It is becoming increasingly clear that the future of the world cannot be sustained without scientific support, analysis, prediction and the use of scientific achievement. The immensity of the problems confronting us, coupled with the limited financial resources available, urgently demand the selection of priority areas of research, with a global combination of scientific effort.
The new geopolitical situation has uncovered Russia's and the former Soviet Union's scientific potential. This has given rise to wider opportunities for involvement in work on international projects and programmes, many of which are discussed in the present volume. The book addresses specifically priority fields of science in which joint, multidisciplinary research should be developed, encompassing rational use of natural resources and regional sustainable development, as well as the monitoring of the biosphere's ecosystem state and the risks of natural and anthropogenic hazards, and the creation of new materials and technologies. The list of priorities includes Siberia's economic, social and humanitarian problems, as well as the development of information systems for the rapid exchange of scientific data. There is a recognised need for the involvement of young scientists in partnership laboratories, in a probationary capacity.

Inhalt
I. Current Problems and Prospects of International Collaboration.- New Russian Problems of International Scientific Collaboration.- NATO International Scientific Exchange Programs.- A Network of Research Centres in Siberia, as a Basis for Multi-Disciplinary International Scientific Collaboration.- Science Policy: New Mechanisms for Scientific Collaboration Between East and West -UNESCO's Role and Possible Contributions.- Research Programs of the Council of Europe and Possible Ways of Collaboration with Scientists from Eastern Countries.- East-West Scientific Collaboration Some Ideas from the Laboratory.- II. Experience of the International Research Centres' Activities and Some Results of Interaction between Scientists in Priority and Multidisciplinary Problems.- International Cooperation in Boreal Forests Study of Siberia.- Global Change, the Global Boreal Forest, and Fire: Search for New Strategies in Science Policies and Research Mechanisms.- Man-made Closed Ecological Systems: Scientific and Applied Significance, and Prospects for International Collaboration.- Genetic Effects of Radiation and other Man-made Pollution in Siberia.- Integrated Sustainable Development Methodology.- Baikal International Centre for Ecological Research: Principles of Organization and First Scientific Results.- A Brief Report of Japanese Activity for BICER Projects in 1993.- Baikal Drilling Project: First Results and Prospects for Future Studies.- The CASIMIR Project: a Joint Research Project on Rift Basin Geology between Siberia and Belgium.- International Cooperation in the Framework of the Siberian Synchrotron Radiation Centre.- International Centre for Catalyst Characterization and Testing: Two Years of Activity.- Towards Sustainable Development: Contributions of the BoreskovInstitute of Catalysis.- Material Science Program of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences.- The Conversion of Basic Chemical Technologies into the Solid State Processes.- Space and Environmental Research at the SB RAS Facilities.- Space Contamination and Ecological Problems.- Cooperation in Environmental Flow Problems of Aerospace Science.- Longterm Cooperation of SB RAS and Bruker-Spectrospin Group of Companies: Results and Prospects.- International Cooperation in Studies of Economic Development of Siberia.- The Baikal Region Social Ecology Issues.- Perspectives and Preliminary Results of Archaeological Investigations of the South-Western Altai (the Ukok Plateau).- Some Aspects of Collaboration between Belgium Royal Museums of Art and History and Russian Colleagues in Archaeological and Art Historian Matters.- III. Information Support and Education.- Information Service for Scientific Programs in the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences.- State and Perspectives of Cooperation of the Institutes of Siberian Branch of Russian Academy of Sciences with Western Specialists in the Field of Geophysical Informatics.- Interaction of Education and Science in SB RAS and International Collaboration in Education and Training of Junior Scientists.- Statement.