Acknowledgments

Contents

List of Boxes, Tables, and Figures

Foreword - Xie Zhenhua

Xie Zhenhua

Director, State Environmental Protection Administration, China

Foreword - Sunita Narain

Sunita Narain

Director, Centre for Science and Environment, India

Preface

Christopher Flavin

State of the World: A Year in Review

Lori Brown

Chapter 1: China, India, and the New World Order

Christopher Flavin and Gary Gardner

China and India are on the verge of becoming far more than economic powers. (See Table 1-1, p. 7.) These two countries are now also planetary powers that are shaping the global biosphere and are therefore central to whether the world succeeds in building a healthy, prosperous, and environmentally sustainable future for the next generation. As China and India become world-class economies, they are set to join already industrialized nations as major consumers of resources and polluters of local and global ecosystems. And while the largest burden of these developments will fall on China and India themselves, the global impact is clear. (See Table 1-4, p. 16.)

The rise of China and India illustrates more clearly than any development in recent memory that the western, resource-intensive economic model is simply not capable of meeting the growing needs of more than 8 billion people in the twenty-first century. Major shifts in resource use, technologies, policies, and even basic values are needed. The political ambivalence toward today’s development models that now characterizes China, India, the United States, and most other countries will need to give way to a full-fledged commitment to prosper within the limits imposed by nature.

With their growing economies, expanding ecological footprints, and rising political influence, China and India will need to be a part of any plausible global effort to build a sustainable world economy. But the call for wholesale change in policies needs to sound just as loudly in the United States, whose footprint is the largest of all. Indeed, the prospects for success in this venture are greatest if these three planetary powers pull together to forge a new vision for sustainable economic development in the twenty-first century.

Christopher Flavin is President of the Worldwatch Institute. Gary Gardner is Director of Research at the Institute.

Chapter 2: Rethinking the Global Meat Industry

Danielle Nierenberg

Worldwide, an estimated 258 million tons of meat were produced in 2004, up 2 percent over 2003. (See Figure 2-1, p. 25.) Global meat production has increased more than fivefold since 1950 and more than doubled since the 1970s. Industrial farming systems today generate 74 percent of the world’s poultry products, 50 percent of all pork, 43 percent of beef, and 68 percent of eggs.

Everywhere it is introduced, factory farming creates ecological and public health disasters, from new animal and human diseases to air and water pollution to the loss of livestock genetic resources. Factory farms crowd hundreds of thousands of animals together with little natural light or fresh air, creating a ripe environment for breeding disease. Waste from the animals is collected in large lagoons where it can seep into nearby waterways, contaminate groundwater, and spread a sickening stench for miles. Workers in meat processing plants work long hours in miserable conditions and have among the highest accident rates in the United States. All of this is done with an eye towards minimizing costs and maximizing profits with little regard for human, environmental, or animal welfare.

Rethinking the global meat industry is not just about keeping factory farms safe from disease outbreaks and mitigating their environmental effects. The real challenge, and the real reward, will come from taking a different approach to the way we raise food. Reversing the factory farm tide will require thinking about farming systems as more than a source of economic wealth. We must recognize that preserving prosperous family farms and their landscapes and raising healthy and humanely treated animals are their own form of affluence.

Special Focus, China & India

Box 2-1: China: The World’s Leading Meat Producer and Consumer, p.26

Box 2-2: India Leads the World in Milk Production, p. 27

Danielle Nierenberg is a Research Associate at the Worldwatch Institute with expertise in agriculture, gender and population, and water and sanitation issues.

Chapter 3: Safeguarding Freshwater Ecosystems

Sandra Postel

Like any valuable asset, the global water cycle delivers a steady stream of benefits to society. Rivers, lakes, and other freshwater ecosystems work in concert with forests, grasslands, and other landscapes to provide goods and services of great importance to humans. (See Box 3–1, p. 42.) The nature and value of these services can remain grossly underappreciated, however, until they are gone.

Today we are tempted to think that our globalized and technologically sophisticated world is immune to harm from deteriorating natural systems. But there is no side-stepping human dependence on the water cycle. More than 99 percent of the world’s irrigation, industrial, and household water supplies comes directly from rivers, lakes, and aquifers. Wetlands and river floodplains protect people from floods, provide spawning habitat for fish, recharge groundwater supplies, renew soil fertility, and purify water of contaminants.

