2 Apr 2012

GA / BHUTAN HAPPINESS

At the opening of the High Level Meeting on “Happiness and Well-Being: Defining A New Economic Paradigm” the Prime Minister of Bhutan, Jigme Thinley, said that “the GDP led development model that compels boundless growth on a planet with limited resources no longer makes economic sense” and “it is the cause of our irresponsible, immoral and self-destructive actions.” UNTV

Posted at: April 2, 2012 3:34 pm

Duration: 02:36

Available in: SD

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STORY: GA / BHUTAN HAPPINESS 
TRT: 2.36
SOURCE: UNTV 
RESTRICTIONS: NONE  
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / SPANISH / NATS

DATELINE: 2 APRIL 2012, NEW YORK CITY / FILE

SHOTLIST:

FILE – RECENT, NEW YORK CITY

1. Wide shot, exterior United Nations headquarters

2 APRIL 2012, NEW YORK CITY

2. Wide shot, dais
3. Wide shot, audience
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Helen Clark, Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP):
"Bhutan is putting before us a framework for a new economic paradigm based on principles of happiness and well being, ecological sustainability, efficient use of resources and fair distribution, a framework which has been shaped by Bhutan's own unique experience in applying the concept of Gross National Happiness which informs all its Government policies, an approach which integrates inclusive economic growth with strengthening communities, protecting the environment, providing universal access to health services and education and preserving traditional culture and heritage."
5. Wide shot, audience
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Jigme Thinley, Prime Minister of Bhutan:
"An economy is not an economy if it at the very least it does not cause economy. It ought to promote prudent use of and management of scarce resources to make life stable and secure. The GDP led development model that compels boundless growth on a planet with limited resources no longer makes economic sense. It is the cause of our irresponsible, immoral and self-destructive actions."
7. Pan left, audience
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Ban Ki-moon, United Nations Secretary-General:
"Gross National Product has long been the yardstick by which economies and politicians have been measured. Yet it fails to take into account the social and environmental costs of so-called progress. We need a new economic paradigm that recognizes the parity between the three pillars of sustainable development. Social, economic and environmental well-being are indivisible. Together they define gross global happiness."
9. Pan left, audience
10. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Laura Chinchilla-Miranda, President of Costa Rica:
"The expansion of freedom is both the primary end and the principal means of development, but essential as it is, freedom alone is not sufficient. From freedom, legitimate and educated decisions must emerge, actively generating the proper conditions for the full well-being of the population, allowing us with autonomy to come closer to happiness."
11. Wide shot, audience applause

STORYLINE:

A high-level meeting examining the interplay between happiness, development and economic progress got underway today (2 April) at the United Nations (UN).

Convened by the Government of Bhutan, the high-level meeting on "Happiness and Well-Being: Defining a New Economic Paradigm" brought together hundreds of representatives from governments, religious organizations, academia and civil society to discuss the issue.

At the outset of the meeting the head of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Helen Clark highlighted Bhutan's "own unique experience" in applying the concept of Gross National Happiness (GNH), which she said "informs all its Government policies" and integrates "inclusive economic growth with strengthening communities, protecting the environment, providing universal access to health services and education and preserving traditional culture and heritage."

In the early 1970s, the Himalayan kingdom introduced a new measurement of national prosperity, focussing on people's well-being rather than economic productivity. In recent years, there has been growing interest in this GNH concept. The UN General Assembly adopted a resolution in 2011 which noted, inter alia, that the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) indicator alone does not adequately reflect the happiness and well-being of people in a country.

Bhutan's Prime Minister, Jigme Thinley, told the meeting that "an economy is not an economy if it at the very least it does not cause economy" and pointed out that a sound economy should "promote prudent use of and management of scarce resources to make life stable and secure."

Thinley said that "the GDP led development model that compels boundless growth on a planet with limited resources no longer makes economic sense" and it is "the cause of our irresponsible, immoral and self-destructive actions."

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, in his address to the high-level meeting highlighted the need for an economic paradigm that incorporates social and environmental progress in efforts to achieve sustainable development.
 
He noted that the GDP based model "fails to take into account the social and environmental costs of so-called progress" and stressed the need for a new economic paradigm that recognizes the parity between social, economic and environmental well-being, "the three pillars of sustainable development."

Ban praised the Bhutanese Government for initiating the meeting, and noted that other countries have also started to explore various ways to measure prosperity that go beyond material wealth such as the United Kingdom, where statistical authorities are experimenting with measuring national well-being and Costa Rica, which strongly supports environmentally responsible development.

Costa Rica's President Laura Chinchilla-Miranda, also addressing the High-level Meeting, quoted the Nobel Prize winner for economics Amartya Sen and said that "The expansion of freedom is both the primary end and the principal means of development" but added that "essential as it is, freedom alone is not sufficient" and the State must actively generate "the proper conditions for the full well-being of the population."

The Secretary-General has stressed that sustainable development is one of his top priorities and is intricately linked to happiness and well-being. He underlined that the UN Sustainable Development Conference, also known as Rio+20, in Brazil in June will need to provide an outcome that reflects this.