TABLE OF CONTENTS Global population, consumption per capita and our footprint on the planet is exploding. The impacts are affecting every indicator of the health of the planet. The world population passed 6 billion in 1999 and at the current rate of growth the world will have 7 billion people soon after the year 2010 (Fig. 7.1). The overwhelming share of world population growth is taking place in developing countries (95.2% in 1990 2000, an estimated 97.6% in 2000 10 and 98.4% in 2010 20) where the population has more than doubled in 35 years, growing from 1.89 billion in 1955 to 4.13 billion in 1990 (UNCHS, 2004a).
Significant proportions of population increases in the developing countries have been and will be absorbed by urban areas (71.8% in 1990 2000, an estimated 83.4% in 2000 10 and 93.4 in 2010 20). Urban settlements in the developing countries are, at present, growing five times as fast as those in the developed countries. Cities in the developing countries are already faced by enormous backlogs in shelter, infrastructure and services and confronted with increasingly overcrowded transportation systems, insufficient water supply, deteriorating sanitation and environmental pollution. (UNCHS, 2004a)
The World Resource Institute recently published a document titled The Weight of Nations which demonstrates that over the last 15 years per capita consumption of resources to produce materials and the per capita production of wastes are increasing in spite of increasing efficiencies and a slight decoupling of...
