The World Bank has released the tenth edition of its Little Green Data Book,
which provides evidence of the last decade's achievements - or lack of progress
- on the road towards sustainable development. The Book reports, for example,
that urban air pollution declined in most countries between 2000 and 2006, with
the greatest progress in low-income and lower middle-income countries. The
Little Green Data Book also finds that during the past decade, the world has
become drier as water resources per capita have diminished under the pressure
of a fast-growing population, while forest cover has fallen in Latin America
and the Caribbean, South Asia, and Sub-Saharan Africa. The Book contains
sections on, inter alia: agriculture; forests and biodiversity; energy;
emissions and pollution; and water and sanitation.