Case Study 1: Improving Access to Safe Water- Public and Private Alliance in Guinea ‘In the late 1980s less than 15% of the population in Guinea had access to safe water. By 1996, that share had increased almost fourfold to 55%. In a little more than a decade, Guinea had brought one of the least developed water supply services in Sub-Saharan Africa to the point at which it could provide safe water to more than half the population. These significant achievements are the result of a public-private alliance that originated when Guinea transferred responsibility over the water supply agency to an autonomous company that is partly government owned.’ [Case Study 2]: Successful Air Quality Management in Chile ‘Recently, the government has been quite successful in combating the problem of air pollution in the capital of Santiago based on the Framework Environmental Law, which provides the basis for a gradual improvement in environmental quality, while avoiding conflict and increasing collaboration between industry, government, and pressure groups. Private and public transport fleets were revamped, fuels improved, urban sprawl curbed, and sustainable mechanisms for controlling airborne emissions from industry established. As a result of these efforts, Chile today has good air quality management capabilities.’ [Case Study 3]: Alternatives to Pesticide Use ‘Integrated pest management and biological control have proved to be successful alternatives to pesticides. Crop rotation, intercropping, and the introduction of natural predators inhibit the proliferation of weeds and pests and introduce biological controls that rely on nature’s own checks and balances. This system of integrated pest management has reduced pesticide use in Brazil by 80%, by 90% in China’s Jiangsu Province, and by 30-50% in the province of Orissa in India.’” Case studies included in an official report of the United Nations on human development, 1998 The agricultural methods implemented in the third case study could be directly applied to reduce the threat from all of the following environmental or economic challenges that arose during the twentieth century EXCEPT global economic inequalities
species loss and declines in biodiversity
nuclear proliferation
industrial pollution and greenhouse gas emissions