{"id":43080,"date":"2012-06-21T13:59:41","date_gmt":"2012-06-21T13:59:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sierraexpressmedia.com\/?p=43080"},"modified":"2012-06-21T13:59:41","modified_gmt":"2012-06-21T13:59:41","slug":"going-beyond-gdp-undp-proposes-human-development-measure-of-sustainability","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sierraexpressmedia.net\/?p=43080","title":{"rendered":"Going beyond GDP, UNDP proposes human development measure of sustainability"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 20 June 2012\u2014<\/em><\/strong>In a high-level forum at the UN Conference on Sustainable Development today the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) presented the conceptual groundwork for a\u00a0 future \u201cSustainable Human Development Index,\u201d which would recognize the cost of human development to future generations.<\/p>\n

The UNDP forum\u00a0 was prompted by the call made by many in\u00a0 Rio for a UN-led examination of alternatives to purely economic measurements of national and global progress, said UNDP Administrator Helen Clark, who moderated today\u2019s panel discussion.<\/p>\n

Among other featured speakers at today\u2019s forum \u2013 titled \u201cBeyond GDP: Measuring the Future We Want\u201d\u00a0 \u2013 were President Michael Chilufya Sata\u00a0 of Zambia\u00a0 and\u00a0 Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt of Denmark, holder of the European Union\u2019s rotating presidency.<\/p>\n

Following the dialogue with these world leaders, experts discussed the implications of the UNDP proposal, including Roberto Bissio, Coordinator of Social Watch, the civil society consortium; Mary Barton-Dock, head of the World Bank\u2019s Environment Department; and Enrico Giovannini, head of Italy\u2019s National Office of Statistics and former chief statistician for the Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).<\/p>\n

\u201cEquity, dignity, happiness, sustainability \u2013 these are all fundamental to our lives but absent in the GDP,\u201d Helen Clark said today. \u201cProgress needs to be defined and measured in a way which accounts for the broader picture of human development and its context.\u201d<\/p>\n

The sustainability measurement project by UNDP\u2019s Human Development Report Office represents a continuation of its work over two decades, beginning with its Human Development Index (HDI), a composite measure of health, education and income that has become a widely accepted alternative to GDP for assessing countries\u2019 progress.\u00a0 Noted The New York Times<\/em> on the 20th anniversary of the Human Development Report in 2010:\u00a0 \u201cSo far only one measure has succeeded in challenging the hegemony of growth-centric thinking. This is known as the HDI, which turns 20 this year.\u201d<\/p>\n

Earlier this year, in its report Resilient People, Resilient Planet<\/em>, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon\u2019s High-Level Global Sustainability Panel concluded that \u201cthe international community should measure development beyond GDP and develop a new sustainable development index or set of indicators.\u201d<\/p>\n

As noted at today\u2019s forum, the\u00a0 need for better approaches to measuring progress has been endorsed\u00a0 by other international institutions and opinion leaders, including the OCD\u2019s Better Life Initiative and\u00a0 the Stiglitz-Sen-Fitoussi Commission, which called for a broad range of social indicators to complement GDP figures.<\/p>\n

The UN Statistical Office\u2019s System of Environmental-Economic Accounting, the World Bank\u2019s partnership for Wealth Accounting for Valuation of Ecosystem Services, and the Inclusive Wealth Index,\u00a0\u00a0 newly-released by the United Nations Environment Programme and the United Nations University are among other recent multilateral initiatives incorporating environmental factors into economic assessments of national and global progress.<\/p>\n

Negotiations prior to the Rio +20 conference echoed that view, with the final conference declaration submitted for adoption by UN members stating: \u201cWe recognize the need for broader measures of progress to complement GDP in order to better inform policy decisions, and in this regard, we request the UN Statistical Commission, in consultation with relevant UN System entities and other relevant organizations, to launch a programme of work in this area building on existing initiatives.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a presentation to the Rio forum today, Khalid Malik, the director of UNDP\u2019s Human Development Report Office, reviewed the advantages as well as the challenges in measuring sustainability from a people-based, human development perspective. The conceptual framework for an HDI-based assessment of sustainability reflects the human development concept of intergenerational equity, based on principles of global justice and rooted in the premise that choices made today should not limit choices available to people in the future. The people-centred, HDI-based approach to assessing sustainability also incorporates the idea of planetary thresholds, showing how climate change in particular is already posing severe long-term human development risks, most acutely in poor nations and poor communities.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u201cFrom a policy perspective, this implies that the right to current development is fundamental but it must be achieved without reducing the choices available to future generations,\u201d Malik said.<\/p>\n

Concerns about sustainable human development have been emphasized consistently UNDP\u2019s Human Development Reports over the past two decades. The 1994 Report articulated the underlying UNDP principle of sustainable human development:\u00a0 \u201cThe purpose of development is to create an environment in which all people can expand their capabilities, and opportunities can be enlarged for both present and future generations.\u201d<\/p>\n

The HDI\u2019s originators – the late Pakistani economist Mahbub ul-Haq and his collaborator Amartya Sen, the Nobel laureate economist of India –\u00a0\u00a0 devised the index as a readily comprehensible people-based assessment of progress that puts health and education on par with economic growth.\u00a0 Since 1990, the UNDP Human Development Report\u2019s annual HDI rankings have been widely followed by governments, media, civil society and development experts around the world.\u00a0 The HDI has also been adopted for planning purposes on the national and local level in many countries, including India, Mexico, Morocco, and the Philippines.<\/p>\n

\u201cUNDP believes that the Human Development Index could be a starting point for a more comprehensive measure of sustainable development,\u201d Helen Clark said today, emphasizing the need for further research and consultations with governments, civil society and academic experts in the field, in collaboration with other UN agencies and multilateral institutions.<\/p>\n

Stay with Sierra Express Media, for your trusted place in news!<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

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