书讯：不丹总理吉格•梅廷莱《幸福是什么》

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书讯：不丹总理吉格•梅廷莱《幸福是什么》

《幸福是什么》——不丹首相吉格梅·廷莱国家与个人幸福26讲

作者：肯赞
出版社：外文出版社
内容介绍：本书选取了“幸福国”不丹前首相吉格梅·廷莱在全球26场关于“国家与个人幸福”的演讲，从经济、文化、教育、环境等各个角度全面阐述了“国家幸福力”的内涵，解读不丹成为“亚洲最幸福国家”背后的秘密。
注：本文内容节选于《幸福是什么——不丹首相吉格梅·廷莱国家与个人幸福26讲》一书。本书由外文出版社出版，52ij英汉互译英语授权转载部分内容。

作者介绍

吉格梅·廷莱：前任不丹首相，不丹前任国王“国民幸福总量”概念的倡导者。1976年获得美国宾夕法尼亚州立大学公共管理硕士学位，是该大学唯一一名成为一国政府首脑的毕业生。宾夕法尼亚州立大学“2009年杰出校友”。

吉 格梅·廷莱1952年出生 ，1974年开始任不丹政府公职，于1998年及2003年皆任首相，曾担任外交部长及内政文化部长。2008年，不丹王国第一次实施民主选举，其所属的 和平繁荣党大获全胜，廷莱成为不丹民主化之后首任总理。其所领导的政府，以国家幸福力（GNH）为核心施政方针，以缓解贫穷为中心要务，力求公平正义的成 长。

肯赞阁下演讲

KEYNOTE SPEECH ON “HAPPINESS: CREATING A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE”

Master Hung Chi-Sung,

Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is indeed a matter of great honour for me to be invited by Culture 21 and Shanghai Wingsbook Company to address this august forum of middle and high level managers from across China on a very profound and crucially important topic entitled “Happiness: Creating a Sustainable Future”. I hope I can do justice to the rare honour you have bestowed upon me by sharing Bhutan’s experiences of pursuing a path of development which is based on the philosophy and principles of Gross National Happiness which enshrines sustainable, holistic and inclusive growth with the ultimate aim of creating a sustainable future for our citizens and indeed the mankind.

Today, Bhutan’s status in the world of geopolitics may be perceived as insignificant apart from being strategically located between two emerging superpowers, India and China. In a world that is reigned supreme by economic interests and power play, Bhutan’s fledgling economy garners scant attention. However, Bhutan is not an isolated place but a part of the world, and the problems of the world seem to be general. In this respect, Bhutan has positioned itself in a much better light than many developing countries. Its political stability, the historic and peaceful transition from Monarchy to democracy, the unique development philosophy of Gross National Happiness (GNH) and its history of cultural isolationism and survival are significant hallmarks that have intrigued the world.

In many ways, Bhutan is better placed than most countries in terms of clean air, fresh water, abundant forest cover, and above all, hydro-power. Although Bhutan is a carbon negative country, we have not been spared from the effects of global climate change. The snow-covered glacial mountains of Bhutan have begun to look bare and exposed for the first time in our history.
The fact is the kind of development we have embraced particularly in the last one century has not been of the kind that has advanced human civilization. It has not refined human behaviour by employing the finer senses. Ours is a world driven by the greed of a society obsessed with an excessive desire to consume. The insatiable nature of this obsession is evident in the way we have adopted the GDP-based development model that promotes a limitless economic growth and expansion as the means to human well-being and satisfaction. It is evident in the way we have employed our genius to develop an amazing array of science and technology to exploit and abuse our planet. We need to change and mend our ways. We need to begin by acknowledging the truth that life as we live it is propelling us toward self-destruction in more ways than one. We need to open our eyes to the high price of social dislocation and environmental devastation that has been paid to achieve GDP targets. Let us accept that this powerfully dominant indicator is based on the seriously flawed belief that unlimited economic growth is necessary to promote human well-being. We have willfully deluded ourselves by misusing GDP which was designed only to measure the volume of goods and services transacted in the market at a given time. We desperately need to arrive at a true understanding of the meaning of wealth or prosperity in relation to human well- being, and develop a more holistic model and indicator to set human society on a sustainable path.

It is, therefore, timely, indeed overdue, to reflect on sustainable development, as sustainable development and climate change are inextricably linked in an organic way. In this regard, Bhutan is asking itself the question that everyone must ask: how can economic growth be combined with environmental sustainability – a question that it has answered in part through a massive effort to protect the country’s vast forest cover and its unique biodiversity. Bhutan is asking how it can preserve its traditional society and foster its unique cultural heritage. And, it is also asking how individuals can maintain their psychological stability in an era of rapid change, marked by urbanization and an onslaught of global communication in a society that had no television until little more than a decade ago.

