WRI Publications Feed: World Resources Report

World Resources 2008: Roots of Resilience - Growing the Wealth of the Poor

Stephanie Hanson — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 18:08:14 -0400

World Resources Report 2008 continues the focus of the World Resources report series on poverty and the environment.

The reality of global poverty is that it is rural and it is persistent: three-quarters of the 2.6 billion people living on less than $2 per day—almost 2 billion—live in rural areas; that number is virtually unchanged in 20 years.

World Resources 2008 argues that successfully scaling up environmental income for the poor requires three elements:

Ownership–a foundation of good governance that both transfers to the poor real authority over local resources and elicits local demand for better management of these resources.
Capacity–making good on this demand requires building local capacity for development-in this case, the capacity of local communities to manage ecosystems competently, carry out ecosystem-based enterprises, and distribute the income from these enterprises fairly.
Networks–the third element is establishing adaptive networks that connect and nurture nature-based enterprises, giving them the ability to adapt, learn, connect to markets, and mature into businesses that can sustain themselves and enter the economic mainstream.

The result is communities with increased resilience: economic, social and environmental.

Such outcomes take on added import as it becomes increasingly clear that the impacts of climate change are likely to have their biggest effect on those areas where most of the world’s poor live: drylands, low-latitude geographies and high-stress watersheds.

World Resources 2005 -- The Wealth of the Poor: Managing Ecosystems to Fight Poverty

admin — Thu, 01 Sep 2005 00:00:00 -0400

World Resources 2005 Online

Online Publication
Multimedia Tour

Ecosystems are—or can be—the wealth of the poor. For many of the 1.1 billion people living in severe poverty, nature is a daily lifeline – an asset for those with few other material means. This is especially true for the rural poor, who comprise three-quarters of all poor households worldwide. Harvests from forests, fisheries, and farm fields are a primary source of rural income, and a fall-back when other sources of employment falter. But programs to reduce poverty often fail to account for the important link between environment and the livelihoods of the rural poor. As a consequence, the full potential of ecosystems as a wealth-creating asset for the poor – not just a survival mechanism – has yet to be effectively tapped.

The thesis of World Resources 2005 is that income from ecosystems—what we call environmental income – can act as a fundamental stepping stone in the economic empowerment of the rural poor. This requires that the poor manage ecosystems so that they support stable productivity over time. Productive ecosystems are the basis of a sustainable income stream from nature.

But for the poor to tap that income, they must be able to reap the benefits of their good stewardship. Unfortunately, the poor are rarely in such a position of power over natural resources. An array of governance failures typically intervene: lack of legal ownership and access to ecosystems, political marginalization, and exclusion from the decisions that affect how these ecosystems are managed. Without addressing these failures, there is little chance of using the economic potential of ecosystems to reduce rural poverty. World Resources 2005 details the steps necessary to empower the poor to use ecosystems both wisely and for wealth. Using examples and case studies, the report traces a route to greater environmental income. Working at the cutting edge of sustainable development, it lays out the governance changes necessary to give the poor the legal, financial, and management capacity to use nature for wealth creation without depleting their fragile resource base. World Resources 2005 builds on the analysis and argument of the two previous editions. World Resources 2000-2001: People and Ecosystems explored the threats to global ecosystems and stressed the need to adopt an “ecosystem approach” to environmental management. World Resources 2002-2004: Decisions for the Earth took a step farther, showing how governance factors influence environmental decisions and stressing that good governance that ensures adequate representation, access to information, and public participation is crucial to the sustainable and equitable management of ecosystems. The book also presents a wealth of statistics on current environmental, social, and economic trends in more than 150 countries. It makes the full World Resources database accessible and searchable online in the companion website [EarthTrends](http://earthtrends.wri.org).

Recursos Mundiales 2004: Decisiones para la Tierra: Equilibrio, voz y poder

admin — Tue, 01 Jun 2004 00:00:00 -0400

Los datos del informe “Recursos Mundiales” en su edición de 2004 llevan, una vez más, a una inevitable conclusión: la mala gestión de los recursos naturales acrecienta la división entre países pobres y ricos, hipoteca las posibilidades de futuro de millones de seres humanos y evidencia la diferencia, en muchos casos, entre la democracia y un sistema autoritario.

