January 1973 (26th year) - U.K.: 13p - North America: 50 cts - France: 1.

70 F

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TREASURES Geometry of abstraction, 2000 B.C.
Masterwork of abstraction, this Persian female deity (20 cm., 8 in. high) carved in stone some
4,000 years ago, was unearthed at Tepe Hissar in northwest Iran, near the Caspian Sea. Reducing
the human form to its simplest expression, with two triangles representing body and limbs,
WORLD ART topped by a cylinder-shaped head, the sculptor has produced a geometric-shaped figure whose
pure forms and lines are strikingly modern. Tepe Hissar (tepe means mound or hillock) is one
of many ancient sites where archaeologists have made rich discoveries of pottery, vases of stone
and metal, jewellery and figurines dating from the Bronze Age.
Photo © Teheran Museum, from " L'Art Iranien ", Bibliothèque des Arts, Paris. 1971
 UNESCO Courier Page

A WORLD POLICY FOR THE ENVIRONMENT

By Lynton K. Caldwell
JANUARY 1973
26TH YEAR
8 ONLY ONE EARTH

By Barbara Ward
NOW PUBLISHED IN 14 LANGUAGES

English Italian 11 THE LIMITS TO GROWTH

French Hindi Interview with the President of the Club of Rome

Spanish Tamil
12 LIMITS TO THE LIMITS TO GROWTH
Russian Hebrew
German Persian By Gunnar Myrdal

Arabic Dutch
14 ENVIRONMENT AND POLITICAL COMMITMENT
Japanese Portuguese
Young scientists' round table at Unesco
Published monthly by UNESCO
The United Nations 16 MEDITERRANEAN: DANGER! OIL POLLUTION
Educational, Scientific
By Carlo Munns
and Cultural Organization
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18 THE ANIMAL WORLD OF UGO MOCHI
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copies: 13 p stg.; 50 cents: 1.70 F. UNDER-DEVELOPMENT

By Josué de Castro
The UNESCO COURIER is published monthly, except in
August and September when it is bi-monthly (11 issues a
year) in English, French, Spanish, Russian, German, Arabic,
Japanese, Italian, Hindi, Tamil, Hebrew, Persian, Dutch and 25 THE MYTH OF ECOLOGICAL EQUILIBRIUM
Portuguese. For list of distributors see inside back cover.
By Miguel A.Ozorio de Almeida
Individual articles and photographs not copyrighted may
be reprinted providing the credit line reads "Reprinted from
the UNESCO COURIER." plus date of issue, and three
voucher copies are sent to the editor. Signed articles re¬ 27 10 MAJOR POLLUTANTS
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Unsolicited manuscripts cannot
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29 THE BIOSPHERE IS TEN TIMES RICHER
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opinions of the authors and do not necessarily represent THAN WE THINK
the opinions of UNESCO or those of the editors of the
UNESCO COURIER.
By Nikolai Timofeyev-Ressovsky
The Unesco Courier Is indexed monthly in the
Readers' Guide to Periodical Literature, published by
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33 UNESCO NEWSROOM
tents - Education, Philadelphia, U.S.A.

33 FURTHER READING ON THE ENVIRONMENT

Editorial Office
Unesco, Place de Fontenoy, Paris-7a France

34 LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Editor-in-Chief
Sandy Koffler

Assistant Editor-in-Chief TREASURES OF WORLD ART

René Caloz
Geometry of abstraction, 2000 B.C. (Iran)
Assistant to the Editor-in-Chief
Olga Rodel

Managing Editors
English Edition : Ronald Fenton (Paris)
French Edition : Jane Albert Hesse (Paris)
Spanish Edition : Francisco Fernández-Santos (Paris)
Russian Edition :
Georgi Stetsenko (Paris)
German Edition : Hans Rieben (Berne) f
Arabic Edition : Abdel Moneim El Sawi (Cairo)
ONLY ONE EARTH
Japanese Edition : Kazuo Akao (Tokyo)
Italian Edition : Maria Remiddi (Rome) Proud of his technological mastery
Hindi Edition : Kartar Singh Duggal (Delhi) and eager to grasp its benefits, man
Tamil Edition : N.D. Sundaravadivelu (Madras) has been burning the candle at both
Hebrew Edition : Alexander Peli (Jerusalem) ends and despoiling the biosphere on
Persian Edition : Fereydoun Ardalan (Teheran) which his existence depends. Careless
Dutch Edition : Paul Morren (Antwerp) technology has polluted the oceans,
Portuguese Edition : Benedicto Silva (Rio de Janeiro) land and atmosphere to such an extent
that the quality of life Is rapidly depreci¬
Assistant Editors
ating. At the United Nations Confer¬
English Edition : Howard Brabyn ence on the Human Environment, held
French Edition : Philippe Ouannès
in Stockholm last summer, the nations
Spanish Edition : Jorge Enrique Adoum of the world took the first tentative
Illustrations : Anne-Marie Maillard steps towards resolving the problem of
Research : Zoé Allix safeguarding our planet while at the
Layout and Design : Robert Jacquemin same time ensuring an improvement in
All correspondence should be addressed to the standard of life for the developing
the Editor-in-Chief countries.
 No nation can as yet claim true expertise In environmental man¬
agement. The so-called developed nations are only a few years
ahead of the developing states in awareness and experience. Here,
a highly advanced Argentinian farmer, near the city of Rosario,
steers his harvester round a clump of trees in the centre of his
beautifully worked field.

A world policy
for the
environment
by Lynton K. Caldwell

HE basic concept of world cal significance of the complex unity Fontainebleau (France) with the assis¬
environmental policy and decision¬ of the biosphere preceded, by several tance of Unesco, the International
making is now the biosphere. This decades, a comparable political Union for Conservation of Nature
term, and the idea it expresses, is scar¬ awareness. Not until the Paris Bio¬ (IUCN) was established. The Union
cely more than a century old. Its devel¬ sphere Conference of 1968, sponsored has now become the world conserva¬
opment has been truly international. by Unesco (in co-operation with the tion organization, its name extended
Its origins have been traced to the United Nations, the World Health to include Natural Resources, and its
French naturalist, Lamarck; the term Organization, the Food and Agriculture functions enlarged to environmental
first appeared (1875) in the scientific Organization, the International Union policy, law, and administration.
writings of the Austrian geographer, for Conservation of Nature and Nat¬
More recently (1970), the Internation¬
Suess; and its full development and ural Resources, and the International
al Council of Scientific Unions (ICSU)
entry into the lexicon of modern Biological Programme of the Internat¬ established its Scientific Committee on
science was largely the work of the ional Council of Scientific Unions) did
Problems of the Environment (SCOPE).
Russian mineralogist, V.l. Vernadsky. the world environment, as biosphere,
As with IUCN, SCOPE has found that
Scientific recognition of the practi- appear upon the agenda of official
its primarily scientific mission cannot
representatives of nations and inter¬
be adequately performed without con¬
national organizations.
sidering the human impact upon the
LYIMTON K. CALDWELL'S Professor of Pub¬ United Nations conferences in 1949 environment.
lic and Environmental Affairs and of Poli¬ (Conservation and Utilization of Re¬
tical Science at Indiana University (U.S.A.), This impact, however, results not
sources) and 1963 (Application of
and Chairman of the Committee on Environ¬ only from the activities of human indi¬
mental Policy, Law and Administration of the
Science and Technology for the Bene¬
viduals; it is widely organized and
International Union for Conservation of fit of Less Developed Areas) may have
mediated through governments, cor¬
Nature and Natural Resources in Morges tacitly assumed the oneness of the
(Switzerland). He has published five books planet Earth. But they did not exam¬
porations, and international organiza¬
on problems of the environment, including tions. Even to analyze and describe
"Environment: A Challenge to Modern So¬ ine the implications of this complex
the interactions of man with the envi¬
ciety' (Natural History Press, 1970; Anchor unity for man-environment relation¬
Paperbacks, 1971), and more than 100 arti¬ ronment requires inputs from social
ships. The behaviour of peoples and
cles and papers. His most recent book, 'In and behavioural disciplines not fully
governments toward the biosphere
Defense of Earth" (Indiana University Press. represented among the scientific
4 1972) describes the growth of International was left largely unexplored until 1968.
bodies forming ICSU.
efforts to protect the biosphere. A new book, As often happens in public affairs,
'Man and Environment: Public Policy and
Administration' will be published In 1973 by non-governmental action preceded offi¬ In microcosm this need to integrate
Harper and Row, New York. cial political recognition. In 1948, at all relevant sciences and professional
skills in analyzing the environmental ronment Fund, made up of the volun¬ or preservation of a national heritage.
decision process reflects the larger tary contributions of national govern¬
The analogy of the biosphere as the
problem of governments and inter¬ ments. Support for the Fund has al¬
planetary life-support system achieved
national organizations in coping with ready been pledged by a number of
popular comprehension as a conse¬
complex environmental questions to states, including Canada, the German
quence of the voyages into outer space
which no single discipline can provide Federal Republic, Iran, Japan, Sweden,
by Americans and Soviets (the Spa¬
an adequate answer. the Netherlands, and the United States.
ceship Earth concept); the vision
If the Biosphere Conference of 1968 Disposition of the Stockholm recom¬
of the lonely blue planet viewed by
marked the arrival of international poli¬ mendations rests, of course, with the the astronauts and cosmonauts had a
tical awareness of the world environ¬ General Assembly of the U.N., with profound psychological impact upon
ment, the United Nations Conference national governments, and with the the peoples of the Earth.
on the Human Environment, meeting U.N. Specialized Agencies. Imple¬
mentation of the Action Plan cannot be No event in historic time has dra¬
in Stockholm in June 1972, provided
confirmation of this awareness. accomplished overnight, but there are matized more powerfully the unity and
good reasons for believing that most fragility of the biosphere. The symbol
The Biosphere Conference was of "only one earth" transcended lan¬
of it will ultimately be put into effect.
technically an assembly of scientific Even without official endorsement, guages and ideologies; its message
experts, whereas the United Nations readable even by the illiterate. And
many of the recommendations may
Conference was a meeting of political influence and guide the environmental while it would be difficult to demons¬
representatives of governments. Rep¬ decisions of governmental and inter¬ trate that the lunar voyages directly
resentatives of more than 110 na¬
national officials. influenced specific environmental deci¬
tions were present at Stockholm and sions, they clearly affected the climate
adopted an Action Plan of 109 recom¬ Support for guarded optimism may
of thought and opinion in which action
be found in action taken by national
mendations to national government and was taken by governments and inter¬
governments to cope with their envi¬
international organizations. The Con¬ national organizations after 1968.
ronmental problems. As late as 1968,
ference also adopted a declaration,
no country was organized politically Between 1969 and 1972, nearly
and proposed new U.N. machinery to
assist the translation of the work of the
or administratively to deal with "envi¬ every industrialized nation took legisla¬
Conference into scientific and political ronment" as such. Decisions affecting tive or administrative action to cope
action.
man-environment
made pursuant to
interactions
other
were
considera¬
more effectively with its environmental 5
problems. A landmark in national
To facilitate this task the Conference tions,such as public health, econo¬ legislation was the signing on January 1 ,
urged establishment of a World Envi mic policy, tourism, national security, 1970 by the President of the United

CONTINUED NEXT PAGE

 WORLD POLICY (Continued)

States of the National Environmental

Policy Act of 1969. This far-reaching
law established criteria to guide the
decisions of agencies of the United
States Government that had a signi¬
ficant impact upon the environment.
The Act contains a novel method of
enforcement. For any action by any
federal agency having a significant
environmental impact, a responsible
official must prepare a five-point
statement explaining, and justifying,
the action proposed. These statements
have been made subject to review by
the high-level Council on Environmen¬
tal Quality (also established by the
Act) and are made available to state
governments, to other federal agencies,
and to the concerned public.
In 1970, the United Kingdom provi¬
ded, in a White Paper on Protection
of the Environment, a basis for govern¬
mental reorganization leading to estab¬
lishment of the Department of the
Environment. In 1971, the French
Government established a Ministry for
the Protection of Nature and the Envi¬

ronment. In Sweden, Canada, Japan,

and many other countries, new envi¬
ronmental agencies were created, or
existing departments and ministries
were reorganized.
The world-wide impact of environ¬
mental concepts upon governmental
organization was evident in the reports
submitted by as many as 80 countries
to the Preparatory Committee for the
United Nations Conference on the
Human Environment.

Prior to the U.N. Conference, and

at the plenary sessions at Stockholm,
representatives of national govern¬
ments issued formal declarations re¬
garding the environmental policies of
their nations. A collection of these
statements has been assembled for
publication by the IUCN, and they
indicate a. widespread commitment by
heads of state and high-ranking offi¬
cials to the objectives of environ¬
mental improvement and protection.

A major task in institutionalizing

national decisions on environmental
effects because of failure to reconcile It is not always easy to discover
issues is to find ways to reconcile
technology with ecological realities exactly where and how the structure
ecology and economics. National dev¬
and development goals: (The Careless of decision-making has led to un-
elopment goals and policies, regard¬ Technology: Ecology and International desired results. The actual mechanisms
ing the applications of science and
Development. Edited by M.T. Farvar of decision in governmental and inter¬
technology, have often been formu¬
and J.P. Milton, Natural History Press, national agencies are seldom fully
lated without adequate regard to their 1972). open to public scrutiny or to beha¬
ecological consequences.
In nearly all of the more than 50 vioural research. Private corporate de¬
In the past, the political and admin¬ cisions are usually even less amenable
cases reported, the miscarriage of
istrative structures, through which development may be explained by in¬ to investigation. And yet the wide¬
decisions were taken, handicapped and adequacies in the structuring of deci¬ spread current tendency of govern¬
often precluded, co-ordination and re¬ ments to reorganize for environmental
sion-making. At policy formulating
conciliation of environmental and management indicates that there is a
levels there was seldomadequate
developmental policies. In pursuit of means for obtaining a full input of recognized desire for structural im¬
development goals serious ecological relevant scientific data, for identifying provement.
errors have been made in many coun¬ alternate means to development goals,
tries, leading too often to disappoint¬ Many of the U.N. Specialized Agen¬
or for testing the probable outcomes cies have established environmental
ing failures of development and to of these alternatives.
waste of scarce resources. offices or co-ordinative arrangements
Moreover, institutional machinery for for environmental affairs; and the
There has been recently published project execution seldom was provided Stockholm Conference (as previously
a 1,060 page volume of case studies with guidelines, check points, and peri¬ noted) recommended the establish¬
6 and analyses by 70 internationally-
known scientists examining develop¬
odic reassessments of technical pro¬
cedures that could enable projects to
ment of an environmental office in the
United Nations Secretariat. The Eco¬
ment projects that were unsuccessful be redirected when self-defeating or nomic and Financial Committee of
or that produced destructive side- when dysfunctional effects appeared. the U.N. General Assembly recently
CONTINUED PAGE 32
The bicycles Last summer, Stockholm was the scene of an International meeting of vital concern to all peoples and
governments the U.N. Conference on the Human Environment In photo left, U.N. Secretary-General,
Kurt Waldheim, is dwarfed by the giant emblem symbolizing man and the biosphere, as he opens the
first meeting. Many thousands of young people from virtually every country congregated in Stock¬
of holm at the time (photos above), and at the U.N. conference, as well as at independent Environment
Forums and spontaneous gatherings, gave voice (and music) to their views and feelings about pollu¬
tion, war, overpopulation and other environmental questions. Delegates scorned autos and other

Stockholm polluting transport and took to bicycles instead. Photo below, General Secretary of the U.N. meeting
Maurice Strong (second from left) leads a group of delegates through the streets of Stockholm.

