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The
International Development Target on the environment and sustainability
stems from the UN Conference on Environment and Development held in Rio
de Janeiro in 1992. This target states that "There should be a
current national strategy for sustainable development in the process of
implementation in every country by 2005, so as to ensure that current
trends in the losses of environmental resources are effectively reversed
at both global and national levels by 2015".
Nowhere is there more need for a sustainable approach than in the development
of the world's aquifers. Through this book, the United Nations Environmental
Programme aims to raise the profile of groundwater resources, so easily
overlooked because they are hidden from view.
The publication provides an overview of groundwater occurrence and of
the main issues affecting its quantity and quality. We see how the resource
is used in our cities, in industry and mining, in agriculture and rural
water supply; how it sustains many of our wetlands; how in its own undramatic
way groundwater has become an integral part of billions of people's lives.
Numerous examples illustrate the consequent resource management issues
and underline the need for active management, not development by default.
Produced with the support of the UK Department for International Development
(DFID) and the Belgian Development Corporation (DGDC), this review is
intended for planners and other decision-makers at national/provincial
government level and for the general reader. UNEP intend it to contribute
to the consciousness-raising process necessary to achieve the International
Development Target for the environment. As the authors point out, future
generations are due no less.
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