Press
Release No.2002-54
UNESCO LAUNCHES
THE WORLD'S LARGEST ENCYCLOPEDIA ON SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
Johannesburg/Paris, August 29 -UNESCO
will launch the largest and most comprehensive encyclopedia ever
published on sustainable development on September 3, at the World
Summit on Sustainable Development. With contributions from more
than 5,000 scientists, this Internet-based resource will be regularly
updated and made available for free to universities in the least
developed countries. It aims to provide the knowledge base required
for sustainable development in all its myriad aspects, from ecological
issues to human security.
The Encyclopedia of Life Support
Systems (EOLSS) is the result of an unprecedented global effort
and a decade of planning. Never before has an encyclopedia gone
beyond ecological sciences to cover all aspects of sustainable
development. EOLSS is the only series to comprehensively examine
the origins and threats facing all the systems that support life
on Earth - from the climate to the world's oceans, forests, water
cycle and atmosphere. The contributions offer step-by-step explanations
on how to apply the abstract or pure sciences such as mathematics
, to assess environmental pollution or to predict food consumption
patterns. However, technical solutions alone won't resolve the
current ecological crisis. EOLSS therefore covers a diverse range
of social issues - from international human rights law and poverty
eradication to the psychology of religion.
The leading experts who have contributed
to this state-of-the-art publication come from diverse fields
such as: the natural sciences (like chemistry and biology); social
sciences (such as history, economics, law and psychology); humanities,
and engineering. EOLSS also deals with interdisciplinary subjects,
like earth and atmospheric sciences, environmental economics as
well as the most effective approaches for managing natural resources
like non-renewable energies, biodiversity, and agriculture.
This approach is critical for managing
life on Earth. The global water crisis, for example, cannot be
resolved by a single discipline. The most experienced civil engineer
responsible for constructing dams and mapping the flows of rivers
may have little knowledge on tapping groundwater sources, which
offer tremendous potential provided that the proper safeguards
are taken. EOLSS provides not only the technical information required
but critical analyses on the economics and politics involved in
managing such a resource.
"The Encyclopedia of Life
Support Systems is different from traditional encyclopedias. It
is the result of an unprecedented world-wide effort that has attempted
to forge pathways between disciplines in order to address contemporary
problems," said UNESCO Director-General Koïchiro Matsuura,.
"A source-book of knowledge that links together our concern
for peace, progress, and sustainable development, the EOLSS draws
sustenance from the ethics of science and the culture of
peace. At the same time, it is a forward-looking publication,
designed as a global guide to professional practice, education,
and heightened social awareness of critical life support issues.
In particular, the EOLSS presents perspectives from regions and
cultures around the world, and seeks to be free from geographic,
racial, cultural, political, gender, age, or religious bias."
EOLSS is designed to be a guide
and reference for a wide range of users: from natural and social
scientists to engineers, economists, educators, university students
and professors, conservationists, entrepreneurs, law and policy-makers.
The aim is not merely to provide raw information but to serve
as a kind of expert advisor. The various chapters are divided
into different levels of specialization to cater to a diverse
readership. General readers might turn to EOLSS for summaries
on nuclear energy, for example, while university students may
focus more on explanations of the theoretical principles of nuclear
energy, and policy-makers turn to the future perspectives and
related recommendations.
"Our best hopes for future
peace and global security rely upon strengthened international
cooperation to protect the web of life support systems that we
destroy, so ridiculously, day in and day out. We share only one
planet. We - and future generations - have nowhere else to go,"
according to Dr. Mostafa K. Tolba, formerly Executive Director
of the United Nations Environment Programme and the editor of
a related EOLSS series of two printed volumes. "It is hoped
that the encyclopedia will provide the necessary impetus and knowledge
support to enable humanity to choose the right direction to move
towards sustainable development."
The project is coordinated by a
joint committee between UNESCO and EOLSS Publishers, which is
based in Oxford (United Kingdom) and has provided the sponsorship.
Teams of experts will regularly update the various sections on
the Internet, making EOLSS a "living library and a site for
action rather than just a publication," according to Mustafa
El Tayeb, secretary of the UNESCO-EOLSS joint committee. The encyclopedia
already contains about 25 million words, equivalent to about 50,000
standard pages, and several thousand tables, graphics, boxes and
photographs. Within the next two years, it will mature to its
full size of about 70 million words (equivalent to about 150 volumes)
through new editions and regular updates as often as once every
three months.
"Most United Nations projects
of this size begin by consulting government representatives. But
EOLSS went straight to the scientific communities involved,"
said Andras Szollosi-Nagy, a member of the joint committee and
Director of UNESCO's International Hydrological Programme. In
1996, thousands of scientists, engineers and policy-makers began
meeting just to define the scope of the project, before discussing
the details of the contributions. Regional workshops were held
in Washington DC, Tokyo, Moscow, Mexico City, Beijing, Panama,
Abu Sultan (Egypt) and Kuala Lumpur to develop lists of possible
subjects and debate analytical approaches for treating them.
"From the start, we had to
be absolutely certain that one school of thought did not dominate
the conceptual basis of the encyclopedia," said Mr Szollosi-Nagy.
"This democratic process guided every step in the encyclopedia's
development. With thousands of authors from more than 100 countries,
the editors have set up a self-regulating mechanism to assure
that the subjects are not dominated by Western world views."
Access to the EOLSS is by subscription,
via the website http://www.eolss.net. Subscription rates will
vary, depending on the nature of the applicant. Universities from
the UN list of Least Developed Countries will have free access
for one year, renewable subject to the submission of annual reports
on educational and research activity. These universities are invited
to sign an agreement on the website and submit it to UNESCO for
endorsement. Likewise, disadvantaged individuals registered through
charitable organizations will be given free access for one year.
Universities and public libraries
will be charged US$3000 for two years while individuals will be
asked to pay US$300 for the same period. Governments and corporations
will pay slightly higher rates which will, nevertheless, be significantly
lower than those of commercial publications.
EOLSS covers roughly 200 themes,
each managed by an internationally recognized expert in the field.
Each theme comprises an overview chapter of about 30 pages that
is addressed to the general reader. This is followed by five to
eight "topic level chapters", of about 20 pages, intended
for university students specializing in the field. Every topic
includes another five to eight articles on the latest advances
and findings in the subject, as well as indications of future
trends.
Knowledge for Sustainable Development
- An Insight into the Encyclopedia of Life Support Systems, addressing
major themes for the general reader, will also be available at
the Summit. It is published by UNESCO and Eolss Publishers, in
hard copy format in three volumes
The official launch of EOLSS will
take place on September 3, at Ubuntu Village, Dwarf Natal Plum
Room at 11.00 a.m. An on-going demonstration will also be available
at the EOLSS stand beside the UNESCO exhibition at Ubuntu Village.
For Further information: http://www.eolss.net
Contact in Johannesburg:
Amy Otchet, Bureau of Public Information,
cell phone: (+27) (0)828 580 718; email: a.otchet@unesco.org
Isabelle Le Fournis, Bureau of
Public Information,
cell phone: (+33) (0) 614 6953 72 ;email: i.le-fournis@unesco.org
