環境問題及永續發展的全球尺度研究

Abstract

Man is both creature and moulder of his environment, which gives him physical sustenance and affords him the opportunity for all kinds of growth and development. Under such circumstances, through the rapid acceleration of science and technology, man has acquired the power to transform the environment on this planet in countless ways and on an unprecedented scale. We now realize that unless development is guided by environmental, social, cultural and political considerations, much of it will continue to have undesired effects, to provide reduced benefits or even fail together. Such unsustainable development will only exacerbate the environmental problems that already exist. We all must come to terms with the reality of resource limitations and the carrying capacities of ecosystems. Human beings must pursue plans that would not lead to conflicts over such limited resources and that would lead to sustainable development that meets the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generation to satisfy theirs. This study analyses the changes that occurred in the global environment for the past decades as well as their current situation and their spatial variation in a geographical viewpoint. It focuses not only on the state of the environment, but also on the interactions between development activities and environment. Both ultimately affect the human condition and human well-being. The paper is in four parts. Firstly, the state of the environment in a time context is discussed in order to understand the pattern and magnitude of different types of global change. Next, the relationships between human activities and their environmental impacts are examined according to various components of the Earth's environment, namely land, water, air, biotic realm, and mineral/energy supply. Representative criteria are selected to be investigated and emphasis is given to the discrepancy between countries in the world. From these analysis, we can discovere