Contents:Aids (R C Gallo & G de The)Energy (H Yuping, V G Baryakhtar & E P Velikhov)Land, Ocean, Atmosphere (E Boschi, T Laevastu, J K D Söderman, A Longhetto, M-X Wang, Q-C Zeng & A Y Wong)International Cooperation on Defence Systems (ICDS) (H F Cooper, A G Basistov, T Cremins, E Teller, G M Chernavskii, A Mak, L Wood, B V Bunkin, G H Canavan, A Piontkowsky, A A Kuz'min & S P Worden)Proliferation of Weapons for Mass Destruction (WMD) (A Zichichi, R T Andrews, V Baryakhtar, D A Kay, Y Ne'eman & E Teller)Science and Technology for Developing and Developed Countries (T D Lee)Problems Relating to the CIS and Other Eastern European Countries (V Baryakhtar, J Pozela, K K Rebane & Z Rudzikas)Soil, Food and Improvement of Modern Life (G Fierotti, R A Clark, C Ponnamperuma, M Grätzel & J M Borthagaray) Readership:Scientists in all fields, universities and institutes in all fields of science — politicians and decision makers � ministries of science, interior and security, foreign affairs — international organisations.

Since the end of the Cold War, the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction has become much more prominent in U.S. national security and foreign policy planning. Revelations about Iraqi, North Korean, South African, and Israeli nuclear weapon programs, the possibility of a nuclear arms race in South Asia, and the multidimensional conflicts in the Middle East all point to the immediacy of this problem. Adding a dangerous new twist is the dissolution of the Soviet Union, a superpower armed with nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons whose successor states are wracked by economic crises and political instability. At least three main factors underlie this renewed emphasis on proliferation. First, the reduced military threat from the former Soviet Union has increased the relative importance of lesser powers, especially if armed with weapons of mass destruction. Second, certain international political and technological trends are increasing the threat to international security from proliferation. Third, new opportunities are opening for enhancing the current international regimes designed to stem proliferation. Since at least as far back as the l96Os, when it sponsored the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), the United States has recognized that proliferation is a global problem and combating it requires high levels of international cooperation. This country has also exerted unilateral influence, successfully in several cases, to discourage proliferation; it will no doubt continue to do so. Nevertheless, placing priority on nonproliferation will require the further development and enforcement of international norms and behavior supporting that objective. International conditions today offer significant opportunities for such cooperation.

Proceedings of the 48th Session of the International Seminars on Nuclear War and Planetary Emergencies held in Erice, Sicily. This Seminar has again gathered, in 2015, over one hundred scientists from 43 countries in an interdisciplinary effort that has been going on for the last 32 years, to examine and analyze planetary problems which had been followed up, all year long, by the World Federation of Scientists' Permanent Monitoring Panels.

Proceedings of the 46th Session of the International Seminars on Nuclear War and Planetary Emergencies held in Erice, Sicily. This Seminar has again gathered, in 2013, over 100 scientists from 43 countries in an interdisciplinary effort that has been going on for the last 32 years, to examine and analyze planetary problems which had been followed up, all year long, by the World Federation of Scientists' Permanent Monitoring Panels.

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