Matters of scale.

MATTERS OF SCALE

OFFICIAL REPORT CARD

Progress Report of Planet Earth, from Rio to Johannesburg, Grade _____

SUBJECT                    1992

Share of the world's       10 percent
coral reefs damaged by
human pressures and
global warming (1)
Annual world carbon        5,992 million tons
emissions from fossil      of carbon
fuel burning (2)
Forest cover, worldwide    3.963 billion hectares
(3) (14.6 million          (4.5 % plantations)
hectares cleared per year  (1990)
with 5.2 million hectares
of aforestation)
Human population           5.4 billion
Annual population growth   81 million people/year
rate (4)
Approximate number of      1.1 billion (1990)
people without access to
clean drinking water (5)
Number of people living    2.36 billion (1990)
without adequate
sanitation (6)
Number of adults who are   893 million (1990)
illiterate (7)
Number of people living    1.3 billion (1990)
on less than the
equivalent of $1 a day
...on less than $2 a       2.7 billion (1990)
day (8)
Percentage of people       43.5 (1990)
living in urban areas
Number of people living    2.3 billion (1990)
in urban areas (9)
Contribution of develop-   73 billion
ment aid from top 15
donor countries (2000
dollars) (10)

SUBJECT                    2002

Share of the world's       27 percent (2000)
coral reefs damaged by
human pressures and
global warming (1)
Annual world carbon        6,553 million tons
emissions from fossil      of carbon (2001)
fuel burning (2)
Forest cover, worldwide    3.869 billion hectares
(3) (14.6 million          (5% plantations)
hectares cleared per year  (2000)
with 5.2 million hectares
of aforestation)
Human population           6.2 billion
Annual population growth   77 million people/year
rate (4)                   (2001)
Approximate number of      1.1 billion (2000)
people without access to
clean drinking water (5)
Number of people living    2.40 billion (2000)
without adequate
sanitation (6)
Number of adults who are   877 million (2000)
illiterate (7)
Number of people living    1.2 billion (1998)
on less than the
equivalent of $1 a day
...on less than $2 a       2.8 billion (1998)
day (8)
Percentage of people       47.0 (2000)
living in urban areas
Number of people living    2.8 billion (2000)
in urban areas (9)
Contribution of develop-   53.75 billion (2000)
ment aid from top 15
donor countries (2000
dollars) (10)

NOTES AND COMMENTS

(1)Worldwatch Institute, Vital Signs 2001 (New York W.W. Norton &
Company, 2001), p. 92.

(2)Vital Signs 2002, p. 52.

(3)UN Food and Agriculture Organization, State of the World's Forests,
2001.

(4)Vital Signs 2002, p. 89.

(5)Vital Signs 2001, p. 94; WHO/UNICEF, Global Water Supply and
Sanitation. Assessment 2000 Report.

(6)ibid.

(7)UNESCO Statistical Yearbook 1999 edition (updated 2002).
www.uis.unesco.org/en/stats/statso.htm viewed 26 June 2002.

(8)www.worldbank.org/poverty/data/trends/income.htm.

(9)United Nations, World Urbanization Prospects: 1999 Revision.

(10)Vital Signs 2002, p. 118.