MOST of the world’s politicians and policy makers who will meet at the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg next week have greatly underestimated the role that advances in science and technology can play in resolving the seemingly intractable problems of poverty and environmental degradation.
Today’s debates on sustainable development focus overwhelmingly on politics. Rich countries attribute extreme poverty in Africa and elsewhere almost entirely to poor policies and corruption, rather than the lack of appropriate technologies for the tropical ecologies of the impoverished countries. Politicians argue endlessly over who should bear the costs of avoiding long-term climate change due to greenhouse gas emissions, while…
