Backgrounder: Some Global Challenges on Sustainable Development

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Monday, August 26, 2002

Backgrounder: Some Global Challenges on Sustainable Development

Since the Rio Earth Summit in1992, sustainable development has emerged as a new paradigm of development, integrating economic growth, social development and environmental protection.

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Since the Rio Earth Summit in1992, sustainable development has emerged as a new paradigm of development, integrating economic growth, social development and environmental protection.

But the problems challenging the sustainable development are global -- population, poverty, food shortage, freshwater, health, climate change and energy -- and no countries can confront these challenges alone.

Population pressure occurs in developing country

The increased population, most of which will occur in the developing countries, will pose enormous strains to the world. World population passed 6 billion in 2000, up from 2.5 billion in 1950 and 4.4 billion in 1980.

The United Nations predicted that the world population is projected to grow to about 8 billion in 2025 to 9.3 billion in 2050, and eventually to stabilize between 10.5 and 11 billion.

The world will eventually need to feed and support about 5 billion additional people. This increased population, combined with higher standards of living, particularly in the developing countries, will pose enormous pressure on land, water, energy and other natural resources.

Population densities are highest in Asia and are increasing although the growth rate is declining as there is currently about one-sixth of a hectare of arable land per capita in East and SouthAsia.

Population densities in Africa are currently lower and arable land per capita higher than in Asia, but population is still growing rapidly.

With population growth, and almost no additional land available for agricultural expansion, arable land per capita will continue to decline.

Limited unused freshwater resources in East and South Asia will not allow irrigated agriculture to expand as it has in recent decades, so improving nutrition and reducing hunger will require increasing food imports.

Population living in poverty declines slightly

The total number of people living in poverty declined slightly in the 1990s from about 1.3 billion to 1.2 billion. In the 1990s, the poverty rate in developing countries, based on an income threshold of one US dollar per day, declined from 29 percent of the population to 23 percent.

The UN expected optimism that if the rate of decline could be maintained, the poverty rate in 2015 would be just about half of the 1990 rate in accordance with the United Nations Millennium Declaration goal.

A large majority of the world's people living in poverty are in Asia, particularly in rural areas. However, most of the decline in the poverty rate in the 1990s has been in East Asia.

The UN warned that the poverty rate is highest in sub-Saharan Africa, where almost half of the population live on less than one dollar.

Meanwhile, hunger is slowly declining in all regions as almost 800 million people in developing countries are chronically undernourished, a significant reduction from over 950 million in 1970 and a reduction of over 40 million since 1990.

But economic inequality remains high in many countries, particularly in Latin America and Africa as no clear trend in inequality within countries overall in the 1990s with inequality increasing in some countries.

High inequality is an obstacle to reducing poverty as it reduces the effect of economic growth on poverty reduction.

Global climate becomes warmer

Emissions of carbon dioxide, the major greenhouse gas, continued to rise in the 1990s, despite the calls in 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and its 1997 Kyoto Protocol for the stabilization and reduction of greenhouse gas emission.

Growth has been particularly high in Asia, due to its large population and rapid economic decline and restructuring, while emission have been stable in Europe and Japan.

Fossil fuel consumption and carbon dioxide emission, on a per capita basis, are 10 times higher in North America than in the developing regions. Per capita carbon dioxide emissions in Europe are about half the levels in North America, due to different patterns of transport, housing, production and consumption.

Global average surface temperatures have increased by about 0.6Celsius since 1900. Sea levels are rising by about one cm per decade. Artic sea ice thickness has declined 40 percent in the past 40 years. Major glaciers throughout the world are retreating. El Nino events have become more common and more intense. In parts of Asia and Africa, droughts have increased in frequency and intensity.

Insurance payments for damage from floods and storms increased from about 2 billion dollars annually in the 1980s to 30 billion dollars annually in the early 1990s.

Consumption of energy rises

Global production and consumption of energy increased in the 1990s, despite large declined in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union.

Consumption of all types of energy increased, with most of the increases in fossil fuels, but faster relative growth in nuclear energy and renewable energy.

Use of traditional biomass in developing countries increased, although its share decreased slightly.

Most people in rural Africa and Asia do not have access to, or cannot afford, fossil fuel or other modern energy supplies. For cooking, heating and other energy needs, over 2.5 billion people in developing countries depend on fuelwood or, when that is unaffordable, on crop residues and animal dung.

Traditional cookstoves used in poorly ventilated spaces use biomass inefficiently and produce smoke, carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons and other air pollutants that damage the health of those who tend the stoves.

About 2.5 million women and children die each year as a result of acute respiratory infections due to indoor air pollution from traditional cookstoves.

About 4.5 percent of total global energy production comes from modern renewable energy sources, up from 3.2 percent in 1971.

Hydropower is the largest renewable energy source, but large-scale hydropower can have major adverse environmental and social impacts.

Modern biomass and geothermal energy, while growing relatively rapidly, provide only about 0.02 percent each of the total global energy supply.

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