Human Development Index and environmental sustainability

Climate change and Sustainable Development in the World.

Development generally measured in terms of economic growth that contributes to the nation’s wealth. The only parameter used to measure the development of the community was taken to be the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Limitations of GDP: Does not include the marketed and non marketed products both.Does not include the nature of services. On the other hand, Climate change can be measured by Greenhouse gas emissions.Atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations: Annual air temperature Extreme heat events Winter chill.
STANDARD OF LIVING AND QUALITY OF LIFE:
Changes in the state’s climate impacts of climate change on physical systems, such as oceans, lakes, and snowpackImpacts of climate change on biological systems – humans, Vegetation and wildlife

What is HDI (human development index)?

The Human Development Index is a statistic composite index of life expectancy, education, and per capita income indicators, which are used to rank countries into four tiers of human development. A country scores a higher HDI when the lifespan is higher, the education level is higher, and the GNI per capita is higher.
What is HDI and how is it calculated?
The Human Development Index HDI is defined as the composite statistics used to rank countries by levels of human development. The HDI is a measure of health, education, and income. It measures the average achievements in a country in these three basic dimensions of human development, calculated into an index.




Human Development Index and environmental sustainability(Ref UNITED NATIONS DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME Human Development Reports) The HDI simplifies and captures only part of what human development entails; it does not reflect on sustainability, inequalities, poverty, empowerment, etc. The 2016 Human Development Report introduced a set of dashboards including Sustainable Development Dashboard which focuses on sustainability in the environmental, economic and social realms.

What are the 5 stages of Rostow's model?

Walt Whitman Rostow's Work Rostow's Stages According to Rostow, the first stage of economic development consists of traditional society. Traditional societies focus on the most basic of economic activities, such as farming and extraction industries like mining and harvesting of timber. The labor force is pretty much completely unskilled, and scientific and technological development is primitive. Rostow believes that traditional economies are generally unproductive.

