The environment and population growth: decade for action.

The signs of environmental stress grow as the world's population increases: worn-out farmlands, eroded hillsides, polluted water, parched grasslands, smoke-laden air, depleted ozone, and treeless ranges. Each year about 17 million hectares of tropical forest vanish--an area the size of Tunisia or Uruguay. Fish catches are leveling off. Cities are clogged with refuse. Water and air, instead of sustaining life, cause disease.