World population is growing: food, water, education, housing, and medical care must grow apace. The current world population is approaching 5.9 billion and the rate of growth is 1.6 percent per year about 90 million people are added each year and it is projected that there will be 10 billion people by 2030. Whether or not the needs of these people can be met without economic, political, or environmental upheavals is uncertain. Urban populations are growing much faster especially in developing countries where urban population grew five fold between 1950 ­ 1990 to 1.5 billion and is projected by the U.N. to grow to 4.4 billion by 2025, at which point nearly two­thirds of the developing world will live in cities. Thus, most of this growth is occurring where people have the least means to support such growth.

With support from international organizations and NGOs, governments should increase the education of girls and implement other policies that reduce infant mortality. Corporations and governments should encourage research and development of new long term, low cost male and female contraceptives, which should be provided through the private sector. With support from NGOs, governments should increase the level of social marketing programs that teach family planning and should encourage the development of high­yield, sustainable agriculture, particularly through biotechnology and improved storage and distribution systems. In addition, NGOs, banks and governments should establish and expand micro­credit systems for women in countries with high population growth rates. Further, governments and the private sector should invest in rural/urban marketing and distribution systems so that rural produce can be delivered to urban markets. Finally, governments should anticipate the population growth and expedite conservation programs for agriculture, food, water, and other resources.

2. DIMINISHING FRESH WATER

Fresh water is becoming scarce in localized areas of the world due to the lack of adequate waste management; excessive consumption and contamination of water aquifers; excessive farming on marginal lands; and population and urbanization trends that are affecting the availability ­ and future expectations of availability ­ of fresh water. The countries facing scarcity include: eleven African countries; nine middle Eastern countries; northern China (including Beijing and the agricultural lands surrounding it); India (including New Delhi and thousands of rural villages); Mexico (including Mexico City and irrigated farmlands in northern Mexico); and portions of the western United Sates.

Governments should establish water conservation policies and incentives to improve the efficiency of water use. The private sector and governments with ocean access should begin immediate research and development programs to produce the means for desalinating salt water. Supported by governments, the private sector should encourage further development of plant strains and agricultural practices that use salt or brackish water for irrigation, or are drought­hearty. Where possible, governments in consultation with corporations should develop water trading and marketing practices that allow users and managers to better allocate scarce supplies and fund conservation. International organizations and governments should secure treaties and cooperative agreements on water rights between nations that share water resources before shortages occur.

3. WIDENING GAP BETWEEN THE RICH AND POOR

The gap in living standards between rich and poor promises to become more extreme and divisive. According to the World Bank, low income countries' average per capita income grew 3.4% from 1986 to 1994 compared to 1.9% for high income countries. One might conclude that both the rich and the poor are getting richer, but that would be misleading. Excluding India and China, the low­income countries fell by 1.1%. Hence, while some poorer countries are getting richer per capita, incomes in most of the low income countries remained the same or even dropped. According to the UNDP's Human Development Report 1996: "Nearly 90 countries are worse off economically than they were ten years ago ... the gap in per capita income between the industrial and developing world tripled from 1960 to 1993, from U.S. $5,700 to $15,400...today the net worth of the world's 358 richest billionaires is equal to the combined income of the poorest 45% of the world's population 2.3 billion people." Besides the moral implications, this issue could lead to increased instability and migrations that could swamp richer areas economically and politically. The gap is also getting larger in richer countries, making this a transitional issue rather than a First World vs Third World issue.

NGOs, with support from governments, should expand micro­credit mechanisms with banks, other NGOs, and international financial institutions to accelerate the development of small scale businesses. Governments and international organizations should create and implement a new kind of "Global Marshall Plan," but not completely modeled after the Marshall Plan, that would instead be more of a "global partnership for development" between high­income countries and those with less industrial and entrepreneurial cultures. Entrepreneurial skills and business math should be added to public education curricula in poorer areas. Governments and UN organizations should accelerate programs that arrange for the provision of low cost computer communications equipment and training in schools, libraries, businesses, and hospitals in low income areas. In addition, governments and development organizations should create toll­free numbers and computer networks for people from low­income countries who now live in high­income countries to volunteer some time to participate in the development of their original country via telecommunications. The private sector, in collaboration with NGOs, should create low­cost, hand­held computers with direct satellite access for low­income regions to enable access to educational software and telephony with elementary literacy as first priority. Governments, with advice from international organizations, should permit the IMF to issue new SDRs (Special Drawing Rights) to reduce the debts of developing countries and with some leadership from international organizations, should increase efforts to promote free trade among developed and developing countries.

