News Release

UNESCO Launches 1998 World Science Report

Book Announcement

UNESCO

Paris - UNESCO Director-General Federico Mayor presented the 1998 World Science Report - a comprehensive analysis of the science trends in the world today - to the National Academy of Sciences in Washington DC, USA, on June 25.

Destined for all with an interest in the direction scientific research is taking around the world - be they decision-makers, reporters, active members of the scientific community and lay people - UNESCO's World Science Report 1998 is written by an international team of independent experts. The third in a series published every other year, the report also raises essential questions and provides food for thought on the course of science.

An introductory essay by Sir John Maddox, former Editor-in-Chief of British science weekly Nature, asks "What Future for Science?" It suggests that we have come to expect too much too soon from science and cautions against excessive expectations of immediate dividends - on the part of scientists and the general public alike.

As in previous Reports, the first part of the World Science Report 1998 presents an update of the state of science around the globe, with a succession of experts identifying and discussing emerging trends in science education and research for their particular country or region, including issues that are specific to a given country or region. Noteworthy among them is the drive to popularise science in China and that country's efforts to move towards sustainable development; the decline in investment in research and development in Africa; and pressing debates in Canada and the USA on the role of government in preserving a broad research base despite ever closer ties between science and business. Wherever possible, the author's opinion is backed up by statistical data presented in an easily accessible form as tables or diagrams.

A number of major trends emerge from the Report, many of them affecting both developing and developed countries, albeit in different ways and to varying degrees. The dilemma posed by the high cost of science is one trend with particularly adverse effects on developing countries. The rising cost of scientific activity is one of the causes of the seemingly ever-widening gap in knowledge and scientific capacity between the industrialised and developing countries. But science education and university research are becoming more costly world-wide and even establishments in some of the most developed countries are struggling to renew equipment rapidly enough to keep up with progress. National education systems everywhere are also hard pressed to train ever larger numbers of skilled personnel.

The report also considers the trend towards globalisation and its effects on national science policies world-wide. It appears that while globalisation has contributed to a broader awareness of the opportunities science offers for accelerating socio-economic development and enabled greater international co-operation than ever before, it has also placed pressure on science to be more cost-effective, to the detriment of basic research. All countries are visibly striving to find a suitable course to steer between these two concerns.

As previously, the second part of the World Science Report deals with "Contemporary Issues" with a selection of essays entirely devoted to global concerns, including one on "Globalisation and Scientific Communities in Developing Countries." Along with two companion essays, it explains why water management is an increasingly scientific enterprise and why, 30 years after the Green Revolution, the time has come for an Evergreen Revolution. The three essays draw attention to the fact that safeguarding food and water - our two most basic commodities - into the 3rd millennium in a context of rapid demographic growth and environmental stress is an issue that concerns us all.

The English edition of the World Science Report 1998 which will be launched in Washington DC is to appear in French in the course of July. Both English and French editions are being published by UNESCO Publishing and Editions médicales et scientifiques Elsevier. UNESCO Publishing and Santillana are preparing a Spanish edition which will appear later in the year.

A special introductory offer of a 20% reduction on the full sale price of US$80 runs until September 30, 1998 (reduced price: US$64). English edition ISBN: 92-3-103446-4 (288 pages); French edition ISBN: 92-3-203446-8 (300 pages).

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