Sustainable development

IUCN's 50th anniversary celebrations in Fontainebleau, France, on 3 November 1998, included a symposium organized around three main areas: conservation, communities and consumption. A wide range of prominent scientific figures led the workshops to encourage new thinking on diverse aspects of these topics. These Proceedings contain keynote addresses and summaries of the responses elicited by these papers.

Government policies on agriculture, forestry, water, energy and industry have tacitly encouraged over-use of the country's natural resources. The consequent exploitation of natural resources has had a negative impact on productivity by raising production and maintenance costs and aggravating the problem of biodiversity conservation.