*
 Study of the biosphere has led us to take a new
look at the interaction of man with his planet. Right,
"The False Mirror", by the Belgian surrealist artist
René Magritte (1928). "We are", says Barbara
Ward, "the generation to see through the eyes of
the astronauts the astonishing 'earthrise' of our

ONLY
small and beautiful planet above the barren hori¬
zons of the moon".

ONE EARTH
by Barbara Ward

Text © Copyright- Reproduction prohibited

I
cannot help wondering tidn that has used radio telescopes survival, full or inmensely delicate and
whether we may not be present at to uncover 100,000 million other vulnerable mechanisms, leaves, bac¬
one of those turning points in man's galaxies each with 100,000 million teria, plankton, catalysts, levels of
affairs when the human race begins other suns. We belong to the genera¬ dissolved oxygen, thermal balances
to see itself and its concerns from a tion that has brought nuclear energy which alone permit the sun's searing
new angle of vision and, as a result, to earth, made possible by computers energies to be transmuted and life to
finds new openings for action, for the simulation, acceleration and for¬ carry on.
courage and for hope. ward projection of infinitely complicat¬ Our experts also tell us what we do
ed human activities and provided us
I cannot help wondering whether not know. Given our suddenly and
with instantaneous worldwide and
today's debates on the human environ¬ vastly increasing numbers, our enor¬
interplanetary visible and audible
ment, in their passion, scale and ori¬ mous rise in the use of energy,
communication.
ginality, do not resemble the profound including nuclear energy, and our
questionings of the accepted order Above all, we are the generation to fabulous mastery of molecular chem¬
which erupt into human history in see through the eyes of the astronauts istry, we impinge on the fine balances
times of radical change. the astonishing "earthrise" of our and mechanisms of the total system
small and beautiful planet above the in ways and with consequences that
One thinks of the intellectual ferment
barren horizons of the moon. Indeed, we too often are in no position to
which, over two millenia ago, accom¬ we in this generation would be some judge.
panied the end of China's feudal wars
kind of psychological monstrosity if
and the establishment of the first Let me give one example. Our
this were not an age of Intense, pas¬
great centralized Han dynasty. In traditional vision of the oceans is
sionate, committed debate and search.
more recent history men had almost boundless. It is inconceivable to our
to stand on their heads to realize
So vast is the scale of change imagination that we should perma¬
through which we live that there must
that the sun did not go round the nently damage this infinity of water.
be an equally vast range of competitors But we have no idea of its capacity
earth, but the reverse. This "Coperni-
for first place as agents of upheaval.
can Revolution" is the archetype of to absorb as it ultimately must
I wish to suggest three areas in which
fundamental change by which men virtually all the planet's wastes.
the concepts that are being virtually
learn to rethink, totally, their place in In the last two or three decades,
forced upon us offer a startling break
the scheme of things.
from past patterns of thought and to give only one instance, a high
Our own epoch is, I believe, such an accepted wisdom. percentage of the long-lived chlori¬
age again. We belong to the genera- nated hydrocarbons including DDT
The first is the possibility of
appear to have been absorbed into
making the planet unfit for life.
natural "sinks" in the biosphere.
Hitherto, people have known that they
Recent sample-taking suggests an
BARBARA WARD (Lady Jackson), well-known could do local damage. They could
British economist and writer, Is co-author unexpectedly high dosage appearing
farm carelessly and lose top soil or
(with René Dubos) of 'Only One Earth', in the oceans.
deforest or overgraze or mine out a
written specially for the U.N. Conference on
the Human Environment (details page 33). Her mineral. They also contrived to live Does this mean that natural storage
other books Include "The Rich Nations and through major natural disasters systems are filling up? Will further
the Poor Nations" (1962), "Spaceship Earth' effluents reinforce irreversible damage
earthquakes, tornadoes, ice ages. But
(1966), and "An Urban Planet" (1971). Bar¬
nobody thought that the planet itself to marine species known to be suscep¬
bara Ward is at present Schweitzer Profes¬
sor of International Economic Development could be at risk. tible to such substances as DDT?
at Columbia University, in New York. The Is this part of a deeper risk of
full text of the article presented here will
Today our experts know something
new. They know that air, soil and deterioration from a steadily widening
shortly be published by W.W. Norton (New
York) In a collection of papers of the Dis¬ water form a totally interdependent range of chemical wastes? We do
tinguished Lecture Series at Stockholm, 1972, not know.
worldwide system or biosphere sus¬
sponsored by the International Institute of
taining all life, transmitting all energy Rivers and lakes teach us that there
Environmental Affairs and the Population
Institute. and in spite of its rugged powers of are limits to water's self-cleansing
 Photo © The Museum of Modern Art, New York

properties. Ultimately the oceans are pull the developing peoples up in the sonable likelihood for developed
one vast cistern with no outlet. This wake of the already developed nations. societies by the year 2000, for two
image is a safer one, perhaps, than thirds of mankind, $400 a year looks
This is a sort of "follow-my-leader"
that of infinite and "moving waters at concept of economic satisfactions like being the utmost reach of
their priest-like task of pure ablution optimism. For perhaps a third, mal¬
according to which, over the next fifty
round earth's human shores." nutrition, illiteracy, shanty-town dwel¬
years, per capita incomes all round
And it underlines the need for world¬ the world rise to meet, say, America's ling and unemployment In other
words, the worst of all human environ¬
wide monitoring and research to ensure present annual average of $4,000 or,
that over the next forty years of still to use a concrete measurement, a ments could be the most likely fate.
continuing growth in people, indus¬ million calories and thirteen tons of But now we must add another
trialization, consumption and inter¬ coal equivalent in energy. At the constraint. Even if we assume unlimit¬
continental transport we do not, unwit¬ same time developed standards would ed resources with which to develop,
tingly, take the oceans themselves rise to perhaps $10,000 or $15,000 per development is, as we have seen,
past some still unmeasured threshold capita with a two-home, three-car, grossly uneven. But suppose there
of "no-return". four-TV-set norm in the upper income are indeed strict physical "limits to
brackets.
This concept of newly understood growth"? Suppose that these delicate
limits is relevant to the second But this implicit assumption of mechanisms and balances in the
reversal of earlier concepts whose unending expansion has two self- biosphere that make life possible
implications I would judge to be most reinforcing flaws. Even within the cannot sustain 10,000 million people
revolutionary for the present age. For wealthiest states, even with all the all aiming to produce and consume and
over a century now and with Increasing transfers of resources from richer to discard and pollute according to pre¬
enthusiasm in the last 25 years, we poorer citizens secured by tax and sent developed standards?
have seen in economic growth, mea¬ welfare and social insurance, "trickle
Here, admittedly, the range of debate
sured by the satisfaction of both down" economics do not ensure the
is very wide. Some experts believe
ordinary and induced material needs, ending of poverty at the base of
that 20,000 million people can live at
a prime aim of national policy and society. The lowest twenty per cent
America's present standards simply on
a powerful solvent of social conflict. can have as little as five per cent of
the products of atomic energy, water
Inside the nation, as output and national income, the top twenty per and the minerals in common rock.
incomes rise, the flow of goods will cent as much as forty.
Others postulate irretrievable damage
be great enough to reward effort and In the world at large, where no in terms of exhausted resources, ther- rt
enterprise and provide on an upward systematic social transfers occur, the mal pollution, and environmental dis- H
scale for the needs of the mass of richer states are pulling away from ruption if even half that number secure
the people. In the world economy, the less developed ones. Even if the current standards of the rich. We
international trade and investment will $10,000 a year per capita is a rea are at the beginning of this debate.
CONTINUED NEXT PAGE
 ONLY ONE EARTH (Continued)

But one point is surely clear. There developing states could take full legitimate to entertain shall we say,
are limits. The biosphere is not infin¬ advantage of the greatest asset of late a modest hope?
ite. Populations must become stable. comers to learn from other people's
So must the demands they make. The first is that the Stockholm
mistakes. Equally it is possible that
to control wastes and effluents at an Conference was held at all. Once the
But in that case, whose upward
environmental concern moves nearer
aspirations must first be checked? early stage of modernization would
greatly add to costs and strains. to the centre of the nations' attention,
Given finite resources, we cannot
I do not doubt that its fuller implica¬
evade this basic social issue. Where Should poorer countries then accept
tions will inevitably unfold. For its
are the restraints to be put? What added costs for development or even whole essence is interconnexion and
is to be reduced, the luxuries of the their own modernization because dev¬
interdependence. Its whole message
rich or the necessities of the poor? eloped nations have already, as it is that separate drives, ambitions and
What are the priorities a decent hu¬ were, pre-empted so much of the
policies have to be made compatible
man environment for the whole human biosphere's costless capacities for with the continuing common life of our
species or riches for some and squalor self-cleansing? single, shared planetary system.
for the majority?
We do not know the answers. But
We can slide over this fundamental My second reason is precisely this
we do know that nations, acting indi¬
issue of environmental quality only if scientific imperative. We can cheat
vidually, will not necessarily produce
"trickle down" economics work within on morals. We can cheat on politics.
a workable planetary answer. The
a context of unlimited resources. We can deceive ourselves with dreams
relentless pursuit of separate national
Neither assumption is correct. So, as and myths. But there is no mon¬
interest by rich and poor alike can, in
nations, as a planet, we are compel¬ keying about with DNA or photosyn¬
a totally interdependent biosphere,
led to confront the fundamental Issues thesis or eutrophication or nuclear fu¬
produce global disasters of irreversible
of choice and justice. sion or the impact on all living things
environmental damage.
of excessive radiation from the sun
But at this point we encounter
a third basic challenge to our habits or the hydrogen bomb.
of thinking. Our effective instruments of
And what our incredible scientific
judgment, decision and action are
HERE are then, I suggest, breakthroughs of the last century
separate governments. The nations
three vital ways in which the reality have taught us is that the ultimate
give our planet its colour, its variety,
we are beginning to perceive diverges energy of the universe both sustains
its richness of life and experience.
from our habitual thinking. or destroys life and that the mecha¬
For those to whom full nationhood has
nisms and balances by which it be¬
come only in the last quarter of a cen¬ We normally consider Nature as a comes life-enhancing are fragile and
tury, it expresses the essence of their whole, the entire biosphere, to be safe precious beyond our belief.
being and their hopes. from man, even if we can chip away at
None of this can be doubted. Yet little bits of it. We have been taught To act without rapacity, to use
it is also true that the cumulative effect to believe, with increasing intensity in knowledge with wisdom, to respect
of the separate actions of separate recent decades, that we can moder¬ interdependence, to operate without
sovereign governments can, over time, nize all our economies and settle most hubris and greed are not simply
injure the basic national needs of all issues of distribution by our unlimited moral imperatives. They are an
of them. command of rising energy, technology accurate scientific description of the
If our airs and oceans can stand and resources. And by our millenial means of survival. It is this compel¬
history we have been taught to expect ling force of fact that may, I think,
only so much strain before they lose
final decisions to be taken by separ¬ control our separatist ambitions before
their capacity for self-purification, it
ate sovereign states. they overturn our planetary life.
will help no government to say that
others were responsible. The most It requires a desperate wrench from But man does not live by fact alone.
flagrant case is clearly the risk of accepted thinking, a profound leap, a Our human environment has within
nuclear conflict and planetary nuclear Copernican leap of the imagination,
it our perpetual striving to make it
pollution. We may rejoice that a num¬ to begin to see that in stark physical
humane as well. In the past, histor¬
ber of intergovernmental agreements and scientific reality none of these
ians tell us, there have been profound
now limit atomic testing in the air, keep pre-suppositions are any longer true.
nuclear weapons from the seabed, revulsions against the aggression,
We can damage the entire biosphere.
Outer Space and Antarctica. pride and rapacity of human systems.
Resources are not unlimited. States
But we could collectively pollute the acting separately can produce plan¬ The great ethical systems of man¬
planet not "with a bang but a whim¬ etary disaster. kind in India, in China, in the, Middle
per" by the small, steady accumu¬ East, from the benign wisdom of
We all know enough of history to
lation of long-lasting poisons and pes¬ Confucius to the passionate social
realize how uncertain it is whether this
ticides, of chemicals and tailings, of protest of the Hebrew prophets all
eroded soil and detritus and reach, change in the direction of our thinking
sought to express an underlying moral
will be made in time. Custom and
almost inadvertently, a creeping plan¬ reality, that we live by moderation, by
habit hold us to the traditional themes.
etary disaster to which all have separ¬ compassion, by justice, that we die by
ately made their cumulative contri¬ The sheer momentum of our present
aggression, by pride, by rapacity and
bution. No single nation can avert activities could well be enough to drive
greed.
us on for another four or five decades
this risk as numbers and activities rise.
on our present path. Now in these latter days, the planet
Its control will be achieved by nations
itself in its underlying physical reality
acting together or not at all. We could increase the damaging
repeats the witness of the sages and
And this raises by another route impact upon our biosphere, accentuate
the prophets. Our collective greeds
the issue of planetary justice which the deepening gulf between wealth
can degrade and destroy our basic
equally cannot be solved by nations and opportunity for an elite of dev¬ sources of life in air and soil and
acting alone. How do we ensure that eloped states and a squalid and det¬
water. Our collective injustice can
the need to check pollution does not eriorating human environment for continue to create an intolerable imbal¬
become an inhibition on the desperate everyone else. We could arrive at
ance between rich and poor. Envy
need of two thirds of humanity for no intergovernmental agreements or and fear can unleash the nuclear holo¬
development? This is an area about strategies to check either kind of
caust. At last, in this age of ultimate
which we do not know too much. profound environmental degradation. scientific discovery, our facts and our
10 It is certainly not clear that all non- This is a possible "scenario". morals have come together to tell us
pollutive technologies are more expen¬ Realists might even call it the most how we must live. I for one believe
sive. It is also possible that in opting likely one. But I would like to give profoundly that they have done so just
straight away for pollution control, you three reasons why I feel it is in time.
 THE LIMITS
TO GROWTH

