Foreword.

Welcome to The Little Green Data Book 2008. As in the 2007 edition, this year's edition includes a Focus section, four introductory pages that focus on a specific issue related to development and the environment. This year the focus is on the damage from climate change and carbon dioxide emissions.

Climate change continues to dominate public discourse about the environment. Following on the strong interest stirred by the Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change in 2006, the Fourth Assessment Report of the InterGovernmental Panel on Climate Change has codified the firm scientific consensus on the extent of human-induced climate change. Another important milestone was the December 2007 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change conference in Bali, which culminated in the adoption of the Bali Roadmap, establishing four pillars--mitigation, adaptation, technology, and finance--for negotiating a post-2012 climate pact.

As this Focus shows, global warming can have negative effects on agriculture, health, infrastructure, and other economic activities--effects that are likely to hit developing countries the hardest. While high-income countries emit more carbon dioxide than developing countries, emissions from developing countries are growing at a faster pace. And emissions per capita in high-income countries are still five times higher than in developing countries.

The Little Green Data Book 2008 is a collaboration between the Development Data Group of the Development Economics Vice Presidency and the Environment Department of the World Bank. We welcome your suggestions for how to improve future editions and make them more useful.

Shaida Badiee

Director

Development Data Group

James Warren Evans

Director

Environment Department