The Global Challenge

Safeguard protected natural areas from development. Over the past two decades population pressures and a shortage of arable land have forced some 200 million landless peasants out of traditional farming areas and onto protected land rich in biodiversity. These "shifted cultivators," as Myers has termed them, have little choice but to exploit the animal and plant species in these "biological oases" (164). To protect these natural areas, more must be done to help farmers settle on productive land, while stemming the future flow of population into protected natural areas.

Implement the Convention on Biological Diversity. This Convention, which was opened for signature at the Earth Summit in Rio, took force in December 1993 and so far has been ratified by 175 countries. The Convention has three major objectives: conserving biodiversity, ensuring its sustainable use, and guaranteeing the fair and equitable sharing of its benefits.

The US has rejected this third objective, as currently worded, largely because of the influence of the pharmaceutical industry. As a result, the US has not ratified the Convention and is unlikely to help implement it until agreement can be reached on how to compensate the US pharmaceutical industry for its bio-prospecting costs (6). Nevertheless, the Convention can be a major force for conservation, and the 175 countries that have ratified can do more to achieve its goals.

Toward a Livable Future

Assuring a livable future requires practicing sustainable development. Enabling people around the world to meet their current needs without depriving future generations of the resources needed to meet their needs poses a challenge (259). Currently, humanity is using about one-third more of the earth's biological productivity than can be regenerated. To achieve sustainable development, people must learn, in effect, to live on the world's "ecological interest" instead of drawing down its "ecological capital" (see p. 4).

Debate continues about how best to accomplish sustainable development (6, 8, 91,189). Nevertheless, in a number of areas, progress is being made. Particularly important are:

* Improving energy efficiency;

* Planning cities better;

* Ending environmentally destructive subsidies;

* Adopting water resources management;

* Saving forests;

* Accomplishing a second Green Revolution;

* Managing coastal zones and ocean fisheries;

* Curbing pollution, improving health;

* Safeguarding biodiversity; and

* Stabilizing world population

Improving Energy Efficiency

Using energy more efficiently is becoming one of the world's highest priorities and greatest challenges (50, 80). The 20% of humanity in the most affluent countries consume close to 60% of the world's commercial energy (222). Nonetheless, most industrialized countries use energy more efficiently than developing countries, which often do not have the means to invest in energy-saving technologies or pollution control measures (69, 222,226, 261).