Abstract
Human wellbeing is inextricably linked to the health of the environment. In the Anthropocene, new measures of progress are required to support high levels of human health and quality of life whilst ensuring a sustainable, healthy environment. The sustainable development goals (SDGs), New Urban Agenda, and Paris Agreement on Climate Change provide the global mandates for change; however, localised actions and indicators are required to bring this to fruition. Taking the position that human wellbeing and health of environment need to be equitable partners, it is proposed that local level composite indicators, which securely bind human health to the health of the environment, are required to support local actions to achieve the SDGs. This paper examines twelve current indices that aim to measure sustainable progress and critiques their ability to securely bond human wellbeing with the health of the environment and their potential as local level indices. Out of these indices, we propose the Happy Planet Index, a composite index developed by the New Economics Foundation, as a suitable index that achieves this goal. Using locally or regionally relevant datasets, the Happy Planet Index can be modified to mobilise conversations and drive actions towards achieving the SDGs where human wellbeing and health of the environment are conceptually linked.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). (2006). Measuring progress—an ABS approach. ABS. http://www.ausstats.abs.gov.au/Ausstats/subscriber.nsf/0/DBDB587ADF426567CA257589000F826F/$File/1370.0_an_abs_approach.pdf. Accessed February 13, 2018.
Becker, W., Saisana, M., Paruolo, P., & Vandecasteele, I. (2017). Weights and importance in composite indicators: Closing the gap. Ecological Indicators. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2017.03.056.
Bioregional. (n.d). North West Bicester one planet action plan. Bioregional. https://www.bioregional.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/BioRegional-NW-Bicester-One-Planet-Action-Plan-2013-high-res.pdf. Accessed February 13, 2018.
Caerphilly County Borough Council. (2008). Living better, using less: Sustainable development strategy 2008. Caerphilly County Borough Council. http://your.caerphilly.gov.uk/sustainablecaerphilly/sites/your.caerphilly.gov.uk.sustainablecaerphilly/files/pdfs/sustainable_development_strategy.pdf. Accessed February 13, 2018.
Calvert Henderson Quality of Life Indicators. (2013). Ethical markets quality of life indicators. Ethical markets. http://ethicalmarketsqualityoflife.com. Accessed February 13, 2018.
Capon, A., & Corvalan, C. (2018). Climate change and health: Global issue, local responses. Public Health Research and Practice,28(4), e2841823. https://doi.org/10.17061/phrp2841823.
Chen, E., Ng, Y.-K., Tan, Y. F., & Toh, J. S. Y. (2017). Environmentally responsible happy nation index: Refinements and 2015 rankings. Social Indicators Research,134, 39–56.
Clapp, J., & Dauvergne, P. (2005). Paths to a green world: The political economy of the global environment. Cambridge: MIT Press.
Crist, E. (2007). Beyond the climate crisis: A critique of climate change discourse. Telos,141(Winter), 29–55.
Esty, D. C., Levy, M., Srebotnjak, T., & de Sherbinin, A. (2005). Environmental sustainability index: Benchmarking national environmental stewardship. New Haven: Yale Center for Environmental Law & Policy.
Fusco, E. (2015). Enhancing non compensatory composite indicators: A directional proposal. European Journal of Operational Research,242, 620–630.
Galli, A. (2015). On the rationale and policy usefulness of ecological footprint accounting: The case of Morocco. Environmental Science & Policy. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsci.2015.01.008.
Giannetti, B. F., Agostinho, F., Almeida, C. M. V. B., & Huisingh, D. (2015). A review of limitations of GDP and alternative indices to monitor human wellbeing and to manage eco-system functionality. Journal of Cleaner Production. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2014.10.051.
Global Footprint Network. 2017. Pubic Data Package (2017). Global footprint network. http://www.footprintnetwork.org/licenses/public-data-package-free-edition-copy/. Accessed February 13, 2018.
Hancock, T., Capon, A., Dietrich, U., & Patrick, R. (2016). Governance for health in the anthropocene. International Journal of Health Governance. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJHG-08-2016-0041.
Hansen, E. C. (2006). Successful qualitative health research; A practical introduction. Crows nest: Allen & Unwin.
Higgins, K. L. (2013). Economic growth and sustainability—are they mutually exclusive? https://www.elsevier.com/connect/economic-growth-and-sustainability-are-they-mutually-exclusive. Accessed February 13, 2018.
IPCC. (2018). Summary for policymakers. In V. Masson-Delmotte, P. Zhai, H.-O. Pörtner, D. Roberts, J. Skea, P. R. Shukla, A. Pirani, W. Moufouma-Okia, C. Péan, R. Pidcock, S. Connors, J. B. R. Matthews, Y. Chen, X. Zhou, M. I. Gomis, E. Lonnoy, T. Maycock, M. Tignor, & T. Waterfield (Eds.), Global warming of 1.5°C. An IPCC special report on the impacts of global warming of 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels and related global greenhouse gas emission pathways, in the context of strengthening the global response to the threat of climate change, sustainable development, and efforts to eradicate poverty. Geneva: World Meteorological Organization
King, R. (2006). Playing with boundaries: Critical reflections on strategies for an environmental culture and the promise of civic environmentalism, ethics, place and environment. A Journal of Philosophy and Geography,9(2), 173–186.
