The new human development index (HDI) published by the UN has demonstrated that the impact of coronavirus and the subsequent failure of many agencies to combat it, is just the latest in a series of disasters caused by so-called human progress. The report says that climate change and natural hazards is on the increase and the Covid-19 crisis won’t be the last unless ‘humans release their grip on nature’. “Humans have achieved incredible things, but we have taken the earth to the brink,” said Achim Steiner, head of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), “Climate change, rupturing inequalities, record numbers of people forced from their homes by conflict and crisis – these are the results of societies that value what they measure instead of measuring what they value. “Many countries have achieved a great deal of progress but they also have done so at the expense of great damage to the planet. “Humans wield more power over the planet than ever before,” Steiner continued. “In the wake of Covid-19, record-breaking temperatures and spiralling inequality, it is time to use that power to redefine what we mean by progress, where our carbon and consumption footprints are no longer hidden.” The HDI has traditionally focused on health, education and standards of living, but this year has also included a country’s per capita carbon dioxide emissions and footprint, an element which has sent some of the world’s largest economies tumbling down the index. Australia fell 72 places, the United States 45 places and Canada 40.