PH ranks 8th in Asia in new Environmental Performance Index
THE Philippines was ranked at eighth out of 26 Asian countries in the latest release of the Environmental Performance Index. Globally, the Philippines was ranked at 82nd out of 180 countries.
The Environmental Performance Index (EPI) is a careful measurement of environmental trends and progress that provides a foundation for effective policymaking. The two dimensions of environmental performance are ecosystem vitality and environmental health, which may be in some tension as economic growth creates resources to invest but adds to pollution burdens and habitat stress.
It ranked 180 countries on 24 performance indicators across ten issue categories covering environmental health and ecosystem vitality. These 24 performance indicators - household sold fuels, PM2.5 exposure, PM2.5 exceedance, drinking water, sanitation, lead exposure, marine protected areas, biome protection-global, biome protection- national, species protection index, representativeness index, species habitat index, tree cover marine trophic index, CO2 emissions- total, CO2 emissionspower, methane emissions, N2O emissions, black carbon emissions, SO2 emissions, NOx emissions, wastewater treatment, and sustainable nitrogen management — are distributed across 10 issue categories.
These include air quality, water quality, and heavy metals under the environmental health; and biodiversity and habitat, forests, fisheries, climate and energy, air pollution, water resources, and agriculture under the ecosystem vitality.
In terms of ecosystem vitality, the Philippines ranked at 57th globally and at fourth in Asia, next only to Taiwan (4th), China (39th), and Japan (41st). Ecosystem vitality covers the metrics on forests, fisheries, climate and energy, air pollution, water resources, and agriculture.
In terms of environmental health, which covers the metrics on air quality, water quality and heavy metals, the Philippines ranked at 112th globally and eight in Asia, following Brunei Darussalam ( seventh, Japan (19th), Singapore (59th), Taiwan ( 64th), Malaysia ( 80th), Sri Lanka (86th), and Mongolia (94th). The Philippines should start evaluating its current policies on water resources, water quality, air quality, and heavy metals if we aim to achieve the above 50-percent mark (in terms of ranking).
Globally, the top 10 leaders in environmental performance were Switzerland, France, Denmark, Malta, Sweden, United Kingdom, Luxembourg, Austria, Ireland, and Finland. Lagging behind, the bottom 10, were Central African Republic, Niger, Lesotho, Haiti, Madagascar, Nepal, India, Democratic Republic of Congo, Bangladesh, and Burundi.
Key findings
Based on the Summary for Policymakers, the key findings include:
1. Air quality remains the leading environmental threat to public health. In 2016, the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation estimated that diseases related to airborne pollutants contributed to twothirds of all life- years lost to environmentally related deaths and disabilities. Air pollution issues are especially acute in rapidly urbanizing and indus- trializing nations such as India and China.
2. The world has made great strides in protecting marine and terrestrial habitats, exceeding the international goal for marine protection in 2014. Additional indicators measuring terrestrial protected areas suggest, however, that more work needs to be done to ensure the presence of high-quality habitat free from human pressures.
3. Most countries improved GHG emissions intensity over the past 10 years, Three- fifths of countries have declining intensities, while 5 to 90 percent of countries have declining intensities for methane, nitrous oxide, and black carbon. These trends are promising yet must be accelerated to meet the ambitious targets of the 2015 Paris Agreement.
How did the Asian countries performed
Based on the summary report, the spread in rankings among Asian countries is the larger than any other region. Among 26 countries, the leading 10 were Japan (20th), Taiwan (23rd), Singapore (49th), Brunei Darussalam ( 53rd), South Korea (60th), Sri Lanka ( 70th), Malaysia ( 75th), the Philippines (82nd), Mongolia ( 83rd), and Maldives ( 111th) while lagging behind were Indonesia ( 133rd), Myanmar ( 138th), Cambodia ( 150th), Laos ( 153rd), Papua New Guinea (162nd), Afghanistan ( 168th), Pakistan ( 169th), Nepal (176th), India (177th), and Bangladesh (179th). The spread in scores may be explained by the varying levels of economic development within Asia. Several countries in Asia experience rapid periods of economic growth within the last century. East Asian countries, like Japan and South Korea, witnessed considerable improvements in economic productivity post World War 2.
These improvements often translated into higher levels of human development and environmental performance. Conversely, many Asian countries in South and Southeast Asia, are still in a state of transition. by poor performance in the environmental health policy objective. Deaths attributed to PM2.5 have risen over the past decade and are estimated at 1.6M annually (Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, 2017). Despite government action, pollution from solid fuels, coal and crop residue burning, and emissions from motor vehicles continue to severely degrade the air quality for millions of Indians.
For every country to meet its ambitious targets of the United Nations 2030 Agenda on Sustainable Development and its commitment to the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, the index serves as a gauge on how countries can establish their environmental policy goals. It highlights both the best and the worst in environmental performance, showcases best practices, and render guidance to countries who aspire to be leaders in sustainability.
The Environmental Performance Index is a joint project of the Yale Center for Environmental Law and Policy of Yale University and the Earth Institute of Columbia University in collaboration with the World Economic Forum (WEF).