Latvia world's second greenest country

Switzerland is the greenest country worldwide. Latvia is ranked second, ahead of such countries as Norway, France, Great Britain and Sweden, according to "Environmental Performance Index" (EPI) by Yale and Columbia universities.

The executive director of the environmental organization "homo ecos", Sanita Ribena, informed LETA that Latvia is second among 132 countries.

EPI is a quantitative study. It follows the state of national environments and uses the best available data. The research has been out for a while, and its findings are published once per two years. In 2008, Latvia was ranked eighth, whilst in 2010 - 21st.

Latvia's society became familiar with EPI two years ago due to "homo ecos" campaign - "Latvia - the greenest country in the world?" - when the organization urged people to replace their habits with more environmentally friendly ones.

"Latvia's richness lies in its resources - biological diversity, water and air. We are living in royal conditions, compared to other places worldwide. Unfortunately, these resources are not everlasting. They are too valuable to estimate their value in any currency, however, they are our country's added value. It is important to remember this when planning Latvia's economic development," emphasized Ribena.

This year, the traditional EPI is also accompanied by "Pilot Trend Environmental Performance Index". This research reveals how various countries gradually solved their environmental issues from 2000 to 2010. In this study, Latvia is ranked first.

LETA

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