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Dr Lester Brown, UN Environment Prize inner in 1987 and President of the Earth Policy Institute has warned that the growth in prosperity of China threatens to place intolerable burdens on the world's natural resource.

The factory of the world would have a per capita income equal that of the US by 2031 if the Chinese economy continues to grow at its current pace, he said. With a projected population of about 1.4 billion at that time, a China as prosperous as the US would:

* Burn 99 million barrels of oil a day, 18 per cent more than is now produced globally.

* Consume two-thirds of the world's current grain harvest.

* Use twice as much paper as the world currently produces.

* Drive 1.1 billion cars, more than the world's 2005 fleet of 800 million - forcing it to pave roads and car parks equal to the area it now plants in rice.

"There go the world's forests," said Dr Brown, an honoured researcher who in 1974 founded the Worldwatch Institute, the first centre to focus on global environmental issues.

In a new book, Plan B 2.0, Dr Brown argues that economic growth in China and India will cause the world economy to collapse unless world leaders rapidly shift to renewable energy, resource recycling and efficient transportation. The book updates a report, Plan B, which he issued two years ago.

He calls the present global economic trend Plan A and says that it is not sustainable. "China is helping us to see that the days of the old economy are numbered," he said. "It is hard to find words to express the gravity of our situation and the momentous nature of the decisions we are about to make," he writes. "One way or another, the decision will be made by our generation."

He said the world needs to spend $US161 billion a year limiting population growth, restoring forests, fisheries, grasslands and water supplies and controlling global warming.

He admitted that "such an investment is huge", but said many of the tools for restructuring the global economy are already in use. He cited the growing US fleet of gas-hybrid cars, solar rooftops in Japan, wind farms in Western Europe and Amsterdam's bicycle-friendly streets.

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