In a post-Cold War world, a world at peace, over 12 million Third-World children die from preventable causes every year. That is one million children every month. These casualties of poverty and the appalling environmental conditions typical of many developing countries, are the equivalent to the casualties that would be caused by repeating the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki every three days.

The conventional language of 'security' and 'environmental quality' is severely tested when we confront the need for environmental security, as a post-Cold War imperative.

This book studies the interplay of three particular facets of the connection between environment and development: the role of Third-World debt in perpetuating both poverty and environmental damage; the extension of the 'common-heritage of mankind' concept to include, not only the seas, but also the atmosphere and climate system, both to protect the commons and raise resources for development; and the reform of the UN in the aftermath of the many promises made at the 1992 Rio Earth Summit (UNCED).