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SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT: WHERE ARE WE TODAY? Human Development Index and Ecological Footprint of Nations (2005) 0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0 0 2 4 6 8 10 North America Europe, Non EU Latin America & Caribbean European Union Middle East & Asia Asia-Pacific Africa Ecological Footprint (Global hectares per person) Human Development Index (HDI) Threshold for high human development Global average available biocapacity per person (This must also include the needs of wild species.) 1961 2005 Sustainable Development Quadrant Sustainable development can be assessed using the Human Development Index (HDI) as an indicator of human development, and the Ecological Footprint as a measure of human demand on the biosphere. The United Nations considers an HDI of over 0.8 to be “high human development.” An Ecological Footprint less than 2.1 global hectares per person makes those resource demands globally replicable. Even though the world’s leaders made sustainable development a policy goal in 1992 at the world summit in Rio de Janeiro, the Human Development Indices and the Footprint studies show that most countries are farther away from it than ever.
