The global environment outlook: regional perspectives

UN Chronicle, Summer, 1997

North America

* By 1992, United States farmers had reduced soil erosion from cropland by about 1 billion tonnes a year compared to 1982 levels.

* Canada and the United States are the world's two largest exporters of forest products.

* In 1996 in the United States, 728 species were endangered or threatened; in Canada, 254 species were endangered or threatened, and a further 21 species were already nationally or globally extinct.

* North American households use twice as much water as European households, but pay half as much for it.

* 2.4 million rural Americans are badly in need of a source of safe drinking water; 1 million are without piped water at all; and supplies to a further 5.6 million do not meet safe drinking water standards.

* Declining fish stocks have resulted in the collapse of East Coast fisheries, with a devastating impact on people living in the area, especially in the Canadian Maritime Provinces.

* Throughout North America, urban centres are having increasing problems finding sites for new landfills; as a result, campaigns to save resources, encourage recycling and separate wastes have led to stricter rules in some communities.

Latin America

* Five of the 10 most species-rich countries in the world are in Latin America, but biodiversity in the region is highly threatened - with an estimated potential loss of at least 100,000 species from forested areas alone over the next 40 years.

* The rapid growth of tropical deforestation is being slowly reduced as a result of international initiatives and national programmes to abolish the subsidies, tax incentives and special credits that encouraged deforestation.

* Some 47 per cent of the region's grazing lands have lost their soil fertility as a result of erosion, overgrazing, salinization and alkalinization.

* Large quantities of agricultural and other contaminants are discharged to streams that flow into the Caribbean, resulting in pollution from phosphorus, nitrates and pesticides.

* Many Caribbean beaches now have average tar level 10 times higher than those estimated to adversely affect the use of beaches by tourists.

* Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay experience the effects of increased ultraviolet-B radiation due to ozone depletion more acutely than any inhabited region.

Europe and the Commonwealth of Independents

* Emissions of sulphur and nitrogen oxides are largely responsible for the 30-50 per cent of the forests that are damaged or dying in Central and Eastern Europe.

* Europe has added 10 million hectares of protected arena since 1982, but 52 per cent of its fish, 45 per cent of its reptiles, and 42 per cent of its mammals are under threat.

* Groundwater is overexploited near 60 per cent of Europe's industrial and urban centres.

* Some 86 per cent of the coastal ecosystems in Europe west of the Urals are at high or moderate risk from development.

* Europe contributes 36 per cent of world chlorofluorocarbon emissions, 30 per cent of carbon dioxide emissions and 25 per cent of sulphur dioxide emissions; air quality is the top environment priority for countries in Central and Eastern Europe.

* The average European produces 150 to 600 kilograms of municipal waste a year - but this has led to the adoption of alternative methods of waste disposal, cleaner production technologies and more recycling.

Polar Regions: The Arctic and the Antarctic

* Melting of the Greenland ice sheet has made a positive contribution to the sea-level rise of 10-25 cm. observed over the past 100 years.

* Arctic marine resources are extremely productive (partly as a result of 24-hour summer sunlight), but have been threatened by overfishing and sea mammal hunting.

* Forest clearance in the Arctic has altered landscapes and local climate, and reduced biological diversity.

* In 1995, the Arctic contained 285 protected areas covering 2.1 million km.

* In the Southern Ocean of the Antarctic, fishing focuses on krill and fin-fish species, but is generally well below allowable limits.

* If the Antarctic ice sheet melted, it would produce a seal-level rise of least 60 metres.

* The Antarctic ozone hole is expected to continue for many more decades.

West Asia

* West Asia lost 11 per cent of its remaining natural forest during the 1980s.

* The depletion of aquifers on the Western side of the Gulf is leading to the loss of a unique ecosystem of natural freshwater springs.

* Many countries in West Asia suffer from water scarcity, with Bahrain having less than 18 per cent of the minimum threshold; yet, levels of water consumption are now very high, ranging from 300 to 1,500 litres a day per capita.

* Some 1.2 million barrels of oil are spilled into the Persian Gulf annually.

* The region's coastal zone, an invaluable economic resource for development and tourism, is one of the most fragile and endangered ecosystems in the world.

Asia and the Pacific

* Asian timber reserves may last for no more than a further 40 years.

* Rapid growth in energy demand has led to a significant increase in air pollution, and acidification is an emerging problem.