Worldwatch: China, India are an eco-opportunity, not a threat

State of the World 2006, the Washington DC-based Worldwatch Institute's latest assessment of the world's environment, concludes that the future well-being of humanity rests on the shoulders of policymakers in the new 'ecological superpower' states of China and India.

The report, released in January, documents how the integration of the Asian giants into the world economy has gone hand in hand with burgeoning global consumption driven by the availability of cheap textiles and household appliances. This, says the report, has put intolerable pressure on the world's ecosystems, in particular Brazil's forests and fisheries, and has led to riots in Indonesia.

As China prepares itself for another year of double-digit growth the pressure on global resource pools is unlikely to recede, and the report confirms that the consumption of water, oil and grain are expected to rise in China and India, both of whom remain heavily reliant on coal for energy.

Moreover, says the report, two planet Earths would be necessary to sustain China and India at current US levels of consumption.

But rather than predicting global ecological disaster the authors of this year's report sound a more optimistic note, arguing that growth pressures could instead lead us all towards a cleaner, more peaceful and efficient future.

“China and India are poised to leapfrog today's industrial powers and become world leaders in sustainable energy and agriculture within a decade,” according to Worldwatch President, Christopher Flavin. Voices from leading figures in both China and India are also heard in the report pressing, respectively, for “a new path of industrialization” and “reinventing the development trajectory.”

A summary of the 244-page report, which also casts a spotlight on the rise of China's environmental NGOs, can be found on the Worldwatch website.

Source from chinadevelopmentbrief