KARACHI: Environmental sustainability can be most fairly and effectively achieved by addressing health, education, income, and gender disparities together with global action on energy production and ecosystem protection, said the compilers of Human Development Report 2011.
Arguing that environmental trends threaten global progress for the poor they have particularly urged the South Asian governments to overcome acute poverty and internal inequalities to maintain adequate pace of progress.
Development progress in the world's poorest countries could be halted or even reversed by mid-century unless bold steps are taken to slow climate change, prevent further environmental damage, and reduce deep inequalities within and among nations, said the compilers of the report.
The report launched by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) with the title Sustainability and Equity. A Better Future for All has ranked Pakistan 145th out of 187 countries and territories in human development.
India is at 134 and Bangladesh at 146 in the Human Development Index. Norway, Australia and the Netherlands rank the highest, while the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Niger and Burundi are at the bottom.
According to the Report, South Asia has among the world's highest levels of urban air pollution, with cities in Bangladesh and Pakistan suffering from especially acute air contamination.
It has also warned that deteriorating environmental conditions and increasingly extreme weather conditions such as the severe floods that have hit Pakistan for two years in a row could undermine economic progress in many countries in the region.
In addition to providing deeper understanding of how environmental sustainability is inextricably linked to inequality, the annual Report also provides the Human Development Index (HDI) which measures national achievement in health, education and income.
Additionally, the Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) (introduced last year) identified multiple deprivations in the same households in education, health and standard of living. In Pakistan 49.4 percent of the population suffer multiple deprivations while an additional 11.0 percent are vulnerable to multiple deprivations, states the Report.
In the Gender Inequality Index (GII), South Asian women are shown to lag significantly behind men in education and labour force participation.
In Pakistan women's parliamentarian representation has improved with 21 percent of parliamentary seats are being held by women.
The GII reflects gender-based inequalities in three dimensions reproductive health, empowerment, and economic activity. Pakistan has a GII value of 0.573, ranking it 115 out of 146 countries in the 2011 index.
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