25 August 2008

BEIRUT: Lebanon's record on the environment ranked 90th out of 149 countries and ninth in the Middle East and North Africa region in the recently published 2008 Environmental Performance Index (EPI).

The EPI, whose results "offer a useful snapshot of environmental performance," was issued by the US universities Columbia and Yale, in collaboration with the European Commission's Joint Research Center and the World Economic Forum, said the EPI Web site.

The EPI ranks 149 countries on 25 indicators in six established environment policy classifications: Environmental health, air pollution, water resources, biodiversity and habitat, productive natural resources and climate change. These six factors are summed into two categories which equally determine a country's final score, environmental health and ecosystem vitality.

"The results highlight policy leaders and laggards. They also provide a basis for identifying environmental 'best practices,'" stated the official Web site.

Globally, Lebanon scored 70.3 points, higher than the Arab average of 66.2 and Middle East and North Africa (MENA) average of 67.6 and below the global average of 71.8 points. In the Index, Lebanon was categorized as an Upper Middle Income Country, a World Bank term referring to countries with a gross domestic product per capita between $3,706 and $11,455.

In the environmental health category, Lebanon was ranked 38 out of 149 countries. Receiving a score of 96.5, higher than the international average of 74.5, it came second in the MENA region behind Israel. The Arab average was 77.3, and the MENA average 79.2 was points.

In the air pollution category, Lebanon ranked 112th globally and 13th in the MENA region, receiving a score of 87.8 points. It came behind the global average of 90.7 points, the Arab average of 93.5 points and the MENA average of 92.7 points. 

In the water resources category, Lebanon ranked 135th globally, coming seventh in the MENA region with 44.5 points. The global average was 66.6 points, the MENA average 37.3 points and the Arab average was 35.3 points.

Receiving 90 points in the productive natural resources category, which comprises agriculture, fisheries and forestry, Lebanon ranked 21st globally. It came ahead of the global average of 79.8 points, the MENA average of 76.6 points and the Arab average of 76.2 points.

Below the global average of 71.5 points, Lebanon received 40.7 points in the climate change category, coming 142nd globally. The MENA average was 57 points and the Arab average was 56.3 points.

In the biodiversity and habitat category, which indicates efforts to conserve and protect natural habitats, Lebanon was ranked 146th with only one point. The global average was 46.4 points, the MENA average 39.3 points, and the Arab average was 37.6 points.

In the ecosystem vitality category, Lebanon ranked 143rd globally with 45 points. It came behind the global average of 69.2 points, the MENA average of 56.1 points and the Arab average of 55.2 points.

The EPI evaluated the environmental health category through the subcategories of water - which was in turn subdivided between drinking water and sanitation - and air pollution - subdivided into urban particulates (particles suspended in outdoor air), indoor pollution and health ozone, which refers to ground-level ozone exposure. It also evaluates environmental burden of disease, which, the Web site said, "extends the concept of potential years of life lost due to premature death to include equivalent years of 'healthy' life lost by virtue of being in states of poor health or disability."

The category of ecosystem vitality was subdivided to include air pollution, water, biodiversity and habitat, climate change and productive natural resources. Air pollution was ranked by the subcategories of ecosystem ozone and sulfur dioxide.

Water was divided into the categories of water quality and water stress. Climate change was determined by emissions per capita, industrial carbon-dioxide emissions and emissions per electricity generation, which helps determine the efficiency of a country's energy production.

According to the Web site, "the 2008 EPI provides policymakers and environmental experts an empirically grounded basis for comparing the environmental performance of nearly 150 countries worldwide."

It added that, "Overall there were many more high-performing countries in the environmental health arena than in ecosystem vitality. Sixty-six countries had scores of 90 or above in environmental health, whereas only two scored above 90 in ecosystem vitality. Unlike ecosystem vitality, environmental health is highly correlated with wealth, indicating that many of the low-performing countries have not made the requisite investment in baseline environmental amenities."

According to the EPI Web site, "the EPI provides a powerful tool for steering environmental investments, refining policy choices, optimizing the impact of limited financial resources and understanding the determinants of policy results."

However, it also noted that "despite improvements, data gaps remain a very serious obstacle to a more refined EPI and to data-driven policymaking more generally. Many countries, particularly in the developing world, lack data on a number of critical indicators."

The top five internationally ranking countries were Switzerland, Sweden, Norway, Finland and Costa Rica. "As expected, developed countries with significant financial resources for environmental management make up a large portion of top performers," noted the report, adding that "Costa Rica, a middle-income country, outperforms many developed countries as well as its neighbors."

At the bottom of the 2008 EPI index were the sub-Saharan countries of Niger, Angola, Sierra Leone, Mauritania and Mali. According to the Web site, they "lack resources for even basic environmental investments."

Presenting the report at the World Economic Forum, environmental experts from Columbia and Yale universities said "analysis of the drivers underlying the 2008 rankings suggests that wealth is a major determinant of environmental success."

Lebanon has had numerous environmental crises over the last few years. During the summer 2006 war with Israel, the Jewish state bombed the Jiyyeh power station, releasing 12,500-15,000 tons of fuel oil into the Mediterranean Sea. The NGO Association for Forests Development and Conservation has stated that above-average forest fires in recent years have left Lebanon with only 13 percent of its forest areas from early in the 20th century. - The Daily Star

Copyright The Daily Star 2008.