Interconnectivity of both natural and anthropogenic phenomena occurring anywhere on the earth, through weather, climate, geosphere and biosphere have inextricably linked the fate of each country with that of the world as a whole. The fact that the increase in green house gases, deforestation and depletion of ozone result in global warming affecting the entire global climate, disturbances in EL Nino and ENSO off the coast of Peru can result in severe drought across Asia, Australia and Africa, or volcanic eruptions and industrial activity can change pattern of rain precipitation across the world clearly emphasise the necessity to take a global view for the survival of humankind, as a whole.

The fundamental aspect of long term sustainable development strategy is based on the paradigm of technological innovations, economic determinism and physical constraints arising out of the need to strike a judicious balance between ultimate exploitability and regenerative capacity. This essentially means that all nations must think globally and act locally, because the survival of the planet as a whole depends on the restoration of equity and assurance of minimal needs to all the people in the world. With his remarkable insight, President Kennedy stated over thirty years ago that:

Never before has man had such capacity to control his own environment, to end thirst and hunger, to conquer poverty and disease, to banish illiteracy and massive human misery. We have the power to make this the best generation of mankind or to make it the last.

We hope that the human kind will have the wisdom to choose the former and strive ceaselessly towards achieving sustainable integrated development of our planet as a whole to enable all peoples of the world, both in the developed and the developing countries, to live a reasonably good quality of life. It is only then we can make Isiah’s prophecy come true that

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fig. 6: Causes of Land Degradation in past 45 years