Conclusions and recommendations for action

Abstract

These words were delivered in 1987 at the United Nations General Assembly on the Issues of Environment and Development. Although much has been learned about the expected impacts of climate change on ecosystems and people, and some important actions are emerging, much is still to be done to diminish further the gap between knowledge and action. Global climate change of the magnitude and rate seen in the past hundred years is a relatively recent, unfamiliar threat to the conditions of the natural environment and human health. It is one of a set of large-scale environmental changes now underway, each reflecting the increasing impacts of human activities on the global environment (2). These changes, including: stratospheric ozone depletion; biodiversity loss; worldwide land degradation; freshwater depletion; and the global dissemination of persistent organic pollutants have great consequences for the sustainability of ecological systems, food production, human economic activities and human population health (3). In turn, these global environmental changes are the result of a complex set of drivers. These include: population change (population growth, movement and rapid urbanization); unsustainable economic development (manifested in current production and consumption patterns); energy, agricultural and transport policies; and the current state of science and technology (4). Economic and technological developments have contributed to a remarkable improvement in the global health status since the industrial revolution. The unwanted side effect of this development has been a range of harmful changes to the environment, initially at local level but now extending to the global scale. Many of these largescale environmental changes threaten ecosystems and human health. Indeed, scientists are concerned that current levels and types of human economic activities may be impairing the planet’s life-support systems at a global level (5). Various global environmental threats have been followed by concerted actions in the form of international conventions, global assessments and global agendas