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| Sunday, 14 July 2002 |
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Bid to protect coastal, marine environment by Shanika Sriyananda Liyanage In a bid to take immediate measures to protect the coastal and marine environment in the South Asian region from oil spills, Sri Lanka along with the other four member countries of the South Asian Seas Program (SASP) will sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to adopt the South Asia Regional Oil Spill Contingency Plan soon, Minister of Environment and Natural Resources Rukman Senanayake said. According to Mr. Senanayake, signing of the MoU is very important to Sri Lanka since most of the oil tanker traffic passes through the South of the country. "Oil pollution due to ships, offshore units, sea ports and oil handling facilities is a significant environmental problem here, and there is an urgent need to take prompt and effective action to minimize the damage", he pointed out. Minister Senanayake emphasized the importance of having a regional cooperation to recognize the hazard as all the regional countries face the same situation. "The first National Oil Spill Contingency Plan was prepared in 1995 with the purpose of organizing an integrated action to prevent and mitigate pollution, and if possible restore damage. But, due to limited resources such as machinery for very complex operations and dearth of skilled personnel, the Plan could not be effectively implemented", he said. The second inter-governmental meeting of Ministers of SASP was held on July, in Colombo to sign a MoU to map out the South Asia Regional Oil Spill Contingency Plan. Minister Senanayake was elected as the Chairman of the SASP. Ministers on Environment of the SASP countries - Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, India, Maldives and Pakistan - and Ambassadors and High Commissioners participated. Signing of MoU was postponed as only two countries - Sri Lanka and Bangaladesh- agreed to sign the MoU. "The other countries, India, Pakistan and the Maldives agreed to sign the MoU as soon as possible," Minister Senanayake added. |
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