World Environment Day

'Mother Earth addresses you'

Unite to beat climate changes brought on by environmental pollution:

Intentionally or unintentionally, the injuries and harm to the environment caused by our actions are on the increase.

Sometimes, now, not like in the past, nature goes topsy-turvy. When it rains, it rains till floods wreak havoc, causing untold damage. When the days are bright and sunny, the sun is so hot that it makes one feel like one is on fire.

The theme of the World Environment Day this year, "The Mother Earth addresses you. Let us get together to beat the climate changes brought on by environmental pollution" almost forcibly reminds us of these disaster.

The following is an interview with Minister for Environment and Natural Resources Patali Champika Ranawaka on the theme and aims of the World Environment Day.

Q. The theme this year applies to the most serious problem facing all countries at present?

A. Yes. The problems caused by water (Water stress) have become a serious problem to the whole world. The biggest disaster of all is that the global warming has caused the polar ice caps to melt.

When the ice-covered mountain peaks of the Himalayas start to melt, the level of water in the Bay of Bengal rises. This directly affects our country. The rise in water levels due to this melting of the ice covered mountain peaks can be as much as 23 percent.

When there is a meltdown at the South Pole, salt water will intrude into some parts of the Jaffna Peninsula, the Muthurajawela Marsh and the Bellanwila Marsh. Next, countless millions of species of plants and animals become extinct and new species of plants and animals take over.

That means, the density of fish and birds decreases while the density of destructive insects such as flies, mosquitoes, cockroaches and bugs begin to increase, causing massive health problems to the humankind.

Q. You mean that the changes in the climate caused by the changes in the environment are a cause for the Dengue fever epidemic that is sweeping the country?

A. Definitely. The natural disasters our country faced in the recent past like the intrusion of salt water in the tsunami and the devastating floods do not stop there. Insectssuch as mosquitoes breed prolifically in the new surroundings. In the past, Dengue had not been reported from Nuwara Eliya, but this time a case of Dengue fever had been reported from that area. There were only two varieties of Dengue that had been identified, but now a third variety has been identified.

Not only in our country, but also in Singapore, one of the cleanest countries, 16 cases of Dengue had been recorded. Even in New York City there are Dengue cases.

This is a very dangerous situation arising from our inability to effectively control global warming. The Dengue epidemic had gone up by 55 percent the world over. That is an unheard-of condition.

Q. When water, the source of life had become the "waters of madness" the temperature control of the world had gone haywire. The final result of this erratic behaviour...?

A. The direct cause of global warming is the ceaseless burning of coal, petroleum and gas. But, the world economic process is heavily dependant upon burning these fossil fuels. The effects of this burning is such that, by now, the earth is covered by a smoke screen consisting of oily smoke like a blanket. This heat pollution is one of the root causes of climatic changes.

In 1997 in the Kyoto Agreement, 39 powerful countries agreed to lower their oil consumption. But, they did not carry out what they agreed to do.

Because of the heat pollution of these large industrialized countries burning trillions of Carbon per year, other countries like us also suffer.

In 2007, scientists of the world introduced a "Carbon Budget" that can be complied with by any country because of this. We are a country that uses the lowest possible amount of Carbon per person per year according to the'Carbon Budget".

While we use 660 tonnes of Carbon per year, a person living in America uses 22,000 tonnes of Carbon per year. If this trend continues, the Carbon resources of the world will be exhausted by 2032. When we look at this problem that way, powerful countries are in environmental debt to us as they are usurping on the environmental space that rightfully belongs to us.

Q. Can anything be done for this?

A. But there is. We have teamed up with Bolivia and are explaining this condition to the powerful nations of the world. Carbon is burned at the rate of 10 million tonnes in America, 1.9 million tonnes in Japan, 1.1 million tonnes in Canada, 893,000 tonnes in Great Britain and Australia 500 lakhs of tonnes per year. When calculated they have to repay their environmental debts. We have a future program for this as they accept that they have violated our right to environmental space.

Q. You have explained the world situation. Can we do something to alleviate these conditions at our level?

A. We are trying to clarify what we can do this World Environment Day. What we are emphasizing by the great exposition that is held at the Vihara Maha Devi Park on June 4, 5 and 6 is how to live in a world without oil.

Agriculture is our biggest problem. We have to take into account the energy crisis and the construction technology.

Many office buildings and hotels in our country waste enormous amounts of energy on air-conditioning and lighting. We emphasize concepts like green building and eco-cities in this exposition. These concepts will be clarified through international films and slide-shows.

Now, we have to be aware of our climate changes. We will not be constructing more coal-powered power stations in Sri Lanka in the future. We have to go for a green economy.

We must search for new varieties of paddy that are resistant to flood and drought conditions. We have to do more to control the ravages of insects. From May to September, the incidence of epidemics arising from insects such as mosquitoes is far greater.

We have to eradicate invasive alien species of plants such as lantana, thorny bamboo, giant mimosa and katuwandara.

We have to relocate human habitations in salty, briny ground. If we do not enforce compliance to these, a great number of our children will fall prey to epidemics.

Spend half a day on June 6, Saturday and tidy up your garden. Tidy up the school garden or the office on Friday.

Twenty two percent of victims of the Dengue epidemic are school children and 33 percent are housewives who have been bitten by mosquitoes during the day.

Keeping the school and home environment clean is of utmost importance. Apart from this, we will be planting 24,000 trees in Ranawiru Villages as a tribute to the war heroes.