The United Arab Emirates federation offers nearly excellent environmental protection and sustainability. This was revealed by the Yale’s 2014 Environmental Performance Index. The report examined nearly 180 countries from every part of the world based on nine different parameters, like water resources, air quality, climate and energy, biodiversity and habitat and others. According to the study, the UAE ranks 25th on this year’s global EP index and first on the index for the MENA region.
The country has received a really high score in the category Biodiversity & Habitat, where it takes the 15th place. Also impressive is its 17th position in Agriculture. However, the United Arab Emirates does have its weak spots. This year, this is its performance in climate and energy. In this category, the UAE is even out of the top 100 with a score of barely 33.86 points out of 100. The quality of air is another environmental issue for the country. Even though, the United Arab Emirates leads in quality of household air worldwide, it has one of the most polluted air in the world.
Other countries in the MENA also performed well on the ranking. Saudi Arabia (35), Israel (39), Kuwait (42), Qatar (44) and Egypt (50) all managed to find a place in the top 50. Morocco has the lowest score for the region and it takes the 81 position this year.
All in all, the countries that have the best environmental performance are located in Europe. In fact, the top 10 of Yale’s EP index is dominated by European countries. The list is lead by Switzerland which stood out in almost all categories. It even scored the maximum points in Health Impacts, Water & Sanitation, as well as Biodiversity & Habitat. Second on the ranking is Luxembourg, followed by Australia (3), Singapore (4) and the Czech Republic (5). Take a look at the complete list:
- Switzerland
- Luxembourg
- Australia
- Singapore
- Czech Republic
- Germany
- Spain
- Austria
- Sweden
- Norway
- 25. United Arab Emirates
On the opposite end are almost entirely Sub-Saharan countries. At the very bottom of the list is Somalia. The country scored less than 4 points out of 100 in the category Water Resources and just 1.29 in Water & Sanitation. Mali has the second worst environmental performance in the world. Although its air quality and agriculture offer decent quality, the country fails in all other categories. Here is the full list of the 10 countries with lowest environmental performance score:
- Somalia
- Mali
- Haiti
- Lesotho
- Afghanistan
- Sierra Leone
- Liberia
- Sudan
- Democratic Republic of the Congo
- Bangladesh
The report also found that India’s capital New Delhi is the most polluted city in the world. According to the study, the city registered the highest particulate matter 2.5 pollution levels. With its registered vehicles of over 8.1 million, Delhi beats even China’s highly populated Beijing. Egypt’s Cairo is the third most polluted city, followed by Santiago (Chile) at the 4th position and Mexico City (Mexico) which occupies the 5th spot in this ranking.
The main conclusion of the report is that there is an improvement on many environmental issues, like access to drinking water, access to sanitation, and child mortality. However, environmental performance in these areas showed progress, it declines in others, including air quality, wastewater treatment and fisheries.
