Thursday, June 17, 2010

Costa Rica Ranks Third As Cleanest Countries in The World

According to researchers at Yale and Columbia University, among 163 countries that were included in their 2010 Environmental Performance Index (EPI), Costa Rica ranks third in cleanliness, preceded only by Iceland in the first place and Switzerland in second. 








The countries were ranked based on 25 indicators, including water and air quality, greenhouse gas emissions, and the impact of the environment on its people’s health.

The index is influenced by metrics that track how the governments are doing in relation to environmental policy goals like access to good sanitation and water, habitat protection, and industrial emissions.

A country may achieve a top EPI position in two ways:

1. It could be gifted with a rich legacy of clean water and diverse biology that hasn’t been violated by uncontrolled industrialism.

2. It could have industrialized and polluted its environment but got rich enough to begin the clean up.

Costa Rica got to the third place the first way, while the countries that made the top of the list achieved it the second way. 

The perfect score is 100. Costa Rica scored 86.4, with a GDP per capita of $9,600 and a population of 4.5 million. 

According to the index,“That such a relatively poor and developing country ranks third in the EPI is testament to the natural endowments of Costa Rica, with dense forests, plentiful water and abundant wildlife. With smart development, Costa Rica can avoid the standard path that growing nations take of polluting their environment, only to clean it up again once they become wealthy. Costa Rica touts its EPI ranking in ads for its tourism sector.” 

In the past, Costa Rica was recognized as the best country regarding rainforest conservation efforts, and is one of the originators of REDD, Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation project. In this sense, it is not a surprise that this small country was able to achieve such a meaningful position worldwide.






I told my wife that a husband is like a fine wine, it gets better with age, The next day she locked me in the cellar

I told my wife that a husband is like a fine wine; he gets better with age. The next day, she locked me in the cellarI told my wife that a husband is like a fine          ets better with age. The next day, she locked me in the cell