Vízügyi Közlemények, 1999 (81. évfolyam)
3. füzet - Rövidebb tanulmányok, közlemények, beszámolók
526 Hankó Z. Bauer M. IRODALOM Comins, Neil F.: What if the Moon didn't exist? Harper Collins Publisher, 1994. Magyar fordításban: Mi lenne a Fáidon, ha...? (Fordftotta: Silberer Vera), Panem Kft., Budapest, 1994. Lao-Ce: Tao To King. Magyar fordításban: Tao Te King. A Legfőbb Lényről és az Erényről. Fordította: Agner Lajos. Officina Kiadó, Budapest, 1943. Pogár Demeter: 6 ООО ООО 000 - Ezredforduló. Népszabadság. 1999. július 10. Szesztay K.-Sz. Gábor M.: Bolyónk véges türelme. Akadémiai Kiadó, Budapest, 1992. Szerkesztő: A Föld kincsei. Elet és Tudomány. XLV. Évfolyam 16. Szám. 1990. április 20. United Nations, Department for Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division: World Population Prospects. The 1996 Revision. UN, New York, 1998. Water, environment an development by Dr. Zoltán HANKÓ C.E, and Dr. Mária BAUER M. Sc (geologist) Anthropogenic disturbance to the order of nature, due to the development of science and technology, cannot be neglected in our days. The changes could be identified as early as the commencement of the "industrial revolution" and they have been especially accelerated in the second half of the 20 t h Century. The foreseeable (or un-foreseeable) consequences of these changes in the future of the Earth are causing dismay in many people. The defnition of the conditions of sustainable development is task of forcing urgency for the survival of mankind. This was frst expressed by John F. Kennedy, President of the USA that time, in 1962, later on the Brundtland report (which have analyzed the conflicts of nature and the environment from the point of view of the actual and ongoinp generations). This issue was again discussed in 1992, on the Rio de Janeiro World Semmit of United Nations on the Environment and Development. Although there was no agreement reached at this conference, the United Nations and other international scientific and social organisations started to deal with this issue seriously (in the framework of a series of conferences on this subject). A basic question of sustainable development is that whether there will be sufficient natural resources (water, land and biomass) for the future generations, taking into consideration the expectable increase of the population, the demands and the tendencies of development. Among these water is a decisive element in the future of mankind. In the interaction of the natural environment and the society the most important link is provided by water. In the former water is the basis of development, while in the latter it is the basic material, the motivating force, of meeting the water demand and the needs of the development. However, water is also a source of hazards. To understand this, one has to gain knowledge on the role and function of water in the natural environment, identifying the relationships and exploring the expectable (technical, economic and cultural) changes of development in the social environment (Figure /.). Since the availability of water resources for various water uses has natural and social limitations, the water demand of any time should be compared to the availability of the resource (with due concern to the renewability of this resource). This should be done in such a way as to allow the drawing of consequences in respect to the future. The anxiety of mankind concerning its own future relates to the fear of the acceleration of the growth of the population with time. Another fear is related to the exhausting of the explored and
