Improper land use causes environmental degradation - Minister
Samarasinghe
Disaster Management and Human Rights Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe in
a message to mark the International Day for Disaster Reduction 2008 said
improper land use causes vast environmental degradation resulting in
increased occurrences of disasters in different areas of the country.
Closer attention will be paid for mitigating damages caused by improper
land use initiating several actions. The theme for this year is Hospital
Safety from Diasters.
Excerpts from the message: In this instance I wish to refer to the
Sri Lanka DM Policy, in which the first priority out of the three
priorities accorded to the Main Elements of Disaster Risk Management (DRM)
is, “During normal time the highest priority will be accorded to
preparedness to ensure safety of the people; Mitigation/prevention and
Integration in Development to the best possible extent to reduce risk
and ensure sustainable development in the country.”
In this context, sustainable development in hazard prone areas is to
be achieved by integrating mitigation in the development process.
Here mitigation includes a wide range of activities and protection
measures ranging from the physical measures, similar to constructing
stronger buildings, to the procedural, such as incorporating hazard
aspect in land-use planning. Therefore mitigation refers to a range of
policies, legislative mandates and professional practices designed to
prevent, reduce or minimise the effects of hazards on a community
including the built environment.
Consideration of disasters and development is important in two ways,
the first being the possibility of prevailing disasters impacting upon
the proposed development and on the other hand, the proposed development
by the disturbance to the environment, creating new disasters or
increasing the magnitude and frequency of the prevailing disasters.
In the present rapid development process, it is evident that improper
land use causes vast environmental degradation resulting in increased
occurrences of disasters in different areas of the country.
Therefore closer attention will be paid for mitigating damages caused
by improper land use initiating several actions. The Disaster Management
and Human Rights Ministry and the DMC will support measures to
mainstream disaster mitigation in the health sector.
In this context Disaster Mitigation requires certain organisational
and procedural measures. This institutionalisation of Disaster
Mitigation in the different institutions is very vital in sustaining
this as a practice within the organizations.
I have even proposed to the National Planning Division to have a
separate chapter in the National Plan itself which would underscore the
importance of factoring in DRR in all government policies and plans.
This should be even extended to the sizable private sector in our
country.
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