In Northern Province:

ISEA to support rapid development

Dharma Sri Abeyratne

Integrated Strategic Environmental Assessment (ISEA) for the Northern Province is being formulated through a multi-agency approach aiming to support for a rapid development in the area while sustaining peace, Prof Buddhi Marambe said.

Prof Marambe said so addressing the Mullaitivu District Consultative Meeting on ISEA at the Mullaitivu District Secretariat offices recently.

The multi-agency approach is coordinated by the Central Environmental Authority and the Disaster Management Centre in collaboration with the United Nations Development Program and the United Nations Environment Program. ISEA is widely used in many countries worldwide as an aid to strategic decision making tool. ISEA ensures due consideration given to environmental and other sustainability aspects during the development of policies, plans and programs.

After many years of conflict, the Northern Province is opening up for a rapid development in many fields such as telecommunications, construction, health, transportation and so on while restoring public administration to stimulate investment and growth. This new phase of rapid development brings in new challenges in the form of natural resource availability both quantity and quality.

However, the ISEA will never say 'no' to the development in the country but support development programs through targeted resource availability studies. In addition ISEA integrates disaster risk management into development plans and programs, provide the required sectors with systematic data gathering by technical agencies in the field, establish limits for safe extraction of natural resources, identify the ecologically sensitive areas and advocate for their conservation and complementary uses, develop a medium and long-term monitoring system to ensure an ecologically safe development, Prof Marambe noted.

ISEA intends to strengthen the sustainable development and recovery of post-conflict Northern Province through a consultative process. Data and information are gathered on water resources, mineral resources, wildlife and forest resources, archaeological sites, fisheries and marine resources and many more. These resources are assimilated in an easy to understand format while promoting usage in an environmental friendly manner, United Nations Development Program Assistant Representative Dr. Ananda Mallawatantri said.

In addition, the assessment will provide the planners, implementers and users with an opportunity for formulating sound and sustainable development plans since the assessment is done by broader multi-sector analytic organisations in the country. The ISEA will create a framework to protect sensitive areas, evaluate the potential adverse impacts of proposed projects, introduce disaster risk reduction and environment conservation measures from the start of new projects and create a system to monitor the ecosystem changes in the Northern Province due to the expected rapid development, Dr Mallawatantri added.