Korea¡¯s environment remains at level of underdeveloped nations

The quality of the natural environment in Korea remains at the level of underdeveloped countries, a recent survey showed.

According to the Environmental Sustaining Index (ESI), announced Saturday at the 31st World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, Korea ranked 95th among 122 surveyed countries, much lower than countries in Africa and the Middle East, including Uganda (81st), Kenya (82nd), and Tanzania (94th).

Finland, Norway, Sweden and Canada were the top four countries in the world, in that order, in terms of the quality of their natural environments. The United States finished 11th and Japan was 22nd. Haiti was the lowest ranked country.

The ESI report was compiled over two years by the environmental task force team under the WEF next-generation leaders¡¯ forum together with Yale University's environmental law policy center and Columbia University's international global science information network center.

Korea garnered just 40.3 points out of 100 in the survey. Finland scored 80.5, the U.S. 66.1 and Haiti 24.7.

The survey looked at 22 areas, including air and water quality, number of animal species, efforts to reduce contamination, general health conditions, quality of life and contribution to international society. Korea received a low score due to its poor efforts to reduce various forms of environmental contamination and limited participation in worldwide environmental funds.

Park Jei-Gyoon phark@donga.com