Sustainable Development of the Happy Planet Index - Assignment Example

? Sustainable Development No: Sustainable Development Happy Planet Index (HPI) was designed in the year 2006 to evaluate the certain condition of the human life and the association of the humans and the environment. The previous indices like the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and the Human Development Index (HDI) have lost their worth, as the most of the people agreed to be happy and healthy instead to being rich. In other words we can say that the Happy Planet Index (HPI) is the measure of how healthy and happy the humans are leading their lives and how is the activities of the humans affects the environment surrounding them. Moreover, the rate of consumption of natural resources also matters a lot in determining the Happy Planet index (HPI). The carbon foot prints produced by the humans largely affects the index and in this way, it encounters the ecological footprints bet unit person residing in a particular locality. The lower the value of ecological foot prints, the larger will be the Happy Planet Index (HPI). Happy Planet index contributes much in the sustainable development of the planet as the Happy Planet Index tells about the growth of the ecological foot prints per person residing in the certain locality. In major cities of the world and the bigger and progressed countries of the world, it is seen that the ecological foot prints per capita is more as compared to the some of the underdeveloped countries. Moreover, such areas, which have forest and green fields in the vicinity, have the higher Happy Planet index. It can be noticed that most of the people want to have a healthy and happy life instead of a lavish life that is full with money but lacks health and happiness. The major strength of the HPI over other types of indices like GDP etc is that the economic perspective attached with the GDP and others is replaced by the Happy Planet Index and provided a Satisfied and happy life to the people. It associated the humans well being to the ecology. The previous indices have pity less information about the health and happiness of the persons. The methods involved in the evaluation of the index are simple enough to be understood by the common public as well as politicians. The factors like the Ecological footprints and the life expectancy can be calculated and utilized in the calculating the Happy Life index that is then compared to other regions of the world but the results might have some minor errors particularly when considering the ecological footprints. The index is the way to encounter many factors, some soft as life satisfaction and hard as Life expectancy and ecological footprints. It covers both state wise factors as resource consumption and individual’s factors like individual’s well being. However, Happy Planet Index (HPI) has some limitations, as the Happy Planet Index has a major factor associated with it is the ‘Happiness’ and it is hard to measure the happiness as the complexity of the term is heavily discussed among social reformers. In different regions of the world, the ideas related to the term may vary and it depends on the metal status of the person to define the term. In this way, the policy building step becomes more complex that is a limitation in the Happy Planet Index (HPI) (Schepelmann, Makipaa & Goossens, 2007). Moreover, as the index is named as the Happy Planet Index (HPI), many people got the wrong idea of the index and considered it only an index that depicts the happiness of the country while the Happy Planet Index covers the environmental, ecological and Longevity factors. The biological indicators or the biotic indicators are the organisms or organism or community’s aspect, which are the part of the environment and as some alteration in the environment occurs, the organisms correspond to the change and show some special characteristics. Some biotic indicators prove the purity of the water through their presence in the water, while show that the water is not ideal for drinking. Some organisms are particularly present in a certain type of environment and as the environment changes; the organisms may either adapt the change or move to other regions of the world. Biological indicators are considered as the ideal indicators to show the change in the environment as the change in the organisms is a bit easier to recognize. Biotic indicators are present in almost all the parts of the world. The data can be analyzed and verified as the numbers of the biotic indicators are much in number as compared to all other type of indicators. The biotic indicators need fewer resources. Three major categories of the biotic indicators are present, which are Sentinel Organisms, Community level indicators and organism level indicators. While organism level indicators have some other factors like biochemical indicators, responses in life and morphological deformities. The biological indicators can be utilized to monitor the ecological change on both the large scale and on the regional scale. Like the water that is supplied to the city may monitor the quality of water by knowing the type of organisms like benthic invertebrates that live in the pond, stream or lake. Tiny spaces between the stones or such other matters are the home for such type of organisms. These animals include the Mayflies, Perlid stonefly nymph, etc. The method of examining the water can be done on wide scale by making a reference stream as the some other factors besides pollution can also be responsible for bringing the change in the quality of the water like the presence of the type of stone, deepness of the stream As we are considering the environmental aspects on the top, so six indicators will be ‘Gross Agricultural Green house gas emissions’, Water retaining Capacity’, ‘Ecosystem Diversity’, ‘Agricultural Output’, ‘Pest Management’, and ‘Nutrient Management’. The emissions of the green house gases produced by each farm is analyzed and compared. The less the farm produces green house emissions, the more will be the environment friendly is the farm. This the main factor through which the green house emission associated with the agriculture can be minimized. This is the main factors and indicator that should have a higher value. The water retaining capacity of a farm shows the quality of the soil and if the farm needs less water as compared to the other, it may need water with larger spans without affecting the crop. Water retaining factors of the soil doesn’t mean that the land will then require heavy watering, if heavily watered; the soil has capacity more water absorbing power as compared to the normal soil. The third indicator is the Ecosystem diversity that shows the effects of the farm on the ecosystem, the farm should have a positive effect on the ecosystem. The utilization of the chemical fertilizers, chemical pesticides have negative impacts on the environment and the habitat of the region. The output of the Agriculture is the indicator that will distinguish that how well the organic farming is producing the crops. As the organic farming disobeys the rules of utilizing the chemical fertilizers, it is considered that organic farming produces less agricultural output but in reality it is not true, it right organic methods are utilized the organic farming might produce more output as compared to a conventional farm. Pest management is another indicator that will distinguish the ecological impact of the agriculture. As discussed above the chemical pest control medicines have negative impacts on the environment and organic pesticides have the power to deal with the pests in a natural way. Nutrient management is another indicator that makes the quality of the soil better. In a conventional farming that utilizes chemical, the quality of soil reduces day by day but in an organic farming the quality of soil increases day by day through soil testing and making the nutrients dissolved in the soil that the soil lessen. While some of the indicators can only be measured when the output comes, other indicators like water retaining capacity, biodiversity and gross agricultural greenhouse gas emissions indicate the value that shows the day by day reading. As the organic farm is taking no chemical and some of the organic fertilizers are brought by burning some fuel, in this way it produces some emissions, the organic methods bring back the neutrality of the soil and no of worms in the soil increases that provide food for the birds so in this way it supports biodiversity and third most important factor the water retaining factor of the soil increases. “Beyond question, agro-forestry can greatly improve life for people in the developing world, and do so within a reasonably short time” (Bene, Beall & Cote 1977) Describe at least 3 indicators which can be measured to assess that the proposal will deliver sustainable development. Justify why you have selected these indicators by relating them to the key sustainable development processes. State how you would measure these indicators; identify data requirement and explain how you would collect the necessary data. References Bene, J.G., H.W. Beall and A. Cote (1977). Trees, Food and People: Land Management in the Tropics. Ottawa, Canada International Development Research Centre (IDRC),. Schepelmann, Philipp, Goossens, Yanne and Makipaa, Arttu. (2007). Towards Sustainable Development: Alternative to GDP for Measuring Progress. Doppersberg. Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy. Read More