Let the 'battle' begin

The first WED celebrated in a united Sri Lanka:

by Sajitha PREMATUNGE

The World Environment Day (WED) - which fell on June 5 - was celebrated last Thursday and Friday, with a lineup of awareness programmes and exhibitions, for the first time in a united Sri Lanka. "Until now we didn't have any control over 60% of coast and 30% of the land area. But now we have total control", said Minister of Environment and Natural Resources Patali Champika Ranawaka. "But now we have a greater task at hand. The battle against climate change." He further said that all Sri Lankans have a duty to towards the children of military heroes who sacrificed their lives for the sake of unity.

This years WED theme was `Your Planet Needs You - Unite to Combat Climate Change'. Minister Champika Ranawaka explained that climate change is induced by global warming, which in turn is brought on by the excessive burning of fossil fuel. The programme identified fields that could be adversely affected by climate change such as health, agriculture, energy as well as environment.

Environmental issues

Apart from the well-known floods, forest fires, droughts and melting of the polar icecaps and their disastrous consequences it would entail Minister Champika Ranawaka identified the major ecological issue induced by global warming - that has the greatest significance for Sri Lanka - as salinization and the spread of invasive species.

He emphasized the importance of managing them at the WED program. Twenty eight species of plants and 13 species of animal have been identified so far as invasives. Among them Lantana is threatening to displace local plant species of Udawalawa and Lunugam Wehera. Katu Andara and Katu Una have threatened the ecological equilibrium of Wilpattu and Minneriya respectively.

Global warming has also led to the exponential growth of parasites such as mosquitoes, flies and cockroaches - parasites that would have been the result of lack of cleanliness - which would in tern lead to a lot of health issues.

Health issues

A salient feature of this years WED programme is the emphasis on awareness.

In an awareness programme for school children the Minister Champika Ranawaka said that 33% of housewives and 23% of school children are subjected to dengue. A staggering 95 people have succumbed to dengue in the past five months alone.

But Minister Champika Ranawaka said that there is no point in laying the blame on the Health Ministry. "It's our individual responsibility to prevent the spread of such epidemics." The Minister called for a voluntary programme for the elimination of mosquito breeding sites on four consecutive Saturdays beginning Saturday 6, June, and emphasized that this should be carried out especially in suburbs. He reiterated that local authorities also have a duty to take part in these activities.

Agricultural issues

The World Food Organization has foretold that the Asian region would suffer a severe food shortage due to climate change. Minister Champika Ranawaka as well as Maithripala Sirisena, Minister of Agricultural Development and Agrarian Services Development said that water resources have to endure the greatest pressure due to global warming, which in turn would affect agriculture.

In the main WED programme held on June, 5 he also said "a government cannot make it rain. If the reservoirs are incapable of providing the necessary amount of water no amount of protests will alter that". He further explained that this year there is a 20% down turn of agricultural production because of climatic irregularities.

Energy issues

W. D. J. Seneviratne, Minister of Power and Energy who presided over the opening ceremony of Sobha 2009, National Environment Exhibition said "We are a ministry that is in conflict with nature." He explained that 65% of power generation depends on fossil fuel, but explained that they are trying to be more eco-friendly in the future, by popularizing clean power such as solar power. But pointed out that the main problem is the cost of such high-tech methods. We are forced to provide power at the cheapest of cost to the public, in other words coal produced power. 35% of the power supply still depends on hydro power. "We have observed temperature highs like never before. This will no doubt affect power generation as well as agriculture" said the minister.

During the WED programme Minister Champika Ranawaka reiterated that not enough attention is paid to identify who is responsible for climate change.

"Climate change affects the whole world and a handful of so-called developed countries are to be held mainly responsible. They have no right to play with the lives of unborn children." The minister claimed that their irresponsible and excessive burning of fossil fuel had thrown the ecology of the whole world off balance.

He also reiterated the fact that Sri Lanka as a nation must be better prepared to counter the catastrophic affects of climate change, in terms of economy, energy and production methods.