The worst chemical disaster ever could be happening right now. In India and Bangladesh between forty and eighty million people are at risk of consuming too much arsenic from well water that might have already caused one hundred thousand cancer cases and thousands of deaths. Many millions elsewhere in South-East Asia and South America may soon suffer a similar fate. Venomous Earth is the story of this tragedy: the geology, the biology, the politics and the history. It starts in Ancient Greece, touches down in today's North America and takes in William Morris, alchemy, farming, medicine, mining...

'Green-Revolution' technologies have transformed the countryside of many less developed countries. This book examines the processes involved in the adoption of these new technologies and their socio-economic impact. It provides an integrated view of the effects of 'Green Revolution' technologies on economic growth and returns, distribution of income and resources, stability of agricultural production and returns and their sustainability in Bangladesh.

The major challenges facing South Asia to achieve sustainable development are investigated, using case studies and applying new points of view in economic thought about the connection between development and the environment. After reviewing economic perspectives on development and the environment and South Asia's situation, particular issues such as depletion of natural resources and land degradation, the environmental impacts and consequences of extending markets, of technological change and property rights are examined. Environmental change and employment, income distribution and poverty,...