Human impacts on freshwater systems have reached global proportions and have disrupted a wide range of valuable ecological services. (See Table 3–1, pp. 43-44.) Signs of overstressed and deteriorating ecosystems take many forms—disappearing species, decimated fish populations, falling water tables, altered river flows, shrinking lakes, diminishing wetlands, declining water quality, and pollution induced “dead zones.” Virtually all these indicators are worsening, and they collectively affect large areas of the globe.

Meeting today’s needs for water requires new approaches. Fortunately, forward-thinking cities, villages, and farming regions around the world are demonstrating that drinking water, food security, and flood control can be provided in ways that take advantage of ecosystem services instead of destroying them—and often for a fraction of the cost of conventional technological alternatives.

Special Focus, China & India

Box 3-2: India and Low-Cost Drip Irrigation, p. 53

Box 3-3: Investing in Natural Capital in China’s Yangtze Watershed, p. 56

Sandra Postel is director of the Global Water Policy Project in Amherst, Massachusetts, and a Senior Fellow at the Worldwatch Institute. An expanded version of this chapter appeared as Worldwatch Paper 170, Liquid Assets: The Critical Need to Safeguard Freshwater Ecosystems.

Chapter 4: Cultivating Renewable Alternatives to Oil

Suzanne C. Hunt and Janet L. Sawin with Peter Stair

Fueled by a powerful combination of advancing technologies, rising environmental concerns, farmer support, and soaring oil prices, biofuels are poised to become an import part of the world’s energy future. Biofuels are made from plant matter—from sugarcane, for instance, or soybeans—and other renewable feedstocks. The most widely used transport biofuels are ethanol and biodiesel, with ethanol currently accounting for more than 90 percent of global biofuel production. (See Figures 4-1 and 4-2, pp. 62-63.)

The combustion of biofuels results in far lower emissions of several pollutants, including carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons, sulfur dioxide, and particulate matter, than burning petroleum fuels would. Also, unlike fossil fuels—which contain carbon stored for millennia beneath Earth’s surface and which release enormous amounts of greenhouse gases when burned—biofuels have the potential to be “carbon-neutral” over their life cycles. Furthermore, large-scale and widespread demand for biofuels could offer new markets for farm and forest products as well as new jobs and industries in rural areas.

The wide range of potential benefits from the large-scale use of biofuels is creating unusual coalitions of political support among groups often at odds: farmers who are seeking new markets, oil executives who want to remain in the energy business for the long term, environmentalists opposed to the polluting impacts of fossil fuels, and pacifists and military hawks who fear that dependence on unreliable sources of oil is undermining national security. Policymakers have a significant role to play in promoting innovative approaches to ensure that the benefits of a biobased economy are maximized while the risks are minimized. (See Table 4-3, p. 75.)

Special Focus, China & India

Box 4-1: China’s Ambition to Farm Energy, p. 66

Box 4-2: Will Ethanol and Biodiesel Bring Prosperity to More of India?, p. 67

Suzanne Hunt is Project Manager for the Worldwatch Institute’s Biofuels Program. Janet Sawin is a Senior Researcher and the Director of the Energy and Climate Change Program at the Institute. Peter Stair is a Research Assistant at the Institute.

Chapter 5: Shrinking Science: An Introduction to Nanotechnology

Hope Shand and Kathy Jo Wetter

Nanotechnology—the manipulation of matter on the scale of atoms and molecules—is booming, and it has the potential to alter or completely transform the current state of the art in every major industrial sector. (See Table 5-1, p. 79.) Nanotech offers the potential to develop stronger, lighter materials, low cost solar cells and sensors, faster computers with more memory capacity, filters for cleaning contaminated water, cancer killing molecules, and more. (See Box 5-1, p. 81.)

These small wonders will have colossal impacts, but not all of them will be welcome. The effects of manufactured nanoscale particles on human health and the environment are unknown and unpredictable, though hundreds of products containing nanoparticles are already on the market. In the longer term, but still in the near future, nanotech’s new designer materials could topple commodity markets, disrupt trade, and eliminate jobs.  Private patents on fundamental nanoscale materials, tools, and processes are already creating thorny barriers for would-be innovators and could serve to widen the gap between rich and poor and to further consolidate economic power in the hands of multinational corporations.

In a just and judicious context, nanotech could bring useful benefits to the rich and poor alike—cleaner water, cheaper energy, and improved health. Therefore, at a time when truly transforming technologies are emerging far faster than public policies can evolve to address them, it is critical to broaden the community of participants who play a role in determining how new technologies should affect our future. The challenge is to go beyond the tired and familiar approach of technocratic regulations related to “risk” and to gain an innovative capacity for democratic control and assessment of science and technology.

