"Our Fragile World: Challenges and Opportunities for Sustainable Development”, a 2240-page publication in two hardback volumes heralds the appearance of a knowledge base for the 21^st century of challenges and opportunities- the Encyclopedia of Life Support Systems (EOLSS).

This presents integrated knowledge and worldviews related to the state of: Earth’s natural resources, social resources, institutional resources, and economic and financial resources. It presents the vision and thinking of over 200 authors in support of efforts to solve the complex problems connected with sustainable development, and to secure perennial life support on ‘The Blue Planet’. The presentations are holistic, informative, forward looking, and will be of interest to a broad readership. It also features a “Series of Interviews with Outstanding Personalities”, conducted by Patricia Morales.  Interviews with Maurice Strong, Mikhail Gorbachev, Steven Rockefeller, Maritta Koch-Weser, Shridath Ramphal, Ingvar Carlsson, Ruud Lubbers, Richard Goldstone, and Gro Harlem Bruntland are included.

According to M.K.Tolba, Editor of “Our Fragile World: Challenges and Opportunities for Sustainable Development”, “this publication . . . is meant to stand alone as an authoritative resource and Forerunner to the Encyclopedia.  It is related to the Encyclopedia which is many times as large as this publication and represents perspectives of several important subjects that are covered in greater detail in the Encyclopedia."

The Encyclopedia Of Life Support Systems , or simply the EOLSS, as it is fondly and proudly called within the vast global team of prominent writers and editors that has been deeply engaged in developing it during the last few years, is seen to be a colossus in the  world of publications as it present  current knowledge of global relevance for decision support towards sustainable development and global security.  It is the culmination of an unprecedented global effort organized under the auspices of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) and brings together the work of many of the world’s foremost scholars, experts, and policy-makers in all major fields, representing a broad spectrum of well-known leading academic and research institutions, professional organizations, government agencies, private enterprises, and policy planning bodies spread throughout the world, contributing to ‘state-of-the art information and expert opinion on virtually every aspect of the life support systems on which we depend’.

The Encyclopedia will not merely be a source of state-of-the art information and expert opinion on virtually every aspect of the life support systems on our planet, but will also forge pathways between disciplines in order to help foster  integration of knowledge as it is essential for guidance towards sustainable development. Its Body of Knowledge, of about 30 subject domains spanned by about 200 subject themes, has been developed under the expert direction of subject editors with contributions from more than 6000 authors in over 100 countries.

Placing the EOLSS in a larger scientific and global perspective,  it also carries messages from Richard R. Ernst, Nobel-Laureate- Chemistry, Leon M. Lederman, Nobel Laureate-Physics, M. S. Swaminathan, Ramon First World Food Prize, Jean-Marie Lehn, Nobel Laureate-Chemistry, J. L. Lions, Japan Prize , and S. P. Kapitza, UNESCO Kalinga Laureate.  In the words of Lederman, the EOLSS is “the theme of humanity, embedded in nature and constrained to find ways of maintaining a relationship with nature based on understanding and respect.”.

The Inaugural Edition of the Encyclopedia will be available by the end of this year. It will start with a size of about 8 million words and will mature to its full size of about 70 million words through further regular uploads. The Web based Encyclopedia features the so called EOLSS Forum for interactive dialogs between readers and authors to render the EOLSS as a Living Encyclopedia. Further Information is available at : http://www.eolss.net  or http://www.eolss.com

The material presented is the property of EOLSS Publishers and may be reprinted with authorization obtained by contacting them at eolss@easynet.co.uk