Genuine Progress Index for Atlantic Canada Indice de progr

1
Genuine Progress Index for Atlantic CanadaIndice
de progrès véritable - AtlantiqueMeasuring
Wellbeing and Sustainability in the GPI and
CIWWellington, 24 November, 2004
2
Indicators Where we are at in Canada and New
Zealand

• Recognized inadequacy, flaws of conventional
  GDP-based measures of progress
• Understood potential power of indicators, role in
  determining policy agenda, and necessity for more
  accurate, comprehensive indicators
• Developed data sources, methodologies, reporting
  mechanisms for wide range of social, economic,
  environmental indicators

3
NZ on the leading edge

• Marilyn Warings pioneering work
• Quality of Life in NZs 8 Largest Cities -gt 12
• Monitoring Progress Towards a Sustainable NZ
• Social Reports (MSD)
• Tomorrows Manukau A vision into the future
• Local Government Act 2002
• Linked indicators project

4
Reaffirm goal Indicators should help communities

• foster common vision and purpose, and track
  progress in achieving goals
• identify strengths and weaknesses learn
• affect policy and public behaviour action
• hold leaders accountable at election time
• improve wellbeing and ensure sustainable future
  for our children

5
Limitations Next Steps

• Some new social targets, but not yet shifted
  policy agenda in fundamental ways, nor
  effectively challenged power and dominance of
  conventional measures
• Fringe, satellite vs mainstream
• No integrated, coherent system - NZ Social
  Report, QOL in 8 Cities report, Sustainable NZ
  report - Canada GPI, IEW, PSI, NRTEE
  ESDI, QOLIP, etc.

6
In Canada, weve concluded four steps are needed

• New measures can no longer just be add-ons or
  satellites, but must challenge and critique the
  still dominant GDP-based measures of progress
• One coherent, integrated framework to become new
  core measure of progress
• Internationally, regionally comparable
• Beyond indicators to a new set of national
  accounts full national wealth

7

Language / Communication Two key questions
underlying CIW How are we doing as a nation?
and What kind of world are we leaving our
children?
8
Canadian Index of Wellbeing

• Partnership of Canadas foremost indicator
  practitioners
• National Working Group of 20 includes
• 3 govt. agencies (Statcan, Envt.Can, CIHI)
  experts from 8 universities, 7 provinces, 5
  non-government research organizations
• The process Letting go..
• Funded by Atkinson Charitable Foundation
• Spokesman Roy Romanow

9
Key purposes of the new Canadian Index of
Wellbeing

• To articulate vision of Canadas future
• To account accurately for both current wellbeing
  and sustainability so trade-offs are clear and
  transparent
• To bring key social and environmental issues,
  often neglected, onto the policy agenda
• To enhance accountability
• To inform policy, improve performance, and
  evaluate program effectiveness

10
Purpose in relation to GDP

• CIW intent To become Canadas core, central
  measure of progress, and to replace misuse of GDP
  for that purpose (not abolish GDP!)
• To relegate GDP to function for which it was
  originally designed and intended as measure of
  size of economy (Kuznets)
• To redefine healthy economy in terms of
  wellbeing outcomes instead of growth, so that
  misleading signals will no longer blunt
  initiatives to reduce GHGs, poverty, inequity
  conserve resources prevent illness, etc.

11
CIW Key Principles

• Will measure wellbeing and sustainability in same
  reporting framework Legacy (wellbeing of future
  generations ours) cross-cutting theme within
  every domain. This is unique (cf NZ, QOL)
• Will focus on outcomes for key conditions of
  wellbeing
• Will report on determinants infrastructural
  inputs (e.g. health care) within each outcome
  domain
• Framework sustainability circle vs 3-legged
  stool or triple bottom line Relationship

12
Natural environment
Society
Economy
13
Values, elements of wellbeing

• Health
• Security
• Knowledge
• Community
• Freedom
• Ecological integrity
• Equity ( lit. review)

14
Outcome domains in the CIW

• Standard of living
• Time use (and balance)
• Healthy populace
• Educated populace
• Community vitality
• Ecosystem services
• Governance

15
Process and reporting

• Disaggregation - geographic (national,
  provincial, municipal) and demographic
• Multiple audiences Report limited of key
  messages for public, policy audience, but experts
  can drill down for analysis (iceberg metaphor)
  technical rigour (e.g. KPMG)
• Double review process, public consultation,
  cabinet approach at release (challenge!)