The central issue in sustainable development is how can we reduce production and consumption levels to stay within the limits of biologically productive capacity of the planet? How can we ensure that in so doing, we will not lower or reverse the level of our well- being? This begs for an alternative development model based on a correct notion of what constitutes human well-being. As we reflect on this, we need to be mindfully clear that the planet simply does not have the capacity to sustain life for much longer if developing countries, with their larger populations, were to tread the same path that brought the developed countries its level of affluence and lifestyle. We deprive future generations the moment resources are harvested and used beyond the capability of regeneration. The idea is that we are drawing on future resources, borrowing from future generations. But we are not borrowing, we are depriving.

His Majesty Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck, the King of Bhutan, in His Scindia Memorial Lecture delivered in Delhi in 2009, had said that in the changing world, the need for values is stronger and more urgent than ever and that only by breaking everything down to its fundamentals and basic human instances can we combat the great problems, even those of environmental degradation, terrorism and world poverty. He said, “Perhaps the first of these values is the sense of a shared planet. This is a world that is shared – not between governments and nations but among us, the people. It may sound idealistic – but this is a natural and practical way of approaching things that seem intractable and inflexible – no matter how big the problem. The image of a shared planet must always be present in our minds – and especially in the minds of those who are in positions of leadership.
I don’t claim to be an expert on global issues but it can only help in the search for a solution if we remember that this planet must be passed on to our future generations and to other living beings. Isn’t it natural that every individual will seek to enhance his inheritance and pass it on to his own children?”

Today, at this important forum, I would like to reiterate this question: Isn’t it natural that every individual will seek to enhance his inheritance and pass it on to his own children? Unless we feel this responsibility, we will not stop robbing our planet and our children. We must remember not to finish off the earth’s resources which are rightfully our children’s and the other life forms with whom we share this planet.

To quote His Majesty the King of Bhutan again, “When we accept that this is a world of people all alike, of families all alike, of communities all alike – of countries facing the same challenges – of human beings ultimately seeking the same thing – then we will truly be in a position to foster well-being, security and happiness”.

In regards to sustainable development, the ecological footprint is the best expression of putting the idea of sustainable development at a quantitative level. It is often left as a general level of statement, good for mass communication but not good for policy making, because it does not leave us with an effective way of measuring and quantifying things. Many other methods are just theoretical and conceptual.

It is, therefore, encouraging to see that there are various attempts at developing alternative approaches to guide our future. Among these, perhaps, the most comprehensive is the ecological footprint analysis to track and measure the integrity of our ecology or sustainability of development practices. Using some 5,000 data points for each country per year to produce an annual global footprint called the Living Planet Report, it compares earth's biologically productive capacity, which includes resources such as cropland, forest, pasture and fisheries, as well as land to absorb CO2, with the resources consumed or demanded in terms of global hectare per person, per year.

According to this analysis, the global ecological footprint was roughly half the regenerative capacity of the planet in 1960. By the mid 1980s, it crossed the critical threshold. In 2005, it was estimated that demand exceeded supply by 30%. This means our generation has consumed its share of the planet’s resources and capacity and has already begun depriving the future generations of their share of resources and chances of survival. The Living Planet Report 2008, states that, if we continue with business as usual, by the early 2030s we will need two planets to keep up with humanity's demand for goods and services.

Sustainable development, as expressed in the ecological footprint account, is a model for equilibrium between the supply and demand of resources. It is also about inter-generational equity in terms of resource distribution. But it does not, at least in conceptual terms, explicitly address in a holistic way, the issue of what really constitutes human well-being which, in its highest state, has got to be happiness.

In Bhutan, we believe that happiness must be the purpose of development. In this regard, Bhutan has been guided for four decades now by the concept of Gross National Happiness (GNH), which, while being consistent with the sustainable development concept, goes beyond it to actually relate development to contentment and happiness. Conceived by our Fourth King, His Majesty Jigme Singye Wangchuck, who pronounced that “Gross National Happiness is more important than Gross Domestic Product,” it is based on the belief that happiness can be best achieved through development that balances the needs of the body with those of the mind within a stable and sustainable environment. It stresses that material enrichment must not lead to spiritual impoverishment and that it must address emotional and psychological needs of the individual.

Even our Constitution holds the state as having the responsibility of promoting GNH as an arbiter of public policies and plans. Accordingly, the Royal Government has undertaken this responsibility through a four-pronged strategy popularly referred to as the four pillars of GNH. All development policies and programmes of the Kingdom must serve to strengthen these four pillars. These are:

1. Sustainable and equitable socio-economic development,

2. Conservation of our fragile mountain ecology,

3. Promotion of cultural growth and diversity, and

4. Good governance.