Interview with

the President

of the Club of Rome

Aurelio Peccei

In April 1968, some 30 personalities from the worlds of the direction of Professor Dennis Meadows, to study the
industry, science, economics, sociology, government, etc. probable dynamics of the world situation with particular
gathered in Rome at the Accademia dei Lincei, one of the attention to the problems of making a deliberate transition
world's oldest academies of science, for an Informal dis¬ from world-wide growth to global dynamic equilibrium.
cussion on the present and future predicament of man. It
Adopting the " systems dynamics " techniques originated
was from this meeting, instigated by Italian economist and by Professor Jay Forrester, Professor Meadows and his
industrialist Aurelio Peccei and the Organization for Eco¬ team produced a computer model of the complex, interlink¬
nomic Co-operation and Development's Scottish Director- ed forces that affect man and his environment into which
General for Scientific Affairs, Dr. Alexander King, that the they introduced a number of variables that affect growth.
Club of Rome was born.
They then proceeded to make projections of man's chances
Peccei has described the Club as an " invisible college "; of survival in the future. Their ultimate conclusion was
it has some seventy members from widely varied back¬ that all projections based on growth end in collapse.
grounds who share a common conviction that it is urgent This study, the first of a series commissioned by the
to redress the world situation. The Club aims to acquire Club of Rome, was published last year in the form of the
and spread real understanding of the critical state of hu¬ now world famous book " The Limits to Growth". The
man affairs and the uncertain prospects for the future and
book has aroused enormous controversy (see for instance
to propose new policy guidelines for the intelligent pages 12, 14). In the interview accorded to Unesco recently,
management of human affairs.
extracts of which we publish below, Mr. Aurelio Peccei,
As a first step the Club commissioned a team of scien¬ President of the Club of Rome, comments on some of the
tists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, under criticisms with which it has been greeted.

QUESTION : What method did the tamination of the environment with data that could have a bearing on the
Club of Rome use for unwanted by-products of industry and interactions, we drew up over a
such a complex, global agriculture. The fifth is the use we hundred equations whose various cur¬
study ? make of our natural resources, the ves represent these interrelationships.
inherited world resources we deplete, We fed them into a computer model
Aurelio PECCEI : We based our study all too heedless of the fact that we are designed to accept as many world
on five crucial trends of world concern
living on the capital, not the income. variables as our knowledge or res¬
which, as a starting point, can be said
earch could identify.
to represent the dynamics, complexi¬
Q. : Your model comprises
ties and dangers inherent in the pre¬
five highly complex varia¬ Q. : What global conclusions
sent world system. The first trend is
bles. Did you take into has the model helped you
population growth. The second and
account the variables to reach ?
third are the parallel economic factors
within these variables ?
of industrial and agricultural growth,
in other words, the ability to meet the A. P. : The five variables we chose are
A. P. : The model is largely indicative
in character. Within two to five years
11
needs of the growing world population. interlinked and interact on each other. we hope to arrive at much firmer
The fourth factor is pollution, the con After trying to take into account all the conclusions. But the conclusions we

CONTINUED NEXT PAGE

 THE LIMITS TO GROWTH (Continued)

can draw already are alarming enough. earth of ours can provide globally and
then consider how to make better use
If present trends continue, exponential
growth of production, consumption, of it to eliminate inequalities and ten¬
sions.
pollution and depletion of raw mater¬
ials will lead to a completely imposs¬
I do not think it is possible today
ible situation: overpopulation of the to have both a global and a detailed
planet, impoverishment of our environ¬ view of the world; we do not have the
ment with our atmosphere and water
necessary techniques to do this. So
supplies polluted. our model must be improved in the
years ahead from only five para¬
meters today to ten tomorrow as
well as in other ways such as a re¬
Q. : An optimistic viewpoint
appraisal of our institutions, etc. since
suggests that this alarm¬
these represent the needs of an evol¬
ist attitude is exagge¬
ving society.
rated.

In a society that will be both fragile

A. P. : Our model is purely descriptive
and complex, when world population is
of a situation as it exists today and of double what it is now, I fear that com¬
the possible outcome if present trends puters and other tools that expand the
continue; the project was not intended capacity of the human mind will be a
as a piece of futurology. The opti¬ necessary aid to life. But if man could
mists say that the road ahead may regain some essentially human qual¬
seem dangerous but that human in¬ ities, if injustice were diminished, if
genuity, science and tecnology will be wiser generations should succeed us,
capable of solving many of the prob¬ then perhaps we should have less need
lems we now face. To my mind, the of computers to guide us. In short,
optimists fail to consider two funda¬ the choice is between a raising of our
mental factors. The first is the accel¬ ethical standards or an ant-heap exis¬
erating pace of history; our institu¬ tence. As men, I trust, our destiny
tions and our ability to react to prob¬ is not to be mere ants with no higher
lems are not fast enough for us to aspirations than feeding ourselves and
master these problems in time. achieving material well-being.
Events move more rapidly than we do.

But the second factor is even more

fundamental; critical world problems

exist for which there are no technical
solutions. These are problems of
reaction, adaptation and values. Solu¬
tions for these problems will have Text c Copyright
to be sought in the context of social
and cultural development. Thus, ra¬
ther than increase the rôle of techno¬
HE recently published Re¬
port for the Club of Rome, The Limits
logy in the world, we should, perhaps,
attempt to humanize it. This means to Growth, will probably have the use¬
that we must seek quite different solu¬ ful effect of popularizing the ecolo-
tions. gists' broad warnings of the necessity
of giving up our expectations of conti¬
nuing on the road of unrestrained
growth. But to the serious student
Q. : It is claimed that your the report has grave defects in its
model corresponds to the
very approach to the problems of both
situation in industrially
present trends and the possibilities
developed countries but
and means of altering these trends.
not to that of the Third
World, since it does not
To begin with, the report uncritically
include social or political
factors. accepts the concept Gross National
Product without any queries. Also for
A. P. : Such criticisms come closer to the rest, it builds upon, and aggregates
the truth. The real need is for a fun¬ in the most careless way, data that
damental change in our political and are extremely uncertain both in regard
social standpoints. If present trends
to economic growth itself and its
continue we shall be heading for dis¬
various components.
aster. Yet we have no new models
of the world. We want people to
Cartoon by a young Turkish artist, The data concerning threatening pol¬
realize, now, that something must be film cartoonist and book illustrator, lution and depletion are equally un¬
changed in the world. I must stress Ferruh Dogan (see also page 15)
reliable. Even a popular presentation
12 that the model merely describes the whose work has won many interna¬
tional awards, including the "Grand should contain a reminder of this, par¬
present world situation with all its pos¬
Prix" at the 1972 World Festival of
sibilities and problems. We wanted ticularly as it is of importance for the
Humour in Knokke-Heist (Belgium).
to learn from our model what this old use of these data in a system analysis.
 Photo © from
Cuadernos del

Consejo National de la
Universidad Peruana,
Dec. 1971, Lima, Peru

GUNNAR MYRDAL/s a world renowned J <i '

figure in sociology and economics. A
member of the Royal Academy of
Sciences in Sweden and former execu¬

tive secretary of the U.N. Economic

Commission for Europe, he is at present
professor of international economy at
Stockholm University. He is the author
of many authoritative studies and books
on social and economic questions, with
special reference to the developing
countries (see bibliography page 33).
The article published here is an excerpt
from a major address delivered as part
of the Distinguished Lecture Series in
Stockholm last year. The full text will
shortly be published by W. W. Norton
(New York) in a collection of these
addresses. 0

Reproduction prohibited

The authors are, in other words, over¬ ticularly in a pretended system analy¬ of the birth rate. And the importance
selling their product in regard to the sis it is simply not possible to get of them is not through the simple
validity of the basic data. away from "the social problems" mere¬ interrelations of the model. Indeed,
ly by stating that they are not taken those interrelations are fictitious.
Much more fundamental is the ques¬
into account. The ecosystem has to
tion of the realism of the report's Under these circumstances the use
be studied as part of the social system
global "world system analysis". This of mathematical equations and a huge
I have mentioned.
analysis implies, to begin with, a non- computer, which registers the alterna¬
consideration of the enormous and More specifically the report places tives of abstractly conceived policies
increasing differences and inequalities outside the "interactions" within the by a "world simulation model", may
within countries and still more between "world model" attitudes and institu¬ impress the innocent general public
countries. tions, indeed even the process of price but has little, if any, scientific validity.
formation, while politics is only repre¬ That this "sort of model is actually a
To explain this, the report states
sented by stating a number of the new tool for mankind" is unfortunately
that "inequalities of distribution are
results of abstract policy alternatives. not true. It represents quasi-learned-
defined as social problems" and then
Their system is, therefore, far from ness of a type that we have, for a long
placed outside "the world simulation
inclusive enough to have meaning. time, had too much of, not least in eco¬
model", which only "calculates the
nomics, when we try to deal with
The birth rate, for exemple, is quite
maximum possible behaviour of our
problems simply in "economic terms".
rightly a factor, and a very important
world system" provided that there is
one, within their model. But it is cer¬ In the end, those conclusions from
"intelligent action on world problems,
tainly not a function only of the other the report's analysis which are sen¬
from a world-wide perspective".
factors within that model and the inter¬ sible at all, are not different and defi¬
An economist working on these very relations between them all. As we nitely not more certain than could
problems will be hard put to give any who have studied the demographic have been reached without that elab¬
intelligible meaning to this assump¬ development in the several regions of orate apparatus by what Alfred Mar¬
tion of perfect harmony in the world. the world know, the movements of shall called "hard simple thinking
13
Still less will he be able to outline these other factors are not even aware of the limitations of what we
how it could be brought about. Par among the most important determinants know."
 Young scientists' round table at Unesco

ENVIRONMENT

AND POLITICAL

COMMITMENT

i,IN the midst of the current trialized and developing countries, to The young scientists questioned the
debate on the environmental crisis, discuss two recent models of the validity of the model on several
young scientists have made their global future and the solutions which counts, but directed most of their cri¬
voices heard on a number of impor¬ they suggest. ticisms at its political aspects. For
tant issues. The two models were the Massa¬ most participants, the selection of five
chusetts Institute of Technology-Club basic parameters, of a purely techni¬
Over the past 18 months, Unesco cal nature, meant that the model was
of Rome study, "The Limits to
has participated in several internatio¬ Growth", and the United Nations not one which applied to the real
nal meetings with young natural and World Plan of Action for the Appli¬ world situation.
social scientists: at Enschede (Nether¬
cation of Science and Technology to Why, they asked, were war, the
lands) in July 1971, at a meeting arms trade, colonialism and imperia¬
Development. In the event, the young
organized by the World Federation of scientists, meeting at Unesco's h.Q. lism rejected as specific factors that
Scientific Workers on the theme
in Paris, focused most attention on might, and indeed already were,
"Young Scientists and Contemporary the first of these studies. causing breakdowns? Why was the
Society", and at Hamilton (Canada) in The Club of Rome initiative in mak¬ unequal distribution of resources, bet¬
August 1971, at the International Youth ween nations and within them, not
ing the study was generally welcomed.
Conference on the Human Environ¬
Doubts were expressed, however, on included in the analysis?
ment.
two quite separate issues: the meth¬ There. was considerable agreement
More recently, on the eve of the ods used to construct the computer that all the model's assumptions were
conditional on an unaltered status
14 1972 United Nations Conference
the Human Environment in Stockholm,
on model; and the model's political impli¬
cations, particularly in view of the quo in world affairs; that it was a
Unesco brought together a small "a-political" stance claimed by those "conflict-free" model of a world which,

group of young scientists from indus who produced it. in reality, is torn by conflict.
 GNP (Gross National Pollution), a satir¬
ical comment on one unwanted product
of the consumer society drawn special¬
ly for the "Unesco Courier" by a young
French cartoonist, Maurice Mas. Other
drawings by Mas on pages 16 and 23.
Drawing 0 Mas, Paris

The model was also considered in their political context and only
to have some dangerous effects. secondarily, or not at all, in their
One participant described it as a scientific context. This reflects the

"recipe for stagnation" which would increasingly prevalent view among

do, and had already done, far more young scientists today that science
to obscure ideas than the piecemeal should be politically and morally
approach of the world's politicians committed; that the value of science
which the Club of Rome had sought is measured by the extent of its ethical
to avoid. commitment; and that the rôle of
science should be seen as part of the
As the young scientists saw it, one political context.
basic assumption behind the Club of
Rome model is that world population They also stressed the importance
growth is the essential cause of the of restoring public confidence in
future breakdowns in society that the science. The man in the street should

model predicts. All the participants have a clearer understanding of the

agreed that population growth is nei¬ ideas underlying science.
ther the only nor the main cause of
But they warned against the dan¬
the environmental crisis. Other fac¬
gers of technological domination. In
tors involved are economic growth,
many cases it would be better to
the type of technology used, particu¬
improve traditional practices rather
larly in developed countries, the
than introduce totally new forms of
nature of existing political and eco¬
technology. The right attitude would
nomic systems, the high level of
be neither an unquestioning venera¬
consumption in the developed world,
tion of technological progress nor a
etc., etc.
blind subservience to tradition.

