Green month

THE ENVIRONMENT Ministry has declared a Green Month from October 15 to November 15. The National Tree Planting Day will also be held on October 15.

Although environmental conservation should be a priority every day of the year, a dedicated Green Month can drive home the message in an even more forceful manner. The environment is being assailed by many pollutants. The ground, waterways, the ocean and the air are being polluted by various effluents.

Likewise, the National Tree Planting Day will be an occasion to remind ourselves of the need to protect and nurture Lanka’s dwindling forest cover. The rapid destruction of the forest cover also affects the flora and fauna. Several animal and plant species are endangered and on the verge of extinction. These include rare medicinal plants.

Replanting can be an effective long term solution to deforestation.

The term ‘sustainable forest’ is now in vogue. It is all about managing our forest resources with the future in mind. The old adage still holds true: Plant several trees for every one that is cut down. It is thus appropriate that schools are involved in the tree planting campaign in a big way as the trees will literally grow with the younger generation.

It is rather unfortunate that the ‘Green’ mentality has not yet been ingrained in the national psyche in sharp contrast to other countries where everyone from the toddler to the octogenarian is green conscious. Environmental conservation comes naturally to people in these countries and they refrain from doing any activity that might harm the environment.

Some other countries such as Singapore have also imposed strict laws and fines to control environmental pollution. These measures are effective to a great extent, but it is far better for environmental conservation efforts to come from the heart.

We hope the Green Month and the Tree Planting Campaign will be a precursor to the emergence of such a national consciousness which is vital in the long term as Sri Lanka will not be immune to the effects of global warming, the number one environmental concern at the moment.

Sri Lanka is already playing a pivotal role in accelerated efforts to curb global warming at Governmental level as evident from its unstinted support for all international conventions and protocols on the issue. What is needed now is the permeation of that commitment to the ordinary masses.

Green Nobel

AS EXPLAINED in our first editorial, global warming is a truly international phenomenon on which the whole world must act collectively.

This is just what the Norwegian Nobel Committee has tried to show the world by awarding the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize to former US vice president Al Gore and the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

Gore, whose documentary on global warming ‘An Inconvenient Truth’ has won plaudits for its honest and stark portrayal of the crisis, has labelled global warming a “planetary emergency” .

Gore has indeed become the leading voice on global warming and climate change. The fact that he was a former US Vice President has helped in this campaign through which he has convinced the world to take firm action to reduce global warming.

Gore and Alliance for Climate Protection, the group he leads to promote concrete action to fight global warming, will no doubt be strengthened by this award. It is also fitting that he has shared the award with a UN body, the IPCC, the world’s pre-eminent scientific body devoted to improving our understanding of the climate crisis.

They thoroughly deserve the Peace Prize for their efforts to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about man-made climate change, and to lay the foundations for the measures that are needed to counteract such change, in the words of the Nobel Peace Prize committee.

As Gore has described, we face a true planetary emergency. The climate crisis is not a political issue, it is a moral and spiritual challenge to all of humanity. It is also a great opportunity to lift global consciousness to a higher level.

Both the IPCC and Gore have hugely contributed to highlighting climate change. The Nobel Peace Prize Committee’s selection leaves no doubt whatsoever that combating climate change is a central peace and security policy for the 21st century.

Now it is the turn of all developed countries to heed the UN-Gore call for swift action on climate change. Several developed countries have remained outside the kyoto process.

The November meeting in Bali, Indonesia on refining and strengthening the Kyoto Protocol will be a fine opportunity for the world - North and South - to come together on this issue. The Nobel Committee has shown the way.