HUMAN DEVELOPMENT REPORT 2007/2008 Published by: United Nations Development Programme Pages: 384; Price: Rs595 Twenty years ago, Chico Mendes, the noted Brazilian environmentalist, sacrificed his life defending the destruction of Amazon rainforest by private plunders and companies. Just before he died, Chico spoke of the links between his struggle at the local level and the global well-being and security. "At first I thought I was fighting to save the rubber trees; then I thought I was fighting to save the Amazon rainforest. Now I realise that I am fighting for the humanity." Chico was no philosopher; neither did he have any formal education in environmental science. But he was aware about the bionetwork and the delicate bond between the ecology and the humankind, much before Inconvenient Truth became a worldwide success, advocates for environment protection were awarded the Noble Peace Prize, and millions googled 'global warming.' The latest to join this awareness drive is the 2007/2008 Human Development Report (hdr) by the United Nations Development Programme (undp). Every year, this excellently-compiled document takes up a theme, discussing it threadbare with contributions from renowned experts. While the first section deals with the main theme, a large section is devoted to Human Development Indicators including demography, economic indicators, health, education, gender divide, energy, poverty, human rights, etc. This year, hdr chose to highlight the climatic challenge and the ecological catastrophe facing our civilisation. And the threat is not distinct; it has begun impacting the world. "Global warming is already happening. World temperatures have increased by around 0.7