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.