Editor's Introduction

Pollutant emissions from human activities are changing the composition and behaviour of the atmosphere. In the process, they threaten to disrupt the Earth systems upon which all life depends. To minimize these risks and to limit the damages from changes which are now unavoidable, it will be necessary to re—tool existing institutions to meet the new and emerging challenges.

William Nitze, Alan S. Miller and Peter H. Sand begin with an assessment of the major trends that have contributed to the current conditions. They observe that the traditional development path followed historically by the advanced industrial countries has produced the great bulk of atmospheric pollutant emissions. However, the continuing trend toward dematerialization of these economies — a process that leads to continuous reductions in the quantity of material required to produce a unit of output—has also been spreading steadily in recent years. This trend in engineering design is reinforced by the management theories of statistical quality control and the principles of continuous improvement. It is strengthened further by the use of market-oriented policy mechanisms and the movement toward full social cost pricing.

At the same time, the ability of the world community to tackle environmental problems has also evolved. Nitze, Miller and Sand regard the processes leading to the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer and the London Guidelines on Toxic Substances as demonstrations that cooperative action between scientists, governments, and non-governmental organizations can be practical and fruitful.