When this century began, neither human beings nor technology had the power radically to alter planetary systems. As the century draws to a close, not only do vastly increased human populations and their activities possess that power, but we are also faced with major unintended changes that are occurring in the atmosphere, in soil, in water, among plants and animals, and in the relationships among all of them.

This paper examines the widespread environmental effects, sensu stricto, that would result from a large-scale nuclear war and the resultant ecological impacts. Singled out for analysis are the effects of wildfires, radioactive fallout, enhanced ultraviolet radiation, loss of atmospheric oxygen, gain in atmospheric carbon dioxide, and reductions in sunlight and temperature; also of combinations and ramifications of these adverse phenomena.

Ten years on from the landmark environmental education conference at Tbilisi, it is salutary to reflect on the extent to which some of the distinguishing characteristics espoused in the nineteen-seventies are manifest in environmental education of the 'eighties. The critical problem-solving interest of environmental education recommended in the literature of the 'seventies was consistent with the social/political concerns of the world community at the time—concerns to which the UNESCO environmental education programme was a response. However, this critical problem-solving interest is not commonplace in schools, and still represents a serious challenge to the existing patterns of schooling. Consequently the position that environmental education should entail widespread educational reform is nowadays becoming stronger and more evident.

Evaluation of the conservation education programme at Kinabalu Park in Malaysia demonstrated the importance of such evaluation in determining a programme's worth and providing due observation of feedback and opportunity for improvement. The goal of the programme was to foster more favourable attitudes towards the park system and the conservation of natural resources than formerly prevailed among local villagers. The programme was formally evaluated by using a survey instrument in the form of a mobile unit's questionnaire that had been designed to obtain information about shifts in villagers' attitudes towards the Park before and after exposure to the conservation programme.

Increasing recognition that the overall goals of environmental conservation and economic development are not conflicting but can be mutually reinforcing, has prompted calls for ‘environmentally sustainable’ economic development. Although there are difficulties in defining sustainable development in an analytically rigorous way, there is still a need to evolve a concept of sustainability that both distinguishes it from other post-war meanings of development and is useful for practical analysis and policymaking.

Understanding of processes of change in the global environment comes from analysis of evidence that spans the boundaries between nations and between disciplines. Scientists are obliged to work across those boundaries in a variety of ways if they are to arrive at reasonably accurate judgements as to what is known or not known about the alterations that are taking place in the air, water, soil, and biota, of the Earth. One of the devices which they have used since 1969 is the Scientific Committee on Problems of the Environment (SCOPE).

The Ganga's unique and numerous virtues appear to be based on myths, but the reasons for its importance are traceable to scientific premises. The Ganga, symbolizing Indian culture and civilization, is regarded by the Hindus as the holiest amongst the rivers, and it is the Indo-Gangetic plain's most significant river owing to its mighty basin and course, and extraordinarily high self-purifying powers. The Ganga originates from Gangori in the Uttrakhand Himalayan glacier as an upland stream, emerges as a river of the plains at Rishikesh, and, after traversing almost the entirety of India from West to East, finally merges into the Bay of Bengal.

A method is described of matching environmentally significant areas (ESAs) with the most appropriate form of management for each, selected from all the available forms. This involves comparing the purpose, reasons for significance, existing uses, and tenure, of each ESA, with the characteristics of agencies, protected area categories, legislation, and non-statutory arrangements for management, as well as examining agency coordination mechanisms or other means of implementation. The method was formulated for ESAs in the Northwest Territories (NWT) of Canada, but is considered to have wide applicability. It is illustrated with a test application to seven proposed ESAs in what is termed the eastern Beaufort Sea region.

The National Conservation Strategy for Australia (NCSA, 1983) provides Australia with nationally agreed guidelines for the use of her living resources. It orginated from the World Conservation Strategy (WCS, 1980) and was developed through a process of public discussion which is described in this paper. A Steering Committee was established to oversee the development of the Strategy and guide a task-force. Conservation, industry, scientific, and government, interests were all represented throughout the development of the Strategy.

The state of the environment and its proper management is a prerequisite condition for the sustainable development of any country, and Pakistan is no exception.

Thus, availability of appropriate quantities of water and energy on a reliable basis in Pakistan is essential for improving the quality of life. This means that the policies formulated and actions taken must ensure that the developments taking place should not endanger the overall resource and environmental bases of the country, on which the development process itself depends. Currently, some serious environmental problems exist in Pakistan in terms of salinity development, waterlogging, and inefficient water-use, in the water sector, and deforestation in the energy sector—especially so far as fuel-wood availability is concerned. Furthermore, deforestation in the upper reaches of the catchment areas is contributing to high sediment-loads in the rivers of Pakistan, which in turn is reducing the reservoir capacities and their designed economic lives.