Phl ranks high on 'environmental governance'

SAN FERNANDO, Pampanga, Philippines - The Philippines has outranked the United States, Australia, Singapore and South Korea in terms of “environmental governance,” the recent 2012 Environmental Performance Index (EPI) of Yale and Columbia universities showed.

The regional office of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) here quoted Environment Secretary Ramon Paje as saying that the Philippines landed 42nd among 132 countries in the EPI, higher than the US and the other developed countries.

The EPI placed the US, Australia, Singapore and South Korea in ranks 48, 49, 52, and 61, respectively. Switzerland topped the list.

“The Philippines moved up from number 50 two years ago and maintained its eighth position in the Asia-Pacific region,” Paje said.

Paje attributed the country’s marked improvement in environmental governance to “concrete programs on environmental protection that mostly involved community participation.”

The EPI analyzed the global community’s performance on certain policy issues against environmental pressures.

“In Central Luzon, the implementation of a moratorium on logging on natural and residual forests under Executive Order 23, and the continuing implementation of the National Greening Program under Executive Order 26 complemented the government’s thrusts on environmental protection and restoration,” the DENR said.