Kitchin, R., Lauriault, T. P., & McArdle, G. (2015). Knowing and governing cities through urban indicators, city benchmarking and real-time dashboards. Regional Studies, Regional Science. https://doi.org/10.1080/21681376.2014.983149.
Knight, K. W., & Rosa, E. A. (2011). The environmental efficiency of well-being: A cross-national analysis. Social Science Research,40, 931–949.
Maclaren, V. W. (1996). Urban sustainability reporting. Journal of the American Planning Association,62, 184–203.
Maridal, J. H. (2017). A worldwide measure of societal quality of life. Social Indicators Research. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-016-1418-y.
McMichael, A. J. (2017). Climate change and the health of nations: Famines, fevers, and the fate of populations. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Millennium Ecosystem Assessment. (2005). Ecosystems and human well-being: Synthesis. Washington, DC: Island Press.
Moore, J. L. (2013). Getting serious about sustainability: Exploring the potential for one-planet living in Vancouver. Ph.D. dissertation Vancouver: University of British Columbia, Vancouver.
New Economics Foundation (NEF). (2006). The happy planet index. New Economics Foundation. http://b.3cdn.net/nefoundation/54928c89090c07a78f_ywm6y59da.pdf. Accessed February 13, 2018.
New Economics Foundation (NEF). (2016) Happy planet index 2016: Methods paper. https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5735c421e321402778ee0ce9/t/578dec7837c58157b929b3d6/1468918904805/Methods+paper_2016.pdf. Accessed December 11, 2018.
Ng, Y.-K. (2008). Environmentally responsible happy nation index: Towards an internationally acceptable national success indicator. Social Indicators Research. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-007-9135-1.
OECD. (2015). How’s life? 2015: Measuring well-being. OECD. http://www.ifuturo.org/documentacion/hows%20life%202015.pdf. Accessed February 13, 2018.
Phillis, Y. A., Grigoroudis, E., & Kouikoglou, V. S. (2011). Sustainability ranking and improvement of countries. Ecological Economics,70, 542–553.
Pillarisetti, J. R., & Van Den Bergh, J. C. J. M. (2013). Aggregate indices for identifying environmentally responsible nations: An empirical analysis and comparison. International Journal of Environmental Studies. https://doi.org/10.1080/00207233.2012.752059.
Prescott-Allen, R. (2001). The wellbeing of nations. A country-by-country index of quality of life and the environment. Washington: Island Press.
Progress, Redefining. (1995). The genuine progress indicator: Summary of data and methodology. San Francisco: Redefining Progress.
Rees, W. E., & Wackernagel, M. (2013). The shoe fits, but the footprint is larger than earth. PLoS Biol 11. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.1001701.
Rockstrom, J., Steffen, W., Noone, K., Persson, A., Chapin, F. S., III, Lambin, E., et al. (2009). Planetary boundaries: Exploring the safe operating space for humanity. Ecology and Society,14(2), 32.
Roderick, P. (2017) An ecological approach to measuring local happiness. https://gregfellpublichealth.wordpress.com/2017/09/01/an-ecological-approach-to-measuring-local-happiness/. Accessed February 13, 2018.
Saltelli, A. (2007). Composite Indicators between analysis and advocacy. Social Indicators Research. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-006-0024-9.
Social Progress Imperative. (2017). 2017 Social progress index. Social progress imperative. https://www.socialprogressindex.com/. Accessed February 13, 2018.
Sustainable Society Foundation. (2017). Sustainable society index. Sustainable Society Foundation. http://www.ssfindex.com/ssi/framework/. Accessed February 13, 2018.
The Centre for Bhutan Studies. (2012). A short guide to the gross national happiness index. The Centre for Bhutan Studies. http://www.grossnationalhappiness.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Short-GNH-Index-edited.pdf. Accessed February 13, 2018.
United Nations. (n.d.). Sustainable development goals. United Nations. http://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/sustainable-development-goals/. Accessed February 13, 2018.
United Nations Development Programme. (2016). Local action for the global goals: Promoting innovative conservation and development solutions. New York: UNDP.
Van den Bergh, J. C. J. M., & Grazi, F. (2014). Ecological footprint policy? Land use as an environmental indicator. Journal of Industrial Ecology. https://doi.org/10.1111/jiec.12045.
Veenhoven, R. (1996). Developments in satisfaction-research. Social Indicators Research,37, 1–46.
Veenhoven, R. (2002). Why social policy needs subjective indicators. Social Indicators Research,58, 33–46.
Washington, H., Taylor, B., Kopnina, H., Cryer, P., & Piccolo, J. J. (2017). Why ecocentrism is the key pathway to sustainability. The Ecological Citizen,1, Y–Z.
WHO. (2018). COP24 Special Report: Health & Climate Change. https://www.who.int/globalchange/publications/COP24-report-health-climate-change/en/.
Wiedmann, T., & Barrett, J. (2010). A review of the ecological footprint indicator—Perceptions and methods. Sustainability. https://doi.org/10.3390/su2061645.
Willett, J., et al. (2019). Food in the Anthropocene: the EAT-Lancet commission on healthy diets from sustainable food systems. Lancet,394, 447–492.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
Author C (AF) was formerly a consultant to the New Economics Foundation.
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Patrick, R., Shaw, A., Freeman, A. et al. Human Wellbeing and the Health of the Environment: Local Indicators that Balance the Scales. Soc Indic Res 146, 651–667 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-019-02140-w
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-019-02140-w