The challenges are severe and successes reltively few in number. The rate of forest loss, particularly in the tropics , remains alarmingly high. The burgeoning population, economic development and global markets are important drivers of change that collectively intensify pressure on land by raising demands for food ,livestock feed ,energy and raw materials. Simultaneous growth in demand is causing land-use conversion, land degradation, soil erosion and pressure on protected areas. The need to increase agricultural productivity due, for instance, to population growth, and to compensate for the loss of arable land due to urbanization , infrastructure building and desertification, has to be weighed against potential environmental costs. Land-use decisions often fail to recognize the non-market value of ecosystem services and overlook biophysical limits to productivity.
There are compelling reasons to consider policies and programmers that focus on the underlying drivers that contribute to increased pressure on environmental conditions, rather than concentrating only on reducing environmental pressures or symptoms. Drivers include, inter alia, the negative aspects of population growth, consumption and production, urbanization and globalization.