They saw high rates of population

The young scientists outlined a
growth as a symptom, and not a
major research programme which
cause, of underdevelopment which
would for the first time investigate
results from political exploitation of
traditional labour technologies on a
the developing countries by the dev¬
decentralized basis. The aim should
eloped.
be to put local resources and skills
to maximum use and to make scien¬
Nearly all participants agreed that
the problems of development, of tists out of laymen rather than huma¬
family planning, of the relationship nitarians out of scientists. A great
between rich and the poor countries demand exists in developing and
and the problems of the environment, industrially developed countries for

cannot be analysed as separate new technologies which are not harm¬

ful to the environment.
issues. The interdependence of these
factors means that the "environmental
Finally, general agreement was
crisis", as the industrialized countries
reached on a number of basic prin¬
term it, is in reality a multiple crisis ciples: that science can never be a
or a series of convergent crises. substitute for political debate, that
Young scientists from Third World men must once again be counted as
countries, in particular, pointed out men and not as statistics, that an

that a planetary disequilibrium had obsession with quantity must give

©
always existed to the detriment of the way to considerations of quality, and
poor countries, broadly those in the that global analyses must be replac¬
southern hemisphere. ed by regional and local solutions
which will reintegrate man fully with Drawing by the Turkish caricaturist
15
Problems of the environment and nature and with the technologies he Ferruh Dogan.
development were debated primarily has created.
 Mediterranean:

DANGER!

by Carlo Munns
OIL POLLUTION

elements in the oil and the rest settles and it is one of the main causes of
LS a result of their proxi¬ on the walls and bottom of the tanks pollution.
mity to some of the world's richest in the ship in the form of sediment.
Authorities in the oil-exporting coun¬
oilfields, the waters of the Mediterra¬
These far from negligible quantities tries do not tolerate the discharge of
nean are used by a vast fleet of oil
tankers.
of oily substances represent a danger dirty ballast and tank-rinsing water
for the ship itself since they give off near their coasts or in their ports,
Forecasts point to a staggering
gases which may form an explosive and place strict controls on the quality
growth in these oil shipments during
mixture with the air in the now empty of water discharged. So tanker cap¬
the next few years. In 1975, 360 mil¬
tanks. It is thus indispensable to rinse tains make a practice of discharging
lion tons out of a world total of 1,650
out the tanks with water. dirty ballast water on their way from
million tons of crude oil carried by sea
port to port and of replacing it with
will be discharged at Mediterranean When a tanker has discharged its
clean water.
ports. crude oil load and leaves again to pick
When the Suez canal is re-opened up another shipment the washing of Although less toxic for the environ¬
the tanks coincides with the need to ment than radio-active substances,
and the existing pipelines in the canal
zone conveying crude oil from the Red take on sea water as ballast. Empty non-biodegradable detergents and
Sea to the Mediterranean are brought
tankers are unstable and difficult to plastics, crude oil creates an alarming
manoeuvre and therefore have to take problem because of the enormous
back into use, some of the traffic now
going round the Cape of Good Hope on amounts of water varying from 40 volume transported and the high
could well return to the Mediterranean to 60 per cent of their capacity. concentration in one area the Medi¬
terranean.
routes.
This ballast, which forms an emul¬
But how is it that oil loaded on sion with the oily residue, has to be The natural environment in the area

tankers for delivery to refineries pumped out before a fresh cargo of is obviously threatened by other fac¬
finishes up in the sea? crude oil can be taken on, so that tors: the increasing concentrations of
Oil pollution in the sea is generally large quantities of this residue find population and of industry along the
associated with an accident of some their way into the sea. The amount, coastline, the development of the tour¬
kind, one which arouses public opinion according to the oil companies, is some ist trade, and the growth in consump¬
and draws attention to the high cost 0.4 to 0.5 per cent of the oil carried, tion and in waste and refuse which,

of cleaning up vast areas of water after

an accident at sea.

In reality, the major problem of oil

pollution in the sea is only partly due
to accidents; operational pollution,
bound up with the normal sea trans¬
port of oil and with loading and dis¬
charging operations at the terminals,
is far more important. This is a more
general source of pollution, less in the
limelight than tanker accidents but far
more insidious.

The fact is that less than 99 per cent

of the oil taken on board a tanker is

discharged at the port of destination.

Part of the remaining one per cent is
lost by evaporation of the most volatile

CARLO MUNNS, Italian expert on legal and

technical matters concerning protection of
the environment, is working with the Parlia¬
mentary Committee on the study of water
problems in Italy and Is collaborating In the
drawing up of the first "Report on the State
of the Environment In Italy" at present
under preparation by the Italian Ministry of

16 Scientific
has also
and Technological
undertaken research
Research.
projects
He
on
environmental questions for the Food and
Agriculture Organization and the United Na¬ Drawing © Mas, Paris.
tions In Rome.
in one way or another, eventually ed, within the framework of the Inter¬ chiefly responsible for the pollution
finishes up in the sea. But in terms governmental Maritime Consultative of the Mediterranean Sea and coast.

of urgency oil pollution is the most Organization (IMCO). The ban now Other techniques have been put
crucial issue. became absolute for all ships of over forward to save oil from being dis¬
20,000 tons and the protected areas charged into the sea, but technically
According to estimates, 300,000 tons
were extended (from 50 to 100 miles and economically they are difficult to
of oil residue were discharged into the
in the case of the Mediterranean). implement in the case of the existing
Mediterranean in 1970, and this figure
The result was that in the Mediter¬ tanker fleet.
will probably climb to 500,000 tons in
1975 and 650,000 tons in 1980. ranean two zones were left, one bet¬ As long ago as 1954, IMCO affirmed
ween Libya and Sicily and the other that the only effective way of solving
But the Mediterranean presents
south of the island of Rhodes, in which the oil pollution problem in the Medi¬
some special problems. It is a shal¬
ships were free to discharge as much terranean was to install plants for
low sea (only 3,500 metres deep at its
tank rinsing water as they wished. treating tanker ballast and rinsing
central part), and its rising currents
But in the absence of any effective water at all oil loading terminals. But
are not strong enough to assist in
monitoring system the discharge areas because of the cost of building such
water exchange and oxygenation by
are expanding unchecked. plants the governments of the pro¬
contact with the air. Water tempera¬
As an alternative to the rules laid ducer countries and the oil companies
tures at the bottom are more or less
down in the 1962 IMCO Convention, operating the terminals have not so far,
constant because of the protective
effect of the Gibraltar threshold, and shipping lines and oil companies sug¬ with some rare exceptions, complied
gested a new way of rinsing out tanks with the recommendation.
there are no currents moving faster
than 2-3 knots.

The masses of water in the Medi¬

terranean down to the first 150 metres

thus take an extremely long time to

mix and regenerate, a fair estimate
being about 80 years.
Serious harm to the marine environ¬
ment is therefore caused in a number
"Say, we must be
of ways: nearer civilization

The oil slick on the water pre¬ than we thought.

This is oill"
vents water oxygenation and instead
consumes oxygen itself for its own
degradation.

Oil pollution is a serious obstacle

to the photosynthesis on which de¬
pends the life and growth of the
minute phytoplankton the food of
the Zooplankton on which, in their turn,
the larger sea creatures feed.

Absorbed by fish, the pollutants

eventually reach and endanger human
life. Drawing Carl Rose © The New Yorker Magazine Inc., New York

Every year, according to figures of

the FAO General Fisheries Council
known as the "Load on top" system. However, a recent study made for
This process consists of separating IMCO puts the cost of providing such
for the Mediterranean, about one mil¬
the sea water from the oil residue new plants where they are needed and
lion metric tons of fish are caught in
during the return voyage. The water of improving existing ones at about
waters of this sea, and the protein
is cleaner when discharged into the 80 million dollars. Running costs
requirement of the Mediterranean
sea and the oil residue from all the would be about 70 cents per ton of oil
population increases yearly. Recent
tanks is collected into one tank only. shipped.
FAO reports indicate that some fish
species are already decreasing. This concentrated oil-water mixture If these plants were built and oper¬

is processed on board ship after the ated, oil pollution in the Mediterranean
The various governments, concerned
fresh cargo of crude oil has been could be reduced to negligible propor¬
at the worsening pollution situation,
pumped into the tanks, and is dis¬ tions within a space of three or four
took steps to ban the discharge of
charged separately when the tanker years. A solution is urgently needed,
tank-rinsing water within their terri¬
arrives at the refinery port with its and many international research orga¬
torial waters, with the inevitable result
new load. nizations now investigating the oil pol¬
that the pollution has shifted to the
lution question have made special
high seas. In a closed sea like the
In order for the process of separa¬ studies of the problem in the Medi¬
Mediterranean this in turn causes pol¬ tion by gravity to take place between terranean.
lution of coastal waters. The problem
water and oily substances a minimum
therefore called for a solution at inter¬ The FAO General Fisheries Council
of about 40 hours is needed, provided
national level.
that the weather is calm. Unfortu¬
for the Mediterranean has set up a

The 1954 London Convention for the "Working Party on Marine Pollution in
nately because of the short voyage
Prevention of the Pollution of the Sea time between crude oil embarkation Relation to the Protection of Living
Resources".
by Oil prohibited all tankers from ports in North Africa and the Near
discharging oily mixtures containing East and the user countries in south¬ Co-operating closely with Unesco's j |
more than 100 mg of oil per litre ern Europe, tankers on these routes Intergovernmental Océanographie '
within 50 miles of land. In 1962, cannot effectively use the "Load on Commission and with the International

the 1954 Convention was amend top" system. They have thus become Commission for the Scientific

CONTINUED PAGE 32
 Ugo Mochi at work at his glass easel. On it he lays a sheet o
black paper and then a thin sheet of white tracing paper with
faint outlines drawn on it. He cuts out the portrait with a
pencil-shaped knife sharp enough to split a hair.

The two-horned, white rhinoceros. Formerly common in South

Africa, only about 200 now survive in two reserves in Natal.

Underwater wonderland shellfish

and corals.
THE

ANIMAL WORLD
OF UGO MOCHI

An artist who has devoted the past

eighty years of his life to portraying his
love of nature and the preservation of
wild life is Ugo Mochi (pronounced Mo-
Kee),born In Florence, Italy and living in
the United States since 1928. Mochi s
medium is the shadow portrait cut out
of one piece of paper which he has
lifted to the realms of creative art
combined with scientific accuracy. Fas¬
cinated by wild life from early child¬
hood he has been making cut out por¬
traits since the age of six. Some of
his finest works (Including many animals
threatened with extinction) appear in
"Hoofed Mammals of the World "(Scrib-
ners, N.Y. 1953) which he produced
with T.D. Carter of the American Museum
of Natural History. His works are to be
seen in public and private collections
in many countries including the Royal
collection at Windsor Castle, England,
the Berlin Museum of Natural History,
the Metropolitan Museum of Art and
the American Museum of Natural His¬
tory in New York. Ugo Mochi's works
though chiefly devoted to animal studies
also include collections of major impor¬
tance on "The History of Transportation"
and "Portraits of Musicians" .

A magnificent Australian Lyrebird, with tail feathers spread, and, below,

his mate.
 'It seems to me quite absurd", writes Josué de Castro,
"to propose a zero economic growth rate for the Third
World when the peoples of these areas consider economic
development to be their last hope of emerging from their
crushing burden of poverty."

POLLUTION PROBLEM N° 1
UNDERDEVELOPMENT by Josué de Castro

W HY should the so-called The environment is not only the logical transformation of the natural
"underdeveloped" countries be con¬ sum of all the material things that environment.
cerned with problems of the environ¬ make up the mosaic of the country¬
ment? At first sight, these problems side or landscape, and constantly The concept of development is not
seem much more serious and more interact with each other. It is much only a quantitative one, measurable
complex in the "highly-developed" more than this. It also includes the in dollars, but also one that includes
countries, where intensive industriali¬ economic structures and the outlook qualitative aspects of the communities
zation and urban growth damage or and habits of peoples in different concerned, in other words their qual¬
upset the balance of the natural envi¬ parts of the world. ity of life.
ronment. Pollution would thus seem
The environment as a whole there¬ To grow is one thing; to develop
to be almost exclusively a problem
fore includes not only physical or another. To grow is, generally speak¬
for the highly industrialized countries
material factors but economic and ing, relatively easy. To develop in a
and to be of little interest to the poor
cultural ones as well. balanced way is much more difficult.
ones, which supply the world's raw
So difficult, that no country has yet
materials.
An accurate analysis of the environ¬ managed to achieve it. From this
This analysis is quite wrong. It ment must always consider the total point of view, the whole world is
impact of man and his culture on all more or less underdeveloped.
results from the vagueness of certain
basic concepts, particularly the current the surrounding elements, and also
the impact of ecological factors on Yet it is the fashion today to speak
concepts of "environment" and "dev¬
every aspect of human life. Viewed of the harmful effects of economic
elopment".
in this perspective the environment growth on the environment and on
includes biological, physiological, eco¬ nature in general. And people talk
nomic and cultural aspects, all linked above all of the effects that are not
in the same constantly changing eco¬ the most threatening ones for the
JOSUE DE CASTRO, of Brazil, is famous for
his efforts in the world struggle against logical fabric. future of mankind. The most frequent
hunger. He Is the author of "The Geography cries of alarm condemn the population
of Hunger", 1952 (translated into 24 langua¬ This concept is much wider and explosion, the pollution of air, rivers
ges) and "Of Men and Crabs", 1970 (see also more objective than that of the
and seas, the degradation of animal
page 33). President of the World Association
environment considered merely as a
for the Struggle Against Hunger and former and plant resources in the most highly-
Chairman of the Council of FAO, he was
system of mutual relations between developed regions of the world.
Brazilian Ambassador to the U.N. in Geneva, living creatures and their natural envi¬
from 1961 to 1964. Professor of Human Geo¬ ronment. This attitude reflects a limited view
graphy at the University of Brazil (Rio de
of the problem that takes into account
Janeiro) since 1939, he is at present Asso¬ The concept of "development" as
ciate Professor of Geography at the Univer¬ only the direct effects of economic
measured only by statistics and
sity of Paris (Vincennes) and President of expansion, overlooking the insidious,
the International Centre for Development, in increased material wealth by econo¬
20 Paris. He took part in the Environment mic growth is just as false. Dev¬
indirect yet much more determinant
action of development on all human
Forum held concurrently with the 1972 U.N. elopment also involves far-reaching
Environment Conference In Stockholm, where societies.

he spoke on "Problems of Development and

and successive social changes which
Environment in the Third World". inevitably accompany the techno The first serious mistake, the first
CONTINUED PAGE 22
J

i
 POLLUTION PROBLEM No. 1 (Continued)

