America is environment unfriendly
US
is in a poor 28th slot on the green list ; S Asia even worse
Felicity
Barringer
Washington
A PILOT nation-by-nation study of
environmental performance shows that just six nations — led by New Zealand,
followed by five from Northern Europe — have achieved 85 per cent or better
success in meeting a set of critical environmental goals ranging from clean
drinking water and low ozone levels to sustainable fisheries and low greenhouse
gas emissions.
The 2006 Environmental Performance Index, jointly produced
by Yale and Columbia universities, ranks the US 28th overall, behind most of
Western Europe, Japan, Taiwan, Malaysia, Costa Rica and Chile. The bottom half
of the rankings is largely filled with the countries of Africa and Central and
South Asia.
The two universities applied a new variant of the
methodology in their Environmental Sustainability Index, said Daniel C. Esty, an
author of the report. The earlier sustainability measurements “tell you
something about long-term trajectories,” Esty said. “We think this tool has
a much greater application in the policy context.” The pilot study ranks
countries within their geographic peer groups, so nations in arid regions or
tropical ones can be measured against one another. So though Belgium ranks 39
overall, it ranks last among European countries in protection of its water
resources. Air quality rankings tend to favour less industrialised nations like
Uganda, Gabon, Ecuador and Sri Lanka. Among the countries of the Americas, the
US ranks in the bottom third on this scale.
In the area of environmental health, the study measured
such factors as sanitation, lead exposure and indoor air pollution. In those
measures, the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, France, Britain,
Ireland and the countries of Northern and Central Europe score near 100 per
cent.
On the same scale, the poorest countries fared worst, with
32 of 37 sub-Saharan African nations, along with Bangladesh, Haiti, Yemen,
Tajikistan, Laos, Cambodia and Papua New Guinea, scoring at or below 40 per
cent.
The study shows that annual carbon dioxide emissions,
measured as metric tonnes per $1 million of GDP, average about 363 tonnes. North
Korea, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan and Mongolia rank at the bottom of the
scale, with amounts ranging from Mongolia’s 1,992 tonnes to North Korea’s
4,859 tonnes.
Carbon dioxide emissions from nations with rapid economic
expansion, like China and India, are more than double the world average (731
tonnes and 621 tonnes, respectively). The US, at 171 tonnes per $1 million of
gross domestic product, ranks well behind some other nations in the Group of 8,
the major industrial powers — France (56), Japan (57), Germany (80) and
Britain (118) — but close to Cana da (168). Eco check The 2006 Environmental
Performance Index is a nationby-nation pilot study by Yale and Columbia
universities Uganda, Gabon, Ecuador and Sri Lanka ranked high in air quality
ranks; US was third from bottom on the same scale in the Americas In terms of of
environmental health, the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, France,
Britain scored high while sub-Saharan African nations, Bangladesh, Haiti, Yemen,
Tajikistan, Laos, Cambodia and Papua New Guinea scored poorly
*Source:website:http://epaper.hindustantimes.com,Mumbai
Edition(Life,the Universe),
dated : Tuesday,January 24,2006.*