4. NEW & RE­EMERGING DISEASES AND IMMUNE MICRO­ORGANISMS

The threat of new and re­emerging diseases and immune micro­organisms is growing. Recent out breaks of bubonic plague in India, ebola virus in Africa, and drug­resistant tuberculosis in the United States are causing the world to re­think in public health policies. Increasing mass migrations and international travel spread diseases more rapidly than in the past; increasing urbanization and population density only accelerate and intensify this issue. Furthermore, the widespread use of antibiotics has resulted in the evolution of micro­organisms that are resistant to antibiotics. Travel is easy and diseases respect no borders, making this issue a matter of national security, for the threat of biological terrorism is now plausible.

WHO, assisted by government agencies (like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ­ CDC in Atlanta), should strengthen and expand the global network of WHO collaborating laboratories to create an effective global surveillance system for emerging viruses and infections. With strong government support, WHO should increase funding and technical assistance for the Global Program on Vaccines to ensure maximum coverage is obtained with existing antigens and that research and development is intensified for other possible vaccines and immunizations (such as for malaria). Governments, with support by UN organizations, should increase funding for safe water supply projects. WHO, with active participation by governments, should create a rapid international medical deployment capacity to respond to outbreaks of infectious diseases with epidemic potential.

Governments with support from international organizations should increase the funding and capacity of such agencies as the CDC, USAID, WHO and other international technical agencies in order to better collaborate with countries in strengthening national disease surveillance and control systems. WHO with national leadership and management by governments should focus international attention and funding on those diseases that have been targeted by the World Health Assembly for eradication or elimination as public health problems (polio, measles, guinea worm, and leprosy). Corporations with some leadership by governments should initiate intensified research into second generation antibiotics. Issues of liability which are preventing corporate initiatives have to be addressed. Further, governments, NGOs, and international organizations should cooperate in training, credit, and technical assistance for small and micro­economic development to improve economic development in poorer countries and thus improve the standard of living.

5. DECISION MAKING

The capacity to decide seems to be diminishing as issues become more global and complex under conditions of increasing uncertainty and risk. There is an increasing need for effective global decision making, responsibility (especially moral responsibility), action, and results. Today many believe it is possible to shape the future, rather than simply prepare for a future which is a linear extrapolation of the present or a product of chance or fate. Yet, globalization, complexity, number, and frequency of choices seem to grow beyond the ability to know and decide. Skills development in concept formulation and communications seem to be decreasing relative to the requirements of an increasingly complicated world.

Governments, with support from NGOs, should integrate "learning to learn" into education systems and professional training programs, thereby establishing this as a prerequisite to learning technical or social complexities. Further, governments should integrate futures, creative, and non­linear thinking into educational systems, thereby teaching effective social, political, and economic decision making, including the moral basis for decisions; the nature of risk; and dealing with uncertainty. NGOs, individuals, and groups should introduce new forms of notation to represent evolving complex concepts, including uncertainty and risk, that can be used and understood by the public. Individuals and groups should celebrate those cultural stories and myths that make basic discovery exciting and promote experimentation.

6. TERRORISM

Terrorism is increasingly proliferating, destructive, and difficult to prevent. In addition to conventional explosives, chemical weapons, and computer viruses, other weapons that may become available to terrorists include nuclear and biological weapons, making the threat increasingly ominous. The trafficking of nuclear material is apparently increasing. Chemical and biological materials need not be stolen since their manufacture requires easily obtainable raw materials and conventional technology. Further threats include linking of terrorist groups with globally organized crime that extends the reach of terrorism; future biological weapons that target people with specific genetic characteristics; and exploding of Intenet terrorism loading to the coil for "Cyber Cops" ­ o new police role. At the some time, one must ask if there is justifiable terrorism. For example, was terrorism against Apartheid in South Africa justifiable?

Governments, with advice from international organizations, should tighten laws, regulations, and inspections associated with security of nuclear, biological, and chemical stocks. Governments should at least double the amount of funding devoted to protection against terrorist acts, as well as the funding for detection, capture and punishment of terrorists, by perhaps shifting some conventional military funding to anti­terrorism funding. Further, governments, with some leadership by the UN Security Council, should expand coordination and cooperation among nations (especially among those that might not normally cooperate) regarding information, early warning, apprehension, and punishment of terrorists. NGOs and governments should create social marketing or public education programs that promote respect and tolerance for ethnic and other forms of diversity. Governments should plan to build resilience and redundancies into socio­technical systems to avoid possible catastrophic disruptions (including electronic infrastructures from info­terrorism). More progressively, NGOs and UN organizations should establish an open forum for discussion of issues that inflame terrorists.

