Sir Shridath Ramphal is a former minister of Guyana and was secretary-general of the fifty-nation Commonwealth 1975-1990. He was a member of all the major international commissions that reported in the 1980s, including the Brandt Commission on Environment and Development. Formally president of the World Conservation Union (IUCN) and chairman of a commission looking into the future of the West Indies, he brings to his writing the views of a lifelong internationalist informed by the perspectives of developing nations.
This book addresses the question: "If the development of the quarter of the world's people who are now rich has brought us all so close to the limits of sustainable living on Earth, how is the development of the three-quarters who are poor to be accommodated?" For Ramphal, president of the World Conservation Union and a native of Guyana, that challenge is more than academic--it is a matter of ethics, of maintaining a decent quality of living for people in developed countries, of ensuring that people in developing countries have opportunities for economic growth. Among the topics he covers are global warming, ozone depletion, fossil fuel consumption, deforestation, water contamination, biodiversity, and disposal of nuclear materials. Ramphal incorporates scientific information from many sources to underscore a correlative theme, that developed countries must lower their own natural resource consumption levels while enabling developing countries to achieve higher growth levels. His explanations of the physical bases of current environmental problems are easily accessible to all readers. An excellent purchase for public libraries, especially in light of the recent Earth Summit. Previewed in "Sources for Sustaining the Earth," LJ 5/15/92, p. 116-17.--Ed.
- Ruth M. Mara, Agency for International Development, Washington,
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.