Plants, animals and micro-organisms are disappearing at an alarming rate, threatening future food supplies and the making of new drugs. Overfishing is fast turning the world's seas into dead wastes, destroying jobs and threatening the livelihoods and health of millions of people in the developing world, as well as many industrialised countries. Panos takes a global snapshot of the fisheries crisis, including case-studies from India, Namibia and Senegal. The most inaccessible tropical rainforests, the most fragile coral reef systems, the remotest tribal peoples, are now within easy reach of the global ecotourist as Southern governments and international tour operators have taken to marketing their natural beauty spots in a big way. In industrialised countries, smoking is on the decline.
Tobacco companies are on the defensive as chronically ill smokers sue for damages.
But now that lucrative markets are threatened, many companies are shifting their attention to the developing world, where smoking is on the increase.