ABSTRACT
The impact of human activities on the environment is increasingly causing serious concern. In terms of the degradation of land and water quality, the pollution of the local and global atmosphere, and the depletion of natural resources, most of the current trends reveal worsening environmental problems, suggesting that national and international environmental goals will not be met without extensive policy reform and significant changes in practices and strategies. The picture, however, is not entirely gloomy; the successful reduction, in almost all developed countries, of emissions of ozone-depleting chemicals and of the gases which cause acid deposition shows that environmental goals can be met -and, furthermore, can be achieved without negative economic effects.
