Deyata Sevana - National Tree Planting Campaign:

Greening island: A top priority

Disna Mudalige

With the mission of managing the environment and natural resources in order to ensure national commitment for sustainable development for the benefit of the present and future generations the Environment Ministry endeavours to create a country full of green and clean environment. Environment Minister Anura Priyadarshana Yapa spoke to the Daily News about the arrangements set out to achieve this mission

[Clean environment]

* About 30 percent of Lanka has forest reserves
* About 60 percent identified as green areas
* Industrialization affected bio-diversity
* Japan invented hybrid cars to reduce pollution
* Kyoto Protocol targets carbon reduction emissions by 2012
* Carbon Trading Secretariat established in Lanka
* South Korea investing two percent of GDP on greening campaigns
* Bio-fuel, wind power, solar power used to generate electricity in Japan
* Green technology used when constructing houses, buildings
* Planting 1.1 m trees will absorb 60 tons of CO2 per day

Q: What are the initiatives taken by the island to face approaching environmental challenges in the world?

A: Sri Lanka can be satisfied with the state of our environment compared to many countries in the world. About 30 percent of this land is declared as forest reserves and overall 60 percent of the land can be identified as green areas. This is a fact that we can be proud of. The Forest Department has always made sure to plant a new sapling for every tree that they cut down.

However, Sri Lanka cannot escape global warming and climate change calamities which will be adversely felt with the increase of carbon dioxide emissions in the air. Glaciers melt and the sea level rises and as expected all our low lying areas will go under water if the temperature rises by another two degrees Celsius. Landslides, floods as well as droughts may occur frequently due to the impact of climate change. Threats of biodiversity loss and extinction of species also lurking in the air. These are results of embracing industrialization disregarding environmental impacts.

With the realization of this grave factor, today the whole world is finding ways and means to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. Therefore new technology has been used to invent more environment friendly products. For example, Japan has now invented hybrid cars which can be run by electric current once the car is started by using petrol. These have been developed since three generations now.

Proto type electric cars have also emerged. Therefore gradually petrol or diesel vehicles which blow out smoke and make sound pollution can be replaced by those vehicles which are being upgraded in an environment friendly manner.

Q: What is the progress of a united global attempt to fight against carbon dioxide increase?

A: The problem is that developed countries such as America, European countries, China and India emit huge amounts of carbon dioxide to the air annually. There is an agreement called Kyoto Protocol and according to that every country should reduce their carbon emissions to a targeted level by 2012. But no country has acted according to this agreement up to now. Therefore an agreement could not be arrived at regarding this matter at the Copenhagen Summit held last year. Powerful countries are not ready to make some effort towards this target but they want the less powerful countries to do their might to reduce carbon emissions. We positively hope that some agreement regarding this would be reached during the next UNFCC Summit to be held in the near future.

At the same time, if we have planted a considerable number of trees, we have the potentiality to earn USD 10 as an allowance for every carbon dioxide unit that would be absorbed by the trees. This is the Carbon Trading Agreement mentioned in the Kyoto protocol. Developed countries have agreed to set up a fund to facilitate this mechanism. Therefore we have a chance of obtaining financial benefits to the country if we give our attention to such a program. Besides there is a separate Carbon Trading Secretariat established in Sri Lanka.

South Korea has recently agreed to invest two percent of its GDP for greening campaigns. Even Japan is carrying out this work on a large scale. Use of bio-fuel and alternative energy sources such as wind power, sea currents and solar power instead of fossil fuel to generate electricity is one of their main aims.

There is a new method of using green technology when designing and constructing houses and buildings. Taking the maximum benefit of sun light during the day time is considered under it. Already use of solar power to acquire hot water is in practice. These technologies are improving day by day and the whole world is getting ready for a green revolution. We as a country are not isolated from this process. Today even the trade has assimilated the practices and more importance is focused on producing green products. Therefore, we need to make suitable adjustments in every sphere.

Some species even including the polar bear have now been included in the red list as endangered species. The only means to protect them is to control the global warming which will help to balance the natural cycle in the world. If we could not do it, all of us would have to suffer since the human kind would be the worst affected by bio-diversity loss.

Q: What measures are taken to ensure a greener country for future generations?

A: The Ministry has planned to plant 1.1 million saplings over the country within eleven minutes under ‘Deyata Sewana’ National Tree Planting Campaign. This program is organized as a tribute to President Mahinda Rajapaksa. He is a leader who did an enormous service to the country within the past few years unlike any other previous leaders. It is through his guidance that Sri Lanka has become a nation free of terrorism in the South Asian region. He is not only a national leader but also a well recognized international leader.

Therefore we thought of expressing our gratitude to him in an activity linked with nature. As estimated 60 tons of Carbon Dioxide will be absorbed per day while releasing 66 tons of Oxygen gas to the air when these plants grow up. This will also pave way for the country to earn a considerable amount of income through carbon trade when taken into account only the newly planted trees.

This optimistic green action plan will be launched at the auspicious time of 10.07 am on November 15 while looking Eastwards. This is a broader program which also encompasses islandwide schools, temples and government institutions. We invite all the citizens in this country to join us on this day by planting some kind of plant.

I have personally inspected the arrangements of this program by visiting several Provinces. The Chief Ministers support a lot towards the success of this program. Once the plants have been planted we also take the responsibility to take care of them. We hope to carry out this program annually. From next year onwards we hope to distribute plants to persons who are willing to maintain a private forest cover within their own lands.

Q: What are the Ministry’s plans to control air pollution caused by vehicles?

A: At present, we conduct vehicle emission tests in this regard. There is an agreement that we should lift the standards of the emission test annually. If we imposed higher standards at the initial stage, about 35 percent of vehicles used in the country would fail the test. Therefore the standards should be raised gradually.

Buses are exempted from this test at present. In future I plan to make this test compulsory for SLTB buses as well. Many think that influx of new vehicles to the country is a negative factor.

On the contrary, my idea is that new vehicles should be imported, and it’s a plus for the environment since the older vehicles that are not properly maintained will be out of use then. Some of the school vans seen on our roads are in a state of breaking apart and should be taken off the roads.