The burning of fossil fuels produces dangerous greenhouse gas emissions yet still accounts for 80 per cent of the world's energy supply. Almost 70 per cent of our oceans have been over-fished or fully exploited. Freshwater consumption is out-pacing the rate of population growth. World population will increase most in countries that already contain the largest number of hungry people, and the most stressed farmlands. Billions of dollars in subsidies perpetuate practices in farming, transport and energy use that make it harder for the environment to provide the life-sustaining services on which we depend.
Sustainability is in everybody's interest.
But it is the developing countries that will suffer most if the world as a whole fails to achieve sustainable development. Bangladesh, for its part, has taken steps to address threats such as air pollution and the contamination of ground water by arsenic. United Nations agencies are doing their best to help. But such efforts will not be easy. The poverty that afflicts Bangladesh and other developing countries simultaneously degrades the environment and inhibits their ability to protect it.