16
Unresolved (parked) issues

• Some domains require further definition,
  indicator selection, literature review, data and
  methodology development
• esp. education, community vitality, governance
  vs democracy, some environmental indicators and
  natural resource accounts (e.g. forests
  qualitative quantitative depreciation, water
  resources, waste)
• Index and aggregation to single or
  sub-indices

17
More unresolved issues

• Beyond indicators to accounting framework FCA
  and the capital approach (sustainability and
  monetization)?
• Global dimension - ethical relations w. other
  nations
• Communications and release strategies -gradual
  as early results available or all at once?
• Data challenges e.g. frequency (time use cf
  GDP). CIW function create new data demands

18
E.g. Unresolved Defining community vitality

• Safe communities
• Cohesion
• Inclusion
• Multiculturalism
• Identity
• Religion/spirituality
• Family
• Culture, arts, recreation

19
Fundamental approach to unresolved challenges

• Not allow the tyranny of the best to stand in
  the way of practical movement towards the best
  possible
• Transparent, open to change better
  methodologies and data sources
• Not defensive recognize that valuation of
  human, social, natural wealth, however imperfect,
  is far more accurate than omission or de facto
  zero valuation

20
Resolved build on existing work. E.g. Standard
of living

• Median income
• Income and wealth distribution (GINI, quintiles,
  SFS)
• Poverty and low income rates
• Income volatility (dynamics)
• Economic security (incl. social safety net)
• Employment, unemployment, underemployment, job
  security, work arrangements

21
E.g. Population health health status and health
care

• Self-rated health functional health
• Disability-adjusted life expectancy
• Infant mortality, low birth weight
• Mortality morbidity circulatory diseases,
  cancers, respiratory diseases, diabetes
• Depression, suicide
• BMI, teen smoking, 2nd-hand smoke exposure,
  physical activity

22
Resolved e.g. 2 sides of sustainability equation

• Production (supply) and consumption (demand) CIW
  will reflect outcomes (resource supply), but
  demand reported as determinant the why
• Ecological footprint shifts onus to consumer -gt
  shared responsibility, and can mobilize citizens
• Recognizes global consequences of local actions
• Brings together the environmental and social
  aspects of sustainability (e.g. equity-Brundtland)

23
Brundtland Commission's seminal definition of
Sustainable Development

• Sustainable development is development that meets
  the needs of the present without compromising the
  ability of future generations to meet their own
  needs...
• Even the narrow notion of physical sustainability
  implies a concern for social equity between
  generations, a concern that must logically be
  extended to equity within each generation.
• World Commission on Environment and Development
  (Brundtland Commission), 1987. Our Common Future,
  Oxford University Press, New York.

24
Statistics Canada 1997, Econnections Linking
the Environment and the Economy

• A consensus has emerged that sustainable
  development refers at once to economic, social
  and environmental needs...
• A clear social objective that falls out of the
  definition (of sustainable development) is that
  of equity, both among members of the present
  generation and between the present and future
  generations
• It is clear that the spirit of sustainable
  development implies that all people have the
  right to a healthy, productive environment and
  the economic and social benefits that come with
  it.

25
Global, equity dimensions

• 20 of worlds people in highest-income countries
  account for 86 of consumption spending. Poorest
  20 account for 1.3
• Richest 20 consume 45 of all meat and fish,
  poorest 20 consume just 5
• Richest 20 58 of total energy, poorest 20
  lt4
• Richest 20 84 of paper, poorest 20 1.1
• Richest 20 87 of world's vehicle fleet, the
  poorest 20 lt1

26
Translation to Behaviour (eg PEI) e.g.
Estimated Transportation Footprint, NS 1985-2025
27
Reduction in Commuting Footprint
28
From Principles to Practicality Sample Results
in GPI - Policy

• Policy penetration e.g. Office of Health
  Promotion volunteer work forest accounts
  school curricula media call-in shows
• But last election sobering requires quantum
  leap forward
• CIW will build on existing work, including NS GPI
  pilot project (GPI adds economic valuation,
  full-cost accounting)

