Researchers from Yale and Columbia University developed the Environmental Performance Index (EPI). In Europe they found that environmental protection in the Netherlands is just moderate. The Netherland’s scores are not great. With just a 55th place of 149 in the EU, the Dutch will only leave Belgium, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Bulgaria and Romania behind. Of the 24 EPI indicators, the Netherlands is doing particularly poorly in land and marine nature. This results in a poor habitat for animals and plants, and biodiversity loss. There’s no research without some criticism of course.
For example, the Netherlands criticise the fact that small nature reserves, of which many exist in the Netherlands, has not been included. The American researchers on the other hand, suspect that some countries pretended their natural environment was in better shape than it actual is, to improve their score in the EPI. For example the high position of Russia raises questions, according David Esty, head of the research team. (Source: NRC 16.07.2008)
