India ranks last (132nd) amongst the nations in terms of air quality

A study by Yale and Columbia Universities, announced that India holds the last rank amongst 132 nations in terms of air quality with regard to its effect on human health. India scored only 3.73 points on a scale of 100 in the analysis, falling far behind the next worst performer, Bangladesh (13.66). Whole South Asian region fares poorly, with Nepal, Pakistan and China taking up the remaining spots in the bottom five of the standings.

The rankings were a part of a broader study to rank the nations of the world in terms of their overall environmental performance. In the overall rankings — which takes 22 policy indicators into consideration — India did minimally better, but still slipped in the last ten ranks along with environmental dawdlers such as Iraq, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. European nations Switzerland, Latvia and Norway captured the top positions in the index.

India’s performance over the last two years was relatively good in sectors such as forests, fisheries, biodiversity and climate change. All the same, in the case of water — both in terms of the ecosystem effects to water resources and the human health effects of water quality — the Indian performance is very pitiable.

The Index report was demonstrated at the World Economic Forum presently going on in Davos, where it’s being pitched as a means to identify the leaders and the dawdlers on energy and environmental challenges prior to the Rio+20 summit on sustainable development to be held in Brazil in June 2012.

Month: Current Affairs - February, 2012