ENVIRONMENTAL PERFORMANCES OF BALKAN COUNTRIES AND TURKEY: A COMPARISON THROUGH THE ENVIRONMENTAL PERFORMANCE INDEX

Abstract

Sustainable development is a multidimensional concept relating to bothenvironmental and social issues. The concept of sustainable development is theresult of the growing awareness of the global links between mountingenvironmental problems, socio-economic issues to do with poverty and inequalityand concerns about a healthy future for humanity. There are various indicesworldwide focusing on assessing the environmental dimension of sustainability.These indices try to measure and compare the environmental performances of worldcountries. Since the 1992 Rio Earth Summit, governments are trying to demonstrateimproved environmental performance through quantitative metrics across a rangeof pollution control and natural resource management challenges.Environmental performance index (EPI) compiles environmental data of almost allof the world countries, therefore it is a useful tool to make cross-countrycomparisons. The purpose of this paper, after a literature review on the countryenvironmental performance and its indicators, is to compare the environmentalperformances of Balkan countries and Turkey through their EPI scores. Findingswill contribute future environmental policy decisions of these countries.