2007 marked the 20th anniversary of the G.H.Brundtland Commission report
that broke new ground by addressing the issue of sustainable development
as a means of avoiding an ecological catastrophe. This led to a
multitude of political declarations, documents and scientific articles
while Agenda 21 - adopted in 1992 in Rio de Janeiro - has been accepted
by the governments of more than 100 countries. Sadly, however, this has
not prevented certain recent dangerous trends, nor have the wider
public, journalists, business circles or politicians grasped the urgency
of the problem. It is therefore important to make humanity understand
its real place in the natural environment and the gravity of the
ecological threat before us.
The exclusive role of natural ecosystems is a key factor in the
maintenance of the biospheric equilibrium. The current global crisis is
largely caused by their dramatic decline by 43% in the past hundred
years. Ignoring the immutable laws and limitations which determine the
existence of all living things in the biosphere could lead humanity to
an ecological catastrophe. This book presents the ecological,
demographic, economic and socio-psychological manifestations of the
global crisis and outlines the immutable laws and limitations which
determine the existence of all living things in the biosphere.
The authors are eminently qualified to write about the problems
associated with the global crisis and consider the causes behind
humanity's conflict with its environment. V. Danilov-Danilian, Associate
of the Russian Academy of Sciences and Russia's former Minister of the
Environment, and K. Losev, professor at Moscow State university, are
leading Russian ecologists and I. Reyf is a journalist who specializes
in ecology and global development. Dr. Danilov-Danilian works on the
economics of nature management, economic and mathematical model
building, sustainable development theory and ecology. Dr Losev is the
chief researcher and head of the division of the VINITI. All the authors
have published numerous papers, articles and books on such subjects as
glaciology, hydrology, environment studies, global change and
sustainable development.
