Scientists want fairer deal for developing countries

Aminata Traoré and Mario Molina in Lausanne swissinfo.ch

Researchers meeting in Lausanne have called for improved scientific cooperation between industrial and developing nations.

But they warn that poorer countries will only benefit from exchanging knowledge if the gap between North and South is bridged.

In 1994 the Swiss authorities set up a committee to promote scientific cooperation – rather than competition – with developing countries.

The committee has 11 guiding principles, one of which is that research institutes should share the commercial and scientific benefits of their discoveries.

Lausanne’s Federal Institute of Technology says it has been trying to apply these principles for the past 30 years, cooperating with research organisations in developing countries.

This week the institute invited the 1995 Nobel Chemistry Prize winner, Mario Molina, and Aminata Traoré, Mali’s former culture minister, to discuss the issue at its first-ever Cooperation and Development Conference.

While Molina is convinced cooperation can be successful, Traoré fears scientific exchanges will be skewed in favour of the industrialised world.

Pollution

Molina, who teaches at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), is one of the leading experts on atmospheric pollution. One of his pet projects is air quality measurement in his hometown, Mexico City.

American, Mexican and European specialists have been studying the atmosphere above the huge city, which for a long time was home to some of the most polluted air on the planet.

“Our work convinced the local authorities to do something about air pollution,” said Molina. “And when the inhabitants realised how dangerous it was, they put pressure on the city government.”

The MIT professor sees cooperation with local specialists as the key to success. His work in Mexico is just one example of many joint projects on the go in Latin America.

Michel Molitor from the Louvain Catholic University in Belgium is also convinced cooperation is necessary. But he says researchers in the developing world must learn to be more self-sufficient and set their own agenda.

Molitor believes scientists have everything to gain from sharing their discoveries, making it a so-called “win-win” situation.

Plundering resources

But Traoré, who has written a number of books on the plundering of Africa’s resources, doesn’t share this viewpoint.

“Compare the working and living conditions of an African and a European scientist,” she told swissinfo. “Most of the time, the African doesn’t have a decent salary and has terrible living conditions. All he or she thinks of doing is looking for a job elsewhere.”

Traoré fears Africa is unlikely to benefit commercially from any scientific exchanges, pointing out that 40 years of development aid have failed to make much of a difference.

“The more powerful nations have imposed economic reforms on the South that give them a free hand to conduct business any way they want,” she told swissinfo.

Traoré points out that the powerful business interests that are forcing Africans to compete on a market they cannot control are the same ones that back research.

“They only pay for something that will ensure them profits,” she said. “They are more interested in cosmetics than drugs to fight malaria.”

swissinfo, Marc-André Miserez (translation: Scott Capper)

In brief

One example of scientific cooperation was presented by Noble prize winner, Mario Molina.

His project that measures air pollution above Mexico City involves researchers from the United States, Mexico and Europe, including some from the Federal Institute of Technology.

The Swiss scientists have supplied a new system that measures particles in the air and gives the altitude where these particles are found.

They have also developed software that creates a computer model of the atmosphere, which allows predictions of future air pollution and to see how efficient anti-pollution measures really are.

Key facts

Lausanne’s Federal Institute of Technology is organising its first development and cooperation conference.
Scientists and development aid specialists are taking part in conferences, debates and workshops.