Reorienting for Sustainable Development: Support for a National Science and Technology Policy.

• Author: Levine, Candice S.

Economic growth and environmental security in the United States require a national science technology policy that adequately supports a vibrant science and technology community Significant technological innovations that address long-term environmental issues can only be produced by such a community, given the narrow research focus of the defense community and the short-term nature of corporate research and development (R&D). While these interests have promoted some environmentally relevant science and technology innovations in their infant stages, they cannot provide the fundamental technological framework needed to produce a truly sustainable economy in the 21st century

Despite public enthusiasm for environmentally friendly growth, the national science community does not receive consistent or adequate political support. Congress has oscillated between the passage of science funding(1) that does not even keep up with inflation to playing favorites with certain federal agencies.(2) As a result, the country's science and technology community is atomized and uncoordinated, and technological advancement is often left to large private interests and a few loosely cooperative academic powerhouses. Private firms focus their research efforts according to short-term, market-driven priorities, motives which often contradict long-term sustainable development and economic growth.(3) Large academic institutions, which are generally more sensitive to long-term concerns, are not fully capable of directing the course of national research and national innovation systems.4 However, the absence of a national policy has put them in the position of doing so.

Poor coordination among federal agencies and inconsistent support from national leaders results in inadequate national science policy. A critical look at the effect of these political dynamics on the scientific community reveals the need for a national policy that is consistent and directed, supportive yet unobtrusive. A clear, sustainable technology policy would steer the national science community towards more intensive and coordinated research in areas of technology that can make environmentally sustainable and economically robust development a reality.

THE ROLE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY IN ECONOMIC GROWTH AND ENVIRONMENTAL STEWARDSHIP

Science, Technology and Economic Growth

The Wall Street Journal's March 1997 survey of 350 leading economists found that two-thirds believed that the right government policies could boost annual US economic growth by .05 percent, a substantial amount.(5) Moreover, 43 percent advocated more government spending for education, and science and technology R&D. Only 10 percent thought reducing government spending as a share of domestic product was vital to boosting growth.(6) Indeed, the link between technological innovation and economic advancement has long been recognized, with R&D seen as a major force behind the emergence of many of the new materials, products, processes and systems that promote economic advancement. As far back as 1911, Joseph A. Schumpeter integrated innovation into economic development theory by showing a positive correlation between involvement in a commercial transaction and the generation of new products, devices or systems.(7)

Despite consensus on the importance of innovation among economists, industrialists and even politicians, the last five years have seen science and technology research threatened rather than supported. While an overly bloated national debt can overrun liquid assets with interest payments, drive up interest rates and generally undermine investments in science and technology programs, efforts to reduce the budget deficit have endangered many nationally funded science and technology programs. Until the 1990s, U.S. Federal Government support for research held steady or increased, but funding declines have characterized recent budgets.(8) Should this trend continue, the United States will likely forfeit its position of leadership in science and technology--as well as its ability to maintain the health and quality of life of its citizens, compete in a global marketplace and assure national security.

Recent fiscal developments reveal the political vagaries to which national support for R&D is subjected. A 1997 report by the American Association for the Advancement of Science estimated that federal support for R&,D would decline from U.S. $73.7 billion in the current fiscal year to U.S. $72.2 billion in five years, assuming a balanced budget target date of fiscal year (FY) 2002.(9) Currently, higher than expected revenues from national economic growth are negating projected cuts in discretionary programs, and this year's federal R&D budgets are set to grow by approximately 4.1 percent from FY 1997 levels.(10) These figures differ dramatically from those proposed just a few months ago, and demonstrate the need for a cohesive science policy structure that is protected from yearly shifts in Congressional priorities and administrative goals.

Science, Technology and Environmental Protection

The global population is expected to reach 6.1 billion by the turn of the century.(11) Limited capital, public health concerns and environmental scarcity make the development of technologies that allow goods and services to be provided with less energy and resources an important priority Several recent developments have demonstrated heightened international demand for technologically sustainable processes, including: the 1997 United Nations Climate Change Protocol, under which industrialized countries pledge to reduce their emissions of greenhouse gases by 5.2 percent from 1990 levels;(12) ISO 14000, an international environmental standard expected to become a de facto requirement for companies wishing to do business in the European Union;(13) and transnational environmental provisions included in trade accords like the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which created the North American Commission on Environmental Cooperation in an environmental "side accord."(14)

The global market for environmental goods and services is presently estimated to be about U.S. $400 billion and is expected to grow to over U.S. $500 billion by the year 2000.(15) For the United States to maintain or increase its share of this growing market, the government and the private sector must emphasize and support sustainable technology.(16) The relatively brief history of environmental regulation has revealed the importance of environmental initiatives in maintaining and improving living standards while tapping the potential of new technologies for the economy For example, water quality programs have...