This paper analyses the preparatory process for the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD), to see what it might suggest about the direction that the population debate has taken since the 1974 World Population Conference at Bucharest and its successor conference held at Mexico City in 1984. Given the insights obtained from the ICPD preparatory process, and the legacy of the preceding two UN population conferences, what can we say about the directions that the evolving population agenda may take at Cairo?

In an attempt to answer this question we make four predictions: (i) the linkage between population and development will be reaffirmed; (ii) United States' ‘Mexico City Policy’ will be formally reversed as the US will seek to recapture the leadership role in the field that it conceded in 1984; (iii) women's health issues will take centre-stage as a new focus in the ongoing debate on the larger ‘population question’ as the agenda is again realigned; and (iv) nations will once again refuse attempts by the population establishment to adopt quantitative population targets.

It is noted that the number of more or less permanently displaced persons throughout the world (now of the order of 1% of the total human population) continues to increase at a rate of approximately 3 millions per year; the situation in Africa is especially grave, with the number of displaced persons there (now of the order of 3% of the African population), continuing to increase at a rate of approximately 1.5 million per year. Human displacement — which can be seen to originate largely in rural areas — results primarily from one or more of three factors, namely escape from persecution, escape from military activities, or escape from inadequate means of subsistence. A number of examples from Africa are provided of the social and political consequences of human displacement, with emphasis on conflict situations at the sites of relocation.

It is further noted that the numbers of displaced persons continue to grow relentlessly despite there being no discernible rise in persecution or military activities, and despite the long-sustained ameliorative efforts and financial assistance by intergovernmental agencies and others.

It is accordingly suggested that the major cause of the continuing increase in the numbers of displaced persons is an ever-growing imbalance between population numbers and the human carrying capacity of the land. Population increases lead to smaller per caput natural resource bases, a predicament exacerbated by over-use — and thus degradation — of the land and its natural resources. In the arid and semi-arid regions of Africa, over-use of the land most often takes the form of overgrazing, leading to land degradation that is severe enough to be referred to as desertification. It is concluded that to achieve sustainable utilization of the land and its natural resources will necessitate the integrated attainment of environmental security and societal security — the latter inter alia requiring participatory governance, non-violent means of conflict resolution, and especially population controls.

In Madagascar, as practically throughout the world, many protected areas were originally created with little consideration for the resource requirements of local people and consequently are now suffering from acute pressure from local exploitation. In an attempt to redress the problems, integrated conservation and development projects have been initiated. The original aims to protect a representative ecocomplex are now expected to be achieved by understanding people's requirements and enhancing traditional practices or providing alternatives, and the aims have been expanded to promote the sustainable use of resources also outside of reserves.

These two projects, at Andohahela and Soalala, are duly considered, using a framework that has been developed to understand local people's behaviour in relation to resources. Economic, energy, cultural, and ecological, factors, acting as interdependent systems, are considered. The economic, energy, and cultural, factors influence each other, acting together to define the values or resources to people and driving their behaviour in relation to those resources. The behaviour affects the ecological system and may alter the availability of useful resources, depending on the level of use and their resilience. The availability of resources affects the energetic effort required to collect them, so establishing a feedback link.

The aims of the projects are to establish ecological equilibria that protect the reserves and enable sustainable use to be made of resources outside the reserve. To achieve these goals they must influence people's behaviour suitably. Strategies include strengthening feedback from the ecological system, and providing energy or economic incentives. Development activities which aim to promote sustainable use of resources and protect biodiversity, through maintenance of the protected area, are assessed. Many projects give a high priority to income generation and improved access to social services; however, the conservation aims of a project often require a better targeted, resource management-based development package. This paper advocates the consideration of economic, energy, ecological, and above all cultural, factors in the design of effective activities for conservation and development projects.

Ski slopes are commonly established following clearcutting of areas of well-developed forests, scraping off the surface soil, and seeding the entire ground-surface, as forests widely remain in mountainous regions where skiing is developed in Japan. The ski slopes are then sown with seeds of exotic plants in an attempt to prevent soil erosion. However, many bare areas remain, or develop, on ski slopes. Due to this landscape fragmentation, not only deterioration of Nature but also environmental problems develop, including those of water, garbage, and traffic, pollution.

The ski-resort concentration occurs mainly in regions of high-quality landscape around urbanized areas, and derives mostly from economic benefits. Yet any regulation of ski-resort construction has unfortunately been delayed. Areas where ski-resorts have been concentrated have a high risk of damage, and further studies of the situation are overdue. We should reconsider the construction, enlargement, and distribution patterns, of skiresorts, and any further development should be based on sound ecological and conservational knowledge rather than mere transient economic considerations.

The coal-mining industry plays a vital role towards meeting the energy demands of the people of India. Whether the mining is opencast or underground, however, it affects the environment and ecology of the region. Land is a non-renewable resource and is the main component damaged by mining. In India, exploitation of minerals was carried out in early days with virtually no regard for land protection. Underground mining causes subsidence of strata, mine fires, disturbance of the water-table, topographic disorder, and damage to the land-use pattern.

A fact-finding survey was made at an underground coal project of Raniganj Coalfield in Eastern India, to assess the impact of mining on the topsoil, the study area being described. Generally the soils of the local agricultural land are brownish-grey and smooth while those of the ‘danga’ lands are yellowish brown with fine rock materials, the textural quality being, respectively, sandy loam and loamy sand. Field tests such as infiltration rate and field capacity were measured at all the sampling locations, and graphical representation of the infiltration rates are given.

