ABSTRACT
In this concluding chapter, we summarize the lessons from half a century of professional natural resources surveys and development planning that are relevant today. The developing world (or less developed countries to use the term of the Brundtland report) is a very different place from what it was 50 years ago. Its human population has more than doubled from 1.7 billion to 4.5 billion and, at the same time, natural resources have been hugely degraded. In the next 50 years, its human population will increase to at least 6 billion (the lowest projection) and may well more than double again to 12.8 billion (the medium projection).
