Inclusive Wealth Report 2012 Measuring Progress Toward Sustainability

The indicators used in the past to measure human societies' success have proven to be insufficient. Economic production indicators such as gross domestic product (GDP) and the Human Development Index (HDI) fail to reflect the state of natural resources or ecological conditions and both focus exclusively on the short term, without indicating whether national policies are sustainable over longer periods of time. The Inclusive Wealth Report 2012 presents an index that measures the wealth of nations by carrying out a comprehensive analysis of a country's capital assets, including manufactured, human and natural capital, and its corresponding values: the Inclusive Wealth Index (IWI). Results show changes in inclusive wealth from 1990 to 2008 and feature a long-term comparison to GDP for an initial group of 20 countries. This report provides policy-makers and planning authorities with a tool to assess the state of a country's productive base and its development over time.

Foreword Achim Steiner; Preface Partha Dasgupta and Anantha Duraiappah; Executive summary; Part I. Wealth Accounts: 1. Well-being and wealth Partha Dasgupta and Anantha Duraiappah; 2. Accounting for the Inclusive Wealth of nations: empirical evidence Pablo Muñoz, Elorm Darkey, Kirsten Oleson, and Leonie Pearson; 3. The significance of the 'Natural Wealth' of nations Leonie Pearson, Pablo Muñoz, and Elorm Darkey; 4. Measuring Comprehensive Wealth in the United States Kevin J. Mumford; 5. Are national economies (virtually) sustainable?: an empirical analysis of natural assets in international trade Giles Atkinson, Matthew Agarwala and Pablo Muñoz; Part II. Foundations of Wealth Accounting: 6. Natural capital as economic asset: a review Partha Dasgupta; 7. Biodiversity, ecosystem services and wealth accounting Charles Perrings; 8. Ecosystem services and wealth accounting Edward B. Barbier; 9. Inclusive wealth accounting for regulating ecosystem services Heather Tallis, Stephen Polasky, Juan Sebastian Lozano and Stacie Wolny; 10. Accounting for water: stocks, flows and values Chris Perry; 11. Assuring the future of the wealth of nature: sustainability, substitutability, measurement, thresholds and aggregation issues in natural capital accounting Paul Ekins; 12. Conclusion: lessons, findings and recommendations Anantha Duraiappah and Pablo Fuentenebro.