Paper presented at the 21st Annual South African Transport Conference 15 - 18 July 2002 "Towards building capacity and accelerating delivery", CSIR International Convention Centre, Pretoria, South Africa.
Man's impact on the natural environment has reached an unprecedented intensity. As a result, there is growing anxiety about the earth's physical and biological capacity to continue to carry such a burden. Predictions of dramatic global change arise from continued dumping of industrial by-products into the atmosphere. The problem is worsened by destruction of forests and vegetation. Global warming could have catastrophic consequences for the inhabitability of the whole planet. It is therefore felt that we and our forebears are all responsible for the present situation.