UN General Assembly
2007

increase in sea levels of almost 2 metres. Since one third of the world’s population lives close to coastlines, such an elevation will have a disastrous impact on the living conditions of many millions. At the same time, the world’s forests are said to be vanishing at a rate of 15 million hectares a year, threatening the loss of almost 50 per cent of the forest cover in developing countries. Altogether, those climatic changes will take a heavy toll on the economic and social growth of many countries, through a higher incidence of drought, desertification, flooding and other natural disasters. The primary responsibility for this environmental degradation has been laid quite rightly at the door of those developed countries whose industrialization policies and programmes have shown scant regard for preservation of the global ecosystem. By piggybacking on the natural assets of developing countries, those States have achieved astonishing economic and social progress and have created consumerist societies whose appetites for ever-greater extravagance know no bounds and must be satisfied at all costs. In the face of mounting evidence that climate