India among 20 lowest in meeting environmental goals

New Delhi, Feb 26 (UNI) India ranks among the 20 lowest scoring countries in meeting critical environmental goals, according to an international study.

The areas in respect to which the country has been left behind range from clean drinking water and reduction of ozone levels to sustainable fisheries and low greenhouse effect, official sources quoting the study here said.

The performance of the various nations has been assessed as per an index developed by the Centre for Environmental Law and Policy Yale University and the Centre for International Earth Science Information Network at Columbia University in collaboration with the World Economic Forum and the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission.

Using 16 indicators, six crore policy categories and two broad objectives of Environmental Health and eco-system vitality, the Performance Index Framework has ranked India at 118 among a total of 133 countries assessed.

The position of the countries at the bottom of the rankings has been attributed by the authors to several factors such as low environmental health scores, densely populated industrialising countries with stressed ecosystem, arid states with limited natural resources, lack of capacity for aggressive control or systematic natural resource management.

Another study conducted by the Yale and Columbia university scientists by using the 2005 Environmental Sustainability Index(ESI) has rated India at 101st position among 146 countries in respect of air and water quality.

The ESI ranking is based on 21 indicators of Environmental sustainability which include air quality, bio-diversity, land, water quality, reduction of air pollution, eco system stress, population pressure, waste and consumption pressure and water stress.

The other indicators are natural resource management, environmental health, basic human sustenance, reducing environemntal related natural disaster vulnerability, environmental governanace, eco-efficiency, private sector responsiveness, science and technology, participation in international collaborative efforts, green house gas emmission and reducing trans-boundary environmental pressure.

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