Pressures of population growth, rapid urbanization, industrialization, and stress on natural resources provide new challenges to the Asian Development Bank as it strives to set forth environmental issues as an important element of sustainable economic development in the Asian and Pacific region. While the Bank can provide policy and technical guidance, the governments themselves must take the lead in providing the resources and policies needed to address effectively the rapidly changing environmental condition. How we measure the effectiveness of governmental performance in meeting the environmental challenge in Asia and the Pacific is the subject of this book.

By drawing on experiences in six Asian and Pacific countries, the authors have developed a series of methodological tools to assist others in assessing the environmental quality of air, water, soil, and biological diversity in developing countries. These tools can then be used to determine the financial resources needed to achieve the quality of life characteristic of a sustainable development path.

Peter Rogers is Gordon McKay Professor of Environmental Engineering and Professor of City Planning at Harvard University.

Kazi F. Jalal is a member of the faculty of the Harvard University Extension School and formerly Chief, Office of Environment and Social Development of the Asian Development Bank.

Read More by Peter Rogers:

• Science with a Human Face: In Honor of Roger Randall Revelle
• Water in the Arab World: Perspectives and Prognoses
• An Introduction to Sustainable Development

Read More by Kazi F. Jalal:

• An Introduction to Sustainable Development