West must cut appetite for cars and televisions

Rich countries will have to stop the consumer high life as part of any deal to heal the world’s social and environmental stresses, a top UN official said ahead of a key development summit today.

...the issue is how to get human development that will see it continue to rise for the world’s poorest people and people in developing countries

“We don’t need more cars, more TVs, more whatever” UN Development Programme chief Helen Clark said in an interview ahead of the Rio+20 summit.

The 116 heads of state and government and their populations − rich and poor − face chaos unless the three-day meeting can at least lay the groundwork for economic growth that eases poverty and preserves natural resources, said Ms Clark, former New Zealand Prime Minister.

“I think there is a high level of awareness that the planet is in peril, to put it bluntly,” said Ms Clark, who will be one of the key figures at the Rio de Janeiro event.

Negotiators are struggling to get agreement on the final declaration.

Differences on topics such as how to define green economy and how to set new global development goals have bedevilled negotiations for months.

Ms Clark insists though that every leader agrees on the key problem: How to ensure economic growth that helps the most destitute without further damaging an environment that is being wrecked underneath our feet.

“So the issue is how to get human development that will see it continue to rise for the world’s poorest people and people in developing countries,”she said.

“...We don’t need more cars, more TVs, more whatever.

“Our needs are by and large satisfied, although the recession has put a lot of strains on that.

Setting up a new index for economic progress to rival the venerable Gross Domestic Product and pressing the case for the Green Economy − economic decision-making that takes into account the impact on the environment − will feature highly on Ms Clark’s summit agenda.

There is a growing campaign by many governments, including from Britain’s Prime Minister David Cameron, to use a wider measure for economic and human progress for key decisions.

Ms Clark says the UN Development Programme should have a new version ready for next year of its annual human development index, adding environmental sustainability factors to the equality measures already used.

The UNDP will hold an event in Rio on the need for new measures. Bhutan’s Prime Minister Jigmi Thinley will discuss his “gross national happiness” index there.

Many poorer countries are suspicious of the West’s demands for tighter environmental regulations in international negotiations.

Ms Clark says they see the green economy as a code for “green protectionism” that could hinder their economic growth.

Ms Clark and UN leader Ban Ki-moon say, however, that moving towards a green economy can be a source of growth, much-needed jobs, investment and exports.

So do the 116 heads of government and state understand the stakes?