Each human generation chooses not only its place on the planet, but also the state of the planet it will leave in its place. If trends persist, the legacy of the current occupants will be mixed. Some but not all of our descendants will enjoy increased material well-being and opportunities for fulfilling lives, and the world as a whole will be a warmer, more crowded, more consuming, less biologically diverse, and more stressed place. These latter trends can not be supported indefinitely. They will limit the choices of future generations, and they will affect the developed as well as the developing countries. Within the early decades of the next century, there must be a transition to a new path of human development. Shifting course will require that people meet their wants and needs in ways that move away from degrading the planet's life support systems towards sustaining and restoring those systems, and that move away from widening disparities in human welfare towards improved living standards worldwide that reduce or eliminate hunger and poverty. We need to begin to pursue this path today, if we are to leave a more sustainable world for future generations.

How can we make better choices about environment and development to achieve the goals of sustainable development? Consider, for example, the requirements for meeting the goal declared at the World Food Summit of 1996 of reducing the number of undernourished people to half their present level of approximately 800 million no later than 2015.