* ‘Inclusive wealth’ index accounts for natural assets
* Shows lower growth for some major economies than under GDP
* Rio+20 summit seeks measure of loss, use of natural assets
By Nina Chestney
RIO DE JANEIRO, June 17 (Reuters) – Some large economies
show significantly lower growth when natural assets such as
forests and water are factored into growth indicators, an index
showed on Sunday, a few days before an international
sustainability summit starts in Rio de Janeiro.
The Inclusive Wealth Index was unveiled by the United
Nations University’s International Human Dimensions Programme on
Global Environmental Change (UNU-IHDP) and the United Nations
Environment Programme (UNEP).
Scientists and environment groups have been pressuring
governments to include the value of their countries’ natural
resources – and use or loss of them – into future measurements
of economic activity to show their true future growth prospects.
The idea of an expanded indicator known as GDP+ to include
GDP and natural capital will be on the agenda of the Rio+20
summit from June 20 to June 22, when environment ministers and
heads of state from around 200 countries will try to define
sustainable development goals.
The index shows the “inclusive wealth” of 20 nations, taking
into account manufactured, human and natural capital like
forests, fisheries and fossil fuels, instead of relying only on
gross domestic product (GDP) as a growth indicator.
Continued…
