Population, Environment, and Development

We face major and intimately interlinked problems of population, environment, and development. They are so profound and pervasive that they surely represent a uniquescale challenge for Humankind. The issues and policy responses will preoccupy the best understanding on the part of political leaders and scientists alike during the planning process leading up to the United Nations Conference on Population and Development which is to be held in Cairo from 5–13 September 1994. Scientific aspects are to be addressed at an earlier conference that is to be attended by representatives of some 80 of the world's academies in New Delhi in late October 1993. The present paper reviews the principal factors and analyses relating to the three problems, with emphasis upon their interactive relationships. It concludes with an extended list of strategies to reduce both population growth and environmental degradation—twin challenges to be tackled within a framework of sustainable development, to which both will make critical contributions.