You are in the MOST Phase I website (1994-2003). The MOST Phase II website is available at: www.unesco.org/shs/most.

Enhancing Social Scientific Understanding of Sustainability

Declaration on the occasion of the conference "Sustainability as a Social Science Concept" within the UNESCO­MOST Programme, held in Frankfurt, November 1996

AGENDA 21, the final document of the Rio­Conference on Environment and Development emphasises the importance of new scientific efforts and approaches for achieving sustainable development. The following four "programme areas" are identi­fied: Strengthening the scientific basis for sustainable development Enhancing scientific understanding Improving long­term scientific assessment Building up scientific capacity and capability. With respect to the understanding of sustainable development, AGENDA 21 proposes a need to "intensify research to integrate the physical, economic and social sciences to better understand the impacts of economic and social behaviour on the environment and of environmental degradation on local and global economies". While the natural sciences traditionally are involved in environmental research to a very high degree, the support for the social sciences as well as the systematic enlisting of social scientific contributions to interdisciplinary research in this field have not yet been matched to the expectations of the post­Rio­process. A new strategic effort is needed both on the part of scientists and policy­makers, all the more so as sustainable development does not merely deal with the conservation of nature or the management of ecosystems, but more broadly and fundamentally aims at new models of societal development and social transformation. Sustainability refers to the viability of socially shaped relationships between society and nature over long periods of time. Therefore, environmental sustainability is closely linked to supposedly "internal" problems of social struc­ture, such as social justice, gender equality and political participation of local actors. With regard to such issues, there can be little doubt that substantial and problem­oriented contributions of the social sciences are indispensable for the understanding of sustainability. This means it is necessary to open both the natural and social sciences to local environmental knowledge and different cultural and gender experience in order to deepen the understanding of sustainability in its environmental, economic, social, political and cultural aspects and to avoid the supremacy of hegemonial, technocratic and ethno­centric approaches. We feel the following points reflect burning needs as how science and related research policies should strengthen the role of the social sciences within the research into sustainability: Of crucial importance is the establishment of new interdisciplinary research programmes on the national as well as international level. Within such new research programmes, the social sciences should not only play an instrumental role for national governments or natural scientific experts, but must express the multiplicity of cultural, regional or gender perspectives on sustainable development. Closely linked to this issue, the building of scientific capacities for sustainability research has to get started, particularly in the so­called developing countries. Social scientists themselves must get involved in a process of re­orientation towards new issues as well as towards inter­ or transdisciplinary work not only among the social science disciplines but also in conjunction with natural sciences. Given this situation in general and with the aim of strengthening chapter 35 of AGENDA 21 we claim: 1. The MOST­Programme ("Management of Social Transformations") of UNESCO which can be regarded as an appropriate institutional frame for sustainability­related and policy­relevant research in the social sciences must play a central role in international research activities on sustainable development. There­fore, we exhort both national governments, particularly those of the industrialised countries, and international institutions to give more and adequate financial and organisational support to the MOST­Programme in order to create a basis for interdisciplinary and problem­oriented social scientific research into sus­tainability. 2. Regarding the building of sustainability research capacities in the social sciences, there is a strong need for new forms of interdisciplinary research institutes and organisations able to adequately study the problems raised by the objective of sustainable development. Establishing new interdisciplinary "Centers for Sustainability Studies" on international, national and especially regional levels could be a suitable and successful way to meet this need. In addition, existing institutions for development studies ought to incorporate the different dimensions of sustainability in their research. This implies a re­orientation of training and research in the industrialised countries of the North as well as the building of independent training and research capacities in the countries of the South. Interdisciplinary post­graduate programmes with appropriate curricula should be established at the universities of the North and South. The UNITWIN UNESCO Chairs programme can be used as an appropriate framework in this respect. Here too, the industrialised countries should engage much more in supporting and enhancing this process. 3. As the concept of sustainability represents a fundamental challenge at the theoretical and methodological levels, re­orientation within the social sciences themselves is required, implying firstly, to give more attention to now vital issues such as land use, the social use of natural resources like water or wood, production and consumption patterns, the loss of biodiversity, etc.; secondly, to improve and intensify interdisciplinary cooperation among the various social science disciplines. This is necessary to achieve a more integrated and comprehensive understanding of development processes, as well as the relationships between individuals and the environment in their social, political, economic, psychological and cultural aspects. With regard to this, the historical boundaries between the disciplines must be re­examined and methodologies of interdisciplinary research are to be developed; thirdly, to expand the problem­oriented cooperation between the social and the natural sciences on issues and questions of sustainability. Of crucial importance here is that natural and social sciences cooperate on an equal basis, starting from the phase of defining the problems under study. 4. The project "Sustainability as a Concept of the Social Sciences" within the MOST­Programme of UNESCO has given an important impulse for enhancing re­orientation of both the research policies and the social sciences towards the new issues of sustainability. Moreover, it is intended to be the starting­point for building an international discussion and research network of (social) scientists concerned with sustainability as well as sustainable development policies. Policy­makers interested in sustainability issues should also be part of this network. In order to promote social science research on sustainability, exemplary research projects, especially in a cross­cultural and comparative perspective, are to be sketched out. Within this framework a main concern should be the examination of policies followed by the industrialised countries in order to contribute to a global change towards sustainable development strategies. Substantial steps towards sustainable development can only be made, if national governments, Development Aid Agencies in industrialised countries, the UN system, particularly UNESCO, UNDP, UNEP, the World Bank, GEF (Global Environmental Fund), the European Union as well as private foundations are willing to support social scientific research on a broad organisational and financial basis. As a first step, political and financial support must be given to cross­national, social scientific pilot projects on sustainability, including scientists from countries of the North and the South. This declaration was drawn up by the participants of the UNESCO­MOST Project "Sustainability as a Concept of the Social Sciences", bringing together scientists from various countries and social science disciplines in order to initiate and intensify a cross­disciplinary problem­oriented debate on the concept of sustainability. The declaration is directed to the UN General Assembly in the context of the evaluation of the post­Rio process and is also addressed to national and international science institutions and science and research policy authorities in this field. Persons who are willing to support the matter of concern expressed in the declaration, are invited to sign the declaration and to pass it to other scientists, policy­makers, media representatives or other persons concerned with AGENDA 21. Persons who would like to sign the declaration, are requested to send a short note to the Institute for Social­Ecological Research, ISOE (isoegmbh@t­online.de)

To MOST Clearing House Homepage