Published: Apr 04, 2012
- The world needs to move away from measuring
success in purely economic terms, and should
instead consider other criteria, including
distribution of resources, sustainability,
health, human rights and education. These
were the discussions in a landmark meeting
of the United Nations (UN), calling for
new measurements of wellbeing beyond GDP
in the run up to the Rio sustainability
summit in June.
In the future we will
look back on this meeting as a turning point
– it is now evident that many of the most
influential people in the world agree that
we need to reconsider what makes us happy.
It is clearly not rampant consumerism.
The High Level Meeting
“Happiness and Well-being: Defining a New
Economic Paradigm” was hosted on 2 April
by the Government of Bhutan at the UN headquarters
in New York. It brought together hundreds
of representatives from governments, religious
organisations, academia and civil society
to discuss the issue.
Prime Minister of Bhutan, Lyonchoen Jigmi
Yoezer Thinley
The discussion was chaired by Jacqueline
McGlade, Executive Director of the European
Environment Agency (EEA).
“The economic crisis, accelerating environmental
degradation and growing discontent around
the world all point to one conclusion –
GDP as the sole measure of success has reached
the end of the road,” she said. “In the
future we will look back on this meeting
as a turning point – it is now evident that
many of the most influential people in the
world agree that we need to reconsider what
makes us happy. It is clearly not rampant
consumerism.”
Many environmental analyses carried out
by the EEA underline the importance of breaking
the link between environmental damage and
economic growth if we are to achieve continued
prosperity, without destroying the natural
systems that sustain us. The EEA is also
working on alternative approaches to measuring
progress, such as valuing the services provided
by ecosystems which are essential to human
wellbeing.
Speaking at the meeting, Secretary-General
of the UN Ban Ki-Moon said: “We need an
outcome from Rio+20 that says that happiness
and well-being are measured in more than
gross national income — and that they are
fundamental goals in themselves.”
What makes us happy?
Like Bhutan, Costa Rica often tops lists
of the happiest countries and is an exemplar
of environmental protection. In a keynote
address, President Laura Chinchilla described
Costa Rica’s development of democratic institutions,
education, environmental conservation and
justice as major milestones in their success.
“I represent a country that, despite its
modest resources, has managed to continually
improve the quality of life of its people,”
she said.
India’s Environment Minister Jayanthi Natarajan
also stated her support for the idea that
“human development should be based in equal
measure on material progress, social inclusion,
cultural life and living in harmony with
nature.” Japanese minister Joe Nakano noted
that “happiness is not proportional to economic
wealth” in his country.
Several sessions over the course of the
meeting aimed to define the different elements
of happiness, outlining a vision which Nobel
Laureate Joseph Stiglitz called “a new economic
paradigm”. In addition to psychological
and physical wellbeing, panellists discussed
elements of ecological sustainability, efficient
resource use and equitable distribution
of resources.
Happiness and Rio+20
The discussion of happiness will feed into
the UN Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro later
this year, also known as Rio+20. In Rio
governments will debate a series of Sustainable
Development Goals (SDGs) setting targets
for diverse criteria such as resource use,
renewable energy and food security, as well
as continuing the current debates on happiness
and wellbeing.
The Speaker of the Parliament of Finland,
Eero Heinäluoma said that his country
sees the Rio summit “as a unique opportunity
to rethink the current perception of growth
and consumption.”
He continued: “Let us support Rio+20 by
making a political commitment to establish
new indicators, then by committing ourselves
to a UN-led process for developing such
measures and lastly by mainstreaming the
new measures into policy-making.”
