Only one earth

THIS REPORT is the result of a unique experiment in international col laboration. A large committee of scientific and intellectual leaders from fifty-eight countries served as consultants in preparing the report, of whom more than seventy made detailed written contributions directly to the work of preparing it.

The names of Barbara Ward and René Dubos are listed quite properly as authors of the report. They are indeed responsible for the drafting and revision of the manuscript to which they both contributed at personal sacrifice, under remorseless time pressure, with unstinting assistance of a very small staff, and without compensation. They are responsible, too, for its general style. It would be quite impossible to describe adequately the spirit and energy that they invested in its enter prise.

But in this case the role of the "authors" is more accurately described as creative managers of a cooperative process-one which engaged many of the world's leading authorities as consultants in the multiple branches of environmental affairs. Their names appear elsewhere.

As Secretary-General of the United Nations Conference on the Hu man Environment, I commissioned Dr. Dubos in May 1971 to serve as chairman of a distinguished group of experts who would serve as advisers in preparing the report. The aim was to reach out for the best advice available from the world's intellectual leaders in providing a conceptual framework for participants in the United Nations Conference and the general public as well. Members of the group of consultants were asked to read a preliminary manuscript and offer their criticisms and contributions.