Science,Technology and the Quest for Sustainable Development

The quest for sustainable development is seen in this article as an intrinsic part of the reconstitution of environmentally-oriented science and technology policy that has been taking place over the past 15 years in most European countries. Rather than dealing with environmental problems after they have occurred, the trend is increasingly to base environmental research and development on so-called preventive principles and to seek to integrate environmental concern into all other areas of science and technology development. There is also a widespread effort to foster new ways to involve the 'public' in the making of science and technology policy. The article is based on results from the project, Public Engagement and Science and Technology Policy Options (PESTO), for which the author served as coordinator.