It is with great pleasure that I join the Director General in expressing my gratitude to the Thai Government for its generous offer to host this meeting.
I also note with equal pleasure the emphasis that the Director General in his remarks places upon the role of ethics in science and technology. As was clearly stated in the Declaration adopted by the 1999 World Conference on Science , which was arranged by UNESCO with the cooperation of the International Council for Science , developments in science and technology have led to remarkable advances to the general benefit for the human race. But there are dangers involved. Science and technology have sometimes led to environmental degradation and technological disasters and have also contributed to social imbalance and exclusion. Thus it is not only the efficient use of science that is called for. It is the responsible use mankind needs. This in our context means a new emphasis on the ethics of science and technology.
I interpret the Director General remarks as a strong support for the mission of COMEST, and that as part of the UNESCO's mission in education, culture and science, value questions shall play an important role; not only as an added-on decoration, but as an integral part of every action.
COMEST is still a young body; it is eight years old, and this is but its 4th regular meeting. At times the general rhetorics have been splendid, and expectations have been high - perhaps, a bit too high measured with respect to the resources available to translate the many good intentions into solid actions. But thanks to a committed membership and to the expert and dedicated support from the Division for ethics of science and technology , our base inside UNESCO, we have started to produce.
In the first phase COMEST decided to focus on specific issues; to mention one example, value issues in fresh water management.I recommend our publication Best Ethical Practices in Water Use as an example of this work. It was our contribution to World Water Forum in Kyoto, March 2003.
After the Johannesburg Summit on Sustainable Development in 2002, COMEST decided to widen its concern to a broader area of environmental ethics and development. We did not totally abandon our focus on the specific, as the COMEST study on the Precautionary Principle bears witness to. But the net is cast wider, as will be apparent from one of the sessions of this meeting (Session on Environmental Ethics).
Ethics, to fullfil its goals, cannot be a top-down activity. It needs a common understanding built on participation and insight. That is why education and dialogue is so important.
Education was always an imporant part of the COMEST mandate. The commissiom was specifically asked by the 1999 World Conference on Science to take a lead in this matter. This resulted in the COMEST Report on The Teaching of Ethics , which in turn has led to a wide-spread and extensive activity; but this is again the topic of a special session of this meeting (Session on Education of Ethics).
The mandate of COMEST, as adopted by the General Conference of UNESCO, asks the Commission to promote the dialogue between scientific communities, decision-makers and the public at large. I shall later comment on one aspect of this in the session on "Good Governance" (Session on Good Governance of Science and Technology). Here I note the important role of a Youth Forum as part of every COMEST meeting. I hope that this activity, combined with the teaching activities, will contribute to a "bottom-up" pressure to keep the ethical issues alive in the public debate.
For this is needed if we shall achieve the goal of a responsive and responsible science as called for by the World Conference of Science in 1999.