Online version: PDF - DTIE

SECTION 1:
THE STATE OF THE ENVIRONMENT:
AN OVERVIEW
005
Healthy economies and societies cannot continue to develop in a world with
so much degradation of the environment and such large inequalities in the
distribution of wealth and resources. Degradation of the environment is the
biggest threat facing the world today. The excessive damage we are causing to the
earth is threatening our very existence.
To understand this phenomenon better, let us draw a simple analogy between
the human body and the earth. If a person continuously works too hard and too
fast, he or she will have a physical and mental breakdown, as the body cannot
maintain the level of activity demanded of it. Similarly, the rate at which human
economic activity extracts resources and emits pollution and waste is growing to
be intolerable: the earth can no longer sustain it.
The following tables highlight some of the major threats to the world environment
today which are then discussed in further detail.
GDP per capita
S
E
C
T
I
O
N
1
US$1990
25,000
20,000
15,000
10,000
5,000
0
1975 1980 1985 1990 1995
North America
Europe and
Central Asia
West Asia
Latin America
and the
Caribbean
Asia and the
Pacific
Africa
World
Steady growth in
global GDP/
capita hides
differences both
between and
within regions
Source: compiled by RIVM, the Netherlands, from World Bank and UN data/
Published in Global Environment Outlook 2000, UNEP
Annual average growth of per capita GDP
(1975-95)
Africa -0.20%
Asia and the Pacific 3.09%
Europe and Central Asia 1.54%
Latin America and the Caribbean 0.66%
North America 1.53%
West Asia -2.93%
WORLD 1.17%
Source: compiled by RIVM, the Netherlands, from World Bank and UN data/
Published in Global Environment Outlook 2000, UNEP