Factoring in People, Planet: Reflections on HDI at 30

The 2020 Human Development Report is a clarion call to embrace the ideas that Gandhi and J C Kumarappa had esposed

The concept and construction of Human Development Index (HDI) by Mahbub ul Haq and Amartya Sen was a landmark in the history of critical intellectual engagement with human progress. It is based on the concept of capabilities, or what people can do and what they can become. The HDI, until recently, was a measure of progress in three basic indices or capabilities, namely long and healthy life, access to knowledge, and a decent standard of living. Since its launch in 1990, it has been used by political regimes to measure human progress at the local, regional, and national levels.

There have been continuous efforts to refine HDI in the context of the political economy of different countries. Other capabilities that came to be highlighted include participation in the decisions affecting one's life, freedom from violence, recognition of the self-worth of individuals, and adequate leisure. Many countries have mainstreamed the HDI into their official statistics. Every year, when the report is brought out, serious discussion among political and bureaucratic circles often ensues, and it spurs efforts on the part of countries to register improvements in HDI.

Most countries that score high on the HDI also have a high contribution per capita in terms of climate change. It is this aspect of HDI or the model of development that it promotes which generates questions relating to the sustainability and the universalization of this model. For example, the US, which has high adverse environmental impact despite a high quality of life, is bound to drop 45 places according to the new index. This applies to many other highly developed countries as well. Norway will drop 15 places, Canada 40 spots and Australia 72 places. Even Luxembourg, a small country otherwise known for its high income per capita, is set to fall 131 places when the index is adjusted for planetary pressures. Such countries would not be happy with the new report.

This is not to say that all countries that rank high on HDI will witness steep falls in ranking. On the contrary, the UK will rise by 10 spots, and New Zealand by six. This changed perspective is reflected in the remark of the UNDP administrator who said that to "survive and thrive in this new age, we must redesign a path to progress that respects the intertwined fate of people and planet and recognizes that the carbon and material footprint of the people who have more is choking the opportunities of the people who have less."

The 30th anniversary edition of the Human Development Report (HDR), “The Next Frontier: Human Development and the Anthropocene,” therefore, introduces a new component, a country's carbon dioxide emissions and its material footprint. It suggests that we combine the wellbeing of people and the planet to produce a more valid measure, instead of being narrowly human-centred. It speaks about the continuum of human and non-human life forms.

The extent to which we become climate-neutral is crucial. The report carries an unusual intensity and urgency as it describes how human society has found itself on the brink of climate catastrophe. The new report treats at length the risks facing humanity such as global warming, species extinction, resource depletion, and loss of ecosystem, without being pessimistic. Instead, it calls for new social norms and investment in nature-based solutions. One-fourth of total mitigation needs could be satisfied through reforestation.

The report blames inequality and investment decisions of the policymakers for increasing emissions and resource depletion. The wealthiest 1% of the population emits 100 times as much carbon dioxide as the poorest 50%. The way out, according to the new report, is in the development of new social norms, financial incentives, and nature-based solutions. The report sees hope in the large number of people who place environment protection as a key to future progress, the growing number of climate activists, new diets and lifestyles, and the increasing number of carbon-neutral projects the world over.

The Covid-19 pandemic has also added to the generation of a planet-based consciousness and a recognition of the need for nature-based solutions. Such solutions will bring "benefits ranging from climate change mitigation and disaster risk reduction to improving food security and increasing water availability and quality."

The report also exhorts countries to learn from the vision of indigenous and other local communities to live within the Anthropocene, sharing the space with non-human inhabitants. It poignantly asks: "Will we be remembered by the fossils we leave behind: swaths of species, long extinct, sunken and fossilized in the mud alongside plastic toothbrushes and bottle caps, a legacy of loss and waste? Or will we leave a much more valuable imprint: balance between people and planet, a future that is fair and just?"

Although India has slipped on the HDI by two points in the latest report, when the pressure on the planet is brought in, it is likely to move up the ladder. While Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh have made considerable progress in HDI, Bihar and UP still lag behind.

Madhya Pradesh was the first state to come up with a state-level HDR. Karnataka went a step further, and prepared reports for all the districts under a common methodological framework and timeframe. Gujarat followed suit with 33 district- level reports. Then local governments chipped in. The Mumbai city corporation and the Idukki district panchayat in Kerala are noteworthy. Local governments can undertake climate-friendly policies at the local level successfully.

What impact the report will have on governance, planning and policymaking in individual countries remains to be seen, given the half-hearted commitment of most countries to climate action. The effect of Covid-19 has not been accounted for in the 2020 UNDP report. When it is factored in, the quest to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030 is likely to face severe setbacks. In many ways, the report is a clarion call to embrace the ideas that Gandhi and J C Kumarappa had vigourously espoused in the last century.

(John Moolakkattu is Professor, Department of International Relations & Politics, Central University of Kerala, Kasargod; Jos Chathukulam formerly held the Ramakrishna Hegde Chair on Decentralization at ISEC, Bengaluru)