Keeping track of our changing environment in Asia and the Pacific

Over the last quarter of a century, Asia Pacific as a region has enjoyed rapid economic growth, which has dramatically reduced the number of poor people and improved human development. While the region is less poor, there is social and economic inequality between subregions, between countries and within countries, between the rural areas and cities and within the cities where over 1.6 billion people now live. The rapid economic growth has also come at the expense of environmental degradation. And to compound this, climate change is expected to magnify existing vulnerabilities throughout the region. This report analyses emerging and persistent development and environmental challenges in the region. It also traces the patterns of economic development and resource use and degradation since 1992 when leaders from countries around the globe made their commitment to sustainable development at the UN Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.