Infiltration rates of ‘danga’ land were found to be higher than those of agricultural land, due to their generally coarser texture. Field capacity of agricultural lands were found to range from 17.94 to 21.05%, and of ‘danga’ lands from 12.86 to 14.65%. Wilting coefficients were found to range from 5.31 to 6.75% for agricultural land and from 4.70 to 5.25% for ‘danga’ land. Bulk density, soil pH, conductivity, moisture content, and fertility status of the area, were also studied and the results discussed. Soils are deficient in nutrients. Kharif crops give an average yield of 5.05 quintals (each of 100 kg) per acre (0.405 ha) and Rabi crops only 4.88 quintals per acre. Underground mining activity will create land subsidence and disturb the water-table, finally having a negative impact on the topsoil of the area.

Across the Danish–German border in the Wadden Sea, a new dike was completed in 1981, enclosing formerly productive tidal flats and marsh areas which were most important as feeding grounds to breeding and migrant waterbirds. The bird populations responded immediately by a 50% or more reduction in numbers of resting birds and breeding pairs of most species. This paper reviews the management of the enclosed areas, comparing the differences in approach in the Danish and German areas involved.

Most importantly, a saline environment was re-established (a Saltwater Lagoon) in parts of the Danish area by actively pumping in water from the Wadden Sea. Despite sometimes drastic fluctuations in environmental conditions in the Lagoon, an infauna of species important in the birds' diet was maintained, and the Lagoon to some extent counteracted the negative effects of the dike construction.

The former marsh areas on the Danish side are drained and partly cultivated. In addition, the land areas are separated from the Lagoon by a dike, preventing a saline environment from being maintained outside the designated Saltwater Lagoon. Overall, the land areas in the Danish part are too dry and intensively used to be optimal to the breeding birds.

After construction of the dike, the breeding bird populations shifted more towards the German areas. Here, the land-use is much more beneficial to the breeding birds, because no cultivation has taken place, and a generally high water-level in the marsh areas is preserved. Furthermore, in Germany the new dike was placed closer to the original coastline than in Denmark, but a small area of the original foreland remained outside the dike, providing good breeding sites for colonial waterbirds.

It is concluded that, due to the creation of the Saltwater Lagoon, the Danish part of the area again sustains waterbirds in numbers of international importance. But an integrated approach to the Nature management of the enclosed areas — combining the solutions adopted for land management in the German part with the technical solution of re-establishing a saline environment behind the dike as in the Danish part — would have rendered a better compensation for the damage caused by the dike construction and related activities.

Few environmental education programmes established in parks in Brazil have been formally evaluated. This paper describes the study of a school programme that was established to use formative evaluation to select and improve programme strategies, and employs summative evaluation to assess the effectiveness of the programme as a whole. The programme consisted of pre-visit strategies, such as a slide show and information given to teachers; on-site activities, which comprised Nature trails and a visitor centre; and post-visit materials furnished to the students at their schools. For the evaluation procedure, child students (N=144) from fifth to eighth grades were randomly assigned to treatment or control groups and answered a written questionnaire on three different occasions — pre-test, post-test, and memory-retention test. The results were statistically analysed and significant differences were assessed between the two groups (F=98.29, p≤0.05). A Scheffé Test demonstrated correlations and located significant differences among the variables. A reliability test was done on the written questionnaire (r=.77). Informally, the programme contributed to the conservation of the Park as it encouraged community involvement in helping to solve specific problems.

The results of the Black Lion-tamarin environmental education programme suggest that such programmes in Nature parks and reserves can be effective and should be established far more widely. Awareness education programmes should be encouraged, especially in underdeveloped countries which still hold great portions of the planet's biodiversity. This education programme was beneficial to both students and members of the local community, who learned about the Park and became proud of it as their natural legacy, as well as to the Park itself of which the protection became enhanced through awareness and community involvement. The Black Liontamarin programme serves as an effective example to other sites with similar contexts and constraints.

The impacts of logging on Amazonian ecosystems has been the focus of considerable attention both within and outside of Amazonia. However, the impacts of logging on individual timber species has not been at all adequately investigated. Logging affects timber species by: (1) removing mature individuals that are important sources of seeds; (2) damaging seedlings and saplings (i.e future generations of canopy adults); and (3) creating conditions that favour fire by opening the canopy and leaving slash as fuel on the forest floor.

In this study we summarize information on the ecological characteristics of 305 timber species in Brazilian Amazonia. We identify seven ecological parameters that are useful in evaluating a species' ability to resist the negative impacts of logging. These characteristics are: (1) effective long-distance dispersal ability; (2) abundance of saplings in forest regeneration; (3) rapid growth; (4) ability to resprout; (5) capacity to withstand fire; (6) broad geographic distribution; and (7) high density of adults. We hypothesize thai species with characteristics opposed to these parameters and subjected to intense logging pressure will have difficulty in maintaining their populations in logging regions.

We use a simple scoring system to rank species with regard to their hypothesized ability to withstand logging impacts. Among the species that are potentially susceptible to logging impacts are Euxylophora paraensis (‘Pau Amarelo’) and Swietenia macrophylla (American Mahogany). The sawn lumber from these two species goes principally to European and North American buyers, revealing a direct link between First World consumption and possible biodiversity impoverishment in the Brazilian rain-forest. These two species, and others that might experience population reductions as a result of logging, merit special study.