The danger of ecological disintegration

false conclusion arising from this par¬ of a development strategy which lization and the diseases of poverty
tial view of the problem, is the idea inevitably resulted in the failure of are products of the same despotic
that it is the richest areas that were the 1960-1970 Development Decade. and frenzied civilization of profit. The
first affected by the pollution and This will happen again and again so first ones are produced directly, on
destruction of the natural environment long as the economic structures of the spot; the others indirectly, at a
caused by economic growth. the world continue to depend on the distance.
false foundations of its social struc¬
The reality is quite different. The A development strategy that envi¬
ture: a war economy, a maximum
earliest and gravest effects of dev¬ profit economy, and a policy of eco¬ saged the social reality of the Third
elopment were to be found precisely in
nomic oppression of the Third World. World as something apart from the
the regions which are today economi¬ rest of the world doomed from the

cally underdeveloped and which were To succeed in their struggle for start any hope of improving environ¬
yesterday under colonial rule. Under¬ emancipation and survival, the under¬ mental conditions. In reality, the whole
development in these regions was the developed countries must obtain at biosphere is a single ecosystem com¬
first result of the unbalanced dev¬ all costs a marked reduction of the posed of a multitude of sub-systems.
elopment of the world as a whole. negative economic impact the market
Underdevelopment itself represents The ecosystem of the biosphere is
economy has had on their systems
a type of pollution and human degra¬ given an enormous structural elasti¬
of economic dependence. These coun¬
city by mechanisms which compensate
dation localized in certain regions tries will have to fight hard against
unjustly exploited by the great indus¬ and counterbalance the negative
the indirect action of the great cen¬
impact of man's actions. This elasti¬
trial powers. tres of accumulated capital, which
city gives an important advantage
perpetuate the underdevelopment of
to man, since it allows him to
the world's economic fringe by every
transform the biosphere and use its
available means, including the refusal
u ' NDERDEVELOPMENT is
to stabilize the cost of raw materials.
elements to satisfy his
But the process cannot
own needs.
continue
not, as is often supposed, the lack or
To eliminate any doubt that in a beyond certain limits fixed by the
absence of development. It is a laws of natural balances (nuisance
consumer civilization underdevelop¬
product or by-product of development, thresholds) without causing serious
ment is a product of development, it
an inevitable result of the colonial breakdowns, which may be fatal for
is enough to remember that before
system of economic exploitation that the ecosystems.
the capitalistic and industrial explo¬
is still in force in several parts of the
sion of our century, there were no
world.
developed and underdeveloped coun¬
Many people are convinced that the tries separated by a wide economic
whole question of environmental gap. It was only after the second
industrial revolution that the extreme
HROUGH the play of
problems in developing countries is ecological interactions, the serious
totally different from that in the rich disparities of growth rates and econo¬
imbalances to which the Third World
industrialized countries, and should be mic levels between the two groups
has been condemned threaten the
of countries came into existence.
viewed in quite a different way. In whole biosphere and with it all
the poorer countries, they say, people mankind. Starvation in the Third World
Let us take a concrete example:
do not concern themselves with the
the average income per inhabitant of could one day lead to world-wide
quality of life, but only with the pestilences; the revolt of the hungry
countries representative of the two
chances of survival, with the struggle could lead to war on a planetary scale.
groups the U.S.A. and India. Before
against hunger, disease and igno¬ Starvation and war are themselves
the first World War, the average
rance.
income per head in India was 8 times symptoms of a dynamic disequilibrium
in the social and economic environ¬
But these things are none other less than that of the U.S.A.; before
the second World War it was 15 times ment of our planet.
than the symptoms of a serious
social malady underdevelopment less; today it is 50 times less...
But it is not enough to consider
which is itself a product of develop¬ only the indirect effect of develop¬
ment. The underdeveloped countries The economic degradation of the
ment on the Third World's environment
underdeveloped countries must be
which are struggling to survive need an effect which is economic or
to take a direct interest in world-wide considered as .a pollution of their
cultural rather than purely physical
development and environmental prob¬ human environment by the economic
or natural. We should also consider
abuses of the dominant areas of
lems so as to defend themselves the threat of direct action: the
against the aggressions their own the world economy. Hunger, poverty,
thoughtless waste of non-renewable
widespread disease that would be
environment has undergone for cen¬ natural resources and the biological
turies on the part of the colonial avoidable with a minimum of hygiene,
unbalancing of ecological sub-sys¬
powers.
a short average life-expectancy: all
tems.
these are products of the destructive
If it is only recently that people effect of world exploitation under a The Third World lives under the
have come to talk so insistently about system of economic domination. permanent threat of the on-the-spot
the pollution and degradation caused installation of types of technological
by economic growth, this is because Starvation in India, Peru, San Do¬ development which fail to take the
Western civilization, with its scien¬ mingo or the North-East of Brazil may ecological dimension into account
tific and ethnocentric approach, has look like a local symptom of under¬ and which could therefore cause the
always refused to see what is development, but in reality it repre¬ total disintegration of ecological struc¬
obvious: that the hunger and poverty sents a paradoxical aspect of the tures. And if we consider the relative
of certain far-off regions form part diseases of civilization. Hunger is fragility of certain equatorial and
of the social price mankind pays so an indirect result of unbalanced eco¬
tropical ecosystems, where most of
that economic development may ad¬ nomic growth, just as cardio-vascular the Third World is situated, the
vance in a few economically and and degenerative diseases are else¬ danger appears even greater.
22 politically dominant regions. where.
It is well known that the soils in
The blurring of this basic truth led Ultimately, the two groups of mala¬ these areas are easily eroded when
to the institution on a global scale dies the so-called diseases of civi their covering layer of vegetation is
 industrialization as zero-growth for population, agricultural output, natural
the world economy as a whole. resources, industrial output and pollu¬
tion.
While, superficially, the report
appears to be right for we are all There is not a word about the
alarmed by the pollution and des¬ problem of social and economic struc¬
truction of the human environment it tures. Yet everybody knows that the
cannot be accepted outright because level of production and the level- of
its conclusions have been distorted pollution i.e. the state of develop¬
by methods that can hardly be called ment and the state of the environment
scientific.
essentially depend on the type of
The report supposes that the dev¬ structure dominant at a given place
and time.
elopment model it presents, which
paints the portrait of the world in a By leaving out man and his culture,
century's time, is the only valid one the project has become alienated, for
that can be built with available data it does not take into account the
on present world realities. This exclu- realities of the modern world and
siveness, typical of the ethnocentric therefore the realities of the future.
culture of the highly developed coun¬
If the majority of Third World coun¬
tries, reveals the unscientific nature
tries reject the conclusions of this
of the report.
report, it is because they are suspi¬
One cannot forecast a single model cious of this proposal to stop growth,
of the future. All those who study which risks affecting the poorer re¬
futurology are well aware that one gions of the world alone, since the
cannot envisage a unique future rich ones will obviously not obey it.
determined by the various conditions So the gap between the two worlds
prevailing at the time of the study. will increase.

Drawings © Mas, Paris

All that can be done is to imagine a If this is true, all the charitable
series of probable futures according paternalism of the Club of Rome
to the Theory of Probability, which has towards the countries of the Third
replaced the deterministic attitude that World will turn out to be a trap. Far
over-exploited; and that the upsurges was the rule before the adoption of from being helped by this kind of
of tropical rivers are curbed by the Theory of Relativity. So one can recipe, they will be enchained for
barriers composed of certain types of very well project several models of
ever in underdevelopment and pov¬
the world of tomorrow.
plants, which to some extent regu¬ erty.
late and direct their flow. The des¬
One can estimate, with a high risk The reaction of these countries
truction of this vegetation may lead of error, the probability of any of should be to try to find a type of
to floods or to stagnation and other these models becoming a reality. But development that would be indepen¬
serious disasters such as the loss
it is quite impossible to limit a scien¬ dent of neo-colonialism, applying tech¬
of flooded crops or the spread of tific forecast to one single model. To niques created on the spot the only
endemic diseases carried by insects make linear projections, as was done ones that would be valid and rational.
proliferating in stagnant water. for the report on the limits of growth, The present type of development, as
is a naive procedure which does not I see it, is obviously a failure; but
Does the fact that technological
take into account the structural break¬ the world could be developed if it
progress and economic growth are
downs which are a characteristic were given social and economic struc¬
at present destroying the Third
feature of modern times. We live in tures and means of production
World's environment justify the halt¬
a period of discontinuity, not one of different to those which exist today.
ing of growth in these areas, as
continuity.
some people insist? I do not believe But before this can be done, the
so. It seems to me quite absurd to The worst mistake of the M.I.T. war economy in which we live must
propose a zero growth rate for the report is not to have included the be reconverted into a peace economy,
Third World when the peoples of problem of economic, social and poli¬ and the enormous savings resulting
these areas consider economic dev¬ tical structures among the factors from partial disarmament must be
elopment to be their last hope of determining growth. In the introduc¬ used to obtain a type of pacific dev¬
emerging from the crushing burden tion to the report the authors only elopment that would be not only more
of poverty. I do not think those who consider five development factors: equitable but also non-polluting.
oppose development are right to call
a halt, when the urgent need is for
a reconversion of development.

Technology in itself is neither good

nor bad. It is its use which gives
it an ethical meaning. If technology
has worked against the Third World,
this is because it has been used with

one aim in view: maximum advantage

and profit. It is neo-colonialist exploi¬
tation that has led these countries to
their present state of despair, now
aggravated by the new threat of stop¬
ping the little progress they have made
in recent decades.

A great deal has been said about

the report drawn up for the Club of
Rome by the Massachusetts Institute
of Technology, with the help of com¬
puters. The report establishes the
23
limits of future growth with regard to
the harmful effects of technology and
 A tree grows in Chuqulcamata (Chile) but only because it is protect¬
ed and cared for like a fragile plant in the Atacama desert where this
city with world's most productive copper mine is situated. Coaxing
trees to grow in an industrial atmosphere and arid climate is no easy task.

t- -i

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JiSB~"l

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- "" -.:£wHHi^i^H
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 THE MYTH
OF ECOLOGICAL

EQUILIBRIUM
by Miguel A. Ozorio de Almeida

ERHAPS the best way to that mankind reduce its numbers, or neatly construed that by reducing
put the environment issue in proper be content with consuming less, or numbers per capita income will
perspective is to ask straight away the both. The most interesting aspect of increase.

basic question: according to whose these conclusions is that the "conclu-

It is forgotten that there is a func¬
criteria is the environment to be con¬ ders" generally tend to shift the bur¬ tional relationship between popula¬
sidered healthy, adequate, pleasant, den of reducing numbers or of consum¬ tion and the ability to grow economic¬
desirable? ing less to some community other than ally and that, if in certain areas, most¬
their own.
If the subject were an anaconda, ly in Asia, human numbers have
and if the anaconda had a mind capa¬ But with only marginal exceptions become excessive (probably on
ble of value judgments, it would prob¬ the great polluters are the highly account of colonial policies of the
ably suggest that the world should be industrialized countries. Starting from last century), in most of Africa and
a swampy forest; a dromedary would radionuclides (practically 100 per cent Latin America human densities are

wish it to be a desert. . But what of whose production and dissemin¬ still below ideal levels for efficient

should it be for the human race? Cert¬ ation is imputable to a few highly economic development.
ainly not all desert or all swamp. developed countries) and going right
The threat of pollution is an area
on down the list of all the other major in which there has been a lot of
A certain misunderstanding has
pollutants, the overwhelming discharge
permeated the whole debate on envi¬ pseudo-scientific extrapolation of the
of effluents is the consequence of the
ronmental protection and restoration, doomsday variety.
developed countries recent technolo¬
even in relatively sophisticated cir¬ We are threatened with the melt¬
gies and of their high levels of indus¬
cles namely that we have to keep ing of the polar ice-caps, the conse¬
trial as well as primary production
or protect environment or ecological quent rise in sea levels, and the whole¬
(particularly in over-fertilized, over-
"equilibrium". sale drowning of some of the largest
herbicided, and synthetically control¬
The problem to be solved in fact cities and capitals in the world.
led agriculture). The contribution to
is not achieving an "ecological We are threatened with the exhaus¬
this type of pollution by underdevel¬
balance" but, on the contrary obtain¬ tion of the oxygen reserve on earth
oped countries is, in absolute terms,
ing the most efficient forms of "long- because of North American and Euro¬
extremely small and in relative terms
term ecological imbalance". The prob¬ pean over-consumption of this useful
practically nil.
lem is not to exterminate mankind
It could be said that if all pollution gas, while certain effluents dumped
now, in the name of ecological equi¬ into the sea are jeopardizing its algae
generated by the developed countries
librium, but to prolong our ability to oxygen-producing ability. We are also
could be withdrawn from the earth,
use natural resources for as long as told that the Brazilian occupation and
there would be no pollution of world¬
possible. utilization of the Amazon forest will
wide significance; conversely if all
A basic misunderstanding of this eliminate its ability to compensate for
pollution directly Imputable to activities
reality and the consequent striving American oxygen voracity.
in underdeveloped countries could be
for ecological balance has led to We are threatened with cancer;
withdrawn from the world today, all
many ill-founded conclusions, both
dangers linked to pollution would con¬ everything that may be an irritant to
explicit and implicit. Some suggest
tinue to exist in practically the same human tissues from love-making to
densities. all sorts of organic and inorganic
The possible exception is the pol¬ compounds may produce cancer.
MIGUEL A. OZORIO DE ALMEIDA, spec/a/
lution that originates in the existence We are threatened with hunger.
adviser to the Foreign Minister of Brazil,
headed the Brazilian delegation to the United of humans at low levels of income: We are threatened with emphysema.
Nations Conference on the Human Environ¬
to be many and to be poor is offen¬ We are threatened with poisons. We
ment at Stockholm in 1972. Ambassador
Almeida has been closely associated with sive to the sight and feelings of some are threatened with numbers that may 9n
the U.N. since 1948, in particular with the people. So far most proposals in be expected to eliminate all elbow- **
Economic and Social Council, and was Braz¬
this area do not concern co-operat¬ room on our little, already half-
ilian delegate to the 1952 Unesco General
Conference. ion to reduce population. It is even scuttled "spaceship" earth.
CONTINUED NEXT PAGE
 ECOLOGICAL EQUILIBRIUM (Continued)

