World Resources

Recommended supplement

The World Resources series, according to its editors, is intended to meet the critical need for accessible, accurate information on some of the most pressing issues of our time. Wise management of natural resources and protection of the global environment, for example, are essential to achieve sustainable economic development and hence to alleviate poverty, improve the human condition, and preserve the biological systems on which all life depends. Publication of World Resources at this date is in its ninth year of the series, reflecting a collaborative effort of the United Nations Environmental Program, the United Nations Development Program, and the World Resources Institute (WRI) to produce and disseminate the most objective and up-to-date report of conditions and trends in the world's natural resources and in the global environment.

This volume, like the World Development Report, has a special focus each year. In 1992, for example, the focus was on sustainable development, in support of the upcoming 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development. The 1998-1999 World Resources report, contains 450 variables for 200 countries.

The World Resources report is divided into specific parts. Part I usually includes three or four chapters on the special topic of that year (e.g., sustainable development), an overview chapter, and some case studies; Part II continues the tradition of examining a particular region of the world in more detail (such as an overview of the severe environmental and resource problems faced by Central Europe); Part III reports on basic conditions and trends, key issues, major problems and efforts to solve them, and recent developments in each of the major resource categories, from population to climate. Where data exist, the chapters give a 20-year perspective on trends in the physical environment. Supporting data from the World Resources Data Base, are found in Part IV of the report.

Something to Think About

Assuming you have a specific region in the world that best holds your interest, try to obtain a copy of the specific World Resources report (Part II) that covers your area of interest and review it. Can you integrate the environmental and resource problems faced by Central Europe written about in Part II above with articles from the periodical Business Central Europe (see Chapter 43)?

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World Resources

Biannual publication
ISSN 0887-0403
For more information, call
World Resources Institute
Phone: (202) 729-7600
Fax: (202) 729-7610