National policy on Environment

Continued from last week

Papers for discussion at OPA annual sessions

Statements

1. A holistic and integrated approach to the management of environment and its natural resources such as land, water, air, minerals and biodiversity by explicitly identifying and integrating environmental concerns in relevant sectoral and cross-sectoral policies through review and consultation.

2. Management of environment will be through participatory, transparent, predictable and accountable decision-making at the Government, provincial and Local level ensuring the appropriate legislative changes occurs where appropriate within a defined time-frame.

3. A judicious mix of civil and criminal processes and sanctions will be employed in the legal regime for enforcement, through a review of the existing legislation. Civil liability law, civil sanctions, and processes would govern most situations of non-compliance.

Criminal processes and sanctions would be available for serious, and potentially provable, infringements of environmental law, and their initiation would be vested in responsible authorities.

4. In addition to protecting the environment from abuse, management systems will take into account the need to restore environments damaged in the past.

5. The economic value of environmental services will be recognized so as to assure the sustainability of such services for the benefit of the people.

6. The Regulatory Authorities, Provincial Councils and Local Authorities will be encouraged to institutionalize the process of environmental impact assessment to ensure that environmental concerns are identified and addressed at the planning stage itself.

7. The state of the environment will continuously be assessed and reported on through appropriate institutionalized monitoring mechanisms, which are based on comprehensive set of indicators.

8. Responsible public-private and community partnerships and linkages will be promoted at all levels of environmental management and conservation.

9. Education at all levels, together with research, will be promoted in a manner designed to increase the level of awareness of all aspects of the environment and its care and management among the stockholders.

10. Socially responsible behaviours will be encouraged and further developed through an effective framework of awareness building, incentives and legal enforcement.

11. International commitments will be honoured as part of our responsibility to the national and global communities, and recognizes the interdependencies among, and Tran boundary character of several environmental problems.

Cross Sectoral guidelines:

1. Improve on the poor people’s accessibility to environmentally sound technologies such as improved cooking stoves, crop production technologies, composting, recycling, rain water harvesting, low cost buildings that improve the soil, water conservation and integrated pest management.

2. Develop a master plan to ensure the growth of towns and cities in a planned manner.

3. Formulate and implement culturally appropriate strategies and action plans in invigorating population planning programs, especially in sensitive ecosystems.

4. Include “Gender and Environment” in the curricular of education and training.

5. Incorporate environmental health and health care management component into medical teaching and training programs.

6. Introduce an effective health care waste management system in all health care facilities.

7. Certify/accredit private and public sector environmental laboratories 8. Build the capacity of public/private sector in relevant areas ISO certification, technology transfer, laboratory certification, and testing.

9. Build capacities of elected district Government representatives and local Government officials for effective management and participation in environmental Governance.

10. Devolve necessary powers to ensure effective environmental management.

11. Establish disaster management units at National, District, local and community based organization level.

Policy Instruments: The following policy instruments will be adapted in achieving the objectives of the policy:

1. Integration of environment into development planning

2. Legislations and regulatory framework

3. Capacity development

4. Economics and market based instruments

5. Public awareness and education

6. Public-private-civil society participation

Pollution Abatement:

Pollution is the inevitable generation of substances in the form of gases. liquids or solids from the production and consumption of materials. Pollution directly impacts the quality of the receiving medium, i.e. air, water, soil, humans and ecosystems. In general, the impacts on the receptor are adverse, but not always.

Typically, air, water, soil, humans and specific ecosystems have some natural capacities to assimilate pollution; however, these vary considerably with the nature of the pollutant and the system. In general, it is cheaper to reduce the emissions of pollution, than to mitigate it after generation, or to treat the receiving medium or receptor.

(To be continued next week)

Some suggestions to eradicate/reduce levels of bribery and corruption

Continued from last week

4.3 Petty Corruption (Payment for Government Services)

With the rising cost of living, exactions by cash strapped government servants can be expected to increase. At the same time, the citizens at the receiving end of such demands are also likely to be cash strapped and least able to afford this.

Here, civic society groups can solicit citizen-customer feedback on government services.

Electronic ticketing can ensure that people don’t jump the queue for services, and the amount of time taken to complete a particular job, e.g. getting a birth certificate, a land registration deed, or company incorporation, can be measured by a civic society group monitoring a particular office.