World Resources 2002-2004: Decisions for the Earth: Balance, voice, and power

admin — Tue, 01 Jul 2003 00:00:00 -0400

NEW: Chinese (simplified) language translation now available.

Full report now available in PDF format. Executive summary also online in PDF format.

World Resources 2002-2004: Decisions for the Earth is also available as a CD-ROM containing both the report and the data tables.

Journalist guide to World Resources 2002-2004

admin — Tue, 01 Jul 2003 00:00:00 -0400

A 20-page document that summarizes the key findings of the 9-chapter, 300-page book – World Resources 2002-2004: Decisions for the Earth: Balance, voice, and power.

World Resources 2000-2001: People and ecosystems: The fraying web of life

admin — Fri, 01 Sep 2000 00:00:00 -0400

World Resources 2000-2001 is the definitive guide to the global environment. The millennial edition presents a comprehensive assessment of vie fo the world’s major ecosystems:

Scorecard of conditions and changing capacities. The PAGE technical reports provides an in-depth examination of the condition of these five major ecosystems – examining not only the quantity and quality of outputs but also the biological basis for production, including soil and water condition, biodiversity, and changes in land use over time.

Millennium Ecosystem Assessment. An initiative to generate new information, integrate current knowledge, develop methodological tools, and increase public understanding of the present and likely future condition of the world’s ecosystems.

Pilot analysis of global ecosystems (PAGE) technical reports provides an in-depth examination of the condition of these five major ecosystems – examining not only the quantity and quality of outputs but also the biological basis for production, including soil and water condition, biodiversity, and changes in land use over time.

Bill Moyers Reports: Earth on Edge. A special environmental program examines the status of the world’s ecosystems. Visit the Web site to find out more about the changing status of the world’s ecosystems.

World Resources 2000-2001 featured in TIME magazine

Database on CD-ROM

Gain instant access to the World Resources Institute’s authoritative database on global conditions and trends. This time-saving research and reference tool contains all the vital economic, population, natural resource, and environmental statistics found in the print edition of World Resources 2000-2001, plus 20-year time series for many variables, and more. You won’t find this extensive collection of global data anywhere else. Equally suitable for fast fact-finding and extensive statistical analysis, this valuable database contains 450 essential variables for 170 countries and regional and economic groupings. User-friendly software lets you browse, select, and export any or all of the data.

World Resources 1998-99: Environmental change and human health

admin — Fri, 01 May 1998 00:00:00 -0400

The eighth biennial issue of the most authoritative report on the global environment brings together in a highly readable format the latest ideas on a broad spectrum of natural resource issues and suggests strategies for addressing them.

World Resources 1998-99 focuses on the critical issue of environmental change and human health. Drawing on the latest scientific data, this section of the report explores how environmental conditions contribute to the current burden of death and disease around the world and how that may change over the coming decades.

World Resources 1998-99 looks at several critical trends that are changing the physical environment such as the intensification of agriculture, industrialization, and rising energy use, and that have the potential to influence human health.

As in previous volumes, World Resources 1998-99 also looks at the current state of the environment as it relates to population and human well-being, consumption and waste, and resources at risk. The book also contains the latest core country data from 157 countries and new information on poverty, inequality, and food security.

World Resources 1996-97: The Urban Environment

admin — Mon, 01 Apr 1996 00:00:00 -0500

World Resources 1996-97 is an authoritative primary reference volume on global environmental and natural resource conditions and trends for the United Nations, World Bank, and related international organizations. It is widely used by scientists, students, and nongovernmental organizations. As a printed book, it runs to 384 pages, including 162 pages of data tables covering 150 countries.

The special supplement on The Urban Environment served as an official source book for the U.N. Conference on Human Settlements (Habitat II). Copies were distributed as part of official conference materials to delegates, government leaders, embassy officials, NGOs, the media, businesses, and others participating in the Istanbul conference.

Part I: The Urban Environment

World Resources 1996-97 focuses on the critical environmental challenges facing the world’s rapidly expanding urban areas. With their concentration of humans and economic activities, urban areas can be the sites of intense environmental degradation. Yet with their vitality and efficiencies of scale, cities and towns also have the potential to minimize stresses on the natural environment and improve the quality of life. Achieving those opportunities will require approaches that reconcile the demands of economic growth, environmental protection, and social justice.