29
GPI recognizes environmental, social assets have
economic value

• Economic valuation add-on based on, always
  points to underlying physical indicators (Waring)
• Natural resources (eg forests) are capital assets
  (wealth). Health, free time, unpaid work
  (voluntary and household), and education have
  value.
• Sickness, crime, disasters, pollution are costs
• Reductions in greenhouse gas, crime, poverty,
  ecological footprint are progress
• Growing equity signals progress
• No bottom line (eg air quality Auckland/Christchur
  ch)

30
Nova Scotia Genuine Progress Index 22 Components
Natural Capital

• Soils and Agriculture
• Forests
• Marine Environment/Fisheries
• Water Resources / Water Quality
• Nonrenewable Subsoil Assets

31
Nova Scotia Genuine Progress Index Twenty-two
Components Environment

• Greenhouse Gas Emissions
• Sustainable Transportation
• Ecological Footprint Analysis
• Air Quality
• Solid Waste

32
Nova Scotia Genuine Progress Index Twenty-two
Components Time Use

• Value of Civic and Voluntary Work
• Value of Unpaid Housework Childcare
• Work Time and Underemployment
• Value of Leisure Time
• Marilyn Warings pioneering work paved way

33
Nova Scotia Genuine Progress Index Twenty-two
Components Social Capital/Socioeconomic

• Health
• Educational Attainment
• Income Distribution, Debts and Assets
• Livelihood Security
• Costs of Crime
• Freedom / Civic engagement

34
The Capital Approach

• Conceptual strengths (1) capacity to measure
  sustainability capital stocks (2) links
  domains via natural, human, social, cultural,
  produced capital
• Strategic strength from indicators to
  accounting framework challenges dominance of
  GDP-based measures
• Tactical strength language of economics and
  business wealth, investment, depreciation

35
Valuing Natural Resource Health

• For example, a healthy forest effectively
• Prevents soil erosion/sediment control
• Protects watersheds
• Regulates climate regulation/sequesters carbon
• Provides habitat for wildlife / biodiversity
• Supports recreation, tourism, aesthetic quality
• Provides timber

36
E.g. Forest Area by Age Class, NS 1958-99
37
CONCLUSION Clearcut harvesting and loss of
natural age and species diversity have resulted
in loss of

• valuable species
• wide diameter and clear lumber that fetch premium
  market prices
• resilience and resistance to insect infestation
• wildlife habitat, decreasing populations of
  birds
• forest recreation values - impact nature tourism

38
This represents a substantial depreciation of a
valuable natural capital asset

• a decline in forested watershed protection and a
  50 drop in shade-dependent brook trout
• soil degradation and the leaching of nutrients
  that can affect future timber productivity
• a substantial decline in carbon storage capacity
  and an increase in biomass carbon loss
• a decline in other essential forest ecosystem
  services.

39
The Good News Volume 2 Best Forestry Practices
in N. S.

• Selection harvesting increases forest value and
  provides more jobs
• Shift to value-added creates more jobs
• Restoration forestry is a good investment
• What incentives can encourage restoration

40
Full Cost Accounting

• Basic Principles and challenges
• Expanded definition of capital Natural, human,
  social, cultural, produced capital, but no common
  metric for measurement
• External -gt internal benefits and costs
• Price non-market benefits and costs
• Fixed -gt variable costs
• Strengths Enhances market efficiency, reduces
  needs for govt. regulation, provides more
  accurate, comprehensive information

41
Benefits

• Total benefits of 2000-01 system range from 79
  million to 221 million 84-236 pp, incl
• 3.3 - 84.3 million in GHG emission reductions
• 9 - 67 million in air pollutant reductions
• 18.8 million in extended landfill life
• 28.6 million in energy savings from recycling
• 6.5 - 8.9 million in employment benefits
• 1.2 - 1.9 million in avoided liability costs
• 1.1 - 1.7 million in export revenue of goods
  and services
• 187,000 in additional tourism

42
Energy savings per tonne of waste recycled
43
Costs

• Total costs of 2000-01 solid waste-resource
  system were 96.6-102.7 million
• 72.4 m. in operating and amortized capital costs
• 14.3 m. for beverage container recycling prog.
• 2.7 million for used tire management program
• 1.6 million in RRFB operating and admin costs
• 5 - 9.5 million to increase participation
• 220,000 - 1.8 million in nuisance costs

