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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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