Lanka ranked 69th in EPI

Sri Lanka has been ranked 69th in the Environment Performance Index (EPI) for 2014.

EPI is a global environment assessment index. It stands in sharp contrast to its regional neighbours India (155), Bangladesh (169) and Pakistan (148) in the EPI which is an exhaustive environmental impact assessment study made annually by the Yale University, USA.

The Environmental Performance Index (EPI) identifies targets for several core environmental policy categories and measures how close countries come to meet them.

The EPI is a project between the Yale Centre for Environmental Law and Policy (YCELP) and the Centre for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN) at Columbia University. It is supported by the World Economic Forum.

The EPI is arrived at through a process that calculates and aggregates 20 indicators that reflect environmental data at the national level of each country.

These indicators in turn are combined into nine categories, each of which fits in to one of two overarching objectives of Environmental Health and Ecosystem Vitality.

Environmental Health includes health impacts, air quality, water and sanitation. The Ecosystem Vitality takes into account water resources, agriculture, forests, fisheries, biodiversity and habitat, climate and energy.

EPI index measures environmental and ecosystem vitality to compare and identify the best protectors and worst offenders of the environment in the world.