BHUTAN FLAG OVER THE GDP AND FOR THE BHUTAN AMBIENTEIL choose happiness', published by: Mountain Blogs in
Insight - June 8, 2010 @ 11:11 am
There is a small Himalayan state, the
Bhutan, where respect, care and love for the mountain environment is not only intended as a civic duty, but as a real component of "national happiness". This small country has adopted an economic development model which is an example to brighten an area, as is often heard on the Himalayas, has important management issues both economic and environmental.
has long been said that the GDP-Gross domestic product, an indicator that measures the value of goods and services produced by a country, should not be taken as the only or the main indicator of economic development. Bhutan, which until 2008 was given for the first time a government elected by the people, he translated these criticisms in fact, replacing the GDP (GDP in Anglo-Saxon countries), the Gross National Happiness (GNH), which is the Gross National Happiness.
Just to talk about this unique experience and no doubt fascinating arrived in Italy, in Trento at the fifth edition of the Festival of Economics
, Prime Minister of Bhutan Jigmi Y. Thinley (born 1952, studied in Delhi, India, and the U.S. before holding various positions in his country of significant political and eventually be elected prime minister two years ago at the end of the transition that the Bhutanese monarchy has completed to democratize its institutions without distorting, or "globalization").
speak with Andrea Brandolini Bank of Italy, the Prime Minister said that National Happiness is not found "folk" but rather a rigorous system to measure the effects economic activity in less abstract terms of GDP, by directing public policies toward a goal shared by the people. Four pillars of Gross National Happiness: equitable social development, environmental sustainability, promotion of culture and relationships, good governance.
"The global economic crisis - said in opening remarks, the journalist of the Corriere della Sera Federico Fubini - is challenging objectives and instruments of western economic development. Hence the interest developed by the West against the Gross National Happiness as a public policy objective. "
Bhutanese Prime Minister began by expressing his satisfaction at having gone to the Trentino and have agreed to participate for the first time, to a festival of Economics. In these 5 years since the festival began in Trento, in the world have followed the worst economic disasters. When the King of Bhutan took the throne he was only 16 years old at the time we had an absolute monarchy, and then the young King was asked what his people wanted from him and what were the best business models to be adopted to meet the expectations of each. Soon he realized that all these models, regardless of their political aspirations and philosophies that sustains them, were led by a single indicator, the GDP, which promotes economic growth material, neglecting the needs and the needs of the people, that is his happiness. The king was convinced that these models were not adequate to give the answers he was seeking. The GDP was born around 1934, after the Great Depression of '29, it was not to be used as an index of human progress as a whole. But it did. The result is chaos that we have under our eyes. The GDP promotes continued economic growth without limits. This process is unsustainable in a world where resources are finite, from the environmental resources necessary for the production of consumer goods. We think the increased frequency of natural disasters, the progressive disappearance of resources and competitions that it unleashed, the very growth of poverty. Bhutan, who spoke to the assembly of the United Nations, has proposed to consider these issues in a holistic way, ie as a whole, not separately. The key point is that we do not live in a sustainable manner.
Hence the idea of \u200b\u200bGross National Happiness. In Bhutan it is believed that happiness is the balance between the needs of the body and the mind. The GDP was used to meet the needs of the body. It has however led to a consumer lifestyle. "We believe that our concept of happiness must be something real and measurable, and if so, it becomes the responsibility of the ruling class and the object of its policies. "
"The king - said the prime minister of Bhutan - formulated the four pillars of the concept of Gross National Happiness: The first pillar is an equitable and sustainable social development, ensuring social welfare, health, education, justice, so that each citizen to put in a position to pursue his own path to happiness. The Bhutan has opened to the world only in 1961, before we were a kingdom medieval, feudal, I am pleased to say today that every step along the road to development has been made keeping in mind the criteria of justice and sustainability.
The second pillar is that of environmental sustainability: living in the Himalayan foothills of Bhutan, a mountain girl, who is still growing. With an environment so we must be careful: if mishandled reacts with floods, avalanches, slope erosion and so on. Today we are perhaps the only developing country in the world where forest cover has increased (now is 72% of the territory), despite the growth of population and economic activities.
The third pillar is the promotion of culture, which also implies the preservation of culture. We see culture as a set of values \u200b\u200bthat serve to promote the progress of society. Even practices that not seem useful to the progress in the globalized world we believe to be preserved, at the same time, we are ready to introduce others. We can look a bit 'archaic, like the clothes we wear, but we really want to change, these clothes change. However, we believe it is important to maintain family ties and the network of relationships. So for us the culture has to do primarily with relationships.
The fourth pillar is good governance. Ours is, I think, the youngest democracy in the world. However we can not see the faults of other democracies, especially in developing countries. In these preudodemocrazie freedom is something that does not really exist. I think that freedom is essential. Freedom to choose their own destiny, freedom to make their own choices daily. In the case of Bhutan, there are people who we admire for the way that the king, after the adoption of democracy, he abdicated in order to support this new path, and sent the power to his son, but it is a constitutional monarch with limited powers. "
How can you measure happiness? Indicators are still needed. "We have identified - said the prime minister - 9 areas where this occurs happiness: living standards (disposable income, job security etc.). Health, education, environment and nature; culture, the vitality of the community use of the time (even the time it used to be alone, to think, to reflect, a time that we use to obtain material advantages), psychological well-being, good governance.
