Country’s forest density down to 16%: NMSJ calls for remedial action

The National Movement for Social Justice, led by former Speaker Karu Jayasuriya, has urged the government to immediately address the emerging environmental crisis in Sri Lanka.Issuing a statement, the Chairman of the National Movement for Social Justice (NMSJ) Karu Jayasuriya has said that a recent report by an independent collective of civil societies showed that Sri Lanka’s forest density decreased to 16 percent last year. The government should understand that Sri Lanka is facing a very serious environmental crisis, in addition to the massive economic and political crisis, he has said.

The NMSJ head said that he and his outfit have already drawn the attention of the government to this issue and expects the entire government to collectively take the basic steps necessary to address the issue immediately.

He has said it is the responsibility of the entire society to ensure that the future generations of the country at least do not inherit that loss due to the decisions made by the previous regime.

“The seriousness of it can be understood by the fact that an elephant is dying every day in the country and 395 elephants have died in 2022 alone. The other most tragic situation is considering the human resources that have been lost in the past due to the elephant-human conflict. That number is in the thousands.”

He said at present, this situation is rapidly developing into a huge crisis, not only because of the helplessness that we have as a country in the face of the air pollution that enters the country through other land areas in addition to the harmful gases leaking into the environment from the territory of Sri Lanka.

Jayasuriya cautioned that the food crisis that may arise due to the impact on the country’s agriculture will be the most serious threat people face.

“As the National Movement for Social Justice, we have already drawn the government’s attention to this huge danger and we expect that the measures planned as informed by the President will be taken immediately,” the Chairman of NMSJ said.