The results are in! An Environmental Performance Index developed by Columbia and Yale Universities ranked the environmental performance of 140 countries based on 25 categories ranging from air and water quality to biodiversity and the use of pesticides.
1. Switzerland
2. Sweden
3. Norway
4. Costa Rica
5. Colombia
6. New Zealand
7. Japan
8. Croatia
9. Albania
10. Israel
11. Cyprus
12. Mauritius
13. Gabon
Granted, some countries in the list got high scores because they have not been industrialized enough to have environmental issues. But to be fair, the categories include biodiversity and water salinity. A country dependent on agriculture and fisheries, for example, should still prevent overfishing and preserve the diversity of plants and animals. Backward countries should still have clean water supply accessible to residents. I can think of a few countries that the universities did not even bother to rank. How about the World's Dirtiest Countries next time?
See original article at http://www.forbes.com/.