Special Focus, China & India

Box 5-3: China: World Leader in Standardization of Nanotechnology, p. 88

Box 5-4: India: A Growing Market for Nanoscience R&D, p. 90

Hope Shand is Research Director and Kathy Jo Wetter is a Researcher at the Carrboro, North Carolina, office of the Ottawa-based ETC Group.

Chapter 6: Curtailing Mercury's Global Reach

Linda Greer, Michael Bender, Peter Maxson, and David Lennett

Levels of mercury in the global environment have risen sharply over the past two centuries due to human-made releases. Experts estimate an annual loading of about 4,500 tons per year of mercury released into the atmosphere from coal combustion and industrial uses. In comparison to releases of other polluting substances, this may seem inconsequential. But because mercury is persistent and never degrades, this annual loading accumulates in soil and water bodies year after year to levels sufficient to contaminate the food chain. As a result, this contaminant now endangers people on every continent, exceeding established safe levels in various fish and marine mammals and threatening the viability of wildlife populations as well. (See Box 6-1, p. 98.) Eighty percent of the mercury used in the world is used in developing countries, particularly in East Asia, with 1,032 tons, and South Asia, with 634 tons.

In order to create a healthy and equitable living environment for future generations, we must stop the circle of poison that mercury use, trade, and pollution perpetuate. Luckily, there is one unusual and positive feature of the mercury market that may help us do just that. Major sources of mercury supply and demand are relatively small in number across the globe. This creates an opportunity for a well-considered strategy that can focus first on a handful of key sectors in order to substantially reduce the overall global mercury load. Because of the global nature of mercury, targeted reductions in this handful of large uses will deliver widespread global improvements disproportionate to the number of sources addressed. Likewise, the strategy can focus on major sources of mercury supply in only a few key countries, which will nonetheless substantially reduce the entire global mercury supply. (See Table 6-1, p. 109.)

Special Focus, China & India

Box 6-3: The Case of Kodaikanal: Dangers of Dumping Mercury-Containing products in the Developing World, p. 103

Box 6-5: China and India: The World’s Largest Users of Mercury, p. 108

Linda Greer is a Senior Scientist with the Natural Resources Defense Council in Washington, D.C. Michael Bender is Director of the Mercury Policy Project/Tides Center in the United States. Peter Maxson is Director of Concorde East/West Sprl in Brussels, Belgium. David Lennett is an attorney in private practice in Maine in the United States.

Chapter 7: Turning Disasters into Peacemaking Opportunities

Michael Renner and Zoë Chafe

As the world watched in 2004 and 2005, what began as the stories of powerful storms and earthquakes slowly emerged as tales of immense human suffering, environmental destruction, and gross socioeconomic inequities—exposing the underbelly of rich and poor countries alike. These disasters have revealed, in horrific detail, that poverty and the decay of key ecosystems can make storms, floods, and earthquakes far more lethal. (See Figure 7.2, p. 118.)

Yet there is reason for hope. In some places where the destructive forces of conflict and disaster do overlap, devastation eventually gives way to new opportunities for peace and reconciliation. The December 2004 tsunami that devastated Aceh in Indonesia kick-started negotiations to end a conflict that has lasted for almost 30 years and led to widespread violence and displacement. Before the tsunami, peace negotiations between Acehnese rebels and the Indonesian government had collapsed in May 2003, leading to the imposition of martial law.

A rush of post-disaster goodwill alone is unlikely to carry warring factions through the complexities and stumbling blocks of a peace process. To maintain momentum, humanitarianism needs to be transformed into political change—addressing the root causes of the conflict at hand, putting in place confidence-building measures, and taking on the vested interests of those who benefit from a continuation of conflict. Policymakers and humanitarian groups must be proactive in dealing with the remnants of conflict, designing a rebuilding process that addresses the social and economic needs of ex-fighters and disaster victims alike and calling for sustainable and equitable development that reduces the likelihood of recurring conflict as much as the vulnerability to future disasters. (See Table 7-4, p. 131.)

Michael Renner is a Senior Researcher and Director of the Global Security Project and Zoë Chafe is a Staff Researcher at the Worldwatch Institute.

Chapter 8: Reconciling Trade and Sustainable Development

Aaron Cosbey

Over the past five decades, world trade has quietly grown at rates that dwarf the growth in world income. (See Figure 8–1, p. 137.) For most of that time there was no particular reason for the environmental community to notice the increasingly complex web of international rules governing trade and investment flows. By the 1990s, however, free-trade proponents at the World Trade Organization (WTO) began turning their energies to forms of liberalization that reached far behind the borders of its member states. Domestic regulations such as performance standards, labeling requirements, and rules to prevent imports from introducing new pests and diseases were seen to be much like tariff barriers in acting to unfairly protect domestic industries. It quickly became clear that if trade regulations were allowed to trump environmental regulations, the damage could be enormous. (See Table 8-1, p. 142.)

