Greening Human Development

The past 40 years have seen remarkable gains in human development across the world. Rapid economic growth in some of the most populous countries, including Brazil, China and India, has enabled a large number of people to be lifted out of poverty. In spite of significant gains in many countries, however, poverty remains a key challenge, affecting more than a billion people.1 Other indicators of well-being such as nutrition; maternal and child health; women’s empowerment; access to basic amenities like energy, water and sanitation; and increasing inequality in many parts of the world also remain matters of concern. The task of improving well-being along these multiple dimensions is only expected to become harder as environmental degradation and increasing inequality threaten to stall or reverse human progress.