The sensible question to ask about that are a necessary condition for the
these dire predictions of course is: ability to act on environmental prob¬
The DDT battle lems are also concentrated.
how probable are these threats and
how long before they become real¬ continues The third step should be the ini¬
ities?
tiation of adequate research for all
One of the answers to this ques¬ areas where danger seems to lurk, thus
tion has been provided by the secre¬
An international group of experts creating the appropriate basis for
on pesticides, who met in Rome future action.
tariat of the 1972 Stockholm Confer¬
in November 1972, supports the
ence. In a balance sheet listing of The legitimacy of yet another range
continued use of DDT in agricul¬
what are believed to be the twenty- ture. "The benefits to man aris¬ of problems relating to the pollution
one most important pollutants, the ing from the proper controlled of poverty or underdevelopment must
state of knowledge about effects other use of DDT will outweigh the be carefully scrutinized. In rural
than acute toxicity to experimental possible risk from exposure",
areas, pollution mostly consists of
mammals has been indicated as un¬ declared the experts, advisers
poor sanitation and of food and water
certain in all cases but one. to the Food and Agriculture
contamination, and the major pollutants
Organization and the World
Another answer to the same ques¬ Health Organization. The bene¬ are micro-organisms disseminated
tion may be induced from the very fits of DDT, said their report, lay because of the lack of appropriate

nature of most of the dramatic predict¬ in the prevention of food losses sewage. In urban areas the same
ions made. Let us take, for instance, to pests which would be disas¬ problems exist together with quite
trous in the developing countries a few others linked to excessive urban
the consequences of the accumulation
(see also the "Unesco Courier", densities at very low income levels.
of carbon dioxide and the melting of
June 1971, July 1971, February
the polar ice-cap. The first observa¬ The squalor of poverty itself is one
1972, May 1972). The experts
tion this evokes is that no index of of the ugliest faces environment may
also defended the use of mer¬
probability is attached to this predict¬ acquire.
cury-based fungicides, whose
ion, which reduces its scientific value. risks they considered negligible. A third characteristic is that, contrary
But they recommended further to the prevailing conditions in devel¬
Our planet had already passed
research to discover completely oped countries, such pollution tends
through great variations in temperature harmless yet equally effective
to diminish with economic develop¬
long before modern industry and tech¬ replacement fungicides.
ment itself. In fact it is impossible
nology started tampering with its ecol¬
to correct this particular pollution
ogy. Each "warming up" period has
process, mainly because the resources
generated an opposite "cooling off"
necessary to cope with it are not
tendency. Moreover, it should be not¬
The first step should be to identify available at low levels of income.
ed that carbon dioxide accumulates
those cases of pollution that have
simultaneously with other effluents, It is thus highly inappropriate to
international significance and then,
mostly particles, which reduce solar discuss these problems, both rural
within the limits of available know¬
radiation reaching the earth and thus and urban, outside the framework of
ledge, to determine the degree of
tend to cool its surface. * economic development.
probable urgency for the necessary
As for the time span that these action. It is quite clear that the Nor is pollution the only problem
predictions assume, if they apply to existing situation of incomplete know¬ of environmental degradation linked
the next ten years, we had better act ledge precludes drastic action in most to poverty. Problems of agricultural
right away. If, however, it is a question fields. soil conservation and of different

of a hundred years, we may have the types of urban deterioration are also
Action might worsen the situation
time to improve our knowledge and essentially the result of the economic
rather than improve it as was true
thus risk fewer mistakes in dealing inability to act. The prevailing condi¬
in the case of smog clearance in
with the problem. If it is one thousand tions In the rural areas of developing
years, the threat must be discounted,
Los Angeles, where efforts to reduce countries are based upon a fundamen¬
carbon monoxide in the exhaust
since it is not realistic to predict the tal lack of capital resources, whether
of motor vehicles led to measures
burning of fossil fuels for such a long in terms of equipment or in terms of
time. If it is one hundred thousand provoking the equally harmful pro¬
inputs for the improvement (or even
duction by high-powered engines of
or one million years, let us forget maintenance) of soil conditions.
about it. nitrogen oxides and the highly poison¬
ous nitrogen dioxide. In the same In urban areas, most problems of
The truth is that we do not yet know way the abolition of the use of DDT environmental degradation are linked
enough to pass judgment and take and other persistent organochlorine to the inadequacy of productive
action in quite a few of the more insecticides could drastically increase employment in industry. This is the
important fields. Ecology, through its malaria and reduce agricultural pro¬ consequence of the inappropriateness
necessarily very broad, general equili¬ duction in tropical areas. of imported technologies to the factor
brium approach to the ecosystem, is endowment of underdeveloped coun¬
still very far from a complete science, The second step should thus aim tries, where labour tends to be
either as a methodology or as a body at sensible improvement of the situa¬ plentiful and cheap but is not being
of accepted facts. tion, as much as possible by reduction fully utilized within the framework of
of emission of the major sources of the internationally available techno¬
The old scientific approach is inade¬
pollution and in areas where the carry¬ logies.
quate and the new ecological approach
ing capacity of the environment has
is not yet sufficiently ripe. This leaves All proposals so far made for the
been clearly overtaxed.
us with a probabilistic outlook; quite solution of urban degradation in under¬
a few of the threats now being made This brings up a happy coincidence, developed countries do not touch upon
the core of the problem, which is
26 are illegitimate and another few prob¬
ably true, but it is hard to tell one
namely,
pollution
that
are
the
to
largest
be found
sources
in highly
of
technical and economic. By concen¬
group from the other. What should be developed areas, where the largest trating upon consequences and ignor¬
done In these circumstances? economic and technological resources ing causes, this approach represents
CONTINUED PAGE 28
 Ten major pollutants

CARBON Normally the result of energy consumed in power stations, in industry and homes.
It is thought that accumulation of this gas could significantly increase the earth's
DIOXIDE
surface temperature, with the possibility of geochemical and ecological disasters.

Results from incomplete fuel combustion, mostly in the steel industry, in solid
CARBON
2 MONOXIDE
waste disposal, in oil refineries and in motor vehicles. Some scientists believe this
highly poisonous gas may adversely affect the stratosphere.

Smoke from power generating plants, industrial factories, automobiles and fuel used
SULPHUR in the home often produces sulphuric acid. The polluted air aggravates respiratory
DIOXIDE diseases, corrodes trees and limestone buildings, as well as certain synthetic
textiles and vegetation.

Produced by combustion engines, aircraft, furnaces, incinerators, excessive use of

NITROGEN
4 OXIDES
fertilizers, forest fires, industrial plants.
infections and bronchitis in new-born
Causes smog,
children. Causes
may lead
excessive
to respiratory
growth of
aquatic plants, depletion of oxygen, loss of fish and degradation of water quality.

Found in sewage, especially in detergents, in over-fertilized land and the consequent

PHOSPHATES runoff into water, and as wastes from intensive animal farming. A major factor
in the degradation of lake and river water.

Resulting from combustion of fossil fuels, the chlor-alkali industry, electrical and
paint manufacture, mining and refining processes, the pulp and paper industry.
6 MERCURY
Mercury is a serious food contaminant, especially of seafood, and is a cumulative
poison that affects the nervous system.

Principle source the anti-knock additive in petrol, but lead smelting, the chemical
industry and pesticides also contribute. It is a cumulative poison that affects enzymes
and impairs cell metabolism. Accumulates in marine deposits and in drinking water.

Contamination due to the operation of oil, tankers, shipping accidents, refinery op¬
eration, offshore oil production and transport wastes. Has disastrous ecological
effects including damage to plankton, marine life and sea birds as well as pollution
of beaches and estuaries.

Very toxic to crustaceans at extremely low concentrations. Used mostly in agriculture.

DDT AND
The runoff of these products into the water kills off fish and their food and conta¬
OTHER minates man's food. May have a cancer-producing effect, and may reduce population

PESTICIDES of beneficial insects, thus helping in the creation of new pests.

Mostly produced in nuclear fuel processing, and also in weapon production and testing

10 RADIATION and nuclear-powered ships. Has important medical and research uses, but above a
certain dose can cause malignant growths and genetic changes.

The symbols used above are taken from "Symbol Sourcebook ; an Authoritative Guide to International Graphic Symbols" by Henry Dreyfuss,
McGraw-Hill Book Company, New York, 1972, $28.50. The Table of Contents is published in 18 languages and the book is divided into
practical, easy to use sections dealing with : Basic Symbols, Disciplines, Colour. Graphic Forms. A comprehensive index makes reference simple.
 ECOLOGICAL EQUILIBRIUM (Continued)

Three roads to world sanity

a serious diversion of resources from developed countries have demonstrat¬ It should be understood that what
development and constitutes an inef¬ ed, by their development, a special is necessary is either one universal
ficient attack upon the problem. right to salvation and perpetuation, framework for all sectors, or a nation¬
thus passing on to the more numerous al framework for all sectors. If
An implicit assumption has been
underdeveloped peoples the respon¬ resources are shared in trust by all
that, given the present demographic
sibility for creating the necessary peoples, then economic power,
magnitudes and distribution in the
space on earth. This attitude is all industrial productivity, and financial
world and given the present patterns
the more dangerous for being implicit control should also be shared. Since
of consumption of natural resources
and not normally discussed in public. the latter is considered unthinkable by
and of emission of pollutants by the
Emphasis upon population growth, developed countries, the former
developed countries, the world cannot
afford the economic development of as such, unlinked to the relationship should also be unthinkable by under¬
the underdeveloped countries along of the population to the national developed countries.

the lines followed by the presently resource base including geographical A sensible approach at this stage
developed ones. space is inadequate and unac¬ should be to:

If the three-fourths of mankind

ceptable. Establish conditions for more

Countries with more than 100, 200, research in critical areas of the envi¬
represented by underdeveloped coun¬
tries were to squander natural or even 300 persons per square ronment field;

resources at the same rate (in per kilometre are thus left outside this Muster countries to initiate nation¬

capita terms) as, for example, the approach, while countries with fewer al and international efforts to prevent
United States or the Western European than 20 inhabitants per square kilo¬ the unneccessary loss of unrecover¬
countries, there would not be enough metre are being condemned for demo¬ able resources;
oxygen to go around and there would graphic policies that would bring about Provide for a better dissemination
not be enough metals for industry, increased economic efficiency and of knowledge in the broad area of
while, on the other hand, there would constitute a necessary condition for environment.
be so much carbon, sulphur, and their national integration and fulfill¬
ment as a human community. In more specific areas, there should
nitrogen dioxide that mankind would be
pushed toward extinction. be a commitment by the great polluters
of world-wide significance to take
As a result of this line of reasoning, measures to reduce pollution at the
three basic measures are being pro¬ source, or to compensate or neutral¬
IfcSSENTIAL to the Stock¬
posed: ize its effects wherever they are felt.
holm approach to environment is the
explicitly, the control of popula¬ And measures should be formulated
assumption of the universal right of all
tion growth in underdeveloped coun¬ to accelerate development of under¬
peoples to share in the earth's natural
tries; developed countries so as to reduce
resources. These resources are not
the environmental degradation conse¬
implicitly, a ceiling on the devel¬ the so-called common goods, like the
quent to poverty and help in the
opment of underdeveloped countries; high seas or the bottom of the oceans, creation of additional resources for
and
but the mineral, animal, soil, and other
environmental restoration alongside the
resources within national boundaries.
explicitly, a reduction of the development process.
emission of major pollutants by This is, of course, a very beautiful Furthermore, an effort should be
developed countries. assumption, but it would fit better in
made to prevent the transfer of part
the institutional framework of a world
What this scheme obviously lacks of the costs of environmental im¬
government and we should not forget provement in developed countries to
in logical symmetry if not accepta¬
bility is a fourth measure: that that we are still very far from this idea. the underdeveloped peoples, through
overpopulated countries reduce their United Nations action takes place trade or financial or technological
own demographic numbers and, if within the framework of a world divid¬ manipulations.
necessary, their industrial "prédation" ed into national states having a high This is the moment of history in
upon nature so as to reduce their degree of sovereignty over the resour¬ which modern science and technology,
claim upon the natural resources of ces within their borders. This is a fact
making full application of both accu¬
underdeveloped countries. of life that, until changed, must be mulated knowledge and potentialities,
It is of course impossible for under¬ kept in mind.
is, perhaps for the first time, on the
developed countries to accept inter¬ If this were not so, the still untapped verge of carrying out its promises to
nationally agreed ceilings for their natural resources of underdeveloped provide abundance for all mankind.
population and for their economic countries very often their only assets And the most important point I can
development. These ceilings are and basis for development would make is that now, more than ever, we
made all the more unacceptable by the quite likely be placed by the Stockholm must not allow ourselves to be cheat¬

underlying assumption that the popu¬ Conference within a World Trust and ed of our opportunities, to be swept
lations and development levels of thus at the disposal of the voracious into a period of unnecessary panic,
developed countries are taken for industry and consumption of highly impelled by a lamentably short-sighted
granted and not liable to discussion, developed countries. interpretation of trends.
change, and correction. Lack of
Simultaneously the developed world, We must not meet unjustifiable
knowledge about the earth's capacity
closely sheltered by its national fears with dreary solutions: scarcity
to sustain human life would make such
boundaries, would keep basically for all, reduction of population, and
ceilings anything but a scientific
28 necessity.
unchanged its economic power, its masochistic castigation of present and
industrial productivity, and its finan¬ future generations through economiz¬
Plans for the Stockholm Conference cial control of the international com¬ ing on resources that are far from
were marked by the attitude that the munity. exhausted.
Photo Georg Gerster
© Rapho, Paris
POWER FROM THE SUN. The French Pyrenees have become a major centre for research into the in¬
dustrial uses of solar energy. At the Mont-Louis solar laboratory, a sun-powered furnace has been used
for specialized metallurgical research during the past 20 years (see "Unesco Courier", Sept. 1958).
Today, the first solar "factory" is operating at Odeillo, six miles away. Here, some of the 63 mobile
mirrors of its solar furnace capture the sun's rays which another concave mirror as high as a 9 -storey
building (not shown here) concentrates on to the furnace itself. "Increasing the world's green plant
cover (which absorbs and uses solar energy)," says Nikolai Timofeyev-Ressovsky, "would trap
enough energy to raise the productivity of the biosphere 2 to 3 times."

