How was the vast EOLSS body of knowledge developed?
The Encyclopedia represents the fruits of an unprecedented global effort involving thousands of experts in a wide diversity of subjects and from many countries of the world. In early May 1996, about 450 scientists, engineers, and policy makers from many countries were invited to the Bahamas to participate in defining the EOLSS body of knowledge. The Bahamas Workshop was the culmination of international collaborative efforts to generate a detailed list of contents and to achieve a global consensus on the structure, function, and purpose of the EOLSS. It followed several smaller workshops that had been held in 1996: in Washington DC, Tokyo, Moscow, Mexico City, and Beijing. A team of scientists from the French Academy of Sciences also provided assessments and recommendations. The proposals from the Bahamas Workshop were reviewed by invited specialist teams in USA, Japan, Russia and China. Further additional meetings were held in Panama, Abu Sultan (Egypt) and Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia), to
