1. Thank you for the opportunity to address this Working Group on behalf of the International Synergy Institute, a non-governmental organization on the Roster of the Commission on Sustainable Development. A principal focus of the Institute's work at the United Nations has been the application of information and communication technology in support of broad-based participation in decision-making and actions relating to environment, development and sustainability.

2. In my preliminary review of the documents that have been circulated here and in many of the comments of delegates, I am encouraged to see many references to the use of information technology to increase the access to information on the availability of environmentally sound technology. The central focus of my intervention is to propose that this Working Group make direct use of information technology by making all the documents submitted to this group publicly available in electronic format via the Internet. I should note that this intervention builds on a related intervention that the International Synergy Institute had prepared at last year's session of the Commission on Sustainable Development.

3. As has been noted in documents here, and in comments made in this Working Group, there is clearly a great need to develop comprehensive clearinghouses for dissemination of information on environmentally sound technology; I applaud and support these efforts. However, without seeking to detract from the need to pursue plans for such clearinghouses, we would do well to take note of an important premise of sustainability, namely the value of making optimal use of immediately available resources. In this instance, it means looking at what can be done now, at virtually no cost, in increasing access to the information in documents that have been prepared for this Working Group.

4. The Inter-sessional Ad Hoc Open-ended Working Group on Technology Transfer and Cooperation already has before it almost twenty substantive documents addressing the transfer of environmentally sound technologies. These documents incorporate a substantial body of expert opinion that would benefit greatly from being made available to a far broader audience than is able to participate in these meetings.

5. A very small number of those who could contribute significantly to this Working Group, from many of the major groups referred to in Section III of Agenda 21, and particularly in Chapters 27, 30 and 31 -- in non-governmental organizations, in business and industry, and in the scientific and technological community -- can be found in this room today. Many more could have access to the documents before this Working Group if the documents would be made available on-line; and it should be noted that the community of those involved in issues of the transfer of environmentally sound technology is disproportionately represented among those who make use of electronic communications.

6. It would be a simple task to gather electronic copies of the documents before this Working Group. Technically, this poses very little problem as all of the documents have been prepared on computer-based word processors, and hence can readily be made available in electronic format.

7. The United Nations Development Programme has already adopted the practice of making some of its principal documents available in a format that is very widely accessible and that does not require access to a commercial electronic network. Based on prior discussions with someone at UNDP who has been involved in making available information on-line, I have very little doubt that UNDP would be willing to make the documents of this Working Group publicly available on-line.

8. I would like to comment briefly on a methodology that has been used by UNDP for dissemination of documents, and that I propose would be used to disseminate the documents of this Working Group. For this technology embodies many of the principles that have been articulated in documents submitted to the Working Group. Known as the gopher, it is a widely accepted standard format for making available information from anywhere on the Internet; it was developed in April 1991 at the University of Minnesota, and software enabling its use on almost all types of computer is available at no cost in the public domain.

9. By making a commitment to make its documents publicly available in electronic format, this Working Group would be making an important contribution to raising the visibility of this Working Group and of the need for timely and effective action in support of the transfer of environmentally sound technology.

10. Making the documents available electronically would not just be of benefit to those who are not able to participate in this Working Group; many within this room could benefit by having these documents on disk. It would make it much easier for us to search the documents for references to particular words or phrases -- whether that be intellectual property rights, access, concessional, financial or commercial. Having these documents on disk would also make it easier, not to mention less expensive, for any of us to share a complete set of the documents with colleagues, or with experts in the countries or organizations we represent.

11. I would greatly appreciate a response from this Working Group to this intervention, and I stand ready to offer, on a voluntary basis, technical assistance in compiling and disseminating the documents in electronic form.

12. Based on some of the remarks I have heard in Agenda Item 3, I would want to make a very brief mention of the importance of examining the broader issue of the overall information and communication infrastructure of countries as it relates to sustainable development. When we examine the need for capacity-building in mechanisms of access to environmentally sound technology, we need to recognize the synergy between this area and national capacity-building efforts of information and communication resources under Chapters 38 and 40 of Agenda 21. In particular, this involves recognition of the critical role of a country's telephone system in supporting all forms of access to information -- including access to information on the transfer of environmentally sound technology, but also including support for the active participation in decision-making relating to sustainable development. An affordable, accessible information and communication infrastructure is a sine qua non of sustainability.

13. In closing, I should note that I am not yet able to make the text of this statement in printed form; however, in the spirit of this intervention, I am able to provide the Secretariat with a copy of this statement on disk. In addition, I will make it available on two electronic networks this evening -- on the Association for Progressive Communications networks with hosts in twelve countries, including the USA, Canada, the UK, Australia, Brazil, the Russian Federation, Nicaragua, and Uruguay, and on the TogetherNet system.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.