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Erosion of biological diversity -- The ubiquitous waste and growing scarcity of water and soil -- Energy, as little as possible -- Perspectives on climate change -- Applying the scientific method for sustainable development -- Sustainability at the intersection of science and nature -- Scientific uncertainty, fabricated uncertainty and the vulnerability of regulation -- Producing and disseminating sustainability-enhancing innovations -- Economic instruments for sustainable development -- Global governance of sustainable development -- The geopolitics of environment -- The new multi-polarity of sustainable development.

We are squandering our planet's natural capital—its biodiversity, water and soil, and climate stability—at a blistering pace. Major changes must be made to steer our planet and people away from our current, doomed course. Though technology has been one of the drivers of the current trend of unsustainable development, it is also one of the essential tools for remedying it. Earth at Risk maps out the necessary transition to sustainability, detailing the innovations in science and technology, along with law, institutional design, and economics, that can and must be put to use to avert environmental catastrophe.Claude Henry and Laurence Tubiana begin with a measure of the costs of ecological damage—the erosion of biodiversity; air, water, and soil pollution; and the wide-reaching effects of climate change—and then consider the solutions that are either now available or close on the horizon and that may lead to a more sustainable global trajectory. What community-driven or market-based tools can be used to promote sustainable development? How can renewable energy and energy storage advances help us decrease our use of fossil fuels? How can we substitute agroecology for the damaging chemical methods of industrialized agriculture? Is international agreement on climate goals possible? Building on the experience of the most significant climate negotiation of the decade, Earth at Risk shows what a world organized along the principles of sustainability could look like, no matter how optimistic it may seem at the present moment. Though formidable obstacles remain to the realization of this significant transition, Henry and Tubiana present the case for collective initiatives and change that build momentum for implementation and action

This is volume 3 of a three-volume final report which describes, synthesizes and analyzes the four-year Integrated Research Project CIRCE - Climate Change and Impact Research: Mediterranean Environment. Quantifies the physical impacts of climate change.

Résumé La mise à l'agenda international de la question environnementale est récente. Elle peut être datée du début des années 1970. En moins de trente ans, une série de dispositifs et d'injonctions collectives se sont mises en place en modifiant pour partie l'organisation de la recherche, les actions publiques et privées, les comportements individuels et collectifs. Le point d'orgue de la coordination internationale a sans doute été le sommet de la Terre de Rio et l'adoption de la notion de développement durable comme horizon normatif en construction. Un contrecoup « réaliste » est pourtant perceptible qui met en cause le traitement de l'objectif substantiel environnemental par la coordination internationale.

Dans le domaine de l'agriculture, les accords du GATT signés en 1995 accentuent la compétition entre l'Europe et les Etats-Unis, créant les conditions d'une diminution des prix à long terme. La mise en oeuvre progressive de la nouvelle politique agricole commune provoque une baisse de la production céréalière européenne et une hausse des prix mondiaux. Les pays en développement doivent ajuster leur politique agricole. La plupart sont en phase d'ajustement strucutrel et de libéralisation interne et tous doivent faire face à la libéralisation internationale. Les auteurs s'interrogent sur les enjeux de cette nouvelle donne mondiale, et particulièrement pour la recherche agricole et sur l'impact des accords du GATT sur le secteur agricole des pays d'Afrique subsaharienne