The biosphere
is 10 times richer
by Nikolai

Timofeyev-Ressovsky
than we think
'URING the past twenty Consequently within the next
years the problem of the population hundred years or so nearly half the
explosion has moved to the centre of Earth's population would lack not only
world-wide attention and concern. food but also the biochemical sub¬
NIKOLAI TIMOFEYEV-RESSOVSKY is a dis¬
Some economists believe that even stances so important to modern life.
tinguished Soviet biologist and geneticist
who has published ten major studies and with good infrastructural organization Over fifty years ago the great
over 300 papers on zoology, biophysics,
radiobiology, genetics and ornithology. The our planet is not capable of feeding Russian naturalist Vladimir Vernadsky yO
winner of many scientific awards he Is inter¬ (on the basis of current scientific and declared that the industry and **
nationally famous as a member of many
scientific associations outside and In the
technical possibilities) more than 8 to technology of modern man make such
U.S.S.R. 12,000 million people. a powerful impact on the earth's
CONTINUED NEXT PAGE
 THE BIOSPHERE (Continued)

An optimistic view based on hard facts

surface that they may be regarded as matter and energy is lost in the the vast biological cycle considerably,
a "new geological factor". Rapid formation of sedimentary rock. simply because a vaster area of the
population growth is accompanied by What new resources can this vast
earth's green cover can sustain a
an equally rapid increase in the scale, greater number of animals.
biological cycle offer to man? Let us
volume and intensity of man's technical consider this question on three levels: In the last ten years genetics the
and industrial activities.
the energy intake; the biological cycle; science of heredity has discovered
the end of the biological cycle and more and more about the structure
At this pace it is not inconceivable
that life on our planet and the equili¬ the beginning of the geological cycle. and functioning of the genotype, the
brium of the biosphere will ultimately First, the earth receives a certain code of genetic information trans¬
be disrupted, with disastrous con¬ amount of solar energy. Of this only mitted from generation to generation.
sequences that might even jeopardize the fraction absorbed by plants Soon man will probably be able to
man's very existence. influence these various phenomena in
capable of photosynthesis is of biolo¬
order to increase yields and accelerate
gical interest. Of the total energy
At first sight, therefore, the possi¬ selective breeding of crops and
received only 1 to 10 per cent, varying
bility of achieving a balance between livestock, and this too can enormously
according to geographical region, is
a teeming population and the limited raise the feedback of the biological
absorbed by plants and not all of it
productive forces of nature does not cycle.
is used for photosynthesis.
seem very encouraging. It Is predict¬
We can speak of an "efficiency We may therefore say that at the
ed that in a hundred years or so a
coefficient" in Nature just as we can level of the biological cycle man can
good 50 per cent of the population
in technology. This coefficient is diffi¬ obtain eventually two, three or even
will be "surplus", with no food to eat
cult to compute exactly but it can be more times as many useful products
and perhaps not enough air to breathe
said to vary between 2 and 8 per cent, as he does today. In Japan, for
and that water will be lacking for both
domestic use and industry. depending on the species of plants. instance, over 20 species of algae
(seaweeds) are already used in the
Thus we see that even at the
It follows that of the major scientific manufacture of foods for human
and technical problems before us, the "intake" point man can do something consumption and for animal fodder.
balance between man and the bio¬ to make plants absorb a greater
sphere must be regarded as the most amount of energy by simply increas¬
urgent, arid its global solution will ing the density of the earth's green
cover.
need the participation of all branches
us see what increased
of science, including mathematics. We have to admit that so far he
potential all this gives us. At the
has done the contrary. In his
But let us look at the same question point of energy intake the increase in
economic and industrial activities man
from a more optimistic angle, using the rate of absorption of solar energy
reduces this density by over-exploiting
arguments that are not in the least and plant efficiency gives us a produc¬
forests, pastures and fields. Green
Utopian but are based on forecasts tivity increase of from 1 to 2, and at the
cover density is also lower than it
that can be made here and now in level of the major biological cycle we
need be because very little is done to
the light of current knowledge and have a further increase of 3 to 4,
reafforestate deserts and reclaim arid
achievements. which gives a total increase of about
lands.
6 to 8 times. And this is possible
But it is quite certain that in the solely on the basis of established
present state of technology and knowledge and current techniques.
industry it is perfectly possible in
iI^bARTH is a planet on which theory to reverse this process and to
Let us now look at another equally
many varied forms of life have dev¬ important biological problem. We
raise the density of the green cover
know that all over the earth there are
eloped. All cosmogonie theories re¬ on land and in suitable stretches of
cognize the existence in the Universe more or less complex biological
water, especially fresh water lakes.
of "dead planets", devoid of life. The communities consisting of numerous
It has been calculated that if this
great peculiarity which makes earth a species or organisms living together.
"living" planet is its characteristic were done, the rate of absorption So far we do not know by what
envelope known as the biosphere. of solar energy would be increased at mechanisms such communities persist
least 1è to 2 times. Biological through time provided that man does
A rough outline of the working of productivity would be substantially not disrupt their equilibrium or modify
the biosphere shows, first, an intake increased, probably 2 to 3 times. the species coexisting in them.
of energy from the sun. Within the This is precisely the production
biomass vast metabolic reactions take When man has found the key to
increase required in the forecasts for
place as a result of which certain the balance of nature, he will be able
the next hundred years.
organisms are born, others die, some to obtain infinitely more from the
Let us now consider the major biolo¬ biological cycle than he does now.
feed on others, make use of their
gical cycle itself. Man cannot really He will be able to alter and improve
products, and so on.
be regarded as a thrifty manager of his the earth's biological communities at
It is an immense continuous biolo¬ natural resources, for he destroys or will, deliberately, scientifically and to
gical cycle with countless materials and seriously jeopardizes the balance of his advantage. And if this enables
30 energy forms changing from one plant life and wildlife. A study of the him to raise the biological productivity
biological state to another. The cycle reproduction of land and water animals of the earth a further 1i times, that
also has an outlet at the point at and plants should make it possible to will bring the total increase up to ten
which a certain amount of living increase the effective productivity of times.
 Now let us look at our last point at once; greater use should be made
the "outlet" of the biosphere. We of new species of living organisms;
know that in some parts of the earth, the density of plant cover must be
at the bottom of some lakes, the mud, rapidly increased; biological produc¬
due to a mineralization process by tivity of the various sectors of the
living organisms, turns into soluble biosphere must be raised.
salts and is ultimately transformed
All these inter-related tasks can be
into "sapropel", an extremely interest¬
carried out only if we co-ordinate the
ing organic substance mainly compos¬
efforts of many fields of science and
ed of carbohydrates, proteins and
draw widely on the most modern
fats.
materials and the most varied in¬

There are already many uses for this dustries. And we should never forget
substance. The Japanese employ the that the No.1 problem facing mankind
best quality in foodstuffs, the medium today has got to be solved. For
qualities in animal feed and the lowest mankind it is a matter of life or death.

as organic fertilizer. In other countries

it is used in sweet-making as a sub¬
stitute for gelatine and agar. But by
and large it Is still used only in very
small proportions. 'VER the past 15 to 20
years, the Soviet Government has
This brings us to a far wider Issue.
shown that the protection of nature
It is certain that in future it will be the
is one of its main preoccupations.
special task of biotechnical engineers
Among other legal and practical mea¬
to study the products of the biological
sures, it has launched vast reaffores¬
cycle with a view to preventing the
tation schemes, made studies of the
gradual degradation of valuable sub¬
hydrological balance of northern water¬
stances Into a conglomerate of lower
ways, of the Caspian and Aral Seas,
molecules of little utility, inorganic
taken steps to preserve Lake Baikal
salts and limestone.
from pollution and introduced laws
These specialists will try to harness concerning soil use and pollution of
the products of the biosphere at the air and water, to quote but a few
point where they are present in their examples.
most valuable forms organic macro-
Such action was reinforced and
molecules of carbohydrates, proteins
extended by the adoption, in Sep¬
and fats, which mankind needs so
tember 1972, by the U.S.S.R. Supreme
much. This is the third level at which
Soviet, of a new series of far-reaching
man can increase the natural produc¬
measures concerning protection of the
tivity of the planet.
environment and the rational use of

I began with a rather pessimistic natural resources.

account of the rapidly widening gap In spite of the effectiveness of

between population growth and the
these measures and of those adopted
natural biological reserves of our in other countries, they are not in
planet. But after examining the
themselves enough to resolve many of
processes going on in the biosphere
the problems of the pollution of the
and what we have learned from the
atmosphere and the oceans. Inter¬
research of leading scientists we can national co-operation is essential since
make a far more optimistic forecast:
pollution entails world-wide conse¬
Man can increase the earth's pro¬ quences which can onk be controlled
ductivity not twice but ten times and
by the concerted efforts of all
more without damaging the potential countries.
capacity of the biosphere.

The conclusion is obvious. The

most important and most urgent

S.O.S. FOR PLANET EARTH
problem is that man should learn to
use the products of the biosphere
Classroom studies and children's books are bringing
rationally and with moderation.
home the problems of the environment to young people
Scientists must start now to find a in many countries. In Italy the International Book Centre
solution. and the Giunti-Bemporad Marzocco publishing house,
in Florence, recently brought out an imaginative chil¬
A first step would be to make an dren's book, "S.O.S. for Planet Earth" by A. Pacini and
exhaustive inventory of the environ¬ G. Masini. Subtitled "An Ecological Message to all the
ment. Action must be taken im¬ World's Children", it features attractive pull-out and
3-dimensional illustrations. Left, Planet Earth imprisoned
mediately to safeguard nature and to in a bottle marked poison. Above, pull-out showing,
develop the new technology which from bottom to top, part of Nature's food chain
will eliminate from every branch of threatened by Man's abuses and negligence.

industry all sources of pollution and

contamination of the biosphere. 31
Methods used in forestry and Photos © International Book Centre-
Giunti-Bemporad Marzocco.
fishing, etc. need to be rationalized Florence, 1971.
 MEDITERRANEAN: DANGER! OIL POLLUTION (Continued from page 17)
Exploration of the Mediterranean Sea slavia and Monaco, have frequently dis¬ to be tackled in the amendments to be
(ICSEM, in Monaco), the FAO Working cussed the serious problems of the made to the 1969 London Convention
Party has commissioned an updated Adriatic and Tyrrhenian Seas. and which are to be signed in 1973
study on the state of pollution in the These direct contacts between coun¬ by IMCO's member countries.
Mediterranean. tries on the shores of the Mediterra¬ Italy and France have proposed the
A draft agreement between all Medi¬ nean are in line with the proposals inclusion in the 1973 Convention of a
terranean countries has been ham¬ of the United Nations Conference on section concerning the Mediterranean
mered out during a series of meetings the Human Environment in Stockholm, and other "special areas". This would
which has recommended, in an effort specify what anti-pollution measures
in Malta, promoted by a non-govern¬
to eliminate all voluntary sources of should be taken and would make com¬
mental organization called "Pacem in
Maribus", the members of which are oil pollution by 1975, that regional pulsory the installation and use of
agreements should be concluded for plants for treating tanker ballast.
scientists, lawyers and politicians from
all over the world interested in marine
the protection of specific sea areas. The building of such plants at all
But an agreement between all Medi¬ terminals where crude oil is loaded
problems.
terranean countries would be of only would be an immediate and practical
There have also been important bi¬ relative value unless it were also hon¬ solution, since the Mediterranean can
lateral and multilateral discussions. oured by all countries (including those no longer wait for long-term solutions
Parliamentary groups from the coun¬ outside the Mediterranean) whose and the theoretical prospects of new
tries of the northern Mediterranean tankers use its waters. technologies to mature.
basin, including Italy, France, Yugo For this reason the problem needs Carlo Munns

A WORLD POLICY FOR THE ENVIRONMENT (Continued from page 6)

recommended that the environment Regional Office in Beirut; and the perhaps in relation to need but
secretariat should be located in Nai¬ Secretary-General of the United rapidly by historical precedent. This
robi (Kenya). Nations Conference on the Human structure may in time provide a
Innovations now undertaken at na¬ Environment convened a panel of coherent system for environmental
tional and international levels should, experts in June 1971 at Founex decision-making that links all political
within a few years, give us some prac¬ (Switzerland) to consider
inter¬ the levels local, national, regional, and
tical evidence of how best to struc¬ relationships of development and international, and that provides regular
turally organize and integrate develop¬ environment, with emphasis on policy channels for continuous communica¬
mental and environmental goals and formulation and action.
tion among scientists, planners, and
operational programme. To obtain an These efforts are among the more decision-makers, as well as between
input of information, properly balanced important of a much larger number of official and non-governmental agencies.
in relation to programme needs, pre¬ official and unofficial conferences, But meanwhile, who makes the deci¬
sents an additional challenge. seminars, and workshops intended sions on environmental affairs?

Availability of information in a usable
form is a necessary, but insufficient,
step toward better environmental deci¬
sions. There is also need to insure
that a broad spectrum
makers are aware of the availability
of the data, and that they correctly
appraise its significance for their work.
Both the Biosphere Conference and
the U.N. Stockholm
commended education
programmes for technical, professional,
and administrative personnel to enable
them more effectively to integrate eco¬
logical concepts into their work. And,
because many environmental decisions
require a scientific input, it has been
necessary to improve the ability of
scientists to advise and to assist public
officials in arriving
valid environmental and developmental
decisions.
Prior to the Stockholm Conference,
the International Council
Unions' Scientific Committee on Prob¬
lems of the Environment brought to¬
gether, at Canberra (Australia), a group
of scientists from developing countries
for the purpose of clarifying environ¬
mental issues, especially in relation
to development objectives.
32 Regional seminars for officials,
chiefly from developing countries, were
sponsored by the
Economic Commissions
ultimately to improve the quality of A superficial answer would be:
environmental decision-making. Pre- almost everybody or in some in¬
Stockholm efforts in this direction were stances, nobody. The present disorders
necessarily experimental; post-Stock¬ of our global environment reflect the
of decision¬ holm training for environmental deci¬ inadequacy of our decision process at
sion-making will almost certainly be¬ all jurisdictional levels. No nation as
come a regular and continuing func¬ yet can claim true expertise in envi¬
tion of many public agencies and scien¬ ronmental management. The so-called
tific and commercial organizations. developed nations are only a few
Conference re¬ The purpose of decision-making is years ahead of the developing states
in awareness and experience.
and training to arrive at a judgment regarding
proposed action: whether, how, or Environmental protection technolo¬
when to act. A decision against action gies may be rapidly transferred where
may be as significant as one for action, receptive conditions exist. Awareness
and the way in which a decision is of the need for wise environmental
made may be as important as the management is rapidly becoming evi¬
substance of what is decided. dent among the leadership in many
developing countries. Ecologically
sound policies are increasingly under¬
at ecologically stood to go hand in hand with effect¬
ive development. There is indeed
ÍT international levels, the
ground for optimism that, at least,
diversities among nations require a
broad base of deliberation for deci¬ some developing countries may bring
of Scientific their environmental problems under
sions that affect all or large groups of
control more rapidly than will the older
national states. At national levels (but
industrialized states.
increasingly at international levels
also) there is need to benefit from the The task of international environ¬
contributions of the non-governmental mental and developmental policy today
organizations to the decision process. is to develop the concepts, criteria,
Non-governmental organizations were and institutional arrangements which
strongly represented at the Stockholm will give the best chances for public
Conference and made major direct and action addressed to the broad range
indirect contributions to official action. of human needs experienced by all
mankind.
United Nations A structure for environmental deci¬
and the sion-making is thus emerging, slowly Lynton K. Caldwell
 '
c
p rn
\iï ib G3 LÍL
Unesco General Conference Director-General, at Unesco H.Q. in Paris
on November 22. The Unesco Science
Unesco has now embarked on the world
Prize for achievements of special value to
programme for 1973-74 in science, edu¬ the developing countries was awarded
cation and culture adopted by its General jointly to Dr. Viktor Kovda, the distinguished
Conference in Paris on November 21.
Soviet soil scientist and to a group of
The conference, at which the People's nine Austrian scientists who developed a
Republic of China was represented for new and cheaper way to make steel. The
the first time, approved a budget of Kalinga Prize for the Popularization of To save Venice
$119,954,000 for the Unesco programme. Science was awarded to the internationally-
Admission of Bangladesh and the German known French physicist, Prof. Pierre Auger. A series of four gold and silver medallions
Democratic Republic during the confer¬ Prof. Auger has written and broadcast regu¬ have been issued by the "Venezia Nostra"
ence brings Unesco's membership to 131. larly for the public, and helped to bring Foundation (Italy), as part of Unesco's
science into the programmes of the French international campaign to save Venice.
Nature conservation project Radio and Television Service.
Funds from their sale, which closed on
A project to distribute to schoolchildren December 31, 1972, will be used to restore
booklets on nature conservation written the famous Rialto bridge. The reverse
side of the medallions are an exact replica
and illustrated by educators and artists in Jawaharlal Nehru fellowship
Kenya, India and Venezuela is being of a 16th century Venetian sequin, an
launched by the International Union for
for Indian graphic artist ancient gold coin.
Conservation of Nature and Natural
The young Indian graphic artist Narendra
Resources in collaboration with Unesco.
(Narendra Nath Srivastava) has been
A Unesco Gift Coupon Project* will pay
awarded the Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial
for the design and printing of the booklets. Dr. Hans Rieben
Foundation Fellowship for his work in the
* Protect No. 528. For further information on
Unesco Gift Coupons a form of International
development of Devanagari script used for
money order which beneficiaries in developing writing Hindi and Sanskrit. In our The "Unesco Courier" regrets to
countries can use to buy school supplies and December 1972 issue on the Art of the announce the death, in Berne on
others materials write to: Unesco Gift Coupon
Book, we published a work by Narendra November 23, 1972, of Dr. Hans
Programme, Place de Fontenoy, Parls-7°.
(not Navendra, as misprinted in the caption Rieben, managing editor of our
on page 35) entirely composed of his newly- German language edition since it
International science prizes designed Devanagari characters. An exhi¬ began publication In 1960.
Two international science prizes were bition of paintings by Narendra was held
presented by Mr. René Maheu, Unesco's in Pans last month.

