GENEVA: The United Nations runs the risk of losing control over the major decisions of the future if it does not incorporate a scientific and technological focus into its diplomatic operations, warn academics and experts.

Calestous Juma, professor at Harvard University in the United States, says “there is sufficient evidence showing that some important decisions are taking place at the margin of the UN but under the UN flag.”

Juma, director of the Science, Technology and Innovation Programme at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, cited the case of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment.

The programme, launched a year ago by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, entrusts 1,500 scientists to carry out a four-year study of the state of the world’s ecosystems.

The Harvard academic pointed out that the initiative utilises the United Nations logo, “but the mechanism for running it is outside the UN system.”

In order to prevent UN power from being undermined, Juma proposes linking knowledge to diplomacy. “This is central to enforcing the role of the UN as locus for global governance,” he said.

The very creation of the United Nations system entailed the use of knowledge and it has become increasingly important over the years, said Juma. As such, if the UN does not take measures to bring knowledge to the decision-making process, it runs the risk that important decisions are going to be made beyond its reach.

These warnings were expressed at a forum convened by the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) to discuss diplomatic initiatives related to science and technology.

Rubens Ricupero, UNCTAD secretary-general, reported that the debate concentrated on the application of science and technology in matters that are subject to diplomatic negotiations.

The global economy is increasingly becoming a “knowledge intensive economy” and, as a result, the possibility for developing countries to compete in markets worldwide lies in their ability to master new technologies, said Ricupero.

For this reason, UNCTAD, whose mission is to work with these countries to help them overcome the obstacles to their development, organized the seminar to discuss mechanisms for raising the awareness of trade negotiators and public officials about the important role of science and technology.

Competitive capabilities must be improved because “it is a false panacea to believe that trade negotiations will resolve development problems, particularly when countries not have the productive capacity to take advantage of the results of trade negotiations,” said the UNCTAD chief.

Ricupero based his argument on the example of the Lomi Agreements, which created a special trade area between Europe and some of its former colonies in Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific (ACP).

But figures from the European Commission state that the share of the African ACP countries in the European markets plummeted more than 50 per cent between the mid-1970s and the mid-1990s.—Dawn/The InterPress News Service.