[HDR 1999] Reducing the gap between the knows and the know-nots

["Irfan Khan" <KhanIA@super.net.pk>]

[UNDP has issued four press releases on the launching of the 1999 
report. this one deals with the information, knowledge, and 
techonology.]



Embargoed for 1000 GMT, 12 July 1999 

REDUCING THE GAP BETWEEN THE KNOWS AND THE KNOW-NOTS 


New York, 12 July 1999-In the race to lay claim to knowledge, "the 
global gap between haves and have-nots, between knows and know-nots, 
is widening" warns the Human Development Report 1999, commissioned by 
the United Nations Development Programme. 

Writing computer programmes and revealing genetic codes have replaced 
the search for gold, the conquest of land and the command of 
machinery as the path to economic power, says the Report. 

The Internet, the worldwide computer link-up, is "the fastest-growing 
tool of communication ever," with the number of users expected to 
grow from 150 million today to more than 700 million in 2001. 
Information and communications technology are tremendous tools for 
development and can open a fast track to knowledge-based growth, a 
track followed by India's software programming, Ireland's computing 
services and the Caribbean's data processing. 

But many of those who most need access cannot obtain it. An invisible 
barrier has emerged that, "true to its name, is like a world wide 
web, embracing the connected and silently, almost imperceptibly, 
excluding the rest." 

The United States has more computers than the rest of the world 
combined. Bulgaria has more Internet hosts than the whole of sub-
Saharan Africa, excluding South Africa. South Asia, with 23 per cent 
of the world's people, has less than one per cent of the world's 
Internet users. 

Everywhere, Internet access divides educated from illiterate (60 per 
cent of users in China have a university degree), men from women (in 
Brazil, 75 per cent of users are men), rich from poor (a computer 
costs the average Bangladeshi more than eight years'income, compared 
with one month's wage for the average American), young from old (the 
average British user is under 30) and urban from rural. 

"The typical Internet user worldwide is male, under 35 years old, 
with a university education and high income, urban based and English 
speaking-a member of a very elite minority," says the Report. English 
is used in almost 80 per cent of websites. Yet fewer than one in 10 
people worldwide speaks the language. 

The literally well connected have an overpowering advantage over the 
unconnected poor, whose voices and concerns are being left out of the 
global conversation. 

Market forces alone will not rectify the imbalance, the Report warns. 
Governance of the Internet should be widened to bring in the needs 
and concerns of developing countries. To ensure that the global 
communications revolution is truly global, funding is required. The 
Report suggests a "bit tax" on data sent through the Internet. A tax 
of one US cent on every 100 lengthy e-mails [electronic messages] 
would generate well over $70 billion a year. 

A second race to lay claim to knowledge, particularly in 
biotechnology, has been sparked by the privatization of research and 
development, market liberalization and the tightening of intellectual 
property rights. As with global communications, "the risk is that 
poor people's and poor countries' interests are being left on the 
sidelines." 

"In defining research agenda, money talks louder than need-cosmetic 
drugs and slow-ripening tomatoes come higher on the list than a 
vaccine against malaria or drought-resistant crops for marginal 
lands," says the Report. "Tighter control of innovation in the hands 
of multinational corporations ignores the needs of millions. From new 
drugs to better seeds for food crops, the best of new technologies 
are designed and priced for those who can pay. For poor people, the 
technological progress remains far out of reach." 

Huge corporations are controlling ever-growing shares of the global 
market. The top 10 telecommunications corporations held 86 per cent 
of the market in 1998. In pesticides, the top 10's share was 85 per 
cent; computers, almost 70 per cent; veterinary medicine, 60 per 
cent; pharmaceuticals, 35 per cent; commercial seed, 32 per cent. 
Patents, too, are concentrated, with industrialized countries holding 
97 per cent of all patents worldwide. 

The Report calls for a shift of research towards the needs of the 
world, rather than just of those who pay. It recommends the 
establishment of a group of independent scientists to identify 
technological problems that, if solved, would contribute to human 
development, particularly of the world's poorest people, and to human 
security. 

Every five years the group would offer money and recognition to 
researchers in areas such as robust new crops, malaria and HIV 
vaccines, solar-powered or wind-up computers, and renewable energy 
sources. Funding could be provided by a levy on patents or from a 
reallocation of research subsidies, grants and tax breaks currently 
given to industry. 

The Report calls for a review of the intellectual property rights 
agreement under the World Trade Organization-first raised in world 
trade talks in 1986 to crack down on counterfeit goods, but now 
involved in the ownership of life itself. 

Although trade and intellectual property laws, such as patent 
legislation, are increasingly determining the path of nations, the 
intellectual property rights agreement was negotiated with little 
input from many of the developing countries, which are now feeling 
its impact. In addition, it was negotiated before most governments 
and people understood the social and economic implications of patents 
on life. 

Patent laws pay little attention to the knowledge of indigenous 
people, and on what can be owned: "The result: a silent theft of 
centuries of knowledge from developing to developed countries." 


About this Report: 
Every year since 1990, the United Nations Development Programme has 
commissioned the Human Development Report by an independent team of 
experts to explore major issues of global concern. The Report looks 
beyond per capita income as a measure of human progress by also 
assessing it against such factors as average life expectancy, 
literacy and overall well-being. It argues that human development is 
ultimately "a process of enlarging people's choices." 

This year's Report focuses on the positive and negative aspects of 
globalization. It argues that while many millions of people are being 
further marginalized by their lack of access to new technologies, 
including the Internet, growing inequalities are not inevitable. It 
recommends, among other things, stronger social policies and actions 
to buffer the effects of today's "bust and boom" economy. It urges 
policymakers to balance their concern for profits with concern for 
people disenfranchised by the turmoil of the global marketplace. 

The Human Development Report is published in English by Oxford 
University Press, 2001 Evans Rd., Cary, NC 27513, USA. Telephone 
(919) 677-0977; toll-free in the USA (800) 451-7556; fax (919) 677-
1303. Paperback price: US$19.95. 



http://www.undp.org/hdro/E3.html