Enabling equitable resource use

Description

The challenge for policy-makers in the next century will be to devise approaches that encourage a more efficient, fair and responsible use of natural resources by the production sectors of the economy, that encourage consumers to support and demand such changes, and that will lead to a more equitable use of resources by the entire world population.

Claim

The average consumer in the rich industrial countries makes use of approximately twice as much agricultural land as the inhabitant of a developing country. One quarter of the world's population living in the rich industrial countries consumes four-fifths of the world's paper and considerably more textiles than in the poor countries. The earth is simply to small to be able to provide the same level of consumption for poor countries as the industrial countries have, up until now, enjoyed.