Sustainability and policy - Climate Change: Biological and Human Aspects - page 450

importance as an international basis for monetary exchange diminished, so freeing
the metal for alternative use.
Twenty years on from the original report its authors published a follow-up
(Meadows et al., 1992) that included a rebuttal of many of the criticisms levelled
at them. This included pointing out that they did not seek to provide 'a warning about
the future [that] is a prediction of doom' but 'a warning ...tofollowadifferentpath'.
They also emphasised that they were not making a judgement as to whether 'growth'
per se was all good or all bad but that what was required was 'sustainable develop-
ment'. The 20-year follow-up pointed out that the future held a range of options, but
that considerable change was still required in the management of a number of key
resources (including fossil fuels, water and food supply). They also pointed out that at
the time of the UN's Stockholm Conference the number of nations with environment
ministries numbered no more than 10, whereas by 1992 it was around 100. In short,
the follow-up report urged for continued efforts to develop sustainably. To be fair
to the critics of The Limits to Growth , the first report did have (rightly or wrongly)
an alarmist tone, whereas the 20-year follow-up was more measured. However, in
equal fairness to the authors, the first report did attract considerable media attention,
something at which the 20-year follow-up was not nearly so successful.
8.1.3 WorldClimateConference(1979)
Several international conferences on climate and global warming were held in the
1970s following Stockholm. Arguably one of the most significant was the 1979 World
Climate Conference organised by the WMO. It concluded, echoing Stockholm, that
the carbon dioxide problem deserved the most urgent of attention by the international
community of nations. Nonetheless, following the conference, little discernable action
was taken by politicians.
8.1.4 The World Conservation Strategy (1980)
In 1980 the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the World
Wildlife Fund (WWF) and the UNEP came together to produce the World Conser-
vation Strategy . It was a useful document, slim and to the point, that outlined the
central tenets of sustainable development from an ecological perspective. It took
the Stockholm Conference's recognition of economic endeavours and environmental
conservation as being two sides of the sustainable development coin, but went on to
cite key principles and current priorities to realise sustainable development. Its three
core principles were:
to maintain ecological processes and life-support systems,
to preserve genetic diversity and
to ensure the sustainable utilisation of species and ecosystems.
The strategy warned, similar to The Limits to Growth , that the planet's ability to
support its growing human population was being undermined through destruction
of (biotic) resources. Importantly, the strategy stressed the fundamental need for
'genetic diversity' and this was a precursor to the popular concept of 'biodiversity'