For example, in Singapore, clerks at immigration and the tax authority are routinely clocked to see how fast they deal with a subject.

In Sri Lanka, such feedback would also query whether a bribe was demanded, by whom, and how much was paid. By putting the spotlight on the problem, such involvement with the problem will put officials on the back foot as well as convey a sense of empowerment to the common man, a feeling that is obviously absent at present.

4.4 Government Waste and Fraud (Use of State Resources for Private Use and Foreign Junkets)

Civic Society Groups should seek the enactment of Freedom of Information legislation that would enable it to tabulate the amount of government resources utilized in the form of houses occupied, vehicles used, and foreign trips taken by officials. These should be published on a website, and could even be published bi-annually in newspapers.

5. General Observations

When one examines the Constitution of Sri Lanka, the Standing Orders, the Acts of Parliament and the laws giving powers to the Auditor General, the Attorney General, the Bribery Commissioner, the Judiciary, Special Committees set up by Parliament and so on, it is quite apparent that, in theory at least, adequate checks and balances are in place to ensure that Sri Lanka is free of corruption.

However, bribery and corruption is at its peak and has been continuing unabated over the past three decades and it gets worse day by day. Virtually every newspaper carries corruption related articles on a daily basis. Some articles refer to Mega frauds exceeding billions of Rupees.

Some years ago, other countries in the region such as Singapore, China and Hong Kong were placed in situations similar to what Sri Lanka is presently facing. They decided to take remedial action and Singapore in particular introduced additional laws and adopted a somewhat ruthless approach to stamp out bribery and corruption.

Singapore succeeded and at present it is almost corruption free. Today people look up to Singapore as a role model and she is the envy of countries in the region. Singapore’s success is referred to later on in this report.

The principal reason for the incredibly pathetic state of affairs in Sri Lanka is that there is absolutely no commitment or will of the people or the political leaders to weed out corruption.

This is the biggest problem facing the country. For Sri Lanka to succeed there has to be a reawakening of its citizens and they have to contribute their share in combating corruption. To sit back and do nothing will be fatal.

6. Some suggestions to eliminate/reduce corruption.

Introduction of Special Professional Committees (SPCS)

In order to ascertain the degree of corruption, to identify the main factors contributing to this state of affairs and particularly as to why the law enforcement agencies together with the regulatory bodies are so ineffective and, to take remedial action, the following plan of action is proposed.

* Special Professional Committees (SPCS) should set up to study, review and independently evaluate the workings of all Regulatory Bodies including the Auditor General’s Dept, the Bribery Commissioner’s Dept and the several Special Commissions set up by Parliament such as COPE and COPA.

* SPCs should be appointed by Parliament and its members should be selected on merit, experience, professional qualifications, integrity and follow a transparent procedure without sectarian bias. Political stooges and hangers on should not be entertained.

* SPCs should critically examine and highlight shortcomings in the way these units work and make their recommendations. They should focus on corrupt practices prevailing in the system.

* SPCs should review the reports rendered by the Regulatory Bodies and ensure that matters recommended are implemented.

SPCs should be empowered to take up these issues with the Auditor General, the Bribery Commissioner and others. They should put in place follow up procedures and they should be responsible for implementation and enforcement.

* SPCs should report directly to the President and it is recommended that their reports should be made available to the public through the Government Press on a monthly or quarterly basis.

* SPCs reports should be acted upon within 30 days of reaching the President.

* A Special Court of Law should be in place to hear only cases of bribery and corruption referred to it by SPCs. These cases should be dealt with swiftly and judgments delivered within 30 days.

All judgments should be given wide publicity SPCs should review the various Acts of Parliament and completely overhaul and revise the penalties/fines upwards so that they act as a deterrent.

The new Companies Act No 7 of 2007 has raised certain fines from Rs. 500 to Rs. 50,000. Perhaps they should be guided by the fines enforced in Singapore and China.

* For major/serious cases of corruption the jail sentences may require revision. Such sentences to be enforced without fear or favour. China is a classic example. Recently they executed by hanging the chief regulator of drugs on a charge of corruption. SPCs should review the present jail sentences.

(To be continued next week)