7. HUMAN ­ ENVIRONMENT DYNAMICS

The growth of population and economies interacts adversely with environmental quality and natural resources. Current world population is scoring 5.9 billion, and according to UN projections may reach 10­12 billion by the middle of the next century. As population concentrates, urban environmental problems intensify, of which carbon dioxide emission appears to be the longest term problem. Most countries are expected to increase economic growth, i.e., the consumption of natural resources and energy. Although wealth and pollution increase in tandem-- after a certain point, pollution decreases due to peoples' ability to finance solutions and other efficiencies of urbonizotion. UNCED concluded that economic growth is necessary to reverse environmental damage and find resource substitution, yet too many government policy makers are unqualified and make disastrous decisions. Nevertheless, the world is making some progress in pollution control by agreements such as the Montreal Protocol and the Vienna Pact.

Governments, with scientific support and in cooperation with the private sector, should initiate higher tariffs or taxes on polluting products and technologies, with the revenues collected used for subsidies to acquire environmentally safe technologies. To the degree possible, governments and the private sector in cooperation with scientific research systems should include environmental costs in the pricing of natural resources and products.

A scientific and economic research agenda will have to be created and implemented by UNEP, UNU, World Bank, ICSU, or other scientific and economic organizations to recommend how to make such measurements. UN organizations and governments should establish an international technology bank, funded by country pledges, that could acquire the rights to innovate "green" technologies so as to make them more easily available to environmentally less advantaged countries.

Governments and international organizations should continue to support and promote all modes of family planning by subsidizing and distributing culturally appropriate contraceptives, promoting programs to improve health care, diminish infant mortality, improve literacy, and involve women in the monetary economy. Policies that reduce infant mortality and increase female literacy should have the priority.

In addition, a system of national accounts that includes the economic impacts of the depletion of natural resources should be established. Although the display of labels on all consumer products and open information, indicating whether or not they have been produced in a sustainable manner, requires research to define and create measurements, the public would benefit from such action initiated by governments, the private sector, and international organizations.

Governments and international organizations should encourage nations to abolish environmentally inefficient subsidies, perhaps via treaties. Finally, governments, in cooperation with I IN organizations, should create traceable pollution permits that fix global emission limits for countries or industrial sectors once scientific and economic research establishes target emissions.

8. CHANGING STATUS OF WOMEN

The status of women is changing. Women are striving for equality across all cultural, geographical, racial, class, religious, and ethnic boundaries. As the status of women improves, birthrates decline and the welfare of nations improves. In the developing countries, the last 20 years have seen women advancing twice as fast as men in literacy and school enrollment; women's life expectancy increasing by nine years; and maternal mortality rate has nearly halved worldwide. Improving the status of women could be the most cost­effective strategy for improving the majority of issues in this study.

Governments, with some leadership from UN organizations, should emphasize programs designed to reduce female illiteracy, especially among rural, migrant, refugee, displaced within a country, and disabled women. International organizations and governments should encourage programs that provide support for child care and other services to mothers; they should enact and enforce legislation in all nations to guarantee the rights of women (including property rights); and adopt and implement laws against gender based discrimination in employment. Governments should ratify and enforce international treaties to ban trafficking and slavery of women. Direct links between and among regional, national, and international bodies, dealing with the status of women and advancements should be established.

Governments and NGOs>

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9. RELIGIOUS, ETHNIC, AND RACIAL HOSTILITIES

The severity of religious, ethnic, and racial conflicts is increasing. Religious, ethnic, and racial hostilities, suppressed by the Cold War, have now emerged as a major theme of armed struggle. According to UNU/WIDER:"Over the last ten years the number of humanitarian crises has escalated from an average of 20­25 a year to about 65­70, while the number of people affected has risen more than proportionately." Today, according to UNHCR, one in seventeen (17) people is either a refugee or a displaced person. Many groups feel a sense of persecution and isolation. Rapid rates of technological, political, and social change cause many to fear the future, giving rise to feelings of being "left behind," and the need to reestablish fundamental principals. Increases in regional and inter­regional migrations are provoking political and economic tensions. The recent successes of other separatist movements, perceived injustices, and long held animosities, all fuel the fire. Extremists can focus the media through violence. Stinger missiles, chemical and biological weapons, and computer viruses, are cheap and easy for smaller groups to use and have significant affects on "superior" military forces, the media, and the general public.

