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Major initiative undertaken to achieve sustainable development

The Sri Lankan Government has undertaken a major new initiative called `Regaining Sri Lanka' through which sustainable development could be achieved, stated Environment and Natural Resources Minister Rukman Senanayake in his address to the Twenty-Second Session of the Governing Council of the United Nations Environment Program being held at the UNEP Headquarters, Nairobi, Kenya from February 3 to 7.

The program seeks to ensure that natural resources development needs to be addressed in terms of renewable resources, non-renewable resources and other miscellaneous environmental issues, while being mindful of improving and maintaining environmental integrity". The Ministers of the Government have uniformly internalised sustainable development principles into their missions, the Minister said.

To achieve this goal a series of national policy documents and action plans have been developed to address environmental issues. These include a National Conservation Strategy, National Environmental and Biodiversity Action Plans, National Forestry and Wildlife Policies, a Solid Waste Management Strategy in 2000 and the Climate Change Action Plan.

Senanayake further stated that Sri Lanka does not produce ozone-depleting substances since relatively small amounts of CFCs are in use in our refrigerators and vehicle air conditioners. The Government has planned to phase out CFCs altogether by 2005, five years ahead of the protocol target for countries operating under Article 5. Further the Government has already taken steps to control the import of ozone-depleting substances through new regulations. Further regulations are also in place for controlling imports of used items containing CFCs.

Whilst emphasising that the harvest of misfortune we are reaping today is the result of the seeds we ourselves have sown, Senanayake observed that there is a need to realize that above all it takes courage to honestly tell the peoples of our countries that unless sustainable development processes are ensured with immediate effect, the welfare of future generations would be jeopardized. 

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