It has been argued that a crisis or turning point has been reached, and that there is limited time available for humans to get environmental management right and avert disaster. Various estimates suggest there is no more than a generation or two available – the ‘Brundtland Report’ (World Commission on Environment and Development, 1987: 8) observed that: ‘Most of today’s decision-makers will be dead before the planet feels the heavier effects of acid precipitation, global warming, or ozone depletion. . . . Most of today’s young voters will still be alive.’ Humankind must set in motion development that will sustain indefinitely as many people as the Earth can support with a satisfactory ‘quality of life’ (Caldwell, 1977: 98; Berger, 1987: 116; Ghai and Vivian, 1992). En route to that goal it will probably be necessary to ‘overshoot’ and support too large a population and cope with excessive environmental damage and conflicts, perhaps for several decades.