Global levels of fresh water resources per capita declined by 1.6 percent between 2001 and 2002 due to growing populations’ pressure on water resources, according to the World Bank’s Little Green Data Book 2004, launched last week at the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development. The decline, which is the result of demographic increase, is even more dramatic in water scarce regions such as the Middle East and North Africa where growing populations decreased fresh water resources per capita by 2.5 percent.