Come stamp on my toes
By AD 2025, 4.3 billion people will be living in Asia, nearly 2.5 billion in the urban areas. Claustrophobic mayhem. There will be more people in Southeast Asia's cities scrabbling for vegetables than its villages will be able to squeeze out of a dessicated land.
Crushing demographic pressures, linked with high incomes and large industrial concentrations, are already creating giant environmental headaches in Asia's cities: 30 years from now is just a short step away.
| Naturing nature | ||
| extra environmetal investment | ||
(US$ billion needed per year by AD 2000) | ||
| East Asia | South Asia | |
| Water supply and sanitation | 7.0 | 5.4 |
| reducing emissions from energy generation | 2.0 | 0.7 |
| Changing to unleaded fuel; controls on vehicle polution | 2.9 | 0.9 |
| Reducing industrial pollution | 3.6 | 1.2 |
| Soil conservation and afforestion | 5.0 | 3.6 |
| Additional resources for agriculture andforestry research | 1.4 | 1.0 |
| Family planning | 1.4 | 1.0 |