Satellite Observations in Global Ecology

The 20th century is approaching its end under conditions of the intensification of a number of global environmental problems (see “References”). Mankind has entered a phase in its development when the prediction of the great Russian scientist V. I. Vernadsky that human activities become geological-scale forcings capable of changing the world by bringing it to the verge of ecological catastrophe has become quite realistic. This is what determines the absolute urgency of global ecology problems and the need to develop a political concept of priorities in human values, especially in connection with the Second UN Conference on Environment and Development held in June 1992 in Brazil.