FURTHER READING ON THE ENVIRONMENT

Planet in Peril Farvar and lohn P. Milton. The Natural History Press New York
by R.F. Dasmann. Co-edition Unesco-World Publishing, New York, 1972, $25.
1972, $8.95; Unesco-Penguin Books Ltd., London, 1972, paperback
30p, 4 F, $1.25 (Canada) (see inside back cover). The Community of Living Things: In the Desert (A. and E. Klots),
In Field and Meadow (E. Schneider Ress, ed.), In Forest and
The Problems of the Arid Zone
Woodland (S. Collins), In Fresh and Salt Water (B.B. Cadbury),
Proceedings of the Paris symposium, Unesco, 1962, £3.85. In Parks and Gardens (RS. Lemmon). All volumes published
Use and Conservation of the Biosphere
in co-operation with the National Audubon Society, N.Y. by Crea¬
tive Educational Society, Inc., Mankato, Minn. '(U.S A ) 1967
Views and findings of scientists at the first world conference on $5.95 each.
Man and the Biosphere, at Unesco, Paris, 1968. Unesco, 1970,
£1.80, $6. Resources and Man
A study and recommendations by the Committee on Resources
In Partnership with Nature
and Man, National Academy of Sciences. W.H. Freeman and
by Daniel Behrman. Unesco, Paris, 1972.
Company, San Francisco, 1969, clothbound $5.95, paper, $2.95.
Development and Environment
Population, Resources, Environment
Report and working papers of a panel of experts convened by the
Secretary-General of the United Nations Conference on the Human by Paul R. Ehrlich and Anne H. Ehrlich. W.H. Freeman and Com¬
pany, San Francisco, 2nd ed. 1972.
Environment, Founex, Switzerland. Mouton, Paris, The Hague, 1972.

The Limits to Growth World Eco-Crisis: International Organizations in Response

A report for the Club of Rome's project on the predicament of by David A. Kay and Eugene B. Skolnikoff. University of Wis¬
mankind, by Dennis and Donella Meadows, Jörgen Randers and consin Press, U.S.A., 1972.
William Behrens. Universe Books, New York, 1972. $2.75.
Biosphere: A Study of Life
Only One Earth by N.M. Jessop. Prentice-Hall Inc., New Jersey, U.S.A., 1970.
by Barbara Ward and René Dubos. André Deutsch, London, 1972,
Teaching for Survival
£2.95; Penguin Books Ltd., 1972, paperback 45p.
A Handbook for Environmental Education, by Mark Terry. Ballan-
The Geography of Hunger tine Books Inc., New York, 1971.
by Josué de Castro. Little Brown, Boston (U.S.A.) Gollancz,
London, 1952. Man in the Living Environment
A Report on Global Ecological Problems. Published for the
Of Men and Crabs Institute of Ecology by The University of Wisconsin Press, 1972.
by Josué de Castro. Vanguard Press, New York, 1970.
Basic Issues in Environment
The Challenge of World Poverty by Ira J. Winn. Charles E. Merrill Publishing Co., Columbus,
by Gunnar Myrdal. Pantheon Books, New York, 1970. Ohio, 1972.

Asian Drama
Political Economy of Environment
An Inquiry into the Poverty of Nations, by Gunnar Myrdal.
Abridgement by Seth S. King. Pantheon Books, New York, 1972.
Problems of Method. Co-edltlon Ecole Pratique des Hautes
Etudes, Paris, and Mouton, Paris and The Hague, 1972, 34 F.
33
The Careless Technology The Closing Circle
Ecology and International Development, edited by M. Taghi by Barry Commoner. Jonathan Cape Ltd., London, 1972.
 Letters to the Editor
THE EMERGENCE OF MAN countries of the world. In the hand of Therefore, we hope that a future
a teacher it turns into a tool for shaping issue might try to probe a bit deeper
future generations. The danger is for a reply to the question: "Where
Sir, greatest in the underdeveloped coun¬ are the origins of Man as an entity?"
This letter is sent to you by a group tries, with the almost complete absence
Dr. J. Hildesheimer
of school mothers with children in a of sufficient teaching aids and books,
Spiegel bei Bern, Switzerland
private school at Berne (Switzerland). that such pictures are accepted at face
We meet every Monday afternoon for value and without any doubts. This This letter was signed by 31 members
cultural group work. Several members also applies to the text, insofar as this of the Bernese Monday Group of school
of our group are subscribers to your can be easily read or translated. Gener¬ mothers and by about 280 other per¬
magazine and we have used many of ations, striving towards a new and sons who support the views in the letter
your interesting and well compiled overall view of the world, get this one¬
issues in our discussions. sided Darwinian version of the "struggle
for survival" and "natural selection"
Our discussions roam into many drummed into their brains as proof of THE GREAT HERITAGE OF IRAN
fields, e.g. education, religion, philo¬ their descent from the apesl
sophy, etc., but our main theme might
be summed up as "Man, as a physical, We feel that you are fully aware of Sir,

soulful and spiritual Being, his origin, the tremendous responsibility involved I have read with great interest your
development and future within the pres¬ in your work. Unfortunately, it seems article in the July 1972 issue of the
ent, highly materialistic and technical to have escaped your awareness how "Unesco Courier" entitled "Renaissance
world." destructive such a biased reply must of Arab Thought and Literature".
become in the minds of people, where
Our letter is brought up by your It is indeed, fascinating to note the
untold preceding generations knew
August-September 1972 issue, "The important scientific and cultural impact
themselves to be in contact with a spi¬
of Islamic civilization on the history of
Emergence of Man". This question is of ritual reality, or where such a relation
mankind.
paramount importance to us and a reply was being sought for. Your reply tears
is a human necessity, not only of passing them away from such relations. Man is There is, however, a point of histor¬
scientific interest. We were deeply thrown back exclusively to his purely ical clarification, well known to pro¬
disappointed by the contents of this physical organism, and is linked into fessionals In the field, which may not
issue. Such a criticism does not apply a evolutionary chain created by chance be evident to all of your readers. At
to the make-up of the magazine. and uncontrolled mutations. the height of its glory, the broad Islamic
empire, was the melting pot of many
The problem of the origin of Man
Any thinking person can accept different races, languages and cultures.
concerns every individual on earth. The "Creation and Evolution", or "Creation During this golden age, the rich and
reply shapes his attitude towards life
with Evolution", if both are being di¬ powerful arabic language became the
and fellow-beings. It therefore hardly
rected towards a pre-planned goal under major source of universal scientific and
seems proper to base a reply quite
the guidance of some higher wisdom. literary communication. The treasures
narrow-mindedly on only one scientific The chance product of unplanned biolo¬ of this intellectual and philosophical
hypothesis. The question of origin and
gical and chemical reactions and muta¬ heritage had emanated from many
descent of Man has been raised ever
tions cannot be held responsible for different nations and races, which
since he appeared on earth and a wide
any results of his actions, even if he eventually coalesced into the great
range of answers were given. In your destroys himself and others in the family of Islam. It may, therefore, be
issue, the reply is based on one theory,
clutches of drugs, drinks or passions. appropriate to pay due tribute to the
formulated only a short time ago and
Not one problem of human society or great scientists, philosophers and
transformed several times since its
of mankind can be solved by ignoring writers of Islam, not only as the torch-
conception. bearers of Islam, but also as the heirs
the human-spiritual components of Man.
Evolution is a factor not to be neglect¬ Unesco, a champion for the dignity and of those nations which composed the
ed in a reply to the question about the the rights of mankind, cannot be allow¬ Islamic empire.
origin of Man. One version follows ed to feel content with the concept of
Many of the great writers mentioned
Darwin and Haeckel through a long line Man as a purely physical being alone
in your article, such as Ibn al-Muqaffa,
of anthropomorphous apes to Man. and with the belief, that the human
Ibn-Sina (Avicenna), Al-Khwarazmi, Al-
Another version, as taught by one race is exclusively the product of freak
Biruni, Ar-Razi and Al-Farabi, were of
branch of modern evolutionary research, mutations within biological and chemical
Iranian origin. They wrote in their
remains within the field of materialistic processes.
mother tongue (Persian), and made
matter and reduces everything: life, numerous long-lasting scientific contri¬
A materialistic belief, as it was still
perception, spiritual activity to variable butions in Arabic, that rich language of
proclaimed by Kautsky, may not be
chemical processes. The difference Islam.
considered as up-to-date and binding
between these versions is only one of
in our days. The overcoming of mater¬ In our day, many scientists of all
degree, but at least both should have
been covered.
ialism should have progressed beyond nations, choose to write for instance,
the stage requested by Driesch and in English. Evidently, the choice of a
Since the first unquestionable and others. The "Unesco Courier" owes common means of communication does
established traces of Man, which your it to its readers to inform them of the not reflect on one's national origin.
issue shows in his artistic endeavour latest developments in research and the
The above note is brought to
(tools, ornaments, rock carvings and results obtained thereby.
the attention of your readers in the
paintings, etc.), he has asked himself
In a question as important as the interest of historical accuracy. Looking,
this question during thousands of years.
one about the origin of Man, the however, from a higher plateau, beyond
His questions resulted in many different
viewpoint of modern scientists, to men¬ all national boundaries, great men
replies, but this basic experience of
tion only Einstein, Oppenheimer and belong to all mankind.
mankind is not even mentioned in your
Heisenberg is a decisive factor in a Prof. F. Reza
issue.
renewed humanism.
Ambassador, Permanent Delegate
Since remote antiquity, Man felt of Iran at Unesco
From many of your former issues we
himself to be a creation, if not even
have formed the opinion that your
a part of higher powers. Of importance
organization, more than others, looks The article in our July 1972 Issue dealt
to him were those influences which
upon Man as a free and morally respon¬ with Arab and Islamic thought as a
turned him into a feeling, aspiring, res¬
sible being. If this is correct, the world phenomenon irrespective of the
ponsible being. He over-emphasized
biased theory of the origin of Man, national origins of the various scientists
this part of his entity, to the exclusion
applying to the human body only, and scholars mentioned. Only a few
of other parts, so that in time the
cannot suffice in itself. In the records months earlier a special issue was
necessity arose for him to become
of great religions and nations, as well entirely devoted to "Iran, Cultural Cross¬
conscious as well of the origin of his
as in modern spiritual research, may roads for 2,500 Years" (Oct. 1971)
physical body.
be found a host of references to and where the contributions of all the
Your magazine is published in many proofs for the physical-soulful-spiritual scientists mentioned by Ambassador
languages and it reaches almost all origin of mankind. Reza were described In detail Editor.
A Unesco guide PLANET IN PERIL?
'.'AN AND THL BIOSPHtkt TODAY

to man

and the biosphere

A basic guide for the ordinary

reader to the problems of the
environmental crisis, written for
Unesco by Raymond F. Das-
mann, Senior Ecologist at the
International Union for the
Conservation of Nature and
Natural Resources.

Explains the complexities of

the biosphere the thin layer of
air, water and land on our planet
where life exists and man's in¬
creasing impact on it in terms U.K. EDITION. Paperback U.S. EDITION. Clothbound

that everyone will grasp. Co-edition Penguin Books-Unesco. Exclu¬ Co-edition World Publishing-Unesco.
sive distributor in U.K.:Penguin Books Distributor in U.S. and Philippines:
Ltd., 1972. 135 pages, illustrated. 30 pence, World Publishing, New York, 1972.
Essential reading for everyone 4F, $1.25 (Canada). Not for sale in U.S. 242 pages, ill. $8.95 (U.S.).
who wants to understand the or Philippines. Not for sale In U.K.

global problems of safeguarding

and improving the quality of life.

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Animal shadowland

The ancient and almost forgotten art of the outline, commonly

and erroneously called the "silhouette" has been brought
to a flowering which it has perhaps rarely known before
by an American artist born in Florence, Italy, Ugo Mochi.
His designs are not only works of supreme beauty but also
detailed and scientifically accurate studies of wildlife, birds,
animals and nature. Two examples are shown above. See
alSO Centre pageS. Photos C The American Museum of Natural History, New York