State of the World 2002: A Worldwatch Institute Report on Progress Toward a Sustainable Society (State of the World: A Worldwatch Institute Report on Progress Toward a Sustainable Society) - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1853838780 ISBN 13: 9781853838781

Publisher: Earthscan Ltd, 2002

Synopsis

This volume takes a fresh look at trends that have put the global economy on a collision course with the Earth's ecosystem. Published annually in 28 languages,the book ranges across a wide spectrum of both the social and natural sciences and is relied upon by governments, UN agencies and law-makers for its information and analysis.

About this title

Review

Essential reading -- The Good Book Guide

The Environmentalist's bible -- Times Higher Education Supplement

‘ ...if you want a good overview of the facts that shape our world, this is the best place to start’ -- The Ecologist, April 2001

‘Better than anything else around ... an impressive catalogue of information and analysis’ -- TIMES HIGHER EDUCATION SUPPLEMENT

‘This is an impressive book in many ways...provides information and discussion, but also information about background sources.’ -- Environmental Education Research, Vol8, No2, 2002

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

[Foreword from State of the World 2002: Progress Towards a Sustainable Society, by Worldwatch Institute]
Fifteen years have passed since the World Commission on Environment and Development presented its historic report, Our Common Future, to the United Nations General Assembly. The Commission's recommendations - presented unanimously, without reservations or footnotes - were courageous, visionary, and demanding. They called for a fundamental reordering of global priorities. They illustrated the inescapable links between environmental, economic, and social concerns. And they established sustainable development as the central organizing principle for societies around the world. At the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, governments recognized the great wisdom of these findings; most important, they committed themselves to an unprecedented global effort to free our children and grandchildren from the danger of living on a planet whose ecosystems and resources can no longer provide for their needs.
The political and conceptual breakthrough achieved at Rio has not, however, proved decisive enough to break with business as usual. As the global community prepares for the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg in September 2002, unsustainable approaches to economic progress remain pervasive. Indeed, it is too late for the Summit to avoid the conclusion that there is a gap between the goals and promises set out in Rio and the daily reality in rich and poor countries alike. But it is not too late to set the transformation more convincingly in motion.
The Johannesburg Summit can and must lead to a strengthened global recognition of the importance of achieving a sustainable balance between nature and the human economy. The responsibilities that flow from this recognition are not identical, since the nations of the world are at very different levels of development. Such differences notwithstanding, all of us should understand not only that we face common threats, but also that there are common opportunities to be seized if we respond to this challenge as a single human community.
If the World Summit in Johannesburg is to lead to effective strategies for sustainable development, we will also have to reinvigorate the fight against abject and dehumanizing poverty. We will have to assess the risks associated with globalization and the imperatives of global markets. We will need to breathe life into the treaty commitments and other agreements the international community has reached to save biodiversity, protect forests, guard against climate change, and stop the march of desertification. We will have to reinvent national and global governance. We will need new and additional financial resources. We will need strong partnerships among governments, non-governmental organizations, the private sector, and others in a position to contribute, such as the academic and scientific communities. And we will need to do all of this while adhering to the principles of equity and solidarity found in the United Nations Charter and other guiding documents of international!
affairs.
This is no doubt an ambitious agenda, not least because the record of disappointment is already long, and the status quo remains deeply entrenched. State of the World 2002 highlights both the obstacles and opportunities ahead. Readers may approve or reject the various assessments and proposals; I myself do not necessarily agree with all the ideas expressed here. But we can agree that the perilous state of our world is an object of genuine, urgent concern. We have the human and material resources with which to achieve sustainable development. With leadership, creativity, and goodwill, at Johannesburg and beyond, a peaceful, prosperous common future can be ours.
Kofi A Annan
Secretary-General, United Nations

Edition details

• Publisher: Earthscan Ltd
• Publication date: 2002
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1853838780
• ISBN 13: 9781853838781
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 288
• Editor: Brown Lester R., Etc.