Unesco urged to adopt 'consensus conferences'
17 June 1999
[LONDON]
Unesco should consider convening international consensus conferences on topical issues in science, according to a group of social and natural scientists who met in Paris at the end of April.
A consensus conference of participants from different countries would help to promote public input on issues where an international consensus is needed, says Jacques Mirenowicz, a senior fellow at the privately-funded Institute for Comment and Analysis of Science and Technology (ICAST) in Paris.
The meeting, which was organized by ICAST, called on Unesco to draw up a list of issues for which a consensus conference could be held. Participants suggested genetic modification in agriculture, water and energy as three priority issues.
The meeting was held to discuss Unesco's draft documents for the World Conference on Science in Budapest. Participants on the whole were disappointed with the drafts, says Mirenowicz. "We considered them to be too reductionist," he says.
The underlying assumption behind the documents, he says, appears to be that developing countries should harness science towards the goal of high
levels of economic growth. "Not everyone would agree with this."
The meeting's other recommendations for the WCS include: calling on Unesco to recognize that "science is not the ultimate provider of truth and certainty" ; a commitment from scientists and governments to openness and transparency, as well as greater involvement of the public in decision making.
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Nature © Macmillan Publishers Ltd 1999 Registered No. 785998 England.