Sustainable development

The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment emphasises the inter-relationship between ecosystem health and human well-being. Most ecosystems are severely degraded and the services that they provide to society are diminishing. As a result, important targets for biodiversity and development are unlikely to be met. Community conservation processes are often isolated and marginalised from mainstream conservation efforts.

Current trends in fossil-fuel use and inefficient land use will lead to large global environmental problems with respect to climate change and biodiversity loss. Technical and economically feasible options are available to meet the challenge to avoid these problems. The main issue is that of creating institutional and policy conditions for a more sustainable economy.

La degradación ambiental, producto de un conjunto de actividades económicas, entre ellas la agricultura, produce efectos negativos sobre la salud de las personas comprometiendo, de esta forma, el desarrollo sostenible. Éste es uno de los enfoques presentados en la publicación, como resultado de varios años de investigación adelantada por los autores, en tres localidades de producción agrícola venezolana.