April 2002:                       suggested link STATE OF THE WORLD: MORE CONNECTED, LESS STABLE summary of the Woldwatch's 19th annual report: State of the World 2002 "Ten years after the Rio Earth Summit, we are still far from ending the economic and environmental marginalization that afflict billions of people,"

From worldwatch.org . . .

STATE OF THE WORLD: MORE CONNECTED, LESS STABLE
State of the World 2002: Special World Summit Edition
[19th annual edition (first launched in 1984 by Lester Brown)
published in some 30 different languages; report marks the 10th
anniversary of the Rio Earth Summit and focuses on the upcoming
the World Summit on Sustainable Development]

"Washington, DC - The world needs a global war on poverty and environmental
degradation that is as aggressive and well funded as the war on terrorism, reports
State of the World 2002, which was released today by the Worldwatch Institute,
a Washington D.C.-based research organization.

"Ten years after the Rio Earth Summit, we are still far from ending
the economic and environmental marginalization that afflict billions
of people," says Worldwatch President Christopher Flavin. "Despite
the prosperity of the 1990s, the divide between rich and poor is widening
in many countries, undermining social and economic stability. And
pressures on the world's natural systems, from global warming to
the depletion and degradation of resources such as fisheries and
fresh water, have further destabilized societies."

Important worsening trends . . . "Deaths from AIDS increased more than six-fold over the 1990s; global emissions of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide climbed more than nine percent; and twenty-seven percent of the worldís coral reefs are now severely damaged, up from 10 percent at the time of the Rio Earth Summit."

Important facts . . . "Funding for UN environmental programs = 100 million dollars; funding for Global Environment Facility = 300 million; Worldwide military spending per day = 2 billion dollars

Listen to the Complete Press Briefing (c. one hour;: 3.8 MB)
of the release of the 2002 Report (an excellent way to get a good, very personal
overview of the report) (requires RealAudio. To download a free player,
go to http://www.real.com/) Introduced by the new Worldwatch President,
Christopher Flavin; with remarks by Gary Gardner and Hilary F. French.

See also the text of the Full Press Release