Major Group: Science & Technology
1
CSD-12
Science and Technology Community Major Group Opening Statement
By Dato Ir. Lee Yee Cheong,
President, World Federation of Engineering Organisations (WFEO)
Chair
The S&T Community drew the short straw and only deliver our opening statement at the end
of the first week of CSD-12. Nonetheless, we must be thankful for small mercies!
There is a serious risk of a world water crisis by the middle of the century, with rapidly rising
water demands, not the least due to a population increase of another 3 billion people by 2050,
and adverse impacts of climate change, notably on precipitation patterns. Also, the world of
tomorrow will be even more urbanised, with a high percentage of people living in megacities
in developing countries.
S.E.T is full conscious of the MDG timeline of 2015, barely 11 years away. For the least
developing countries, there is sufficient mature S.E.T available for poverty reduction and
improvement of the human condition and economic uplift. What is urgently needed is global
and national political will and funding. .
To achieve MDGs, employment opportunity of youth and women must be available locally,
especially in rural areas in developing countries. The provision of gainful employment is
critical to address at source the current security concerns. This will require the development of
indigenous agricultural and natural resource based sectors, especially small and medium
enterprises that serve these sectors. It also requires the availability of infrastructure services
such as energy, water, sanitation, transport and communications etc without which no
participation in regional, let alone national and global economy, is possible. S.E.T. are
essential elements in the solution.
Currently, the application of science, engineering and technology is often hampered by
barriers existing between the different disciplines. However, the knowledge required for
solving complex problems is more and more interdisciplinary. The S.E.T community must
rectify this glaring weakness. The international S.E.T community has recently taken several
new steps to generate improved interdisciplinary knowledge on freshwater, sanitation and
human settlements issues. These steps include the launching of the Global Water System
Project by the Earth Systems Science Partnership and a major scientific project on
urbanisation challenges developed by ICSU/ISSC. WFEO is about to launch ?Engineering
For A Better World? Initiative with UNESCO to address how engineering and technology
reduce poverty and improve the human condition by giving urgent attention to
implementation of measures to achieve MDGs by 2015.
Despite some progress, capacity in science, engineering and technology to address the
problems of freshwater, sanitation and human settlements remains indeed woefully
inadequate, in particular in developing countries where funding for research and development
is often less than 0.5 percent of annual GNP. The funding for urgent implementation of
programmes is pitifully small.
Our delegation looks forward to continue to make specific contributions and proposals and
receive suggestions from other delegations.
CSD-12
Science and Technology Community Major Group Opening Statement
By Dato Ir. Lee Yee Cheong,
President, World Federation of Engineering Organisations (WFEO)
Chair
The S&T Community drew the short straw and only deliver our opening statement at the end
of the first week of CSD-12. Nonetheless, we must be thankful for small mercies!
There is a serious risk of a world water crisis by the middle of the century, with rapidly rising
water demands, not the least due to a population increase of another 3 billion people by 2050,
and adverse impacts of climate change, notably on precipitation patterns. Also, the world of
tomorrow will be even more urbanised, with a high percentage of people living in megacities
in developing countries.
S.E.T is full conscious of the MDG timeline of 2015, barely 11 years away. For the least
developing countries, there is sufficient mature S.E.T available for poverty reduction and
improvement of the human condition and economic uplift. What is urgently needed is global
and national political will and funding. .
To achieve MDGs, employment opportunity of youth and women must be available locally,
especially in rural areas in developing countries. The provision of gainful employment is
critical to address at source the current security concerns. This will require the development of
indigenous agricultural and natural resource based sectors, especially small and medium
enterprises that serve these sectors. It also requires the availability of infrastructure services
such as energy, water, sanitation, transport and communications etc without which no
participation in regional, let alone national and global economy, is possible. S.E.T. are
essential elements in the solution.
Currently, the application of science, engineering and technology is often hampered by
barriers existing between the different disciplines. However, the knowledge required for
solving complex problems is more and more interdisciplinary. The S.E.T community must
rectify this glaring weakness. The international S.E.T community has recently taken several
new steps to generate improved interdisciplinary knowledge on freshwater, sanitation and
human settlements issues. These steps include the launching of the Global Water System
Project by the Earth Systems Science Partnership and a major scientific project on
urbanisation challenges developed by ICSU/ISSC. WFEO is about to launch ?Engineering
For A Better World? Initiative with UNESCO to address how engineering and technology
reduce poverty and improve the human condition by giving urgent attention to
implementation of measures to achieve MDGs by 2015.
Despite some progress, capacity in science, engineering and technology to address the
problems of freshwater, sanitation and human settlements remains indeed woefully
inadequate, in particular in developing countries where funding for research and development
is often less than 0.5 percent of annual GNP. The funding for urgent implementation of
programmes is pitifully small.
Our delegation looks forward to continue to make specific contributions and proposals and
receive suggestions from other delegations.