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Washington, D.C.----Over
the last 50 years, the world's middle and upper classes have more than
doubled their consumption levels, and an additional 1 to 2 billion
people globally aspire to join the consumer class. The planet cannot
maintain such increases in resource demand without serious consequences
for both people and ecosystems, concludes the Worldwatch Institute in State of the World 2012: Moving Toward Sustainable Prosperity.
The book, the 29th in a series that Worldwatch began in 1984, stresses
that we must act quickly to redefine our understanding of the "good
life" and redouble our efforts to make that life sustainable.
"The Industrial
Revolution gave birth to an economic growth model rooted in structures,
behaviors, and activities that are patently unsustainable," says
Worldwatch Senior Researcher Michael Renner, co-director of State of the World 2012.
"Mounting ecosystem stress and resource pressures are accompanied by
increased economic volatility, growing inequality, and social
vulnerability.It is difficult to avoid the conclusion that the economy no longer works for either people or the planet."
Instead, we need to
reprioritize basic needs and pursue true sustainable prosperity:
development that allows all human beings to live with their fundamental
needs met, with their dignity acknowledged, and with abundant
opportunity to pursue lives of satisfaction and happiness, all without
risk of denying others in the present and the future the ability to do
the same. This, in turn, means not just preventing further degradation
of Earth's systems, but actively restoring them to full health.
With the United
Nations Conference on Sustainable Development taking place in Rio de
Janeiro, Brazil, in June, this is the year to catalyze a move toward
sustainable prosperity. The gathering, more commonly known as Rio+20 for
its commemoration of the anniversary of the 1992 Rio Earth Summit,
offers a chance to set the course for an economic system that promotes
the health of both people and ecosystems. The themes for Rio+20 are: 1) a
green economy in the context of sustainable development and poverty
eradication, and 2) an institutional framework for sustainable
development.
"We are cautiously
optimistic about the upcoming Rio conference," says Erik Assadourian, a
senior fellow at Worldwatch and co-director of State of the World 2012.
"But minor shifts in policy and technology will not be enough to save
humanity. Rio+20 participants should re-consider the vision that guides
their deliberations. If we do not radically change our consumer culture
and collectively re-prioritize sustainable living, we will be the agents
of our own undoing."
The aspirations of
the original 1992 meeting in Rio collided with a set of painfully
sobering developments, including unfriendly politics, orthodox
economics, and a dominant culture of consumerism. The 20 years since
then have made it clear that necessary change is not merely technical,
but encompasses changes in lifestyle, culture, and politics.
The report's 35
contributors describe many of the currently untenable social and
economic patterns and explore opportunities for creative alternatives on
sustainability topics ranging from agriculture, communication
technologies, and biodiversity to "green" construction, local politics,
and global governance. Specific topics include:
- A Green Economy that Works for Everyone: For
industrial, emerging, and developing countries, a green economy will
mean different things. But they have in common the need to create green
jobs that offer a decent living, and they all can benefit from policy
innovations such as a network of cooperative green innovation centers, a
standard-setting global "top runner" program, green financing and
skills training, and greater economic democracy.
- Degrowth in Overdeveloped Countries: Humanity
uses 1.5 Earths' worth of ecological capacity, with much of that
consumed by overdeveloped industrial countries. Sustainable prosperity
will require economic degrowth in these countries. This can be achieved
by a mix of tax shifting, shortening work weeks, denormalizing certain
types of consumption, and de-marketizing certain sectors of the economy,
such as food production and child care.
- Inclusive and Sustainable Urban Development: Urban
poverty is pervasive, and absolute numbers are expanding in both the
developed and developing worlds: some 828 million people live in slums
worldwide. Urban planning needs to include strategies such as explicit
and transparent spatial plans, democratic engagement of the poor and
community-based organizations, and coordination across sectors,
especially affordable housing, transportation, and economic development.
- Sustainable Transportation: Today
there are nearly 800 million cars on the world's roads, and in the
developing world transportation is the source of up to 80 percent of
harmful air pollutants. A sustainable and socially progressive
alternative requires a shift toward denser cities that generally require
less motorized travel, invest in high-quality transit, and support
vibrant, healthy communities by enabling walking and cycling.
- Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs): More
than half of the world's population lives in cities, and 90 percent of
urbanization is occurring in the developing world. ICTs can help cities
become safer, cleaner, and more sustainable places to live, but they are
currently underutilized in both the developed and developing worlds.
Reversing this trend must go beyond the current public-private
partnerships and "smart cities" projects by providing broad public
access to data and boosting public involvement.