The UN, other international organizations, NGOs and governments should establish an early warning system to identify the most likely next conflicts and facilitate mediation between the groups involved. Governments, in cooperation with UN organizations, should establish political priority for ensuring human rights and dignity. Governments and international organizations should increase funding for social marketing to help ensure human rights and dignity. Governments should also promote school curricula that emphasizes compassionate behavior and socially acceptable values such as tolerance and respect for diversity.

Governments, with coaching from UN organizations, should seek means for including the views of dissident groups into legitimate political processes and conduct more research projects designed to uncover the causes of collective violence. The UN should be given the capacity of deploying a rapid response of government troops who have been trained together, have comparable equipment and communications, and standard supply depots. Governments should increase economic development (especially micro­enterprise credit and training). Finally, the UN should establish international criminal courts and tribunals with enforcement powers to punish those convicted of atrocious collective and communal violence.

10. INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

Information technology holds both promise and peril. The Internet has grown faster than any phenomena in history; thus, interactive cyberspace has become an important new and unprecedented medium for civilization. By the year 2000, the Internet Society expects 187 million hosts connected world­wide; 2 million networks outside the U.S.; 2.5 billion users; and more traffic than voice telephone. The Internet represents one of the most powerful agents of change in the world, affecting everything from science and religion to politics and culture. If new kinds of enterprises and employment are not created to address computer and automation­induced unemployment, the unemployed and underemployed could well create an anti­technology sentiment. The Internet is also a medium for crime, unacceptable cultural influences, pornography, and information warfare, conducted by individuals, groups, corporations and nations. Authenticity of information will be difficult to establish. Nonetheless, information technology is creating a planetary "nervous system" necessary for improving the prospects for humanity. Once we understand that this is truly a revolution ­ and not merely a more efficient way to accomplish our daily tasks ­ we will make great progress with this technology.

If governments open the business and information environment to competition, the private sector could provide more free Internet accesses and training. Governments and corporations should create incentives for foreign investors to accelerate the introduction of computer communications and related equipment to developing countries and training to facilitate the use of global networks. They should also promote policies that anticipate and expand network capabilities that tend to help avoid communications overload. International organizations, in cooperation with individuals, groups, and NGOs, should create an on­going global forum to explore freely the potentials of the emerging world cyberspace. Governments, with assistance from NGOs and corporations, should recognize potential impacts and advantages of information technologies on employment and institute large­scale and entrepreneurial training for emergent or growing economic activities and displacement. Also, software to protect children and other peoples' rights not to be exposed to unwanted information should be provided. Governments should work with the WTO and the WIPO to strengthen intellectual property rights to encourage the development of information technology products that can be marketed in developing countries. Furthermore, governments and international organizations should encourage a hands­off posture toward the regulation of the content and use of international networks such as the Internet. International organizations, like the WTO, ITU, or the KU, should assist governments to promote global harmonization of communications rules and standards.

11. ORGANIZED CRIME

Organized crime groups are becoming sophisticated global enterprises. With vast sums of money from illegal drugs and other sources, organized crime is buying the technical know­how to generate even more profits in new ventures, ranging from information fraud to human organ and arms traffic. Examples include: 1991bank fraud of US$2.2 billion; telephone fraud $4 billion; credit card fraud $1.5 billion. Financial institutions in the United Sates alone transfer over one trillion dollars via computer networks daily. This, and other international financial flows, provide tempting targets. Although organized crime is very small compared to the overall number of crimes today, its potential for growth due to it accumulation of large amounts of money and potential relations with terrorists increases the capacity of violent and extremely dangerous activities. Unfortunately, there is little international coordination to address organized crime, except in the trafficking of narcotics.

Governments and international organizations should complete an international set of agreements for tracking and arresting international criminals. These agreements should include data exchange, personnel consultancy, and provisions for sanctions against countries that do no implement these agreements. NGOs, UN organizations, and governments should establish global dialogues on human values and morals to continue over several decades via television, Internet, shortwave radio, and interactive games, to identify and acknowledge global ethics, encompassing responsible behavior and caring for others. UN organizations and governments should establish international early warning systems, focusing on potential emerging crime threats.

