Archived press release

Government Publishes Sustainable Development Report. Economy improves: Environment doesn't

25 January 2001

Friends of the Earth has welcomed the publication of "Achieving a Better Quality of Life",the Government's annual report on sustainable development. The report is launched today by Environment Minister Michael Meacher.

The report shows progress on a range of "headline indicators", divided into economic, social and environmental factors.

Figure 3.2 (page 37) shows that economic output, employment and investment at a percentage of GNP all rose last year. Social indicators show a more mixed result, with improvements in education standards and falls in non-violent crime, but rises in violent crime and no change in housing or health.

Environmental indicators show the worst results. Since 1990 there has been progress on river and air quality and on greenhouse gas emissions. Road traffic has continued to grow since 1990 (although the Government defines this as "no change" since the rate of growth has remained roughly constant at about 1.7% a year). Wildlife and waste indicators have both deteriorated since 1990. Populations of wild birds have fallen by about 5% since mid 1970s and "the level of waste sent to landfill remains unsustainable".

Commenting, FOE Executive Director Charles Secrett said:

"We welcome the publication of this report, which is an important step in the direction of environmental accountability. But one fact leaps of the pages. While the economy has made progress under this Government, the quality of life as measured by social indicators has not improved at anything like the same rate. And too many environmental indicators have actually got worse. Once again, we see that an obsession with growth in GDP is not enough to deliver real improvements in quality of life to most ordinary people.

The Government is also still too slow to regulate and to ready to rely on "voluntary"action by business (see page 60). This approach has been shown not to work. This year, Labour has the chance to put radical environmental measures at the heart of its Election Manifesto. If it ducks the challenge, next year's indicators are unlikely to look much better".

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Published by Friends of the Earth Trust