Bangladesh has ranked 162nd out of 180 countries in the 2020 Environmental Performance Index (EPI) that evaluates the condition of environmental health and vitality of their ecosystems.
Bangladesh was given 29.0 points in the list, securing third worst position in South Asia region, only ahead of India at 168th and Afghanistan at 178th position.
The Yale and Columbia universities in the United States prepared and launched the report recently.
The EPI explores 32 performance indicators across 11 issue categories, such as - environmental health, ecosystem vitality, ecosystem services, fisheries, climate change, and pollution emissions.
The report offers a scorecard that highlights leaders and laggards in environmental performance, and provides practical guidance for the countries that aspire to move towards a sustainable future.
According to it, among 180 nations, Bangladesh ranked 143rd in terms of environment quality, 166 for air quality, and 172 for prevalence of heavy metals.
In a positive note, Bangladesh ranked 22 for the fisheries.
