CAIRO: Egypt ranked 113 out of 187 countries in the Human Development Index presented by the 2011 Human Development Report Wednesday, slipping 12 spots from its 101 ranking in 2010. However, the report points out that this does not indicate a decrease in Egypt's “HDI value.” It also stated that it is misleading to compare values and rankings with previous years, because the underlying data and methods have changed, as well as the number of countries included in the HDI. The report, titled “Sustainability and Equity: A Better Future for All,” focuses on the challenge of sustainable and equitable progress. It presents the 2011 HDI values and ranks for 187 countries and UN-recognized territories, along with the Inequality-adjusted HDI for 134 countries, the Gender Inequality Index for 146 countries, and the Multidimensional Poverty Index for 109 countries. Egypt's 2011 HDI value is 0.644 — in the medium human development category — positioning the country at 113. Between 1980 and 2011, Egypt's HDI value increased from 0.406 to 0.644, an average annual increase of about 1.5 percent. The report points out that Egypt's life expectancy at birth increased by 17.1 years in the years between 1980 and 2011. Mean years of schooling increased by 4.4 years and expected years of schooling increased by 3.5 years. But looking to the future, the report sees immediate environmental challenges that could affect future indices. Citing a briefing at the University of Oxford Refugee Studies Centre, the report says that by 2050, “rising sea levels could displace more than 14 million Egyptians as increased salinization of the Nile reduces the irrigated land available for agriculture.” Globally, the report said environmental factors are the number one threat to long-term development goals. “Sustainability is inextricably linked to basic questions of equity,” said Helen Clark, Administrator for UNDP and former Prime Minister of New Zealand, questions “of fairness and social justice and of greater access to a better quality of life.” According to Clark, sanitation problems, land degradation, and deaths caused by pollution are connected to power imbalances and gender inequalities. “Today, many debates about sustainability neglect equality, treating it as a separate and unrelated concern. This perspective is incomplete and counterproductive,” said the report's authors, led by UNDP Director Jeni Klugman. Tying sustainability and equality together, the report explained that “many rural poor people depend overwhelmingly on natural resources for their income,” which means that in times of increased inequality these resources are depleted at a faster rate. In order to address these problems, the report called for the adoption of an “environmental bill of rights,” as well as a “universal plan for clean energy.” In June 2012, world leaders will meet in Rio de Janeiro for the UN Conference on Sustainable Development and attempt to address some of these issues.
