Environmental degradation risks undermining development progress, warns report

Developmental progress in the world’s poorest countries could be halted or even reversed by mid-century unless bold steps are taken now to slow climate change, prevent further environmental damage, and reduce deep inequalities within and among nations, predicts the United Nations’ 2011 report on human development.

The report, launched in Copenhagen on 2 November by the administrator of the UN Development Programme, Helen Clark, and Denmark’s prime minister, Helle Thorning-Schmidt, argues that environmental sustainability can be most fairly and effectively achieved by tackling health, education, income, and sex disparities together with global action on energy production and protection of the ecosystem.

As …