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Environmental Performance Index :
Lanka ranked as moderate performer
Disna Mudalige
The overall environmental performance is improving in Sri Lanka and
it has been ranked as a moderate performer, according to the 2012
Environmental Performance Index (EPI) released during the World Economic
Forum in Davos, Switzerland last week.
The EPI was produced by researchers at Yale and Columbia Universities
in collaboration with the World Economic Forum. According to Internet
sources, Sri Lanka has been ranked 55th in the EPI out of 132 countries
included in the study. The EPI has considered 22 indicators from 10
policy categories under two broad objectives namely Environmental Health
and Ecosystem Vitality. Sri Lanka has been categorized as a strongest
performer with a rank of 71 considering Environmental Health and a
modest performer with a rank of 60 considering Ecosystem Vitality.
According to the study, Sri Lanka is the strongest performer with
regard to environmental burden on disease and water (effect on human
health) and it is a modest performer with regard to air (effects on
human health). However, the country has shown poor performances in the
areas of fisheries, forests and water resources (ecosystem effects).
The EPI ranking on the indoor air quality in Sri Lanka has also
degraded to the 113th position.
According to the EPI ranking, Switzerland has been placed first, UK
ninth, Australia 48th, USA 49th and Iraq 132nd. India has been ranked at
the 125th position and thereby has been categorized as a weakest
performer. Among other Asian countries, Singapore has been placed 52nd,
Myanmar 69th, Pakistan 120th, Bangladesh 115th and China 116th.
As a complement to the performance snapshot which the EPI offers, the
Yale-Columbia research team has introduced this year a Pilot Trend
Environmental Performance Index (Trend EPI) that shows which countries
are improving and by how much on an issue-by-issue basis over the period
2000-2010. According to Trend EPI, Sri Lanka has been ranked 11th where
as USA has been ranked 77th, Australia 79th and China 100th.
Performance
UK ninth
Australia 48th
USA 49th
Iraq 132nd
India 125th |
