Worldwide, food crops are increasing their yields but from ever fewer varieties. The genetic base of the world's food supply is shrinking, at an ever faster rate.

The Senior Expert Symposium on Electricity and the Environment was held from 13 to 17 May 1991, in Helsinki, Finland. The objective of the Symposium was to provide a comprehensive assessment of the environmental and health factors as well as the economic factors involved in supplying electricity services, and to suggest a framework within which these issues should be taken into account in making future plans and decisions on electricity production and use. The potential role of different ways of meeting electricity service requirements was also to be analysed, taking into consideration both demand side and supply side options in the light of their comparative economic, environmental and health related impacts.

The expressed aims of this conference were to promote scientific exchange and the formation of collaborations between scientists from many different disciplines and countries who share an interest in the impacts of climate changes and sea level rise.