An Agenda of Science for Environment and Development into the 21st Century

The world scientific community's definitive statement on strategies needed to safeguard the environment and promote development.

J. C. I. Dooge (Edited by), G. T. Goodman (Edited by), J. W. M. Rivière (Edited by), J. Marton-Lefèvre (Edited by), T. O'Riordan (Edited by)

9780521437615, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 28 May 1992

340 pages, 27 b/w illus. 27 tables
29.5 x 21.1 x 1.7 cm, 0.92 kg

This volume brings together the understanding and the judgement of the world's scientific community on the issues of highest priority for the future of the environment and development. It looks beyond the state-of-the-art and formulates the environment and development research agenda, and identifies the scientific knowledge base which will be needed for rational policy decisions. Diverse topics such as population, land use, energy and global cycles are covered under sixteen themes which have been grouped into three sections: Problems of Environment and Development, Scientific Understanding of the Earth System, and Responses and Strategies. All the contributions were developed at an invited conference convened by the International Council of Scientific Unions and provide a significant input to the forthcoming UN Conference on Environment and Development.

General introduction
Conference statement
Keynote speeches
Part I. Problems of Environment and Development: Introduction
1. Population and natural resource use
2. Agriculture land use and degradation
3. Industry and waste
4. Energy
5. Health
Part II. Scientific Understanding of the Earth System: Introduction
6. Global cycles
7. Atmosphere and climate
8. Marine and coastal systems
9. Terrestrial systems
10. Freshwater resources
11. Biodiversity
Part III. Responses and Strategies: Introduction
12. Quality of life
13. Public awareness, science and the environment
14. Capacity building
15. Policies for technology
16. Institutional arrangements
Appendices.

Subject Areas: The environment [RN], Meteorology & climatology [RBP], Development studies [GTF]