SCOPE, the Scientific Committee on Problems of the Environment, was
established by the International Council of Scientific Unions (ICSU) in
1969 as an international, non- to governmental, non-profit organisation
with the mandate - advance knowledge of the influence of humans on their
environment, as well as the effects of these environmental changes upon
people, their health and their welfare- with particular attention to
those influences and effects which are either global or shared by
several nations; - to serve as a non-governmental, interdisciplinary and
international council of scien- tists and as a source of advice for the
benefit of governments and intergovernmental and non-governmental bodies
with respect to environmental problems. SCOPE has been established
because critical environmental concerns call for a thor- ough evaluation
of the issues at stake, an assessment of their consequences at global
and regional levels and the formulation of possible solutions. Through
its activities SCOPE identifies available knowledge, then synthesizing
it to point out where gaps and uncertainties exist, and to recommend
where efforts should be concentrated to develop explanations and
solutions.