Act today to live tomorow

Citizen's and goverments' concern about environment has been increasing in the last years in industrialized countries, and several actions have been done since the last third of the 20th century at both National and international level .

To understand to what extent a global action is needed we shall mention the most important conferences on environment in which some agreements were taken to stop pollution and poverty.

International conferences on environment:

1.- Stockholm 1972 :

That was the first conference on envirnment. 130 countries attended the summit, they elborated a dossier in which the environmental problems were studied . By the end of 1983 the Brutland Comission was created, under its rule three objectives were specified :

• Review critic questions concerning environment and development and try to find solutions.
• Suggest new formulas of International cooperation.
• Increase the level of concern in citizens, voluntary organizations, enterprises, institutions and governments

The inform was presented in the United Nation's General Assembly in 1987 and governments were requested to adopt the concept of "Supportable development" and organize new structures to avoid inequalities between rich and poor countries.

Environment : The Stockholm comference defines environment as the "combined phisycal, chemical, biological and social compounds which cause direct or indirect effects on living beings and human activities in a short or long period of time ".

Suportable development model :

Supportable development is applied to the social and economical development that copes with present needs without putting in danger future generation's. we must consider two main aspects when talking about supportable development: first human basic necessities, such as food, clothing, place to live and work, must be satisfied. Second The limits for developement aren't absolute , they must be in accordance with technological level, social organization , and the capacity of the biosphere to absorve the effects of human activiy. It's possible to improve technological and social organization and give way to a new economic age aware of the environmental needs.

Supportable development is not a peaceful state, but a continuous change . it's already present in agriculture, where thanks to it, food production has improved and enviroment has been preserved.

Tblisi conference 1977 :

The main subject in this conference was environmental education . All Nations must include laws to improve environmental education . In Spain this legislation was reflected in the new educational system (Logse) in 1990.

Rio de Janeiro conference 1992 :

It was called the United Nation's conference on environment and development. 178 countries participated , including 120 heads of government. They tried to find mesures to put into practice all the agreements and decisions taken in the previous comferences . The result was global agreements on biodiversity, climatic change, desertization and an agenda ( agenda 21) to put them in practice. It's worth mentioning the proposal of developped counntries to give 0'7 % of their PIB to help southern countries.

Nature preservation

PROTECTED AREAS IN THE WORLD :

The idea of protecting areas to preserve them of human's activities appeared in the 19th century . The forest of yellowstone in USA was the first National Park in the world. Its main objective is to prevent spoiling natural areas and preserve the ecological balance for future generations. This is considered to be the best way to stop environmental deterioration , protect animal and vegetal species and biodiversity.

Protected areas extension

PROTECTED AREAS IN EUROPE

Will European Union be a cleaner, healthier , more beautiful and properous place to live ? . Shall we go on polluting the air, water, soil and losing our forests and meadows ?.

From a point of view we can be optimistic, since many steps have been taken to solve our environment problems, but there are still many things to be be done and they are the direct consequence of the society we live in , it seems people are unaware of the impact of their activities have and if resources were renewed constantly.

In the sixties when the European Union started to elaborate its first economical legislation The slogan  was :"Ennvironment has no imits" . It was not untill 1992 in Maastrich that the concept of Supportable development appeared. In 1997 the Treaty of Amsterdan made sopportable development its main objective and considered it had to be included in all the policy of the European Union. .

One of the most important aspects of the existing legislation is life protection, since many areas with great biodiversity were threatened by the industrial development and intensive agriculture. But protecting biodiversity the poorest areas may be affected, since they are ussually rich in natural resources but lack industry and population. the European Union tries to protect these areas with economical support .

PROTECTED AREAS IN SPAIN

According to the Spanish Constitution all Spaniards have the right to enjoy our environment for our personal development but the duty to protect it for our future generations. Public administration will make sure that natural resources are used in a rational way . The "Ley de conservación de espacios naturales , de la fauna y flora silvestre" appeared in 1989 and it defines the different protected areas and they are the following :