A Look at SustainabilityBY MARISSA GRIJALVA

© The World Bank/Farhana Asnap

Introductionu I am happy to introduce my honors project: A Look at

Sustainability

u The goal of my honors project is to identify and quantify the aspects of societies that correlate, and potentially drive, environmental sustainability

u I have determined these important sustainability factors based on my research, with evidence comprised of

u 10 highly ranked and 10 lowly ranked countries in environmental performance.

u I’ve also taken a deeper look at two countries

u Finland and Bangladesh

u There’s special focus on the relationship between population, poverty, and the environment

What is EPI?The Environmental Performance Index (EPI) entails a scientific summary of the status of sustainability around the globe. It uses 32 performance indicators with 11 main issue categories. The EPI ranks 180 countries on environmental and ecosystem health.

© Center for International Earth Science Information Network Earth Institute

Countries in Question

Good Countriesu (1) Denmark

u (4) United Kingdomu (7) Finland

u (12) Japanu (14) Spainu (20) Italy

u (24) United Statesu (33) Hungary

u (39) Singaporeu (44) Chile

Bad Countriesu (132) Kenya

u (139) Cambodiau (149) Guatemala

u (152) Republic of Congou (159) Togou (162) Bangladesh

u (168) Indiau (170) Haiti

u (178) Afghanistanu (180) Liberia

© Center for International Earth Science Information Network Earth Institute

Trends on All Data

Good Countriesu EPI Scores: all in the top

50 countriesu Best Region(s): Global

Westu Populations: all variedu Top EPI Categories:

sanitation & climate change

u Bottom EPI Category: ecosystem services

u Gov't Corruption Scores: all high (indicates low corruption)

Bad Countriesu EPI Scores: all in the bottom

50 countriesu Worst Region(s): Sub-Saharan

Africa and Southern Asiau Populations: all variedu Top EPI Category: fisheriesu Bottom EPI Categories:

pollution emissions and ecosystem services

u Gov't Corruption Scores: all low (indicates high corruption)

Graph by Marissa Grijalva

Closer look: Finland vs. Bangladesh

Finland Bangladesh

• In the Global Western region• Population: 5.52 million• Population density: 18.149• Environmental issues:

• limited air pollution in urban centers; some water pollution from industrial wastes, agricultural chemicals; habitat loss threatens wildlife populations

• In the Southern Asia region• Population: 161.36 million• Population density: 1,226.631• Environmental issues:

• many people are landless; waterborne diseases; water pollution; ground water contaminated by naturally occurring arsenic; intermittent water shortages ; soil degradation and erosion; deforestation; destruction of wetlands; severe overpopulation

FinlandFinland is a well-developed country, in the Global West, and is ranked 7th of the 180 countries in environmental performance and 3rd in government corruption (high ranking indicates low corruption). The standard of living is high, evidenced by multiple factors. Finland focuses on education, with an assumed 100% literacy rate. The mean age of first-time mothers in the country is 29.2 years, giving off the impression that women finish a secondary education and or start a career before becoming mothers -- a sign of a well-developed society. Finland has 100% access to electricity and average obesity, which implies wealth in the ability to overeat.

© The World Factbook Archive

Bangladesh

A developing country in Southern Asia, Bangladesh is ranked 162nd of 180 countries in environmental performance and 146th in government corruption. The standard of living is average to below average. The population density is extremely high, ¼ of the population lives in poverty, and 28 million people are without electricity. Education is low, with over 25% of the population not being able to read or write, and the mean age of first-time mother’s being 18.5 years.

© The World Factbook Archive

What Does this Mean?

Proportion of people living below $1.90 a day, 1990–2015, 2018 nowcast and 2030 projection (percentage)

© United Nations Statistics Division

Overall, Finland (7) and Bangladesh (162) hold no real similarities. But they help us understand there is a connection between poverty, population, and environmental health. The success of a country relies heavily on these factors.

© Patrick J. Nagel

Poverty-Population-Environment Model

The Poverty-Population-Environment model (PPE) describes a continued circular relationship between poverty, human population density, and the health of the environment. The model details that as population density increases, resources per person go down, and standard of living decreases. These issues burden the environment and lead to degradation. Such environmental degradation results in continued low standards of living and poverty and starts over the circular cycle to be maintained. I found the model to be partially true.

Bangladesh fits the PPE model perfectly. There is a high population density, about 25% of the population lives in poverty, the standard of living is low, and EPI scores are low in almost every category. Bangladesh even struggles with water pollution when fisheries are their biggest driving factor in the economy. However, there were some serious inconsistencies in this model. Looking at Singapore, it has the largest population density by far of my data, but Singapore is thriving economically and socially; and they also exhibit consistent scores in EPI categories. Therefore, other than the extreme population density, Singapore disproves the PPE model.

The Missing Factor

The model alone isn’t consistent with all the data, but when you include countries with high government corruption, the model begins to show some truth. In looking at this further, I found that all six countries with high population density (high population being categorized as over 100) in the good countries, had low government corruption. For instance, Singapore is ranked fourth, the United Kingdom is ranked 12th, and Japan is ranked 20th — all great scores! These countries also demonstrated good standards of living, and competence in most environmental health categories. On the other hand, all five countries with high population density in the bad countries were paired with high corruption scores. The same countries riddled with government corruption, showed poverty and clear environmental struggles as defined by their EPI ranking.

Graph by Marissa Grijalva

Steps towards Sustainabilityu Important factors of sustainability and environmental

healthu Standard of living

u Population

u Government corruption

u Sustainability relies on government efficiency and trustworthiness

u Future for improved sustainabilityu Connecting the world

u Sharing knowledge

u Following plans of action

© The World Factbook Archive

Works Cited

“The World Factbook.” Central Intelligence Agency, Central Intelligence Agency, 1 Feb. 2018, www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/.

Transparency International. “Chile: Corruption Perceptions Index.” Transparency.org, 2020, www.transparency.org/en/countries/chile.

United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD). “Take Urgent Action to Combat Climate Change and Its Impacts.” United Nations, United Nations, 2020, unstats.un.org/sdgs/report/2019/goal-13/.

Wendling, Z. A., Emerson, J. W., de Sherbinin, A., Esty, D. C., et al. (2020). 2020 Environmental Performance Index. New Haven, CT: Yale Center for Environmental Law & Policy. Epi.yale.edu

World Bank. “Population Density (People per Sq. Km of Land Area).” Data, 2018, data.worldbank.org/indicator/EN.POP.DNST?view=map.

Thank you for following me through this presentation <3HAPPY HOLIDAYS EVERYONE!!