- Measuring Sustainable Urban Development: Since
the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio, there has been limited progress in
developing a universal sustainability indicator system that is
scientifically valid and credible. This has been true in the United
States as well, but efforts are under way to develop a database of
indicators that will inform discussions at Rio+20 about how to measure
urban sustainability.
- Reinventing the Corporation: Transnational
corporations (TNCs) have evolved over the past five centuries into
globally influential entities. They often go unchecked, with no limits
placed on their impacts on society, the environment, or the economy.
TNCs must adapt if sustainability is to become a reality, including
shifts in their purpose, ownership, capital investment, and governance.
- The Global Architecture of Sustainable Governance: Sustainability
efforts worldwide will be shaped by the reforms being discussed for the
United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). If UNEP is going to play a
valuable and productive role in these efforts, it must enjoy increased
authority and financial resources, but above all it must be better
connected to other international agencies so it can play the
coordinating and visionary role its founders had in mind.
- Population Growth Strategies: In
2011, global population passed the 7 billion mark, and confronting
population growth is critical to the future sustainability of the
planet. Over time, population growth will end and reverse with no need
for "population control" through assuring reproductive health and rights
for all, adequate education for girls and boys, and equal economic
activity for both sexes with internalization of the environmental costs
of economic activity.
- Sustainable Buildings: The
construction and operation of buildings use 25-40 percent of all
produced energy, accounting for a comparable share of global carbon
dioxide emissions. We must aim for the goals of net zero energy use,
zero emissions, and zero waste if new construction and existing
buildings are going to be sustainable.
- Public Policy and Sustainable Consumption: Combating
the rise of consumerism will require government involvement, including
advertisement management, tax modification to include the true cost of a
product or service, and the establishment of sustainability
certification programs.
- Mobilizing the Business Community: Our
current economic model does not consider planetary limits, is socially
exclusive, and places private interests above public ones. A recipe for a
successful 21st-century economy needs to be green, inclusive, and
responsible, which will take a combination of business-led voluntary
initiatives reinforced by new corporate structures and strong government
policy and public oversight.
- Sustainable Agriculture: Almost 2
billion people are fed by produce from the 500 million small farms in
developing countries. Yet these small-scale producers are some of the
most food-insecure people: 80 percent of the world's hungry live in
rural areas. To optimize the productivity and environmental
sustainability of small farms, future agricultural policy must combine a
rights-based approach with legislation that is localized and culturally
specific.
- Food Security and Equity: In
recent decades, factory farming has increased meat, egg, and dairy
consumption worldwide, particularly in the developing world. But this
industrial meat production system has been harmful to human health and
the environment. The internalization of costs, restoration of
ecosystems, and education of the public----among other strategies----can help create a new food system that is more efficient, equitable, and climate-compatible.
- Biodiversity: The
rate at which species are becoming extinct is estimated to be up to
1,000 times higher today than in pre-industrial times. Efforts such as
the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services
are needed to better understand and reverse the erosion of nature's
resiliency.
- Valuation of Ecosystem Services: The
human ecological footprint has grown so large that progress is now
constrained more by limits on natural resources and ecosystem services
than by limits on infrastructure or technology. Ecosystem services help
evaluate the benefits derived from ecosystems by assigning a monetary or
physical unit to those benefits, which can in turn help to better
facilitate natural resource management.
- Local Governance: Decisions at
the local level can be the greatest catalysts for progress because they
contribute directly to poverty reduction, job growth, gender equity, and
environmental protection. As a result, the development of local
democratic procedures that are transparent and reliable is critical to
global sustainable development.
"There
won't be much point in revisiting the Rio+20 conference in another 20
years to try to figure out what went wrong," says Worldwatch President
Robert Engelman. "We know enough right now about the state of the world
to see clearly that we have to change the way we live and the way we do
business. Working out new paths towards true sustainability will take
much more than a conference of governments, though such a gathering can
help. The task begins with the recognition that perpetual economic and
demographic growth aren't possible on a finite planet. We can work with
the hope that ecological stability is possible, along with a good life
based on health, literacy, strong communities, and access to 'enough'
rather than ever more."
The State of the World 2012
report is accompanied by other informational materials including policy
briefs, videos, and a discussion guide, all of which are available a www.sustainableprosperity.org.
The project's findings are being disseminated to a wide range of
stakeholders, including government ministries, Rio+20 participants,
community networks, business leaders, and the nongovernmental
environmental and development communities.
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