The Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation, Marco Antonio Raupp, believes science and technology offer metrics and lend credibility to every spheres of environmental debate. In his opening speech at the High-Level Science-Policy Dialogue on the final day of the Forum on Science, Technology and Innovation for Sustainable Development at the Pontifical University of Rio de Janeiro (PUC-Rio), on Friday (June 15), Raupp underscored the sector’s importance in overcoming difficulties and challenges in the modern world.

"It is only with the due consideration of and cooperation with science and technology that the necessary changes will be made that must be proposed, discussed and adopted, both within the scope of Rio+20 and for what follows," said the minister.

Raupp also highlighted the main points discussed by the forum organized by the International Council for Science (ICSU), stressing the launch of Future Earth - Research for Global Sustainability. The initiative is a new form of organization of scientific research, involving researchers, decision makers, and the users of the results in the planning of multidisciplinary research projects that seek an effective solution to real problems. The Minister concluded his speech with a call for global action.

"Developed and developing countries need to work on a new footing," he said. "They need to step up cooperation, to develop scientific and environmentally sustainable technologies together. We are here proposing deeper changes, in terms of approach, and in the very paradigms that guide environmental debates. Science and technology are part of the solution," he added.

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                                                                                        Text: Juliana d'Arede – Press Office, MCTI