Pakistan among 12 worst countries in environmental pollution: EPI report

DAVOS: The latest global Environmental Performance Index (EPI) rankings released on Tuesday on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos states that substantial populations still suffer from poor air quality, most notably in Pakistan, India and  China.

The report says that Pakistan stands at 169 in EPI among 180 countries on 24 performance indicators across 10 issue categories covering environmental health and ecosystem vitality while India is the fourth worst country in the world when it comes to curbing environmental pollution. India is at the 177^th spot, down from 141^st position two years ago.

“India and Bangladesh come in near the bottom of the rankings, with Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Nepal rounding out the bottom five,” said the latest biennial report by the Yale and Columbia universities in collaboration with the WEF.

According to the report, air quality was the leading environmental threat to public health worldwide.

Switzerland leads the world in sustainability, followed by France, Denmark, Malta and Sweden.

The index offers not only a snapshot of where countries stand but also “reflects important trends in environmental performance at both the national and global levels”.

The report states that the global community was generally improving on a number of issues, such as health outcomes related to drinking water and sanitation and protection of marine ecosystems, while on other issues significant challenges remained.