Sustainable development is a common concept that is deeply embedded in many societies and integrated in their lifestyles, culture, habits, and values. The World Commission on Environment and Development, popularly known as the Brundtland Commission, in 1987 defined sustainable development as, "development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs".
Sri Lanka's vision for sustainable development is "achieving sustained economic growth that is socially equitable and ecologically sound, with peace and stability".
Environmental protection and economic growth must go hand in hand and therefore, Sri Lanka has given priority to developing macroeconomic policies for sustainable development through an environmentally sensitive macroeconomic framework.
This article briefly discusses Sri Lanka's efforts in achieving sustainable development goals while striking a balance between economic development and environmental protection. Over the last few decades, Sri Lanka has gradually been turning from an agriculture-based economy to an industry-based economy. In terms of rapid economic development expectations, large-scale infrastructure development projects such as highways, airports and seaports have been launched in recent times. When development activities are accelerated in urban areas, the so-called urbanisation causes environmental issues like freshwater resources being polluted by industrial waste and sewage runoff, air pollution due to emissions from motor vehicles and factories and other industrial establishments.
Thermal power
Hydropower has been the main electricity generator in the past and it has now been changed to thermal power, greatly depending on oil. Power generation and petroleum consumption in the transport system have brought negative effect on the environment. Sri Lanka is well known for its biodiversity with high concentration of plants and animal species per unit area.
Biodiversity has become a popular concept in the tourism industry for a few decades. However, biodiversity is now threatened by excessive habitat fragmentation and destruction of ecosystems due to deforestation, filling of wetlands, and over exploitation of biological resources such as timber for commercial purposes.
The government has launched several poverty alleviation programmes related to agriculture -- mainly in rural areas. Ever increasing population coupled with continuing economic development has led to numerous environmental issues such as water pollution, destruction of biodiversity, accumulation of garbage and solid waste and poverty. The government has taken
numerous steps to address these issues, sometimes in collaboration with international organisations. Establishing national parks, reserves and sanctuaries, and protection of rain forests are a few of them. The Sinharaja Forest Reserve (tropical lowland rain forest in Sri Lanka) being declared as a World Heritage Site in 1988 is one such significant step taken in the right direction.
Ordinances
Many ordinances have been enacted to protect environment, sometimes dating back to 1848, 1873 and 1938. In recent times, there have been a plethora of Acts and Ordinances to protect forests, wildlife, flora and fauna and notably, these laws are becoming more and more stringent over the years. In 1990, the cabinet approved the National Policy for Wildlife Conservation with the prime objectives of sustaining the ecosystems and ecological processes and the preservation of genetic diversity.
Understandably, strengthening of the legal framework itself would not suffice and yet, it needs the commitment of the officials, support of the law enforcement authorities and the commitment of the society to contain the damage to the environment. The government has made it compulsory to obtain clearance from relevant environmental authorities prior to any industrial construction, confirming that the particular construction is not hazardous to the environment. Government organisations have launched various activities to increase forest cover by distributing plants among citizens and planting trees in bare lands.
It is interesting to note that because of various laws, policies and conservation measures that have been undertaken by successive governments, deforestation rate has considerably gone down since 1990. It is a positive sign of the social commitment towards environmental protection. Therefore, rules and regulations combined with other factors, which I have mentioned above, play a significant role in our way forward to achieving sustainable development goals while protecting the environment.
© Times of Oman 2012
