Business sector urged to play role in preserving forest cover

by Shirajiv Sirimane

Forestry: The forest cover in Sri Lanka is decreasing fast and the business community has to take a lead role in restoring it, said the Secretary General of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce (CCC) Prema Cooray.

Speaking at the launch of the eco efficient productivity project at Colombo Hilton on Monday he said that the forest cover which was over 40 percent in 1950's have now reduced by nearly half. "The aim of this project is to increase this," he said.

The Ambassador of Royal Netherlands Embassy, Reynout Dijk said that they would be financing this project.

Chairman of CCC, Mahen Dayananda said that the Chamber will provide technical and financial assistance to the private sector companies for implementation of environmental management projects and adoption of best practices in Cleaner production.

"Sometimes private sector organisations think twice before investing in eco friendly projects because the gestation period of such projects is comparatively long and returns are not immediately visible. But those who have embarked on such project agree that such projects really pay off in terms of improving the competitiveness of products, improving social image of the organisation and creating better market access.

"At the same time embarking on such projects is part of our social responsibility because we have an obligation to safeguard the environment, we are living in and to make it a safer place for our future generations," he added.

'This project will be an added boost to private sector organizations planning to embark on such projects. I hope you all will make maximum use of the assistance provided by this project to embark on new eco friendly projects," he added.

The Ceylon Chamber is very conscious of the need to minimise the harmful impact on the environment and has undertaken various initiatives to encourage private sector in this regard.

The Chamber set up an Environment Sub Committee comprising eminent business leaders and experts on Natural Resource Management more than 10 years ago. The Sub Committee has been actively involved in promoting best practices in Environmental Management among the private sector.

This committee has also worked closely with relevant Government agencies in formulating business friendly environmental regulations and encouraging companies to comply with such regulations. The Chamber also implemented the World Bank funded CleaNet Project, which acted as an Information Clearing House for eco friendly technologies and best practices in cleaner production.

The project assisted the private sector organizations to adopt clean technologies through technical assistance of ITI and the financial assistance from E-Friends low cost loan scheme of National Development Bank.