedon the windblown dust that formsthick deposits over much of centralChina. Liu’s efforts have provedparticularly instrumental in in-creasing our understanding ofsoutheast Asia’s monsoon system.He is also widely recognized for hisdiscovery of Keshan’s disease, anailment that affects thousands ofpeople. He and his group linked thesymptoms to trace elements in localsoils and water, particularly seleni-um. Liu, who is sharing the TylerPrize with Wallace S. Broecker,Newberry Professor of Earth andEnvironmental Sciences at the Lam-ont-Doherty Earth Observatory,

Columbia University, USA, is pastpresident of the International Unionfor Quaternary Research (INQUA)and a founding member of theInternational Geosphere-BiosphereProgramme on Past Global Change(PAGES). The Tyler Prize, estab-lished in 1973 by the late John andAlice Tyler is an international awardhonouring achievements in envi-ronmental science, policy, energyand health that confer great benefitto humanity, carries a US$ 200,000cash award. For additional informa-tion see www. usc.edu/tylerprize.

CR RAO HONOURED• Calyampudi Radhakrishna Rao(TWAS Founding Fellow), professorof physics and statistics and direc-tor of Multivariate Analysis at Penn-sylvania State University, USA, washonoured with a US NationalMedal of Science at a ceremonyheld at the White House in Wash-ington, DC. Rao received the medalfor “his pioneering contributions tothe foundations of statistical theoryand multivariate statistical method-ology and their applications, en-hancing the physical, mathemati-cal, economic and engineering ser-vices.” Over the past six decades,Rao has been among the world’s pi-oneers in the field of statistical sci-ence. He has authored 14 booksand more than 350 research pa-pers, and has received 27 honorarydoctorates from universities in 16countries. The National Medal ofHonour, administered by the USNational Science Foundation, is giv-en to individuals who have made“outstanding contributions to knowl-edge in the physical, biological,mathematical and engineering sci-ences.”

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TCHUENTE APPOINTED MINISTER• Maurice Tchuente (TWAS Fellow1999) has recently been appointedCameroon’s Minister of Higher Ed-ucation. Tchuente, who previouslyserved as rector at the University ofDschang (1996-98), the Universityof Ngaoundéré (1998-2000), andthe University of Douala (2000-2002), is an expert in computer sci-ence, particularly in parallel pro-cessing and distributed automatatheory. He is considered one ofAfrica’s leading researchers in thisfield, especially well-known fortheoretical results in systolic com-putation.

AAAS AWARD• The American Association for theAdvancement of Science (AAAS) isseeking nominations for its annualAward for International ScientificCooperation (ISC). Through theaward, the AAAS, in collaborationwith its affiliated organizations,seeks to recognize an individual, ora small group working together, inthe scientific or engineering com-munity for outstanding contribu-tions to international cooperation.Among the previous winners is JuliaMarton-Lefèvre, executive directorof LEAD International (Leadershipfor Environment and Develop-

ment), who was honoured for heroutstanding work in promoting andorganizing international scientificcooperation. The award is open toall, regardless of nationality or citi-zenship. Nominations must be re-ceived by 1 August. The winner,who will be presented with the ISCaward at the AAAS's Annual Meet-ing, receives a commemorativeplaque, a US$5,000 monetary prize,and reimbursement for expenses toattend the conference. For furtherinformation, including a list of pre-vious winners, see www.aaas.org/about/awards.

YOUNG SCIENTISTS’ SUMMERPROGRAMME• TWAS and Harvard University’sInitiative on Science and Technolo-gy for Sustainability (ISTS), in part-nership with the International Insti-tute for Applied Systems Analysis(IIASA), are supporting four youngscientists from developing coun-

tries to work on case studies relat-ing to the “harnessing science andtechnology for sustainable develop-ment.” The Young Scientists Sum-mer Programme (YSSP), which hasbeen organized by the Laxenburg,Austria-based IIASA since 1977,gives young scientists the chance to

interact with top scientists in thefields of global environmentalchange and sustainable develop-ment. During the workshop, whichruns from 2 June to 29 August2003, participants will complete areport based on case studies of suc-cessful applications of science andtechnology for sustainable develop-ment in the fields of water, energy,health, agriculture and biodiversity.The workshop will be supervised byJill Jäger (co-ordinator, ISTS). Par-ticipants will also spend some timevisiting TWAS in Trieste, Italy, toexchange information on case stud-ies, methodologies and results. Foradditional information, see sustsci.harvard.edu/ists/.

CSIR/TWAS FELLOWSHIPS• India’s Council of Scientific andIndustrial Research (CSIR), togeth-er wth TWAS, has instituted a num-ber of postgraduate and postdoc-toral fellowships for foreign schol-ars from developing countries whowish to pursue research in newlyemerging areas of science and tech-nology in which CSIR has facilitiesand expertise. Postgraduate fellow-ships will be awarded for two years(renewable for a third year) to stu-dents with a master’s degree, whoare PhD candidates in their homecountry. For additional informationabout this programme, including alist of this year’s recipients, seewww.twas.org under the ‘Activities’link.

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W H A T ’ S T W A S ?

