It has been proved: the people that drop rubbish, ruin the environment, and do not value natural resources do not live long and happy lives. In 2011 UN analyzed three factors: the average life expectancy, access to education and its duration and living standard (poverty) and calculated human development index (HDI) in 187 countries. Ukraine is at the 76th place next to Georgia and Republic of Mauritius; even Belarus, Russia and Kazakhstan, have outstripped us and taken the 65th, 66th, and 68th places, respectively.
These studies have been carried out since 1990. According to the experts, though the tendency is positive, the changes in our country are very slow. For example, over 21 years HDI in Ukraine has increased by 3 percent, nearly by 0.1 percent a year. If every criterion is examined separately, it turns out that the situation is even worse: this positive tendency is only due to a longer studies duration (all the three factors are summed up). It means that the average duration of studies has increased by 3.5 years since the early 1990s. As for the average life expectancy, it has decreased by 0.8 year over the last 20 years and the GDP per capita has decreased by 25 percent.
THE GAP BETWEEN THE RICH AND THE POOR IS GROWING BECAUSE OF THE ECOLOGICAL CHALLENGES
There is no need to prove (it is obvious when one goes abroad) that people’s living standard depends on the ecology, environmental conditions and observance of sustainable development principles. For example, the HDI leaders are Norway, Australia, the Netherlands, and Sweden. Ukraine has loads of unresolved ecological problems. The problems of water, air, soils, waste products, etc. must be urgently resolved. The experts emphasize that it is impossible to live well in a country where it is dirty, where people do not care about the streets where they walk and the parks where they have rest.
“These problems, the one of poverty and environment, are closely connected since the mankind did not manage to resolve them. However, unfortunately, now the interests prevail over the values all over the world. The individual interests do not lead to positive changes. The French president once said that 2.7 planets are needed to meet humanity’s needs. In Ukraine the interests prevail over the values, too. Regardless of the fact that in 2003 we stopped the ecological degradation in Ukraine that lasted since the time the USSR collapsed now we have to urgently deal with the sore subjects. First of all, our resources that are thought to be our wealth. They cannot be our wealth since most of the Ukrainian soils are degraded, 98 percent of water resources are polluted; as for the air, though we had previously stopped its pollution increase, now the tendency is the opposite. Certainly, all of this affects our health and life expectancy. That is why I believe that our country and the whole world have to switch from the interests to the values. The Ukrainian government has to adopt the concept of sustainable development that would comprise three components: economic, social and ecological ones,” head of the All-Ukrainian Nature Society Vasyl Shevchuk says.
The experts opine that the ecological challenges increase the gap between the rich and the poor (the experts also emphasize that this gap is very significant in Ukraine) and between the countries. “The inequality exists there where there is less sustainable development,” UNDP Ukraine Country Director Ricarda Rieger says.
“MANKIND MUST GET WISER AND GREENER” IN ORDER TO SAVE ITSELF
“We assert that it is impossible to increase people’s living standards without improving the environment they live in. Secondly, we have to take into consideration the climate change and measures the countries undertake to prevent the aftermath of natural disasters caused by global warming. For example, since the beginning of the 21st century the temperature of the Earth has risen by 0.75 degree. Over the last 25 years the number of natural disasters has doubled in the countries with the middle and low level of development. Moreover, the poor countries suffer the most because of the intensive precipitation. The wealthy countries recover more quickly but the poor ones go through catastrophes every time. Besides, the poor countries and households are the first to suffer from the ecological challenges,” Rieger remarked.
All of this concerns Ukraine, too, in addition we have our peculiarities and a lot of problems connected with our inert thinking and unwillingness to think and act differently. It concerns both the government and every of us.
“The sustainable development concerned, it is possible only if people’s rights and liberties are extended. According to the Soviet equality concept we believed that people’s reward should be measured by their contribution to production of social goods. However, now the equality is considered as a possibility to realize one’s abilities in the society. That is why I think that the government has to provide easier access to social goods and services for the poor and vulnerable social groups, comprising the people with special needs so that they could enjoy equal opportunities,” academician of the Ukrainian National Academy of Science, Director of the Ptukha Institute of Demography and Social Studies Ella Libanova says. “Secondly, quick economic development does not guarantee the progress. It means that we have no right to make our generation breathe the polluted air in exchange for the higher production potential and higher consumption level. However, in Ukraine well-being is usually achieved through the aggravation of the ecological situation and people’s income growth comes along with by the intensification of the inequality and not only the economic one. As for the rural population, their incomes largely depend on the natural resources.”
According to Libanova (she repeatedly emphasized it), our main problem is the low life expectancy, especially high mortality among the men of the middle and senior working age as well as bad health and the untimely death of our people. The reasons behind it are the unhealthy lifestyle (alcoholism, drug addiction, etc.), bad food and high on-the-job injury rate.
“In general, men’s life expectancy increase is our reserve. If we create the necessary conditions to improve the situation it can be quickly reversed: mainly, by decreasing the number of infectious diseases and negative influence of the external factors connected with the unhealthy lifestyle,” Libanova specified. “People’s level of health is determined by their lifestyle, it is the main factor making 30 to 50 percent of life expectancy variations. And of course, our health depends on the ecological conditions in Ukraine and the access to the high-quality medical services. That is why the policy of shaping and spreading the standards of healthy lifestyle is crucial as well as overcoming the social rejection and marginalization prevention, access to the high-quality drinking water and foods, educational and recreational services, etc. I would like to emphasize once again that the economical growth based not on the quality changes but on the depredation of natural resources and environmental pollution will not lead to better living standards and people’s potential development.”
According to the experts, Japan has the highest average life expectancy of 83 years, as well as Italy, Sweden, New Zealand, and Norway where people live for more than 80 years. In Ukraine the average life expectancy is 68.5 years; the countries where the people live less than we do are Russia (one year less), Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan.
THE UKRAINIANS DO NOT USE WOMEN’S POTENTIAL
One more reserve we have is women’s potential. The countries with sustainable development, high GDP and level of people’s well-being, good ecological conditions, medical services and education respect gender equality. For example, Sweden is the leader in this (gender equality rate comprises the index of reproductive health, level of education, women’s presence in the Parliament and their activity on the job market). Sweden is followed by the Netherlands, Denmark, Switzerland, Finland and some other countries. So, Ukraine that is at the 57th place for the gender equality index, close to Russia and Kazakhstan, among 157 countries has a lot of work to do. As Libanova says, “the power is not given, one should take it.”
From the point of political changes, the government has to consider the environmental and ecological problems when making decisions concerning the economy. Secondly, the alternative energy sources have to be actively introduced. These innovations require significant investments; however, experience shows that by taking small steps we can change the things on the macro level. The national climate foundations that will assure the use of resources have to be created, too,” Rieger believes.
Ukraine has little time to think over the important and choiceless decision in favor of the sustainable development. We will take part in a significant conference on the ecological problems and climate change in June 2012 in Rio de Janeiro and Ukraine will have to report. However, it is not the most essential thing. The main thing is to realize at the highest level that there is no other way. According to Vasyl Shevchuk, in order to prevent the Earth “from shaking the mankind off,” people should become more environment-friendly and wiser.
