Awareness of Sustainable Use of National Natural Resources as a Basis for the Environmental Protection Systems: Economic Aspects and the New Global Index of the Popularity of Environmental Queries (GIPEQ)

Abstract

The most popular in science "Environmental Performance Index" (EPI) is too narrowly specific. EPI might only be popular in a limited number of countries, this research reveals. This index is designed to assess the sustainable use of natural resources and the effectiveness of environmental protection systems. This index has collected the most advanced scientific researches with an impact factor in this area. However, its actual application might be limited among narrow specialists in 11 countries, this research reveals. This study proposes a new index. This is a global index of the popularity of environmental queries (GIPEQ). It shows the cumulative global popularity of environmental queries for the world as a whole and for each country separately (from the search engines like Google). It might also be applied as an EPI index deflator for the time series analysis. The algorithm for creating the GIPEQ index is written in the R programming language for this study. Data privacy is ensured by using a percentage of the absolute maximum value. This approach allows working with confidential data. This study is divided into 3 parts. Part 1 discusses why the EPI is the most advanced study for assessing the sustainable use of natural resources and the effectiveness of environmental protection systems for every country in the world. The second part discusses the shortcomings of the EPI index. They include the impossibility of analyzing time series (the method for assessing the index changes significantly every year) and a significant amount of missing data in the most basic components of the index. This is shown by using the example of assessing the quality of water and fish resources (out of almost one and a half thousand components of the EPI index). The third drawback is the popularity of this index among the public, this research suggests. A new index (GIPEQ) is proposed and the necessity of its application is justified in the third part of this research. Widespread public demand for environmental programs creates pressure for politicians. This pressure should stimulate them to develop a system of sustainable use of natural resources and environmental protection. The research question: what indicator could estimate the popularity of ecology and environmental programs in the world? The additional research question is how to estimate it? The main hypothesis is that this indicator could potentially be used for estimating the time series of the complex EPI by estimating the EPI deflator. Deflating the EPI from a specific period is the only known way to control for the timeseries analysis for the EPI indicator, this research suggests. The main assumption is that this indicator could potentially be used for estimating the pressure of the public opinion to policymakers for stimulating the development of ecological programs that will be seen through the better environmental performance criteria.