Researchers have key role for sustainability...
Speaking at the Stockholm conference on 'Bridging the gap between research and sustainable development,' Margot Wallström, European Commissioner for the environment, has stressed to researchers the decisive role they have to play in Europe's sustainable development. Scientists are best placed to provide the much needed support to the metaphorical 'bridge' between current practices and those needed to ensure a sustainable future, said the Commissioner. Research must be sound and robust and focused on the Community's priority issues. And they should ensure it is widely and disseminated and reaches its target audience, at the same time moving markets towards production and consumption of environmentally friendly goods, she said. 'As a policy maker I can try to protect the environment, and as a consumer I can choose to buy environmentally friendly goods. It is up to you in the research community to make sure that I can do this in the best way possible. You can make sure that as a policy maker I have the information I need to design effective legislation. And you can make sure that as a consumer I have environmentally friendly goods to buy.' The overriding objective of the EU strategy for sustainable development is to make sure that it is operational and delivers concrete improvements in European's quality of life, she continued. So, the EU strategy is concerned both with the welfare of present and future generations and a 'holistic assessment of the links and synergies between the economic, social and environmental dimensions of our policies,' she said. And while there may be a great deal of variation in people's concept of 'sustainability' and what it means, she said, there is little argument over what is 'unsustainable' - and this is where research efforts should concentrate. 'I hope this idea of focusing on the unsustainable rather than the sustainable is one that you can also apply in you research programmes,' Wallström told conference participants. The Environment DG has already identified six key unsustainable trends, she continued: - the need to combat greenhouse gas emissions; - efficient natural resource management; - public health including protection of health and financing health care; - land use and transport that allows sustainable mobility; - combating social exclusion and poverty; - and addressing demographic problems caused by the ageing society. '[...] If your research is to come under the 'sustainable development research' umbrella then it must help us to reverse Europe's unsustainable trends. Your research must lead to real changes in the way we behave. It is the aim of our strategy to draw a line under discussion, and to provide focus to our future efforts.' Disseminating research results, improving understanding through scientific analysis of environmental problems and promoting green technologies remain vital, added the Commissioner. In addition, Europe needs to offer rewards and reform markets so they deliver the right price signals to consumers, she continued. 'UNICE, the business federation, tells me that in Europe customers are almost 20 per cent slower to adopt new environmental products and services than customers in the US. This is in part because we do not have the right price signals so customers do not reward new research and the businesses that develop new products.' More coherent policymaking and the removal of inconsistencies in polices will also contribute towards a better sustainable development strategy, said Wallström. 'All of this suggests that it is important that we support research. We are doing so. 'The Sixth Framework programme will help us ensure that research delivers solutions to or sustainable problems. My colleague, Mr Busquin, will shortly outline what it can offer. It is important that it rises to its challenge. It must provide focus and support,' she concluded.