How can we move beyond measuring economic expansion to broader indicators of progress that assess whether countries are providing for human well-being in a meaningful and lasting way? This question is the focus of the Commission on the Measurement of Economic Performance and Social Progress created by French President Nicolas Sarkozy and chaired by Nobel Prize winning-economists Professor Joseph E. Stiglitz of Columbia University and Professor Amartya Sen of Harvard.
The Commission has recently issued a draft report of its findings. Among the indicators mentioned was the Ecological Footprint, marking an important milestone for incorporation of the Footprint and ecological limits into policy-making at the highest levels.
The organization has collected public comments on the draft and is expected to issue the final report later this year.
Read the report
Send a comment to the Commission
Data on resource limits will be the critical intelligence business and government leaders will need to remain competitive in the 21st century, Mathis and Susan say in a video interview at the Skoll Foundation’s Skoll World Forum. The two discuss why they launched Global Footprint Network, and why the work is more relevant now than ever. “It’s not about future generations anymore. It’s about my life, our son’s life,” Mathis says. “What do all these resource trends of using more than one planet mean for a country’s competitiveness or for a company’s success? Now we are in a new century. In the past we could ignore resource constraints. If we do that in the future, we will be toast.”Ecological Intelligence for the 21st Century
http://www.footprintnetwork.org
