INDICATORS OF RESEARCH RELEVANCE TO ECOLOGICALLY SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT AND THEIR INTEGRATION WITH OTHER RESEARCH-AND-DEVELOPMENT INDICATORS IN THE ASIA-PACIFIC REGION

Governments throughout the Asia-Pacific region during the 1990s are in creasingly seeking ways to develop research policies that target natio nal socio-economic objectives, within an overall framework of 'sustain able development'. However, the concept of sustainable development var ies from country to country and so do indicators for accounting for ec onomic, research and development data. Research indicators in most cou ntries remain disconnected from national strategies for sustainable de velopment. Given the importance of research investment for social, eco nomic and technological development, it is important to develop a mode l for connecting this particular investment to strategies for sustaina ble development. During the past five years the Centre for Research Po licy (CRP) has been involved with many countries throughout the Asian region in developing indicators and information systems for monitoring and driving national research policies. This work has been carried ou t under the auspices of the UNESCO Science and Technology Policy Asian Network (STEPAN), for which CRP provides the regional focal point. Th e Australian government has recently commissioned CRP to carry out a s tudy in order to develop a working definition of research relevant to ecologically sustainable development (ESD) and to develop a methodolog y to determine and assess indicators of the nature and level of resear ch relevant to ESD. Practical aspects of the development of these indi cators in Australia are outlined and the possible integration of these with other R&D indicators is discussed in the context of developments in the Asia-Pacific region. Copyright (C) 1996 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd