By Laura Husband
Four of the 10 worst countries for environmental impact are from the American continent, a new study has found.
The study, carried out at the University of Adelaide, in Australia awarded Brazil and the US first and second place for being the least environmentally friendly.
Ecology expert Corey Bradshaw from Adelaide’s Environment Institute gave countries environmental rankings based on how much they had damaged the environment.
Fisheries were one of seven factors measured that made Brazil the least environmentally friendly country.
The countries were rated using seven factors: Natural forest loss, habitat conversion, fisheries, fertiliser use, water pollution, carbon emissions from land use and threat to species.
These indicators were chosen because there is a lot of evidence to support that they affect ecosystems and quality of life, explained Bradshaw.
From the American continent, Brazil, the US, Mexico and Peru were all listed in the 10 worst countries category along with China, Indonesia, Japan, India, Russia and Australia.
The total wealth of each country was found to be the most important driver of environmental impact.
The top 10 for being most environmentally friendly were, surprisingly, some of the least wealthy countries, mainly from the Caribbean and Africa: Antigua and Barbuda, St Lucia, Grenada, Djibouti, Barbados, Swaziland, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Gambia, St Kitts and Nevis and Tonga.
“There is a theory that as wealth increases, nations have more access to clean technology and become more environmentally aware so that the environmental impact starts to decline. This theory was not supported by our study,” explained Bradshaw.
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