The recent Doha Declaration took a step in the right direction, however, by extending beyond the trade-environment relationship to affirm that sustainable development—simultaneous progress on environmental, economic, and social issues—is an objective of the trading system. If countries are not trading and making trade rules in order to increase human well-being sustainably, then why else are they doing it? But if the WTO is serious about achieving sustainable development, it will have to address a much wider variety of concerns than it does at present. It will have to work closely with other organizations with similar mandates, such as the World Bank, the United Nations Development Programme, the United Nations Environment Programme, and others to help ensure that countries that liberalize are ready to do so and able to gain thereby.

Special Focus, China & India

Box 8-3: China, the WTO, and the Environment, p. 139

Aaron Cosbey is Associate and Senior Advisor, Trade and Investment, at the International Institute for Sustainable Development in Winnipeg, Manitoba, in Canada.

Chapter 9: Building a Green Civil Society in China

Jennifer L. Turner and Lü Zhi

Over the past 20 years, China’s economic explosion has created an ecological implosion. Environmental degradation is costing the country nearly 9 percent of its annual gross domestic product (GDP). Chinese urbanites are suffering from air pollution caused by the burning of coal and a growing army of cars. Overdevelopment and poor management of rivers, forests, grasslands, and land threaten the livelihood of rural residents as well as the nation’s rich but fast disappearing animal and plant biodiversity. All this ecological destruction has been linked to the political dynamics behind China’s recent successful— in GDP terms—economic reforms.

In reaction to these daunting environmental problems, in the 1980s the Chinese government began introducing environmental laws and welcoming assistance from international NGOs as well as from bilateral and multilateral aid agencies. By the early 1990s it became clear to China’s top leaders that, given the downsizing of the central government, they needed help to address a broad range of emerging social and environmental ills and to keep local governments in check. In 1994 the National People’s Congress passed the Rules for Registering Social Organizations, which for the first time granted legal status to independent NGOs. Environmental groups were the first to register and now form the largest sector of civil society groups in China. (See Box 9-1, p. 160.)

Since that time, environmental NGOs have been broadening the scope of their activities and increasing their impact on policy by generally working with—or not against—the government. Ultimately, though, for Chinese NGOs to successfully gain greater political voice they will need not only government acquiescence but also stronger internal organizational and technical capacity and solutions to chronic funding problems.

Jennifer L. Turner is Coordinator of the China Environment Forum at the Woodrow Wilson Center for International Scholars in Washington, D.C. Lü Zhi is head of Conservation International’s China office in Beijing.

Chapter 10: Transforming Corporations

Erik Assadourian

There has been a volatile and long-standing debate about whether it is a corporation’s duty to become more sustainable and socially responsible beyond complying with the law, or whether its sole duty is to legally maximize profit, no matter the long-term societal cost. Ultimately, the assessment drives home the point that there is little choice: either corporations become more sustainable and responsible, or the quality of life on Earth—and corporations’ bottom lines—will inevitably decline. (See Box 10-1, p. 172.) Ecosystem deterioration will intensify many of the risks and costs of doing business: it will make key resources and ecosystem services, such as fresh water and climate regulation, less available; it will heighten regulatory oversight; it will alter customer and investor preferences; and it will jeopardize the availability of capital and insurance.

While the business sector must become more responsible and lead the drive to make society sustainable, without the right incentives and pressures, corporations will not do this quickly enough. Consumers, citizens, and employees must support corporate leaders who step up to the challenge, and punish those who do not. Such basic actions as deciding which bank to have a savings account in, which shoes to buy, which companies to work for, and which political efforts and candidates to support will help reshape the market. But to succeed, these incremental efforts will need to be supported by aggressive actions by NGOs, policymakers, and savvy business leaders—actions that will make all corporations recognize that their long-term financial success depends not just on pursuing the bottom line, but on doing so in a socially and environmentally responsible way. (See Figure 10-1, p. 187.)

Special Focus, China & India

Box 10-2: Corporate Responsibility in India and China, p. 178

Erik Assadourian is a Staff Researcher at the Worldwatch Institute with expertise in global security, consumption, corporate social responsibility, sustainable communities, and cultural change.

Notes

Index