Special section on the urban environment. A fascinating analysis of the environmental challenges facing the world’s cities, such as:

Manila, where three out of every four people live in unauthorized housing;
Mexico City, where air pollution contributes to 6,400 deaths every year and 29 percent of all children have unhealthy levels of lead in their blood;
Philadelphia, where more than 20 percent of the population lives below the poverty level; and
densely packed Jakarta whose 8 million residents live without a waterborne sewage system.

Produced in close consultation with the United Nations Centre for Human Settlements, this 170-page section includes:

a comparison of urban conditions and trends throughout the developing and developed world,
a sobering look at the impacts of urban environmental conditions on human health and productivity,
timely analysis of how urban transportation systems are contributing to – or reducing – environmental problems, and, finally,
a close-up look at creative strategies for improving the urban environment based on case studies from cities and communities across the globe.

Part II: Conditions and Trends in the Global Environment

As in previous volumes, World Resources 1996-97 surveys conditions and trends for important global issues and includes core country data in each of the major resource categories from population to land cover to water to energy. The report includes natural resources data for 152 countries. Among the highlights of this portion of the report are: an in-depth look at the threats to marine biodiversity, including a novel analysis of coastlines at risk; a discussion of future energy demand and its implications for global climate; and an analysis of whether agricultural production can keep pace with the world’s growing population.

World Resources 1994-95: People and the Environment

admin — Tue, 01 Mar 1994 00:00:00 -0500

Widely recognized as a unique, authoritative asessment of the world’s natural resource base, each World Resources report is a definitiave reference on the global environment with the latest information on essential economic, population, and natural resource conditions and trends for nearly every country in the world.

Special features of the 1994-95 edition include:

Population and the Environment: An in-depth look at how rapid population growht in combination with poverty, land distribution, governmental policies, and other factors contribute to environmental degradation.
Natural Resource Consumption: An authoritative, detailed analysis of patterns of natural resource consumption in both industrialized and developing countries.
Women and Sustainable Development: This special report documents how women in developing countries play an essential role in slowing population growth, improving natural resource management, and achieving the economic, environmental, and social goals of sustainable development.
Regional focus on China and India: A survey of this region’s most critical environmental problems.
Global Data Tables: The latest statistics on economic, population, environment, and natural resource conditions for 153 countries.
Current Trend Reports: Incisive sumaries of global conditions and trends for more than one dozen key topics including population and health, food and agriculture, oceans and coasts, energy, wildlife and habitat, and forests and rangelands.

Relied upon by policymakers, journalists, scientists, environmental professionals, students, and concerned citizens around the world, World Resources is the best desktop reference on the global environent available.

World Resources 1992-93: Guide to Global Environment

admin — Sun, 01 Mar 1992 00:00:00 -0500

Widely recognized as an authoritative assessment of the world’s natural resource base, World Resources reports are definitive references on the global environment, containing the latest information on essential economic, population, and natural resource conditions and trends for 153 countries.

World Resources 1992-93, the fifth volume in this acclaimed series, is the first and only book of its kind to analyze systematically, the prospects for sustainbale development in both global and regional terms.

Special features of this outstanding edition include:

Sustainable Development Assessment – An in-depth look at the economic, human, ecological, and technological prerequisites for sustainable developent in OECD, newly industrialized, and poor countries.

New Findings on Land Degradation – Over the past 50 years, moderate to severe soil degradation occurred over an area larger than China and India combined. Presenting the results of the first global assessent of land degradation, this volume analyzes the causes and extent of the damage to the world’s soils. World Resources points out that the continuation of soil degrading activities will make even more difficult the job of providing growing populations with food, fuel, and fiber.

Eastern and Central European Environment Report – A survey of this region’s most critical environmental problems, including air and water pollution and land degradation.

Global Data Tables – The latest data available on economic, population, environment, and natural resource conditions for 153 countries.

Current Trend Reports – Incisive summaries of global conditions and trends in more than one dozen key issue areas, including technology transfer, population and health, food and agriculture, oceans and coasts, energy, wildlife and habitat, and forests and rangelands.

Relied upon by policymakers, journalists, scientists, teachers, students, and concerned citizens around the world, World Resources is the best desktop reference on the global environment now available.