Green Growth Resources and Resilience : Environment Sustainability in the Asia and the Pacific

In the last two decades, the growth rates of Asianand Pacific economies were among the highest inthe world. The strong economic growth has liftedmore than half a billion of its people out of povertyand has raised living standards. At the same time,socio-economic progress was achieved at greatenvironmental cost due to unsustainable andoften inequitable economic growth patterns.Rapid urbanization and industrialization involvingintensive use of resources has accelerated thedegradation of natural capital and the productionof waste and emissions. Resource depletionand pollution resulting from such activities asenergy use and land-use change, have becomeglobal issues, evidenced by increased worldwideattention to climate change and biodiversity loss. The concept of green growth has emergedamid concerns over increasingly evidentresource constraints and growing economicand environmental risk and uncertainty thatthreaten the continued stability and prosperityof the region. This report has been produced tosupport policymakers and stakeholders in thischanging development context. It provides acloser look at resource use trends and at greengrowth strategies in response to the mountingchallenges to sustainable development and insupport of a transition towards green economiesin the region.