Global ecodynamics

Abstract

A globalization of man’s impact on the environment with the continuing growth of population and a great uncertainty of the prospects of civilization development have raised numerous principal problems of economic, political, and social character. One of them is an assessment and prediction of the state of the global carbon cycle emphasizing the role of anthropogenic processes. Clearly, this problem cannot be selected and discussed separately from the other problems of the society-nature (NS) interaction. Nevertheless, to substantiate a set of relevant problems, it is necessary from the broad spectrum of natural-anthropogenic processes to select the key aspects, the knowledge of which will enable one to answer the principal questions surrounding the sustainable development of the global nature-society system (NSS). Though the notion of sustainable development has not been clearly defined, the term “sustainable development” is widely used in scientific literature. Various discussions on the origin and meaning of this term have long taken place among specialists in various fields. They include the widely known decisions made at the international conferences in Stockholm (1972), in Rio de Janeiro (1992), and in Johannesburg (2002), as well as an accomplishment of several international programmes, such as the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP), International Human Dimensions Programme of Global Change (IHDP), the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP), International Biodiversity Programme DIVERSITAS, etc. (Braswell et al., 1996).