Business News  Business Roundups   Australia   Canada   Europe   United States  Careers  Classified  Feature Article  Information Technology  New Technology  Education News  World Facts  Book Reviews  Archives/Research Search Tell your friends about this page Receive articles in your mailbox Privacy Polic				World Facts Environmental Sustainability Index 2005 March 2005 By Faye Mallett The Environmental Sustainability Index (http://www.ciesin.columbia.edu/indicators/ESI/), in it's 5th year of publication by the Yale Center for Environmental Law & Policy, benchmarks the ability of each country's ability to protect the environment within a period of a few decades. The publication takes the view that even though absolute measures of sustainability are difficult (if not impossible) many aspects of environmental sustainability can be measured in relative terms. Using 21 indicators, (with 76 embedded variables) as measurement, the study assessed: Air Quality Biodiversity Land Water Quality Water Quantity Air Pollution reduction Ecosystem stress reduction Population Stress reduction Waste & Consumption reduction Water stress reduction Environmental health Basic human sustenance Environmental governance Eco-Efficiency Private Sector Responsiveness Science and Technology International Collaborative Efforts Greenhouse Gas Emissions Natural resources management Reducing environmental pressures between countries It then placed these indicators into five broad categories. According to Tanja Srebotnjak, Project Director for the index, the five components are designed to classify the 21 key indicators into the following "coherent framework": Environmental systems: How well a country protects its environment Reducing environmental stresses: How well a country reduces pollution into its environment Reducing human vulnerability and exposure to environment stress: How well a country decreases exposure of its citizens to health threats and disturbances Societal and institutional capacity to respond to environmental challenges: How effective are a country's institutions and social infrastructures able to deal with environmental problems Global stewardship: How well is a country serving as an environmental leader in the international community 2005 Results The five highest-ranking countries for 2005 are Finland, Norway, Uruquay, Sweden and Iceland, while the five lowest-ranking countries are North Korea, Iraq, Taiwan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. Australia ranked 13; Canada ranked 6; the United States ranked 45; and the United Kingdom ranked 65.   Australia Canada UK US Environmental Systems 78 85 60 39 Reducing Stresses 40 45 27 29 Reducing human Vulnerability 75 81 74 71 Social & Institutional Capacity 77 77 78 85 Global Stewardship 30 21 38 42 Copyright@2005 Yale Center for Environmental Law and Policy The values of these five components range between 0 and 100.The closer the score is to 100, the better the performance of a country. For example, Australia's Social and Institutional Capacity score of 77 means that in the 2005 ESI 77% of countries are expected to perform less or equally well than Australia . Return to Top  Business News / Business Roundup - Australia / Canada / Europe / United States / Careers / Classified / Information Technology / New Technology / Education News / World Facts / Book Reviews / Archives/Research