The people of Asia and the Pacific are paying a heavy toll for the region's environmental degradation in human health and economic terms. But the environmental decline can be stopped. The Asian Environment Outlook 2001 (AEO) provides the blueprint for doing that. This report: provides in-depth policy analyses of salient environmental issues common to many of ADB's developing member countries (DMCs) presents the results of analyses of past economic development policies and their impacts on the environment provides a set of entry points as a framework to improve the environmental performance and help reduce poverty in the Asia and Pacific region recommends specific actions to policymakers for achieving environmentally sustainable development provides insight into the state of the environment in the Asia and Pacific region: rapid environmental degradation, associated poverty issues, and lack of political will to remedy environmental issues are of continuing serious concern describes a situation of: continuing environmental degradation unhealthy air and water condition escalating demands for energy and other resource inputs increasing certainty that climate change and other global environmental problems will have substantial negative impacts upon the region examines the driving forces that underlie this pattern of environmental decline identifies opportunities within the region to shift the trajectory of economic development to a pathway that is more environmentally sustainable