informal economy: lacking resources and trapped in the demands of
daily survival, they often have no social protection other than that
provided by their family. The situation of the 218 million child
laborers is another issue of great concern. More than half of them
(126 million) work in conditions considered dangerous and often
verging on slavery; more than one-third (73 million) are under
10 years of age.^74 Finally, the international differences in opportunity
and income engender a brain drain that hampers the development of
many countries. The exodus of African professionals has taken on
particularly dramatic proportions: 300,000 of them work in Europe
and North America.^75 According to one assessment, approximately
one-third of all Third World professionals in the research and devel-
opment field live in the developed countries.^76 The brain drain con-
stitutes a prime example of the ways in which the South subsidizes
growth in the North.
The production and consumption model that underpins globaliza-
tion, furthermore, raises serious environmental issues. The standard of
living in developed countries cannot be sustained in the long term
because it cannot be generalized over the whole planet. These coun-
tries are currently responsible for 56 percent of global consumption,
while the poorest 40 percent of the world’s population account for
only 11 percent. It has been estimated that for the living standard of
everyone in the world to be equal to that of the rich countries, 2.6
additional planet Earths would be needed.^77 The global warming
caused by unchecked industrial development is admittedly one of the
greatest menaces facing the environment. The United Nations Envir-
onment Programme predicts that over the next century the Earth’s
temperature will rise to levels unheard of in the history of humanity,
with widespread droughts and floods as the inevitable results.^78 In the
(^74) UNICEF, “Child Labour” (www.unicef.org/protection/index_ childlabour.
html) and ILO, “Facts on Child Labour” (www.ilo.org/public/english/bureau/
75 inf/fact/index.htm).
77 Cervantes and Guellec, “The Brain Drain.”^76 Ibid.
United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development, “Factsheet about
Consumption and Production Patterns,” document prepared for the World
Summit on Sustainable Development, Johannesburg, August 26–September 4,
2002 (www.johannesburgsummit.org/html/mediainfo/pressreleases
factsheets/wssd9_consumption.pdf).
(^78) UNEP, “How Will Global Warming Affect My World? A Simplified Guide
to the IPCC’s ‘Climate Change 2001: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability,’ ”
Two tales of globalization 77