World Conference on Science—'Science for the Twenty-first Century: A New Commitment' (Declaration on Science and the Use of Scientific Knowledge)

Abstract

The World Conference on Science was organised by the United Nations Educational, Sci entific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) in cooperation with the International Council for Science (ICSU), and hosted by the Government of Hungary, from 26June to I July 1999, in Budapest. The objectives of the conference were to help strengthen the com mitment of ICSU and UNESCO member states and other major stakeholders to science education, research and development, and to define a strategy that would ensure that sci ence responds better to society's needs and aspirations in the twenty-first century. Over 1,800 delegates representing 155 countries, including approximately eighty ministers of science and technology, research and education or their equivalents, twenty-eight inter- governmental organisations and more than sixty international non-governmental organi sations, as well as industry and the media attended the conference. Slightly fewer than one in four participants making up national delegates to the conference were women.