Experience has shown that it is possible to achieve growth while ensuring sustainable development. Everything indicates that world economic and population growth will continue to place a great strain on nature for many years to come. The environmental problems are manifold. Land degradation is a major problem in rich countries as well as in poor ones. Our seas and oceans continue to suffer from pollution and overfishing.
Threats abound to the climate, the ozone layer and biological diversity.
There is an urgent need to take global action to correct the unsustainable production and consumption patterns we have become used to. Our concern for nature and the environment have to be integrated in industrial, agricultural and forestry policies, in the energy and transport sector, in urban policy and regional development strategies. The market must be made to work for sustainable development too. The industrialised countries bear a heavy responsibility for the present state of our globe. That is why the OECD Ministerial Meeting on 16-17 May 2001 is so important.