The ecological consequences of damage to forests and waters threaten our natural basis of life is the way Parliamentary State Secretary Carl-Dieter Spranger recently summed up the European regional air pollution problem in West Germany. He made this statement as the representative of the West German government at an international conference of environment ministers held in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, March 20-21. The Swiss representative expressed a similar urgency about the problem. We are forced to act under the pressure of time and events, he said. Urgency about controlling air pollution could be called the dominant theme of the meeting of environment ministers. Ten countries were represented - Canada, Austria, Denmark, Finland, France, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, and West Germany. None of the ministers or their representatives expressed any doubt that emission controls should be strengthened as soon as possible. At the conclusion of the conference, they signed a declaration committing the governments to a 30per thousand reduction in sulfur dioxide emissions - as compared to 1980 levels - by 1993. The declaration also contained a commitment to decrease effectively the total annual emmisions of nitrogen oxides from stationary and mobile sources as soon as possible - and at the latest by 1993. -- CCI