TWAS offers scientists in the Third World

a variety of grants and fellowships. To find out

more about these opportunities, check out

the TWAS web-pages! Our main page is at:

http://www.ictp.trieste.it/~twas

Want to spend some time at a research

institution in another developing country?

Investigate the South-South Fellowships:

http://www.ictp.trieste.it/~twas/

SS-fellowships_form.html

Need funding for your research project?

Take a look at the TWAS Research Grants:

http://www.ictp.trieste.it/~twas/RG_form.html

TWNSO runs a similar scheme, for projects

carried out in collaboration with institutions

in other countries in the South:

http://www.ictp.trieste.it/~twas/

TWNSO_RG_form.html

But that’s not all TWAS has to offer.

For instance, do you need a minor spare

part for some of your laboratory equipment,

no big deal, really, but you just can’t get it

anywhere locally? Well, TWAS can help:

http://www.ictp.trieste.it/~twas/SP_form.html

Would you like to invite an eminent scholar

to your institution, but need funding for

his/her travel? Examine these pages, then:

http://www.ictp.trieste.it/~twas/Lect_form.html

http://www.ictp.trieste.it/~twas/Prof.html

You’re organizing a scientific conference

and would like to involve young scientists

from the region? You may find what you

are looking for here:

http://www.ictp.trieste.it/~twas/SM_form.html

CONFERENCES

TRAVEL

EQUIPMENT

GRANTS

FELLOWSHIPS

WANT TO KNOW MORE?

W H A T ’ S T W A S ?

TWAS offers scientists in the Third World avariety of grants and fellowships. To find outmore about these opportunities, check outthe TWAS web-pages! Our main page is at:

www.twas.org

Want to spend some time at a researchinstitution in another developing country?Investigate the fellowships andassociateships programmes:www.twas.org/Fellowships.htmlwww.twas.org/AssocRules.html

Seeking funding for your research project?Take a look at the TWAS Research Grants: www.twas.org/RG_form.htmlTWNSO runs a similar scheme, for projectscarried out in collaboration with institutionsin other countries in the South:www.twnso.org/TWNSO_RG.html

But that’s not all TWAS has to offer. For instance, do you need a minor spare part for some of your laboratory equipment, no big deal, really, but you just can’t get itanywhere locally? Well, TWAS can help: www.twas.org/SP_form.html

Would you like to invite an eminent scholar to your institution, but need funding forhis/her travel? Examine the VisitingScientist Programme, then:www.twas.org/vis_sci.html

You’re organizing a scientific conference and would like to involve young scientists from the region? You may find what you are looking for here:www.twas.org/SM_form.html

CONFERENCES

TRAVEL

EQUIPMENT

GRANTS

FELLOWSHIPS

WANT TO KNOW MORE?THE THIRD WORLD ACADEMY OF SCIENCES (TWAS) IS AN AUTONOMOUS INTER-

NATIONAL ORGANIZATION THAT PROMOTES SCIENTIFIC CAPACITY AND EXCELLENCE

IN THE SOUTH. FOUNDED IN 1983 BY A GROUP OF EMINENT SCIENTISTS UNDER

THE LEADERSHIP OF THE LATE NOBEL LAUREATE ABDUS SALAM OF PAKISTAN,

TWAS WAS OFFICIALLY LAUNCHED IN TRIESTE, ITALY, IN 1985, BY THE SEC-

RETARY GENERAL OF THE UNITED NATIONS.

At present, TWAS has more than 660 members from 76 countries, 62 of which

are developing countries. A Council of 14 members is responsible for supervis-

ing all Academy affairs. It is assisted in the administration and coordination of

programmes by a small secretariat of 9 persons, headed by the Executive Direc-

tor. The secretariat is located on the premises of the Abdus Salam Internation-

al Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) in Trieste, Italy. UNESCO is responsible

for the administration of TWAS funds and staff. A major portion of TWAS fund-

ing is provided by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Italy.

The main objectives of TWAS are to:

• Recognize, support and promote excellence in scientific research in the South.

• Provide promising scientists in the South with research facilities necessary for

the advancement of their work.

• Facilitate contacts between individual scientists and institutions in the South.

• Encourage South-North cooperation between individuals and centres of schol-

arship.

TWAS was instrumental in the establishment in 1988 of the Third World Network

of Scientific Organizations (TWNSO), a non-governmental alliance of more than

150 scientific organizations from Third World countries, whose goal is to assist

in building political and scientific leadership for science-based economic devel-

opment in the South and to promote sustainable development through broad-

based partnerships in science and technology. > www.twnso.orgTWAS also played a key role in the establishment of the Third World Organiza-

tion for Women in Science (TWOWS), which was officially launched in Cairo in

1993. TWOWS has a membership of more than 2000 women scientists from 87

Third World countries. Its main objectives are to promote research, provide

training, and strengthen the role of women scientists in decision-making and

development processes in the South. The secretariat of TWOWS is hosted and

assisted by TWAS. > www.twows.orgSince May 2000, TWAS has been providing the secretariat for the InterAcademy

Panel on International Issues (IAP), a global network of 85 science academies

worldwide established in 1993, whose primary goal is to help member academies

work together to inform citizens and advise decision-makers on the scientific

aspects of critical global issues. > www.interacademies.net/iap