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| Tuesday, 25 May 2004 |
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by Florence Wickramage Government should strictly enforce our Conservation laws to prevent bio-piracy and loss of natural treasures since we are living at a time where world attention is focussed on biodiversity, said former Additional Secretary to the Environment and Natural Resources Ministry and Environmentalist Sunil Sarath Perera as the guest speaker. He was addressing a seminar on "Water, Food and Health for All" held in Colombo recently. He said that Agenda 21 of the Rio Summit and the Earth Summit at Johannesbourg had detailed specifically the course of action countries should adopt to protect the environment and conserve biodiversity. During the recent past, our biodiversity was blatantly pilferred by unscrupulous people. Serious destruction to the environment was caused by illegal gem mining, illegal felling of trees, poaching etc. while the country lost several indigenous species of fauna and flora due to bio-piracy. Sarath Perera further added that in the Sri Lankan culture, our ancestors preserved and conserved water as a hallowed treasure. The "Wew Bendi Rajjyaya" (the Kingdom of Tanks) is still a living example of preservation and sustainable use of water by farmers and the Sri Lankan people as a whole, for generations. Perera emphasised that there was increasing world attention on Sri Lanka as a bio-diversity hotspot. This is all the more reason why strict enforcement of the law is important to protect our biodiversity from the threat of bio-piracy, he said. |
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