State of the World 2002

During the 1980s and 1990s, in an initiative led by World Neighbors in Guatemala, there were encouraging signs as farmers adopted low-cost improvements such as hedges to control erosion, crop rotation with legumes to add nitrogen to the soil, and covering the ground with vegetation year round to reduce soil and water loss, with the result that harvests jumped without the use of chemical fertilizer or pesticides as the capacity of farmers to innovate, experiment, and become the protagonists of their own development increased and they explored better ways to farm. Incomes improved, emigration to the cities declined, nutrition, health, literacy, soil quality, resistance to drought, water quality, and resistance to extreme weather conditions all improved; tree planting increased and more families were involved in local decision making. But this was in stark contrast to the type of farming that prevails in much of the world which delivers a great deal of food but wears down ecosystems while people go hungry and rural communities wither. Changing from destructive systems to regenerative or multifunctional or agroecological systems was part of the vision and goals of the 1992 Rio Earth Summit but implementation fell far short. Modern farming has increased production and lowered commodity prices but at the price of environmental and social dysfunction. When food production is the sole yardstick, it is difficult to comprehend the price paid by ignoring other criteria such chemicals in drinking water, soil erosion, food poisoning, subsidies, and mad cow disease. People pay three times for their food - at the checkout counter, for subsidies, and to clean up polluting farm practices. Often producing more food did not reduce hunger. Much of the growth in food production has been built on irrigation but at the price of pressure on water resources as described by Sandra Postel in "Pillar of Sand: Can the Irrigation Miracle Last?" The strongest evidence that our food system is dysfunctional is the fact that farmers, as a group, are the poorest people on the planet, hunger is concentrated in rural areas, worsened by poor access to safe water and sanitation. As most of the money in the food business flows to the cities and factories, a mass exodus from rural areas has resulted. In 1950 American farmers captured 50 cents on the food dollar but in 1997 it was 7 cents with most of the money going to processing, marketing, and agricultural input suppliers - a pattern mirrored around the world. How can so many remain hungry when food production soared and was ahead of population growth?This edition of State of the World, issued prior to the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg in September 2002was prepared to help define the agenda by focusing on seven key areas which should be the priorities for delegates - agriculture, energy, climate change, chemicals, international tourism, population growth, resource based conflicts and global governance. In ad

_State of the World_ is the flagship publication of the Worldwatch Institute. When people want information on massive global trends, they turn to two places -- this book and the United Nations Development Report. In fact, the book was written as a guide for the upcoming UN World Summit in Johannesburg, and is even forwarded by UN Secretary-General, Kofi A. Annan. Clearly, Kofi and the rest of the UN will have a lot to consider in Johannesburg, as many of the problems that were mentioned in _State of the World 2001_ have only gotten worse in the commercially intense and ecologically devistating -- albeit relatively short -- 365 day interim. If you are looking for the most up-to-date information on glObal food, water, health care, education and environmental trends, this is your book. Perhaps the most finely crafted information tool in our kit. General Topics Included: Science breakthroughs, climate change, politics, dysfunctional farming, world hunger (amidst plenty), rural areas, cities, ethical eating, the new chemical economy, metal poisoning, persistent organic pollutants (POPs), environmental democracy and markets, technology changes, glObal industry, development theory, environmental impacts of tourism/sustainable tourism, population, reproduction, healthy families, gender myopia, the relationship between resources and conflict, resource pillage, economic sanctions, international governance, and democratizing glObal governance. Specific Items of detailed Statistical Consideration: Infectious diseases, glObal pharmaceutical sales, legislative responses to recycling in the 1990s, greenhouse gas emissions and targets, land distribution and agribusiness lots, glObal chemical output, glObal atmospheric emissions, hotel "greening" success stories, gender disparity, Sierra Leone's Civil War, a progress report of the Rio Convention, small dams commissioned and removed in the U.S (1910-1999), regional deaths from AIDS (1990-2000), glObal average temperatures (1867-2000), glObal carbon emissions (1751-2000), carbon emission in U.S., China and Russia (1990-2000), per capita food production and commodity prices (1961-2000), world fertilizer use (1950-2000), glObal pesticide sales (1950-1999), certified organic and in-conversion land in the EU (1985-2000), toxic intensities of selected U.S. manufacturing sectors for the early 1990s, projected growth in world economy, population, and chemical production (1995-2020), international tourist arrivals (1950-2000) and projections for 2020, world population since A.D. 1 (yes, since year one!), cross-country analysis of contraceptive use and childbearing, official development assistance (1970-2000), foreign debt of developing and former Eastern Bloc nations (1970-2000), and private capital flows to developing countries (1991-2000). You might also seriously think about subscribing to World Watch magazine. As with this book, it presents glObal environmental issues in the form of highly researched arti

This is the latest annual edition of the indispensable "State of the World," and it should be at the top of your reading list. No coincidence, it is timed to correspond with the "State of the Union" address. The world we live in today can no longer afford limited nationalistic thinking -- we must learn to think and act globally, and this book is a key part of racing up that learning curve. The 2002 edition contains 8 chapters, on topics including global warming, population, agriculture, toxic wastes, resource conflicts (such as wars over diamonds in Africa), and global governance. Beginning in August, the U.N. World Summit on Sustainable Development will be held in Johannesburg, and the lead essay frames an agenda for that meeting. "The Skeptical Environmentalist," the book that is the current favorite of libertarian anti-environmentalists everywhere, is subtitled "Measuring the Real State of the World," a none too subtle dig at the Worldwatch Institute. Lester Brown and the others at the Institute have been addressing the most important issues facing the world for many years now, and they deserve our respect and our thanks! This is no time to surrender the fight for the future -- what do we want to leave for the generations to come?