44
Results

• Implementation of the Solid Waste-Resource
  Strategy led to an increase in operating and
  amortized costs from 48.6 million (53/capita)
  in the 1996-97 fiscal year to 72.5 million
  (77/capita) in the 2000-01 fiscal year.
• An increased cost of 24 million (25/capita) for
  implementing the changes

45
Results

• The new NS solid waste-resource system in 2000-01
  produced net savings of at least 31.2 million,
  when compared to the old 1996-97 solid
  waste-resource system
• This translates into savings of 33 for each Nova
  Scotian, versus a cost of 25 as suggested when
  comparing strictly the operating and amortized
  capital costs of the two systems

46
From Indicator Perspective Genuine Progress

• Access to curbside recycling in Nova Scotia
  jumped from less than 5 in 1989 to 99 today
• 76 of residents now have access to curbside
  organics pickup
• Both are by far the highest rates in the country

47
Access to curbside recycling, NS 1987-2001
48
Comparisons

• On a per capita basis, Nova Scotia disposes of
  39 less waste than Canadian average
• HRM has the highest waste diversion rate of any
  municipality in Canada twice the average.
• Nova Scotias overall waste diversion rate of 46
  is also higher than any industrialised country.
• Nova Scotia's high diversion rate is due in large
  part to its composting system.

49
Goal Changing Behaviour E.g. Waste Diversion
in Nova Scotia
50
Examples of GPI Results e.g. Valuing Voluntary
Work

• Canadians contribute 3.4 billion hours of
  voluntary work per year equivalent of 1.8
  million FTE jobs (economic add-on)
• Services worth 53.2 billion / year, invisible in
  our conventional measures of progress
• 1990s voluntary work down 12.3 - time stress
• Canadians lose 6 billion in volunteer services

51
Valuing a Healthy Population Health as Human
Capital

• GPI Population Health Reports include
• Cost of Chronic Illness in Canada (focus on
  preventable portion)
• Womens Health in Atlantic Canada
• Income, Health and Disease in Canada Equity and
  Disease in Atlantic Canada
• Costs of Tobacco, Obesity, Physical Inactivity
• Cost of HIV/AIDS in Canada
• Economic Impact of Smoke-Free Workplaces
• Value of Care-giving

52
Costs of 7 Types Non-Infectious Chronic Disease,
NS, 1998

• 60 medical costs 1.2 billion / year
• 76 disability costs 900 million
• 78 premature death costs 900 mill.
• 70 total burden of illness 3 billion
  3,200 per person per yr 13 GDP
  

53
Cost of Chronic Illness in Nova Scotia 1998
(2001 million)
54
Why are we interested? What Portion is
Preventable? Requires Determinants (sci.
literature)

• Excess Risk Factors Account for
• 40 chronic disease incidence
• 50 chronic disease premature mortality
• Small number of risk factors account for 25
  medical care costs 500 mill./yr
• 38 total burden of disease preventable 1.8
  bill. (includes direct and indirect costs)

55
Costs of Key Risk Factors, Nova Scotia (2001
millions)
56
Valuing Equity GDP tells us how much income,
not how income shared
57
(No Transcript)
58
Health Costs of Socioeconomic Inequality in Nova
Scotia

• Use of physician services (Kephart)
• No high school 49 than degree
• High school diploma 12 more
• Lower income 43 than higher
• Lower middle income 33 more

59
Excess Physician Use ( small fraction total
costs)

• Educational inequality 42.2 million
  17.4 of total
• Income inequality 27.5 million
  11.3
• costs avoided if all Nova Scotians were as
  healthy as higher income / university

60
CIW Action on 3 fronts Research, communication
and policy. E.g.

• NWG Ottawa Nov 8-9 Research has begun.
  Announcement in Feb-Mar next NWG meeting in May
  to assess progress
• Reality Check 3-year pilot now expanded -gt high
  profile seminars
• International dimension NZ, Bhutan Conference
  June 20-23 2005 on global best practices. Need
  cooperation sooner rather than later before
  systems entrenched

61

CIW Measuring what we value to leave a better
world for our children
62
Genuine Progress Index for Atlantic CanadaIndice
de progrès véritable - Atlantique

• www.gpiatlantic.org