Promoting environmentally sound economic progress: What the North can do

Resolving global environmental and economic problems requires a new kind of international cooperation among nations. Only if the Northern industrialized nations set their own houses in order can this cooperation be achieved. This report spells out actions that the North must take if the world economy is gong to continue to devlop and yet avoid the environmental degradation that threatens to undermine living standards. Among its prescriptiosn are: Reconfiguring national income accounting to reflect natural resource losses; dismantling farm policies that disrupt trade and penalize developing country farmers; revamping economic policies to discourage pollution and waste; enacting fossil fuel taxes to encourage energy efficiency and technology development; and providing developing countries with debt relief and a more supportive policy framework for international trade.