Engineering: issues, challenges and opportunities for development ...

ENGINEERING: ISSUES CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES FOR DEVELOPMENT The Pelamis Wave Energydevice generates renewableelectricity.Six of the eight UN Millennium Development Goals 3 (MDGs)are directly concerned with the human condition; physicalhealth, their economic and social well-being and the capacityto play a full and useful role in the world. The remaining tworelate to the environmental limits within which we have tooperate and the partnerships we need to build to deliver theinfrastructure that underpins civilization on which we depend;infrastructure that achieves real, pro-poor outcomes in theprocess of its planning, construction and operation. Workingtowards the UN MDGs therefore requires engineers tobecome involved. 4 The critical role of underpinning infrastructurefor development was stated at the outset by CalestousJuma 5 (Chair of the UN Science, Technology and InnovationTask Force):‘At least three key factors contributed to the rapid economictransformation of emerging economies. First, they investedheavily in basic infrastructure, which served as a foundationfor technological learning. Second, they nurtured thedevelopment of small and medium-sized enterprises, whichrequired the development of local operational, repair andmaintenance expertise. Third, their governments supported,funded and nurtured higher education institutions, academiesof engineering and technological sciences, professionalengineering and technological associations, and industrialand trade associations.’3 The Millennium Development Goals were recognized by the UN General Assemblyas being part of the road map for implementing the UN’s Millennium Declaration.There are eight overall Goals (on Poverty, Education, Gender, Child Mortality, MaternalHealth, HIV/AIDS, Environment, Global Partnership).4 This was underlined at a meeting with the British Chancellor of the Exchequer at 11Downing Street, London, on 30 November 2005.5 Calestous Juma (ed.) Going for Growth: Science, Technology and Innovation in Africa.Published by the Smith Institute, 2005.Pre-requisites for developmentThe pre-requisites for development, without which attemptsto improve livelihoods in the developing world will be unlikelyto succeed, include reasonable governance structures, a functioningcivil society, and freedom from persecution, conflictand corruption.The impact of global politics, trade and conflicts on developmentis immense. These include trade rules, tariffs andwestern subsidies, local and regional conflict, oil diplomacy,governance, and the roles of transnational companies. But afunctioning local business sector can also help deliver povertyreductionoutcomes through direct involvement in the developmentof effective and sustainable infrastructure, which inturn is of critical importance for three reasons:■■■It underpins communities by providing the basic needs andservices of shelter, access to safe water/sanitation, energy,transport, education and healthcare.It provides an internal demand for local skills and employmentthrough its delivery.It provides a vital platform for the growth of the localeconomy and small and medium sized enterprises throughimproved access to infrastructure services, local skills, andthe stimulation of and better access to both internal/localand external/national markets.But infrastructure delivery also requires investment.Those mired in poverty do not have and cannot afford all theresources necessary to resolve their plight. They will need externalinvestment from governments, businesses and internationalagencies, and assistance from the worldwide engineering community.There will be no spectators as the future unfolds, butthere are implications for civil engineers in particular.‘Climate Change is Real’In June 2005, the National Science Academies of eleven countriesissued a Joint Statement. 6 Its opening line was, ‘Climatechange is real’. It went on to say, ‘The task of devising andimplementing strategies to adapt to the consequences of climatechange will require worldwide collaborative inputs froma wide range of experts, including physical and natural scientists,engineers, social scientists, medical scientists, those in thehumanities, business leaders and economists.’They called on the G8 Leaders – due to meet in Gleneaglesin July 2005 – to acknowledge the threat and identify costeffectivesteps to contribute to substantial and long-term© P. Jowitt6 Joint Science Academies’ Statement, Global Response to Climate Change. June 2005.http://royalsociety.org/Joint-science-academies-statement-Global-response-to-climate-change/(Accessed: 2 May 2010).40