The standard of living refers to the consumption of goods and services by an individual. It relates directly to the economic development whereas the well-being or quality of life of a population refers to a combination of attributes that provide physical, mental, spiritual and social well being. Human-influenced (anthropogenic) drivers of climate change, such as greenhouse gas emissions:“Development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”. Brundtland Report (1987) ‘Our Common Future’ Sustainable Development (SD) implies economic growth together with the protection of environmental quality, each reinforcing the other. Sustainable Development, thus, is maintaining a balance between the human needs to improve lifestyles and feeling of well-being on one hand, and preserving natural resources and ecosystems, on which we and future generations depend.“To improve the quality of life while living within the carrying capacity of ecosystems”.IUCN (The World Conservation Union), 1991Climate change drivers:
Thus, Sustainable development does not focus solely on environmental issues. More broadly, it encompasses the three general policy areas namely economy, environment and society. The Earth’s climate is warming, mostly due to human activities such as changes in land cover and emissions of certain pollutants. Greenhouse gases are the major human-influenced drivers of climate change. These gases warm the Earth’s surface by trapping heat in the atmosphere. International climate agreements aim to stabilize atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations at a level that would prevent “dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system.”The 2015 Paris Agreement calls for keeping the rise in the global average temperature to well below 2 degrees Celsius (°C) above pre-industrial levels. The Agreement also commits to pursuing efforts to further limit the increase to 1.5°C. These efforts would significantly reduce the risks and impacts of climate change. California’s greenhouse gas emissions show promising downward trends, with emissions per capita and per dollar of gross domestic product declining since 1990. These trends are the result of California’s pioneering efforts to curb greenhouse gas emissions and are occurring despite an increase in the state’s population and economic output. Greenhouse gases are emitted from fossil fuel combustion for transportation and energy, landfills, wastewater treatment facilities, and livestock. The major greenhouse gases are carbon dioxide (CO2), methane, nitrous oxide, and fluorinated gases. CO2 accounts for 85 percent of greenhouse gas emissions in the state and transportation is its largest source, accounting for over a third of the total emissions in 2015.
MAIN FEATURES OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT:
A desirable human condition: a society that people want to sustain because it meets their needs.An enduring ecosystem condition: an ecosystem that maintains its capacity to support human life and others.A balance between present and future generations; and within the present generation.Climate Change Driver: Climate is generally defined as “average weather,” usually described in terms of the mean and variability of temperature, precipitation, and wind over a period of time. The evidence that the climate system is warming is unequivocal. In California, consistent with global observations, each of the last three decades has been successively warmer than any preceding decade. Since 1895, annual average air temperatures have increased throughout the state, with temperatures rising at a faster rate beginning in the 1980s. The last four years were notably warm, with 2014 being the warmest on record, followed by 2015, 2017, and 2016. Temperatures at night have increased more than during the day: minimum temperatures (which generally occur at night) increased at a rate of 2.3 degrees Fahrenheit (°F) per century, compared to 1.3°F per century for maximum temperatures. Temperature is a basic physical factor that affects many natural processes and human activities. Warmer air temperatures alter precipitation and runoff patterns, affecting the availability of freshwater supplies. Temperature changes can also increase the risk of severe weather events such as heat waves and intense storms. A wide range of impacts on ecosystems and on human health and well-being are associated with increased temperatures. 
SUSTAINABLE GROWTH: 
For growth we need resources and the rate of depletion of resources cannot be matched with the regenerating capacity of the earth, as it is finite, not-growing and materially closed. Therefore, Sustainable growth is an impossible theorem!SUSTAINABLE CONSUMPTION: Sustainable consumption is related to production and distribution, use and disposal of products and services and provides the means to rethink our life cycle. The aim is to ensure that the basic needs of the entire global community are met, the excess is reduced and environmental damage is avoided.
Impacts on physical systems:
Warming temperatures and changing precipitation patterns have altered California’s “physical systems” — the ocean, lakes, rivers, and snowpack – upon which the state depends. Winter snowpack and spring snowmelt runoff from the Sierra Nevada and the southern Cascade Mountains provide approximately one-third of the state’s annual water supply. The amount of water stored in the state’s snowpack — referred to as snow-water content — is highly variable from year to year, ranging from a high in 1952 of about 240 percent of the long-term average to a record low of 5 percent in 2015. Less snowpack accumulates when winter temperatures are warmer because more precipitation falls as rain instead of snow. The fraction of snowmelt runoff reaching the Sacramento River between April and July has decreased by about 9 percent since 1906. This reduction is influenced by earlier spring warming and more winter precipitation falling as rain. With less spring runoff, less water is available during summer months to meet the state’s domestic and agricultural water demands. These reductions also affect the generation of hydroelectricity, impair cold-water habitat for certain fishes and stress forest vegetation. 
The latter has consequences for wildfire risk and long-term forest health.
Conclusion:
The Sustainable Development should be measured by Hum Index (HDI) & Climate Change Indicator so the world can achieve sustainable development and not damaging the world Climate. The Result of HDI and CCI both indicators go side by side in positive line if there is any gape or negative indicator in our dashboard we should take precaution measurement so the balance of HDI and CCI will be reconciled. The HDI, when supplemented with data from dashboards, can provide valuable insights. Sustainable energy is central to economic growth, social progress, and environmental sustainability, as recognized by the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Renewable energy consumption per capita and Carbon dioxide emissions data show a contrasting picture between very high and low human development countries. However, there is an important difference in the type of renewable energy available in these countries. In very high human development countries renewable energy technologies include solar, wind and hydro. On the other hand, in low human development countries, the use of clean renewable energy technologies is at the beginning. The high share of renewable sources should also be looked in the context of low electrification rates, particularly in rural areas, where the energy source is mostly based on biomass (burning wood in households), which have negative implications on environment and health.
 
How does a country's economy develop and grow? Are there patterns that apply to all countries, or is the path to growth and development unique to each? Walt Whitman Rostow was an economist who developed a theory of how a country's economy develops and grows and in 1960 he took a crack at addressing these issues in his book The Stages of Economic Growth. Rostow argued that the economies of all countries could be placed within one of five different stages of economic growth. The stages include traditional society, preconditions to takeoff, takeoff, drive to maturity, and age of high mass consumption. Let's take a closer look at each. The second stage of economic development is a transitional stage that establishes the conditions necessary for further growth and development. This stage is referred to as preconditions to takeoff. At this stage, science and technology start to progress, which aids in economic productivity. The savings caused by increased productivity are saved and invested in other areas, including technology and infrastructure like roads, bridges, and harbors. Rostow's third stage is known as takeoff. In this stage, a handful of key new industries start to emerge in the national economy that helps drive further economic growth. For example, the development of a steel industry may drive growth in an economy with ready access to iron ore. At this stage, Rostow claims that economic growth becomes the normal state of the economy. He also believed that this economic growth becomes self-sustaining at this point in development. The fourth stage is known as the drive to maturity. This stage is about diversification and expansion. The economy in this stage of growth will be developing new and more sophisticated industries. For example, an economy going from producing steel and timber products to producing consumer electronics and computer chips is in the drive to maturity stage. In other words, the economy moves beyond the key bread and butter industries that fueled its takeoff into a more diverse and dynamic economic system. The workforce becomes more skilled due to the technological demands of the emerging industries. Moreover, economies at this stage become less dependent upon imports as its emerging industries can compete with them. Rostow's final stage is known as the age of high mass consumption. A high standard of living marks this stage. Services and consumer goods replace heavy industry as the engine or economic growth. The current state of the economies of the United States and Western Europe fall within this stage of development.