title: The state of the environment 1976.
abstract: One of the main points made recently by the Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme, in describing the state of the current environment in the world, was that the present nuclear arms race is a potential environmental hazard, larger than any other created. It was pointed out that the nuclear stockpiles of the major powers in 1974, amounting to 30,000 megatons, were two million times the destructive capacity of the Hiroshima bomb. The State of the Environment report continues to examine also the conventional arms race, pointing out that the combined military expenditure by developing countries has increased by the rate of ten per cent a year since 1960, taking scarce foreign exchange to build up arsenals, rather than developing the environment of these countries or alleviating the poverty of the people living in these countries. Other major points described in the report: 1. In terms of pollution, even a relatively small change in one of the controlling factors of the world climate would have serious consequences for mankind, hampering the increase in world food. 2. It is still not known what the earth's real "carrying capacity" is, and all that is known is that the earth can meet only the basic needs of a finite number of people. 3. Hunger is the main problem in the world today and can only be solved through wise development and the doubling of global food production. 4. Almost half of the 7,000 million people expected to be alive in the year 2,000 will live in towns and cities, more than 64 per cent of these people in developing countries. 5. On a positive note, there is a much greater awareness on the part of the people of the world, a greater reduction of pollution  in many parts of the world, and a co-operation among governments-and a marked progress in the field of international environmental law. The report concludes by warning the world that it must consume less resources less wastefully and that without political will science can do nothing. The essence of the environmental challenge, therefore, is political rather than technical.
mesh_terms: D000397:Air Pollution; D002980:Climate; D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources; D004493:Education; D004777:Environment; D005843:Geography; D006801:Humans; D006815:Hunger; D007391:International Cooperation