Cottage industries such as backyard tanneries can place workers and residents in direct contact with hazardous chemicals. While each of the three trends has the potential to bring about dramatic health improvements, each also shares the potential to degrade the physical environment and increase human exposure to environmental health risks through pollutant emissions and resource depletion. Foresight can help development experts identify preventive steps that can improve human health as well as protect the environment. To date, in too many places, rapid industrial and commercial growth has resulted in environmental degradation and increased threats to human health. Yet, this growth also contains the seeds of solutions.
Many opportunities exist to reduce environmental risks, save resources, and protect public health.
The biennial World Resources Report is a comprehensive report on a range of global environmental trends. In addition to analysis, the special environment and health section includes short, descriptive boxes on key health problems, including tuberculosis, cholera, dengue, asthma, lead poisoning, malaria in the Brazilian Amazon, and air pollution in Asia. Also featured is a collection of guest commentaries on a variety of related topics, such as environmental justice. Further, regional profiles explore issues in greater detail, including the unintentional consequences of development in Senegal, and the pressures facing China as a result of rapid growth and industrialization.