considerably

in recent years.

China has acknowledged that the controversial Three Gorges dam has created major problems. The country's policy-making body, the State Council, says it plans to deal with the difficulties. Paddy Clark reports.

The problems posed by the Three Gorges dam were discussed at a meeting of the State Council, chaired by the Prime Minister Wen Jiabao. A statement issued

afterwards

said there was an urgent need for ecological protection, the prevention of geological disasters and the smooth relocation of displaced residents. It said problems also existed for transport, irrigation and water supplies further down the Yangtze River, which the dam

straddle

s. The dam, which cost nearly $40bn, led to the

submerg

ing of towns, fields and heritage sites, and forced more than a million and a quarter people to move.

The World Bank says the Indian government's main programmes for the poor are only delivering limited benefits, with much of the money lost to corruption and bad management.

India spends more than 2% of its gross domestic product on poverty reduction, but the World Bank says that its food distribution scheme suffers so much from corruption that only about 40% of its grain reaches the poor.

There's been an almost sixfold rise in the deforestation of the Amazon rainforest in Brazil. Satellite images from the government show that between March and April last year, around 100 sq km of vegetation were destroyed. But this year, that figure was almost 600. The worst affected state is Mato Grosso.