Water Resources and Environmental Management

The efficient and optimal use of our global natural base, including air, land and water, has emerged as an area of universal concern during recent decades. Major issues vary widely, but for purposes of analysis, one useful classification is by scale or magnitude of impact. First, there are the truly global problems such as the potential worldwide warming due to increasing accumulation of green house gases like carbon dioxide and methane in the atmosphere, high altitude ozone depletion because of excessive release of chlorofluorocarbons used mainly in refrigeration devices, pollution of the oceanic and marine environment by oil spills and other wastes, and overdepletion of certain animal and mineral resources.