‘Greening’ and SL’s development thrust

Fortunately, the concept of development has time and again been re-defined to make it responsive to humanity’s most keenly-felt needs. Today, material growth is seen as inseparable from equity or the equal distribution of wealth, and very rightly so. This is a welcome narrowing of the one time notion of development which formerly hazily meant material advancement of just any kind. Today, one needs to speak of material well being and equity in the same breath, as it were, when discussing development and this is a distinctly positive change in perception.

However, recent years have seen a further refinement of the concept of development to cover the notion of natural environment sustainability. That is, development means material advancement, plus equity, plus sustainability of the natural environment. In terms of this definition, to be fully meaningful, development should usher in not only growth and equity but be highly sparing of a country’s natural resources also. A model of development that does not include these features could only be a recipe for national destruction in the truest sense.

Therefore, it would not be an exaggeration to state that development and the ‘Greening’ or environmental protection of a country, advance in tandem. These points need to be recollected afresh on this day which is universally recognized as World Environment Day. Sri Lanka would be celebrating this most important occasion under the theme, ‘Green Economy - Does it Include You?’

To be successful, the ‘Greening’ of Sri Lanka needs to be a country-wide endeavour that incorporates the efforts of each citizen in the protection and preservation of the natural environment. Accordingly, we are expected to ask ourselves whether we are contributing positively towards the saving of our natural environment, individually and collectively.

Unfortunately, the one-time lively ‘discourse’ on the UN-mandated Millennium Development Goals seems to have lost some of its vibrancy in recent times. This worthy project which could help substantially in ushering development in the truest sense and help in the preservation of the earth’s resources should be implemented with renewed vigour because the Goals are integral to the advancement of development. We urge that the ‘discourse’ over the Goals be revived and states be obligated to reach them, if this is not already happening to the desired degree.

We believe that this ‘Green’ aspect of development must be always focused on. It is possible that the very comprehensive sense in which the concept of development should be defined, would be lost sight of in current times in the hurry and scurry to make highly visible our development efforts in the form of infrastructure development and other forms of material advancement. We hope a balanced perspective of developing infrastructure while ensuring that our natural wealth is adequately preserved, would always prevail. However, we consider as highly salubrious and pleasing to the eye, the current development of the urban environment under the guidance of Defence and Urban Development Ministry Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa. If the thinking underlying these projects is the Wordsworthian premise that the beautiful forms of nature have a beneficial influence on the human spirit, the ventures could be considered as very timely and essential.

The Lankan authorities have gone some distance in helping out in the effort at containing environment pollution by enforcing the rule that vehicles belching excessive carbon should not receive authorization to ply our roads, but much more must be done to advance the ‘Green’ project. We would like to see much more being done to limit illicit timber felling and sand mining, for instance, which contribute in no small measure towards environmental degradation. Passing laws is fine but these must also be stringently implemented.

The people would also like to see more concrete action to contain the seemingly perennial human-elephant conflict and the more recent crocodile-human conflict. These phenomena point to the fact that human habitats are being established at the cost of the animals concerned and that the animals’ movements and lifestyles are being disrupted in some way or the other. These developments are proof that the tenets of sustainable development are being observed more in the breach.