Governments should plan to build resilience and redundancies into socio­technical systems to avoid possible catastrophic disruptions. Governments with some leadership by UN organizations should address new crime areas, such as illegal waste disposal, theft of nuclear materials, human organ and arms traffic, and sabotage of information networks. Software companies should partner with governments to accelerate efforts to develop software detecting international computer­based fraud and train in its use. UN organizations with some leadership by governments and legal associations should develop international laws and a world criminal court with enforcement powers. Finally, G­7 countries should establish budgets and training programs for foreign counterparts with special attention to newly emerging democracies and Eastern European countries and increase the number of case­specific international training seminars in order to provide more practical training for officers.

11. ECONOMIC GROWTH

Economic growth brings both promising and threatening consequences. Coupled with technological innovation, economic growth has been the most significant engine of change for the last 200 years. It is responsib1e for changing the standard of living for most people in the world, shaping the physical and social environment, creating new global business relationships, changing the nature of work, employment, and expectations about the role and responsibilities of governments. Yet it is associated with the rise of unemployment, widening of income gaps, trade disputes, energy consumption, political disorder, environmental degradation, migrations from lesser developed countries, technological displacement, conflict between societal and economic aims, and uneven distribution of wealth among notions. Increasing economic growth is necessary for employment, food, shelter, clothing, health care, knowledge, tax revenues for government's social programs, new technologies for improved environmental management, global information access, increasing life expectancy, and reducing infant mortality and population rates.

The globalization and liberalization of national economies promises to accelerate the forces of global economic growth. Without economic growth none of the issues in this report can be addressed well. No government can meet its sustainable development goals unless it attracts foreign capital, yet there is still a bias against growth. Without growth, billions of people will be condemned to poverty. Since the debate between the market approach vs central economic planning is over, the question is how best to make the market work for sustainable development in an increasingly global economy.

NGOs and governments should increase national and international efforts at building communities that provide models of sustainable economic development. Governments, in partnership with environmental scientists and the private sector, should utilize taxes or user fees for the most environmentally damaging activities and organize scientific and economic research to identify and define measures of environmentally damaging activities. Government should also achieve a better balance of energy sources by implementing a full­cost accounting of external environmental effects and impacts. The private sector with government support should greatly increase R&D to quadruple energy productivity within 30­50 years, i.e., the output in energy services per primary energy input.

13. AGING NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS

Nuclear power plants around the world are aging. Existing plants are designed to operate for a period of between 30 and 50 years; after that time, the plants have to be dismantled and the sites made safe for other uses. Consequently, more than 300 facilities ground the word will have to be decommissioned by the year 2010. However, techniques for decommissioning are not satisfactory. As a result, long term storage of radioactive materials will be required and vigilant security will be necessary to prevent their theft and illicit use. To date, about 70 commercial reactors have been removed from operation. With the decommissioning of nuclear power plants and accelerating energy requirements, new electric production will become far more important than generally appreciated.

Governments and international organizations should increase funding for development of alternative generation sources for electricity base loading. With government and private sector leadership, an international program should be established to build a trust fund to finance the dismantling of dangerous plants, such the Chenobyl type. Governments, in partnership with the private sector, should include the cost of dismantling and storage of radioactive materials in pricing electricity. Government should also support research for a reuse of radioactive materials that are available at decommissioning. Additionally, governments and corporations should encourage the development of plasma torch and other technologies for the transmutation or destruction of dangerous radioactive materials. Governments should support private sector development of robots that will avoid part of the risks to humans in the process of decommissioning nuclear plants.

14. HIV PANDEMIC

The HIV epidemic will continue to spread. In 1996, 20 million people were infected with HIV, and more than 4.5 million had developed AIDS since the beginnings of the pandemic. The number of new cases of AIDS also set a record: just under 2 million. The number of newly reported cases of HIV has doubled since 1991 and about 1.7 million people died from AIDS in 1995. The infection rates exceed 25% in a number of major sub­Saharan African cities and the life expectancy in some East African countries could he cut nearly in half by 2010. By the year 2000 there will be 26 million adults living with HIV worldwide. According to the WHO Report for 1990, "Fighting Disease, Fostering Development," the number of AIDS cases in most regions will continue to rise sharply until 2005 ­ 2010 and will then continue at a high level. New cases in Southeast Asia now exceed those occurring in Africa. A cure for AIDS is not in sight; therefore, the most effective goal is prevention. The disease is not quiescent during the incubation period and can make l0 billion copies of the virus in 10 years. The "cocktail of drugs" to treat or slow the progress of the disease currently costs US $20,000 per patient per year and is intended to be taken as soon as a patient is tested HIV positive to prevent the onset of AIDS.

