The implementation of sustainable developmentIn November 1992, more than half of all living Nobel Prize winners signed a document called "Warning of the World Scientists to Humanity" which began with this stark statement: Humans and the natural world are on a collision course. Human activities inflict severe and often irreversible damage on the environment and critical resources. Left unchecked, many of our current practices seriously jeopardize the future we desire for human society. … Only a decade or a few remain before the possibility of averting the threats we face today is lost and the prospects for humanity diminish immeasurably. (Union of Concerned Scientists) Earlier that year, in Rio de Janeiro, world leaders approved a detailed agenda to save the environment while tackling poverty. Since then, however, very little progress has been made and many environmental problems have gotten significantly worse. Biodiversity, for example, is increasingly threatened by pollution and development, which destroy or degrade natural habitats. More than 50,000 species disappear every year (Suzuki, 1999). Waste production continues to increase worldwide both in absolute and per capita terms (Bell, 1997). Since 1980, deforestation has cost the world an average of 12 million hectares of natural forests per year (Bell, 1997). Current forms of energy production and use, based mainly on fossil fuels, contaminate air, water and soil and contribute to global warming. The global ecosystems on which our future depends therefore continue to deteriorate at an alarming rate. Furthermore, despite the expansion of corporate and individual wealth, social inequality within and between nations continues to widen. Over two billion people......middle of paper......n, June 1993: 24-26.Forte, Maurice. “From the top of the Earth to action.” Ecodecision, Spring 1997: 18-19.Suzuki, David. "Save the Earth." Maclean's, June 14, 1999: 42.Suzuki, David. "It's time for a change" (review). Quill and Quire, May 1994: 31.Union of Concerned Scientists. “Warning of world scientists to humanity.” www.ucsusa.org/about/warning.html.United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Division for Sustainable Development. "Johannesburg Summit 2002." http://www.johannesburgsummit.org/html/basic_info/basicinfo.html.United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. "Sustainable human development". http://www.unesco.org/iau/tfsd_first.html#What is Sustainable. Willums, Jann Olaf, Ulrich Goluke. "From ideas to action: business and sustainable development" (review). Alternatives, November/December 1993: 37.