But development and antipoverty programs will ultimately be ineffective if nature's life support systems are badly degraded. The statistics in Africa dramatically illustrate the link between poverty and environmental degradation around the globe, the dimension of the challenge, and the opportunity to remedy them together.

Nearly 40 percent of Africans live below the poverty line. About 70 percent of them live in rural areas and depend on agriculture. Yet the basic resources for their existence are threatened by desertification, which affects 65 percent of agricultural land, and deforestation, which in the relatively short period of 15 years has stripped 66 million hectares.

Devastation of the land and resources-Africa's "silent menace"-weighs heaviest on the poor, who, in a vicious cycle, reinforce it through unsustainable use of natural resources.

This silent menace is a real concern beyond Africa. It is part and parcel of the task of preserving global biodiversity and maintaining forest "carbon sinks" to offset the Earth's increasing emissions of greenhouse gases that affect climate change.

On the positive side, development institutions, governments worldwide, and the private sector are increasingly recognizing the link between poverty and the environment. Ten years ago at the 1992 Rio Earth Summit, the nations of the world adopted an agenda for addressing global environmental deterioration.

The Global Environment Facility (GEF), of which I am the CEO, was established as the only new international financing mechanism to address four critical threats: climate change, disappearance of biological species, degradation of land and water resources, and ozone depletion.

In partnership with the UN Development Programme, the UN Environment Programme, the World Bank, and other international and regional lending agencies, GEF has launched projects in 52 African states, provided $656 million in grants, and leveraged 2.5 times as much ($1.688 billion) in cofinancing. Overall, the GEF has committed $4.2 billion in grants with an additional $12 billion in cofinancing to support environment projects in 160 countries.

Many GEF projects emphasize new economic opportunities for rural farmers and residents. In Ethiopia, farmers, with the help of extension agents, are building community "gene banks" and developing better seed selection and management practices. In Botswana, Kenya, and Tanzania, dryland farmers learn sustainable rangeland practices. In Mali, where firewood is the chief household fuel, GEF projects promote biomass as an alternative fuel and help conserve 720,000 hectares of natural forest. GEF also brings together African coastal nations to mitigate pollution threats to fishing and tourism activities vital to creating jobs and bolstering their economies.

With so many poor and hungry people in Africa and other developing regions dependent on natural resources for their livelihoods, we must make a concerted effort to ensure that these resources, especially land and water are used sustainably. And the need for action is urgent. Because of the current downturn in the global economy, 15 million more people, according to a World Bank estimate, could fall into poverty, thereby adding to the pressure on the land.

During the last decade the development community has made a significant start in addressing the poverty/environment link. It has proven that development need not degrade the environment nor bypass the poor. Done properly, it can also reduce conflict and foster stability, trade, and investment opportunities. But a much more robust effort is required. And the World Summit on Sustainable Development offers the opportunity for governments and the private sector to increase their contributions to sustainable development.

Undertaking that increased investment may seem difficult with other pressing threats facing the world. But the costs of inaction will be felt not only in our lifetime but also for generations to come. August 2002