Governments support should focus research on developing vaccines, since the scientific community feels strongly that a cure is not likely for another 7­lO years. Governments, international organizations, and NGOs should focus attention on the small percentage of people who are responsible for a large percentage of the spread of HIV, such as urban prostitutes, without driving them underground. Governments and NGOs should provide low cost (subsidized) condoms to the market coupled with social marketing programs. This should be coupled with normal strategies to treat other STDs. Since women cannot protect themselves without the man's cooperation to use condoms, government supported programs should focus on women's rights in this matter. Information is needed about, what people do once they are notified that they are HIV positive and then base policy on that research. We need to learn how to do contract tracing without being counter productive, how to get all physicians involved in confidential case reporting and understand the socio­economic impacts of a 25% infection rate

15. CHANGING NATURE OF WORK

Work, unemployment, leisure, and underemployment are changing. Automation, globalization of businesses, regional trade agreements, the shifting locus of low labor costs, improved productivity, the aging of the population, and the drive for improved corporate efficiency are causing changes in the labor forces of almost all nations. The changes include: increasing percent of service sector employment while manufacturing percentage is falling; the ratio of retired people relative to active workers is growing almost everywhere, placing an economic burden on workers in the future; the displacement of many low­skilled, well­paid workers in the developed world occurred simultaneously with a shortage of people with adequate skills; the inability of some developing countries to use developed technologies effectively. Underemployment and isolation of women from the cash economy remains an important issue in developing countries. The fundamental shift in how the "world's work gets done" is creating a truly global labor force, yet lack of training and access divides labor into those capable of performing high paying work, and those who are not. If world demand for a workforce is significantly less than the supply, will there then be more creative uses of leisure, or will there be chronic, turbulent, destabilizing under­ and unemployment?

NGOs, corporations, and international organizations should apply information/communication technologies in developing countries in ways that improve productivity including: coupling developed with developing regions; promoting public/private funding of research and development of distance learning technologies; and building incentives into the system to promote education. Governments should fund programs in cooperation with the private sector that use the emerging information technologies and consider implications of cognitive science for designing learning environments and achieving educational/training goals. Governments and corporations should also fund and market low cost computer communications in schools, libraries, businesses, hospitals, etc. NGOs should initiate programs which create constructive uses for leisure ­ like Habitat for Humanity and the Peace Corps. UN organizations, with some leadership by governments, should establish international retraining programs to help avoiding technological obsolescence. Further, UN organizations should initiate major projects in the social sciences to understand the purpose of work as a desire and source of meaning in various parts of the world. The private sector, governments, and NGOs should create toll­free telephone numbers and computer networks to match demand and supply of labor between the developing, newly developed, and more developed nations.

A more detailed discussion and analysis of these issues, including a range of views about the best actions and additional actions to address these issues, are found in Section 2­The Issues.

A synthesis of the comments and analysis leads to the following themes or observations:

• The majority of the global issues identified in this report are interdependent ­ by improving one, others are also improved ­ and the actions to address these issues are mostly mutually re­enforcing;
• Sustainability is a concept that provides useful guidance to policy. Many policies are now based on perceptions of their impacts on sustainability; this includes scientific, technical, and economic analyses of environmental impacts, and the value and extent of resources;
• Many desirable policies ­ especially those addressing environmental and economic relationships ­ are dependent on scientific, technical, and economic standards which do not yet exist;
• Economic growth provides the means to increase employment, help solve environmental problems, improve the general welfare, and promote political stability. Implementation of policies that promote economic growth should be a priority of all nations. Policy makers believed this more strongly than scholars;
• Since education is one of the fundamental strategies to address most of the global issues in this report, it is time to identify the most cost/effective educational materials, curricula, and distribution media for global education and institutional arrangements to accelerate learning;
• Information and communications technologies can help solve many global problems but could intensify others. The falling costs and rising power of information technology is a powerful influence on all of the issues considered here;
• Proactive management will be more important in the future; linking early warning systems to political decisions is currently more illusion than fact;
• Technology may have its problems, but the introduction of new technologies is essential if some of the world's major problems are to be solved;
• The strengthening of international organizations and invention of other organizations and global authorities "with real but limited powers" are necessary to successfully address the issues in this report. A key factor will be the emerging relationship of global corporations and international organizations;
• Globalization is a trend affecting all 15 issues; it is rapidly evolving and an improved global legal framework is needed; and
• Multicultural discourses are required to identify common ethics and new norms for the globalized milieu of the future.

Each year the Millennium Project intends to up­date and improve this annual state of the future report. Your feedback is welcome via the addresses elsewhere in this report.

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