Challenges of the decade: Natural disasters and global change

The 1990s can be seen, in many ways, as a transitional decade. THe concept of environmentally sustainable development is becoming accepted as a paradigm for the 21st century, gradually overtaking the concepts of environmental protection and resource management. It will be increasingly unacceptable to view environmental protection as an add‐on or afterthought to economic development activities. The U.N. Conference on Environment and Development, the ‘‘Earth Summit’’ of June 1992, sough to strengthen economic development in ways that reinforce environmental values.Two of the major, inter‐related, issues driving these changes in approach to both environment and development, are climate change as influenced by human‐generated greenhouse gases, and the reduction of losses, human and economic, due to natural environmental hazards. The Second World Climate Conference in late 1990, lead to opening of international negotiation of a global convention on climate change. This convention, signed at the Earth Summit, e...