RI ranks 87th on development list
RI ranks 87th on development list
The Jakarta Post, Nusa Dua, Bali
Environmental deterioration and social problems have landed Indonesia the 87th spot out of 180 countries in a report on sustainable development that measures economic development against social and environmental factors.
A recent joint report by the Switzerland-based World Conservation Union (IUCN) and the International Development Research Center (RDRC) placed Indonesia next to Albania and Malawi. Sweden, Norway and Finland scooped the first three ranks on the list. Germany ranks 13th, Austria 18th, Japan 24th and the United States ranks 27th, according to the report.
IUCN director general Achim Steiner attributed Indonesia's low rank partly on rampant deforestation and what he called rough social indicators over the last few years.
Called the Wellbeing Index, the list combines economic, social and environmental data to measure whether a country is developing in a sustainable manner.
"The fundamental equation of sustainability is that you are using what you have in a way that allows regeneration to take place," Steiner said on Thursday.
The report said 37 countries were close to striking a good balance between a healthy population and a healthy environment and that countries with high living standards placed undue pressure on the environment.
Steiner said although developed countries dominated the higher ranks on the list, many developing countries scored high as well because large parts of their countries were as yet underdeveloped.
He cited a country's public awareness on sustainable development, its reliance on natural resources for economic growth, and leadership within its government, as the main reasons where a country would rank on the list.
"How do you measure development that is economically viable, socially equitable and environmental sustainable?" he said.
A sinking oil tanker polluting the sea, he explained, might lend a country's economy a boost by the economic activity it generated from the rescue and cleaning efforts. "That cannot capture what we defined a human well-being index."
Steiner said IUCN drew up the index using data from institutions like the United Nations Development Program, the World Health Organization, the Food and Agriculture Organization and the World Bank.
From these sources, the index covers economic and social measurements on health and population, wealth, knowledge and culture, community and equity.
On the environmental front, the measurements include land, water, air, species and genes and resource use.
"The standard is to look at the trend of deterioration, what would be an ecosystem that would be sustainably managed that produced the same goods and services every year. Using an ecosystem is not necessarily deteriorating it."
He said the initiative to measure sustainable development came with the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, which heightened the public's awareness on sustainable development.
Steiner expected the report would help push policymakers to pay more attention to sustainable development after seeing the lack of commitment over the past 10 years since Rio.
The Wellbeing of Nations is published by RDRC in corporation with IUCN, the International Institute for Environment and Development, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Map Maker Ltd. and the United Nations Environment Program's (UNEP) World Conservation Monitoring Center.