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Executive Summary of
Index of Environmental Trends
Background
In 1970, the world celebrated the first Earth Day. Since
that time, environmental and "green" concerns have played
a major role on the world stage. The Rio Earth Summit (the
UNCED conference) held in June 1992 -- at which more than
150 heads of state and government met to sign conventions
on global warming and biodiversity -- was but the most visible
and high-level expression of global environmental concern.
During
these past two decades, governments throughout the world have
established environmental ministries and environmental protection
agencies. Environmental legislation and policy reform have
been instituted in countries rich and poor, north and south.
New directions in environmental, economic and social development
-- "green planning" and "sustainable human development" --
have been initiated, with many countries now developing green
agendas and environmental strategies. In Africa, alone, more
than 30 countries are formulating national environmental action
plans.
New multi-billion
dollar institutions, such as the Global Environment Facility,
have been launched; within other institutions, such as the
World Bank, large-scale environment divisions have been brought
into existence.
In both
developed and developing countries, there has been a marked
increase in the number of grassroots, community and nongovernmental
organizations dedicated to protecting the environment. In
terms of public awareness and education, ecological issues
have moved to the forefront of concern.
After two
decades of activity, attention and attempts to reform global,
national and local policies to be more harmonious with the
environment, the question which must be asked is: Are we making
significant progress in impacting and reversing the trends
of environmental degradation on the planet? Or, despite our
best efforts to date, is global environmental destruction
continuing to worsen, and perhaps even accelerating?
The
Index of Environmental Trends
To assess the current trends in the world's environment,
the National Center for Economic and Security Alternative
has initiated and in-depth, ongoing examination of environmental
trends in advanced industrial economies. The objective of
this survey is to determine whether, in 20 years of activity,
legislation, growing awareness and reforms, the actions industrialized
nations have taken to protect the environment have, in fact,
managed to reverse ecological decline.
The result
of this research is the Index of Environmental Trends, a composite
picture of environmental quality and trends within nine northern
growth-oriented industrialized countries: Canada, Denmark,
France, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, Sweden, the United
Kingdom and the United States. While sharing much in common,
the countries span a spectrum from those that are relatively
small and homogenous to nations of enormous geographic and
economic size. Their approaches to environmental issues are
in some cases quite progressive and experimental, and in others
generally conservative.
The index
is an attempt at a composite survey of aggregated indicators
to examine how the entire environmental system of a nation
is doing. By synthesizing available information on trends
into a single indicator of ecological change, the index seeks
to provide a clear reflection of the actual effects environmental
reform efforts have had on outcome trends over the past two
decades. In the United States, the Consumer Price Index, while
admittedly far from perfect, gives a similar kind of by-and-large
picture of the economy. Nothing analogous has yet existed
within the environmental field.
The Index
of Environmental Trends brings together measure of change
since 1970 in 21 broadly accepted environmental trend indicators
for air, land, and water quality, chemical and waste generation,
and automobile and energy use. The index measures changes
in a wide range of pressing environmental problems faced by
industrial societies, based on the best available data, most
of it gathered and maintained by national governments.
In undertaking
this assessment, the intent was to evaluate trend changes,
distinguishing between:
- No change
or negative change;
- A continued
but slowed, worsening of the situation;
- A continued
but slowed, worsening of the situation;
- A token
gain (e.g., a 5% reduction in carbon dioxide emissions);
- A real
trend reversal (e.g., drastic reductions in sulphur oxide
emissions).
Summary
of findings
By charting and measuring the trends in these indicators
of environmental quality, the survey shows that despite some
significant gains in a few areas, all nine advanced industrial
countries surveyed register negative quantitative shifts on
the composite long-term index of ecological change. That is,
overall, the quality of the environment in all of the countries
studied has declined over the past 20 years.
In most
countries, the majority of the 21 environmental indicators
analyzed has worsened since 1970. Trends in North America,
Japan and Europe generally ran in parallel. The national composite
ratings, in rank order from least to most environmental deterioration
since 1970, are as follows:
- Denmark -
10.6%
- Netherlands -
11.4%
- United
Kingdom - 14.3%
- Sweden -
15.5%
- West
Germany - 16.5%
- Japan -
19.4%
- United
States - 22.1%
- Canada -
38.1%
- France -
41.2
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