Worldwatch Reports and Papers
A growing scarcity of fresh water is now a major impediment to food security, ecosystem health, social stability, and peace among nations. As supplies dwindle, competition for water is increasing-between cities and farms, between neighboring states and provinces, and between nations.
Even in the face of record-low food reserves, cropland continues to be paved over and degraded worldwide, a situation that threatens the food security of millions. Today, the grain area supporting each person has fallen to just 0.12 hectares--less than one-sixth of a soccer field.
The climate dialogue is now marked by growing alarm over the risks the world faces, and by optimism that an historic shift away from our fossil-fuel-dependent energy system is feasible.
Rates of infectious disease have risen rapidly in many countries during the past decade, according to a new study released by the Worldwatch Institute. Illness and death from tuberculosis, malaria, dengue fever, and AIDS are up sharply; infectious diseases killed 16.5 million people in 1993, one-third of all deaths worldwide, and slightly more than cancer and heart disease combined.
A new Worldwatch Paper, Imperiled Waters, Impoverished Future: The Decline of Freshwater Ecosystems, demonstrates that giant dams, massive irrigation systems, and widespread logging often bring few economic benefits, and instead cause environmental degradation, poverty, and suffering, as well as irreplaceable loss of biodiversity.
This product is out of print and no longer available for purchase. The recent execution of Nigerian activist Ken Saro-Wiwa for the "crime" of organizing an environmental campaign tragically underscores the findings of a study from the Worldwatch Institute--that the ravages of environmental exploitation are often backed up by brutal human rights violations. Documented cases not only in Nigeria but also in the United States, Brazil, Kenya, the Philippines, China, and many other countries reveal a systematic sweeping aside of communities and individuals who suffer from and then protest environmental damage.
Unless the United Nations' key environmental initiatives are maintained and strengthened, no government will be able to protect its citizens from such global threats as skin cancer caused by ozone depletion, disrupted weather patterns caused by climate change, or the unemployment and high seafood prices caused by the further collapse of oceanic fisheries. This is the conclusion of a new study from the Worldwatch Institute, Partnership for the Planet: An Environmental Agenda for the United Nations.
Nearly 4 million new refugees fled their homes in 1994, bringing the total of the world's official refugees to 23 million. This is the greatest number of refugees of our era, nearly equal to the population of Canada, reports a new Worldwatch Paper, The Hour of Departure: Forces that Create Refugees and Migrants.
The modern buildings we live and work in rival such well-known polluters as cars and manufacturing as sources of harm to the environment, adding greatly to deforestation, the risk of global warming, overuse of water, and acid rain.
Many people perceive mountains as powerful symbols of pristine wilderness and natural beauty. But these perceptions belie the vulnerabilities of mountain environments and the social marginalization of their peoples.
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