Henry W. Kendall, a former chair of the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) board of directors, wrote "World Scientists' Warning to Humanity", which begins: "Human beings and the natural world are on a collision course." A majority of the Nobel Prize laureates in the sciences signed the document; about 1,700 of the world's leading scientists appended their signature.
A moratorium is placed on the Northern Cod fishery by the Canadian government after a collapse in the annual harvested quantity.
January
A storm in the North Pacific Ocean causes a shipping container containing 28,800 Friendly Floatees to be washed aboard. The resulting flotsam was later used to track ocean currents.
March
The Mingbulak oil spill was a massive terrestrial oil spill at the Mingbulak oil field in the Fergana Valley, Uzbekistan. It was the worst oil spill in the history of Asia and the oil coming out of the well caught fire and burnt for two months.
April
The Katina P, a Greek oil tanker carrying 72,000 tonnes of oil, sank off the Mozambique coast.
May
The Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal, usually known simply as the Basel Convention, enters into force. It is an international treaty that was designed to reduce the movements of hazardous waste between nations, and specifically to prevent transfer of hazardous waste from developed to less developed countries.
