We must give high priority to efficient use of energy, water, and other materials, including expansion of conservation and recycling. We must stabilize population. This will be possible only if all nations recognize that it requires improved social and economic conditions, and the adoption of effective, voluntary family planning. We must reduce and eventually eliminate poverty. We must ensure sexual equality, and guarantee women control over their own reproductive decisions.
Industrialized nations are the worst polluters.
The developed nations are the largest polluters in the world today. They must greatly reduce their over consumption, if we are to reduce pressures on resources and the global environment. The developed nations have the obligation to provide aid and support to developing nations, because only the developed nations have the financial resources and the technical skills for these tasks. No nation can escape from injury when global biological systems are damaged. No nation can escape from conflicts over increasingly scarce resources.