Successful long-term partnerships in technology cooperation necessarily require continuing systematic training and capacity building at all levels over an extended period of time. Decisions concerning atmosphere should reflect the fact that economic development, social development and environmental protection are interdependent and mutually reinforcing components of sustainable development. The Commission emphasizes that the Earth s atmosphere must be considered, with the oceans and the land surface, as one of the three basic, interacting domains that comprise the global life-support system, and that sustainable development is inextricably linked with the impact that variations in the state of the atmosphere itself can have on human activity, ecosystems and natural disasters. It also notes that human activities and natural disasters contribute to the build-up of atmospheric substances, which has implications for climate change and climate variability, for the depletion of the stratospheric ozone layer, and for air pollution, in particular, transboundary, urban and indoor air pollution. Air pollution has negative impacts on human health, socio-economic development, ecosystems and cultural heritage.
Many countries face major challenges in managing the impact of pollution, especially in big cities.
Since air pollutants may cause negative environmental impacts, in some cases thousands of kilometres from the source, besides national efforts to reduce pollution, there is need for appropriate regional and international cooperation. The developed countries have the greatest share in historical accumulation of atmospheric pollutants. The Commission points out that addressing atmospheric issues involves dealing with many issues and problems, which could involve, inter alia, sustainability of patterns of consumption and production, equity, increasing population, rapid growth of urbanization, migration to expanding urban areas, lack of financial and technological resources, and the interdependency of energy, transport and atmosphere. In this regard, the Commission reiterates the importance of provision of support by the international community. International cooperation 6.