Chapter 1 - Preamble

Section 1 - Social & Economic Dimensions

Section 2 - Conservation and Management of Resources

Section 3 - Strengthening the Role of Major Groups

Section 4 - Means of Implementation
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40

Complete text of Agenda 21: Chapter 34
Chapter 34: Technology Transfer

To develop sustainably, all countries need access to and training in the use of technologies that are cleaner and waste fewer resources.

Environmentally sound technologies include not only the hardware but the know-how, services, equipment, organizational and managerial skills to make them work.

Developing countries, in particular, require new and efficient technologies to achieve sustainable development, participate as partners in the global economy, protect the environment and to alleviate poverty and human suffering. They need to upgrade some current technologies and replace others with more environmentally sound substitutes.

It is essential that developing countries get access to such technologies as well as the economic, technical and managerial skills to use and further develop them. The offer of technologies must include information on their environmental risks, so that countries can make informed choices, and imported technologies must be compatible with social, cultural, economic and environmental priorities. In some cases, imported technologies can be combined with local innovations to evolve new technologies.

Governments and international organizations should promote the transfer of environmentally sound technologies that are not covered by patents or lie in the public domain. They should also purchase patents and licenses on commercial terms and transfer them to developing countries on non-commercial terms as part of assistance for sustainable development. Intellectual property rights should be protected in such transfers.

The use of environmentally sound technology requires the systematic training of craftspersons, technicians and middle-level managers, scientists, engineers and educators. There is a need to train people to assess and manage technologies and conduct environmental impact and risk assessments.

Visits, or the voluntary return to their home countries by experts from developing countries who are working in developed country institutions should be facilitated.

There is a need for a series of international centres of expertise on environmentally sound technology, particularly for such major economic sectors as agriculture, industry and energy. They could conduct research and evaluate. They could help in the development, management and transfer of such technologies among countries, working in close cooperation with the private sector.

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