Environmentalists aren’t a nuisance

Wednesday 17th February, 2021

The government has, true to form, sought to make light of severe environmental degradation caused by some of its development projects, and programmes to help the rural folk. Its ill-conceived scheme to promote traditional agriculture by releasing what it calls residual forests for farming has had a devastating impact on the country’s forest cover, which has decreased to an alarming 17%. Land grabbers are having a field day. They have encroached on the Sigiriya sanctuary as well on the pretext of growing crops.

Minister of Highways Johnston Fernando, speaking at a recent function to mark the launch of an irrigation project, lashed out at environmentalists. He seems to consider them a nuisance. What he ought to realise is that the proposed irrigation reservoirs will invariably fail for want of water if the country’s forest cover recedes further. He should know the value of trees more than anyone else because his electorate, Kurunegala, is in the North-Western Province affected by a chronic water scarcity.

In ancient times, Sri Lankan kings built reservoirs to raise the water table and thereby facilitate the growth of forests besides meeting the water needs of humans and animals. Those rulers believed in sustainable development. They knew that the success of their irrigation projects hinged on the expansion of the forest cover. They succeeded in their endeavour and the country became the Granary of the East. Today, there are reservoirs, but the forest cover is fast disappearing. Rains fail; so do crops, and food is imported.

Johnston is one of the few ministers who work really hard. But he must not dupe himself into believing that environmentalists are an impediment to development and the ongoing protests against the destruction of forests and wetlands are part of a conspiracy to sabotage the government’s development drive. He is seeing more devils than vast hell can hold.

Johnston said, at the aforesaid event, that he could not understand why an endangered tree, Curdia zeylanica, in the path of the Central Expressway under construction, in Gampaha, was being given the same treatment as a Bodhi. Some Buddhist monks have draped a saffron robe around the tree to save it. Environmentalists will tell the Minister that every tree is sacred and must therefore be protected. The challenge before the Ministry of Highways, the Road Development Authority, the Forest Department and the protesting environmental outfits is to put their heads together and figure out how to construct the expressway while saving the invaluable tree. An intelligent solution is called for.

Meanwhile, environmentalists and concerned citizens have come together to save a wetland in a suburb of Colombo; an elevated highway is to be built across the Talangama wetland, which is an ecological treasure trove, and the historical Averihena tank. This biodiversity hotspot, declared an EPA (Environmental Protection Area) in 2007, is home to a wide range of flora and fauna, and more than 100 bird species are sighted in the area, according to ornithologists. The area is also a famous tourist attraction. It is surprising why those who designed the highway did not care to spare the biodiversity hotspots, recognised under the Ramsar Convention, and some populous areas. The process of issuing the Environmental Impact Assessment Report for the road project has hit a snag.

One may argue that development is always at the expense of the environment. But development has to be made sustainable if it is to benefit humankind and other creatures; we must do everything possible to reduce environmental damage to a bare minimum in achieving our development goals and might as well do without the development projects that entail huge environmental and social costs.

It behoves governments to consult all stakeholders when development projects are planned and decisions that affect ecologically sensitive areas are taken. Political leaders and bureaucrats must not consider it infra dig to do so if environmental degradation is to be avoided.