A Set of charts of the Human Development Indicators based on the agroclimatic zones of West Africa. They show the levels of child mortality, stunted growth, primary school enrollment and adult female literacy rates.

Burkina Faso and Mali have among the highest rates of child mortality in West Africa and the world. This map shows the decrease in child mortality when the levels of access to markets and infrastructure based on road quality and town size increase.

Malnutrition in West Africa is a major concern. This map shows the levels of stunted growth in children in comparison to the type of agroclimate. The more arid the zone the higher the growth in children is stunted.

Health issues are of particular note in Central Asia with a high incidence of environmental pollution, and economies in transition. This graphic shows the relative numbers of mortality, infant mortality, deaths by infectious diseases and parasites, together with the rate of cancer mortality in Central Asia for the year of 1999.

Health issues are of particular note in Central Asia with a high incidence of environmental pollution, and economies in transition. This graphic shows the relative numbers of mortality, infant mortality, deaths by infectious diseases and parasites, together with the rate of cancer mortality in Central Asia for the year of 1999.

Central Asia has a very high infant mortality rate and many other major health problems. This graphic shows some of the main causes of death as well as infant mortality and life expectancy rates for the region. In Russian.

Central Asia has a very high infant mortality rate and many other major health problems. This graphic shows some of the main causes of death as well as infant mortality and life expectancy rates for the region.

Climate change affect the health of the population, not only through heat waves and waterborne diseases, but also as a result of the expansion of geographical areas conducive to the transmission of vector-borne diseases such as yellow fever, dengue and malaria. Species of mosquitoes, such as the group ‘Anopheles gambiae’, ‘A. funestus’, ‘A. darlingi’, ‘Culex quinquefasciatus’ and ‘Aedes aegypti’, are responsible for propagation of the majority of...

The water resources of small islands and low-lying coastal areas are very susceptible to sea-level rise. This figure illustrates the direct impacts on the water resources sector, as well as the plethora of higher-order impacts which affect not only that sector but most, if not all, other sectors including health, transport and agriculture.

In many of the world’s largest cities (Beijing, Calcutta, Mexico City, Rio de Janeiro, etc.) WHO World Health Organization) air quality guidelines are not met. In 1996 global emissions of carbon dioxide were nearly four times the 1950 total.

Communities face appalling health problems. In Karakalpakstan, Uzbekistan, drinking water is saline and polluted, with a high content of metals that causes a range of diseases. Over the past 15 years there has been a thirty-fold increase in chronic bronchitis and in kidney and liver diseases, especially cancer and arthritic diseases have increased sixty-fold. The infant mortality rate is one of the world's highest.

The Global Solar UV Index (UVI) is a simple measurement of the UV radiation level at the Earth's surface. It has been designed to indicate the potential for adverse health effects and to encourage people to protect themselves. The higher the Index value, the greater the potential for damage to the skin and eye, and the less time it takes for harm to occur.

Order from Strength, which focuses on reactive policies in a regionalized world, has the least favorable outcomes for human well-being, as the global distribution of ecosystem services and human resources that underpin human well-being are increasingly skewed. Wealthy populations generally meet most material needs but experience psychological unease.

Substantial gains in agricultural productivity over the past 50 years have reduced rates of hunger and malnutrition, improved the health and livelihoods of many millions of people and stimulated economic growth in numerous countries. World cereal production has more than doubled since 1961 with average yields per hectare increasing around 150% in many high and low income countries, with the exception of most nations in sub-Saharan Africa.

Three-quarters of all poor people still live in rural areas. They are heavily reliant on natural resources for their livelihoods: soil, water, forests and fisheries underpin commercial and subsistence activities and often provide a safety net to the poor in times of crises. These natural resources which are abundant in many developing countries - represent an important asset and potential wealth for poor people and their communities. As many of t...

Water is essential not only to survival but is also equally or even more important than nutrients in food production. Agriculture accounts for nearly 70% of the water consumption, with some estimates as high as 85% (Hanasaki et al., 2008a,b). Water scarcity will affect over 1.8 billion people by 2025 (WHO, 2007). This could have major impacts on health, particularly in rural areas, and thus also major impacts on farmer productivity. Althoug...

The significance of wastewater and contents of wastewater vary greatly between and even within regions. In Africa for example, it is the impact on people’s health that is the major factor, in Europe, the input of nutrients into the coastal waters reducing productivity and creating anoxic dead zones.

Looking at the costs and benefits, centralized systems may not be the answer in terms of best result for the investment. The chart on the left shows that the financial NPV does not change with increasing population size for centralized sewage and wastewater connection, however the economic NPV (which includes benefits to health and the environment) shows a positive trend with increas- ing populations. Centralized systems therefore generate a grea...

Large-scale commercial harvests are restricted to harp and hooded seals, except for the hooded seal population in the Jan Mayen area of the Greenland Sea. Both species faced intense commercial hunting in the 19th and 20th centuries, first for oil, and later mainly for the highly prized pelts of pups.Seal products nowadays also include a significant aphrodisiac trade (particularly for harp seal sex organs), and seal oil has become a popular health...

The extent to which mortality is attributable to climate change remains a matter of intense debate. Data from the World Health Organization (WHO) for 2000 indicate that, in Latin America and the Caribbean, there were between 2 and 40 deaths per million inhabitants from floods, malaria and diarrhoea. In terms of regions, the most severe health effects have been in Africa, though significant effects are also being felt in Latin America and in certa...