Environmental issues requiring international action

In October 1990 a symposium was held in Vienna on Environmental Protection and International Law. This symposium dealt with a wide range of topics relating to the increasingly important problem of the development and international acceptance of laws designed to protect the environment taking into account the interests of both the developed and developing countries. As an introduction to the discussion on these matters, the author presented an analytical overview of those environmental issues which require international action. This report contains his contribution to the symposium. At the same time, this overview reflects very closely the philosophy adopted in the design of IIASA’s Environment Program which aims at providing the scientific knowledge base required for developing international policies for achieving environmental sustainability. It is thus sufficiently broad in scope to take into account the complex linkages between the main environmental problems and their relation to other global issues which have a bearing on global security and risk management.