After studying this chapter, you should be able to do the following:

1. Define several of the world’s major environmental challenges and how the international community has responded to them.
2. Discuss the possible link between climate change, scarce resources, and armed conflict.
3. Understand the environmental challenges facing policymakers, particularly the quest balance between ecological health and economic welfare.
4. Discuss some of the alternative approaches to ecological health and their strengths and weaknesses.