Brazil and India pay a high price for rapid economic growth,
according to experts speaking at a major international meeting
in London, Planet Under Pressure. Between 1990 and 2008, the
wealth of these two countries as measured by GDP per capita rose
34% and 120% respectively. But a myopic focus on economic
capital is flawed, scientists and economists at the conference
argue. Natural capital, the sum of a country's assets, from
forests to fossil fuels and minerals, declined 46% in Brazil and
31% in India, according to a new "Inclusive Wealth Indicator"
designed to augment GDP as a measure of economic progress. When
measures of natural, human and manufactured capital are
considered together to obtain a more comprehensive value,
Brazil's "Inclusive Wealth" rose just 3% and India's rose 9%
over that time. "The work on Brazil and India illustrates why
Gross Domestic Product is inadequate and misleading as an index
of economic progress from a long-term perspective," says
Professor Anantha Duraiappah, Executive Dire