Reports
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Worldwatch Paper #165: Winged Messengers: The Decline of BirdsAuthor: Howard Youth Birds inspire people with their beauty, song, and powers of flight. But birds cannot fly far enough to escape the dangers posed by our modern, ever-more-crowded world. Birds are under threat as never before; at least 103 species have vanished since 1800, and as many as 1,200 of the world's 9,800... |
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Worldwatch Paper #164: Invoking the Spirit: Religion and Spirituality in the Quest for a Sustainable WorldAuthor: Gary Gardner ISBN: 1-878071-67-X A powerful pro-environmental coalition may be emerging worldwide as religious people and institutions begin to partner with advocates of sustainable development. The past decade saw a small but growing number of meetings, advocacy initiatives, educational programs, and lobbying efforts by the two... |
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Worldwatch Paper #163: Home Grown: The Case For Local Food In A Global MarketAuthor: Brian Halweil Everyone, everywhere depends increasingly on long-distance food. Encouraged by food processing innovations, cheap oil, and subsidies, since 1961 the value of global trade in food has tripled and the tonnage of food shipped between nations has grown fourfold, while population has only doubled. In the... |
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Worldwatch Paper #162: The Anatomy of Resource WarsIn several countries around the developing world, abundant natural resources help fuel conflict, either by attracting predatory groups seeking to control them or by financing wars that were initially caused by other factors. Prominent examples include Sierra Leone, Angola, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sudan, and Afghanistan. Conflict has also erupted in several countries where the benefits of mining and logging projects—oil in Columbia and Nigeria, timber and natural gas in Indonesia, and copper in Bougainville/Papua New Guinea—accrue to a small elite while the social and environmental burdens are borne by local communities. Governments, rebels, and warloads have made billions of dollars by selling conflict commodities and have used the money to arm themselves and line their own pockets. But the cost of these conflicts has been extraordinary—more than 5 million people killed during the 1990's, as many as 20 million driven from their homes, and considerable environmental destruction. In this new publication, Senior Researcher, Michael Renner assesses the anatomy of resource wars, examines a number of specific cases, and discusses efforts to break the link between resources and conflict. |
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Worldwatch Paper #161: Correcting Gender Myopia: Gender Equity, Women's Welfare, And The EnvironmentAt international conferences throughout the 1990's--in Rio de Janeiro, Vienna, Cairo, and Beijing--a new vision of women's health, welfare, and rights was created. This vision acknowledged the deep connections between support for educational, economic, social, and political opportunity for women on the one hand, and progress in stabilizing population growth, protecting the environment, and improving human health on the other. Despite its potency, this vision has yet to be fully realized. Gender myopia, or blindness to the inequities between women and men, continues to afflict women in many different settings. In Correcting Gender Myopia, Worldwatch researcher, Danielle Nierenberg, reviews the state of women around the globe, documents the links between women's welfare and population, and charts the progress, or lack thereof, in achieving the gender equity that must underlie any viable effort to attain sustainability. |
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Worldwatch Paper #160: Reading the Weathervane: Climate Policy from Rio To JohannesburgThe world is on the brink of bringing into force one of the most far-reaching environmental treaties of all time, the Kyoto Protocol. And even without the world's largest emitter of greenhouse gases, the United States, on board, signatories of the Protocol are setting the stage for a new generation of policymaking worldwide, reports a new study-the first ten-year review of global climate policy since the Rio Earth Summit |
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Worldwatch Paper #159: Traveling Light: New Paths for International TourismBefore September 11th, travel and tourism was the world's largest industry, accounting for one in every 12 jobs and, in the least developed countries, representing the second largest source of foreign exchange after oil. When the massive US$3.6 trillion industry almost ground to a halt after the terrorist attacks, the ripple effects extended well beyond the bounds of the United States, exposing the vulnerability of countries too narrowly dependent on international tourism. Traveling Light looks at what developed and developing countries can do to ensure that the impacts of this mighty industry are positive for the world's people and their environment |
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Worldwatch Paper #158: Unnatural DisastersIn this Worldwatch Paper, Janet Abramovitz lays out detailed recommendations for changing the way we manage disasters and ourselves. To the extent possible, people and structures should be located out of harm's way, such as avoiding construction on river floodplains. When hazards are unavoidable, buildings can be made to withstand them. Healthy ecosystems should be maintained or restored so they can provide natural disaster protection |
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Worldwatch Paper #157: Hydrogen Futures: Toward a Sustainable Energy SystemJust as government played a catalytic role in the creation of the Internet, government will have an essential part in building a hydrogen economy. Research and development, incentives and regulations, and partnerships with industry have sparked isolated initiatives. But stronger public policies and educational efforts are needed to accelerate the process. Choices made today will likely determine which countries and companies seize the enormous political power and economic prizes associated with the hydrogen age now dawning. |
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Worldwatch Paper #156: City Limits: Putting the Brakes on SprawlIn this Worldwatch Paper, author Molly Sheehan reports that citizens and local leaders around the world are using the political process to demand attractive public spaces and better transportation choices. “We realize that … traffic is a major problem,” says Patricio Lanfranco, who is involved in an effort to take back the streets of Santiago de Chile from private cars. “But it has a bigger context: What kind of city do we want? What kind of quality of life do we want?” |