sustainable development 20 years on from the ... - José Eli da Veiga

250
Box VI.4
THE SCIENCE POLICY INFORMATION NETWORK (SPIN)
The Science Policy Information Network (SPIN) (see [online] http://spin.unesco.org.uy) was developed by the
UNESCO Regional Office for Science and Technology for Latin America and the Caribbean as a deliverable of a
mandate handed down by the meetings held between <strong>20</strong>09 and <strong>20</strong>11 of the Latin American and Caribbean Regional
Forum on Science, Technology and Innovation Policies: Towards a New Social Contract for Science.
SPIN provides up-to-date, high-quality information for science policy decision makers in Latin America
and the Caribbean. It provides real-time access to information disaggregated by country and supports the dynamic
combination of variables to generate specific profiles by subregion and for the region overall. SPIN consists of six
databases containing:
• Over 450 time series on science, technology, innovation, economy, environment, social and gender affairs,
governance and ICTs, which support geo-referenced and dynamic analysis.
• The composition of each national system of science, technology and innovation in Latin America and the Caribbean.
• Legislative frameworks for science, technology and innovation in each country.
• No less than 900 scientific policy instruments implemented by Latin American and Caribbean countries.
• Details on programmes run by agencies for technical and financial cooperation on science and technology.
• As many as 800 titles produced by UNESCO on science, technology and innovation.
Source: UNESCO Regional Office for Science and Technology for Latin America and the Caribbean.
(h)
Promote South-South cooperation to link and coordinate common actions between different
countries, in order to provide local, scientific and technological solutions for <strong>development</strong>
problems, emphasizing strengths and focusing on exploiting the opportunities identified
Countries in the region should develop regional research programmes, through academic and
institutional integration. Countries cannot afford to set up scientific institutions with such scarce resources
and lacking proper integration, either institutionally or in the form of networks.
(i)
(j)
(k)
(l)
Create an educational programme on <strong>sustainable</strong> <strong>development</strong> in a context of climate
change, the key elements of which are to generate resilience, reduce the ecological footprint
and boost future professionals’ knowledge of the challenges and opportunities presented by
<strong>sustainable</strong> <strong>development</strong>
Direct resources to the <strong>development</strong> of information technologies that generate spatial data
infrastructure and innovation in remote sensing technologies, in particular for regional,
national and local climate monitoring
Direct resources to the <strong>development</strong> of renewable energy technologies, technologies for
<strong>sustainable</strong> water, management, alternative agriculture and cleaner production technologies,
among others
Create mechanisms for disseminating traditional knowledge and that of entities such as
local universities, in order to integrate it into knowledge networks
The following actions are suggested in this connection:
(i) Support and strengthen regional experiences of recovering traditional knowledge and use of
biodiversity.