According to the Environmental Performance Index done by Yale University, Kuwait was one of the weakest performers and came in 126 out of 132 countries. What’s confusing is that Lebanon came in 94th place but the pollution there is so bad that we recently had an incident where one river turned red while another turned white!
So other than the recent tire issue, the desert pollution and the Mishrif sewage problem, what else is really so bad that we rank this low? I’m not surprised we rank low just surprised it’s at the very bottom of the list. [Link]
Thanks Erik
25 replies on “Kuwait nearly last in environmental performance index”
read up on the following blogspot will give u an idea.
https://green-kuwait.blogspot.com/
sorry previous post wrong info, follow @greenkuwait on twitter and u will understand.
We consume the most amount of water per person in the world. Everyday in the morning I see streams of water down the street of drivers washing the owners cars.
This is so dumb! Pisses me off when the driver is too lazy to wash the car so he wastes water doing it the easy way.
Let me get this striaght, you are pissed off by the drivers?!
Man, do you think before you speak?
The question is, should cars be frikin washed everyday?!!!
Sometimes they wash cars everyday without being told to so they look like they’re doing something.
And yes I am pissed off at them for spraying the ROADS with water so it looks like they’re doing a good job. WHY WOULD YOU SPRAY THE ROAD YOU’RE NOT DOING SOMETHING TO BE PROUD OF
I take my car once a week to the carwash and once in a blue moon, only in the rainy season do I maybe have it washed by the cleaners roaming round the apartments!
Clean it yourself then!
You forgot the sea, we almost killed all living things in it, actually what did we do for the environment of good all these year, were is our recycling ? What do we do with our waist ? any one doing any thing for mother nature without hiring some one else to do it for him ?
Every time I’m driving the car I see people throwing rubbish out the window. Cigarette butts, gum wrappers, small bits and large bits of plastic. It’s al rubbish and damages the environment. Unfortunately those that do it see it as a tiny piece of paper and genuinely believe they are not doin anything wrong.
It goes back to basic societal discipline, basic law enforcement setting the grounding for the right behaviour. Until this changes, Kuwait will be ranked poorly. The difference between other countries down in the list is that they don’t have the money to educate the public about the consequences, whereas Kuwait do. Pull that element in and I bet Kuwait is at the bottom.
The sea is polluted with either sewage or oil and also the amount of carbon dioxide emitted from all the cars and the oil refineries. Notice the permanent haze over some areas?
If I were a neighboring country, I would sue Kuwait for polluting the Gulf. The picture is appropriate with this topic. The country has gone the toilet with the lack of government care of this country. It is the government’s job and I think if recycling was made available to the public, many people would recycle. You lost your country once, learn to care for it, Kuwait.
Our environment problems are way deeper than recycling though
There are many recycling companies who would be happy to provide you with boxes to recycled.
I agree the government is to blame on lack or laws, regulations, and carelessness to the point we have no society values and ethics. But it is also the Kuwaiti’s people fault for always feeling entitled to everything and feel like they are kinds of the world. A mother nowadays raises her child ina he is always right, he is the best, he has to have the best, and show off that he is the best. She does not care about instilling values that matter to him.
That being said, it is hard to change the government and other people, but you can change yourself.
Start recycling. Call up one of the companies. Try getting them to recycle for your workplace as well. That is your part.
You want to take it a step further, do what I do… I tell off people who litter. I make them pick it up and walk to a trash can to throw it.
I think your criticisms of Lebanon are unfounded Mark.
Lebanon does not have a legion of brown-skinned slaves to pick up litter.
Nor does it have the vast wealth Kuwait possesses purely due to oil profits and nothing else.
Lebanon is also surrounded by three enemies who constantly pressure the tiny country politically or militarily. Two of which use the country to fight proxy wars and have clearly displayed signs that they wish to take over the country.
In summary Kuwait has stability, Lebanon sometimes does but it comes and goes.
And yet despite all this wealth and the potential it provides, Kuwait fails in almost every aspect.
Many resource-poor countries put Kuwait to shame so again, I find your criticisms of Lebanon somewhat misguided.
For a country that has gone through so much war and sporadically does even to this day, I think it’s efforts as a country soars above Kuwait’s.
I think you need to actually read what I wrote because I’m not sure to what “criticisms” you’re referring to. I pointed towards two recent incidents involving factory wastes being dumped into rivers and it was so bad that it completely change the color of the rivers. Are you saying these two incidents are unfounded?
Kuwait has stability?
Our neighboring countries are KSA, Iraq and Iran. Oh yes, very peaceful bunch…
Kuwait is, by far, the most polluted place that I’ve ever been to. And I’ve been to a lot of countries. The first thing I noticed when I got here was how “trashy” the desert is. Garbage everywhere!! And after working here for a while I found out that the environmental agency is a joke. Power plants spew whatever they want into the air. Another thing I noticed right away, and maybe I have this wrong, but there seems a lack of seabirds for being a coastal city/country. That in itself is quite telling. Everywhere else I’ve been in the world where I was located close to the coast was teaming with seabirds. Is this due to Kuwait’s climate or because the marine life isn’t strong enough to support abundant seabirds?
Both the government & people are to blame. Both contributed to this catastrophe.
when I first came to Kuwait in 2001, friends would tell me to be careful and to not litter. Back then there were some laws and people were actually scared to be fined if they littered. The reason why things are so bad now is because everybody thinks they can get away with what they’re doing. and yes they do.
another example is factories in kuwait, i used to work in a company that provided consultancy on how to reduce pollution caused by the factory. These people make millions but refused to pay 2-3 thousand KD to get expert advice on how to reduce their waste. Careless…
Uh I’ve lived in Kuwait all my life and the littering was worse when I was younger
Can’t win em all I guess 🙂
Hardly surprising.
I just got my masters degree in environmental sciences from the US. My research was focused on the environmental situation in Kuwait and how the government has been performing in terms of achieving sustainability objectives since the end of the war in 1991. I don’t know if you know this but we haven’t done a thing about the disasters that were brought about by the war! We still have the oil lakes scattered all over the dessert.. we still have many ships sunk in our waters.. the soil is still polluted with URANIUM because of the heavy military equipment that was used during the war! I cld go on and on.. bottom line is that things are nasty here.. things have been nasty for the past 21 years.. the Mishref incident is nothing compared to the bigger environmental problems that resulted from the war!
I must say that for a country that causes so much pollution due to oil, they do nothing for the environment. I myself have recycling boxes for tins, paper and plastics, nothing for glass. I have been complaining for years about lack of recycling and the fact that solar energy is not being used. Why are the recycling companies not going to schools and work places and giving talks and handing out the boxes to teach ppl. Most Kuwaitis have no idea about recycling and can’t see the point, it’s time to educate the young! Start recycling in schools and workplaces and advertise more. Also, people who litter should be fined as well as ppl using water to wash their cars and front yards daily !!!!