What has emerged as a dangerous global crisis due to development?
Answers
One of the most compelling reasons for studying environmental science and management is the fact that, in the view of many leading authorities, we are now experiencing an environmental crisis; indeed, many authors have claimed that the present environmental crisis is unprecedented in its magnitude, pace and severity (Park 2001). Awareness of this environmental crisis has grown since the 1970s, partly as a result of the prominence given to major so-called 'environmental' disasters such as the Sahelian droughts of the 1970s and 1980s and the nuclear accident at Chernobyl in 1986. A major assessment of the global environment published in 1999, the UNEP Global Environment Outlook 2000 report (UNEP 1999), drew attention to two critical, recurring themes: