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Thursday, 17 November 2011

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Nature-friendly development

It is quite some time since the more knowledgeable and enlightened sections of world opinion came to realize that we cannot have economic growth at any cost. The reservations that such sections have had on the subject of material advancement are reflected in the changing conception of development itself. While at one time growth combined with equity or redistributive justice was considered as constituting development, today, this criterion of economic health too is seen as dated.

Now what is seen as essential, and very rightly so, is Sustainable Development. That is, man is required to tie material advancement with efforts to preserve his natural environment. Economic growth cannot be achieved at the cost of nature and her vital endowments which are central to the planet's wholeness. This is the new development philosophy mankind is expected to abide by and none could object to this eminently advisable guidepost to a safer and greener life on earth.

The Lankan state, under a far-seeing directive by President Mahinda Rajapaksa, is currently engaged in the task of planting some 1.1 million Na saplings right through the land and this is certain to strike the observer as being entirely in tune with the new development thinking, which, among other things, is entirely promotive of the ethic of the Reverence for Life. Essentially, the ethic of Reverence for Life upholds the view that all forms of life must be respected and preserved. Needless to say, this state of affairs is entirely in keeping with the philosophy of life preached by our major religions and this is the perspective upheld by our very own 'Deyeta Sevana' programme too.

Sri Lanka has and is making tremendous progress on the material plane and one of the pointers to this progress is the Middle Income Country status we have achieved. It is to be expected that this news will generate joy all around and many are bound to be smugly complacent over the fact that in per capita income and other relevant terms we are in quite an envious income bracket. But we cannot afford to let down our defences. Development and material progress cannot be at the expense of the natural environment and we cannot consider ourselves as being out of the woods completely in matters concerning the environment.

The continuing human-elephant conflict, for instance, is proof that we are entirely not in harmony with the animal world. Sri Lanka's urbanization and industrialization process is continuing at the cost of the elephant's natural habitat and unless and until 'development' could be brought in tune with the requirements of the animal world, the human-elephant conflict could be expected to continue. We need hardly say that phenomena, such as, continuing landslides and excessive flooding are clear pointers to the environmental costs of material growth.

Accordingly, our efforts at environmental protection must continue apace and it is gladdening to note that state initiatives in this direction are being implemented. Hopefully, the Environment Ministry would receive substantial financial resources at the upcoming budget to carry on with its mandated tasks. Let it never be forgotten that negligence of the natural environment and its requirements could prove highly counter-productive.

The costs of such negligence could be enormous and we are constantly reminded of this through the environmental tragedies unfurling in numerous parts of the world. There is certainly no room for complacency.

But we are obliged to do all within our means and power to preserve and protect our natural environment and the current state initiatives in this direction are commendable. But more could be done by the state to prevent environmental destruction willfully brought about by humans, such as sand, coral mining and illicit timber-felling, and this needs to be carried out with redoubled urgency. No quarter could be given to those who engage in such destructive acts and the law should be implemented rigorously and consistently.


 

‘Pakistan Navy meeting Indian Ocean security challenges’

Paper presented by Rear Adm Khan Hasham Bin Saddique at Galle Dialogue - 2011:

The maritime security challenges in Indian Ocean are both multidimensional and multifaceted and involve a host of non-traditional or non-military threats and challenges. Threats like maritime terrorism, drug trafficking and piracy have acquired trans-regional dimension. Besides, narco-arms and human smuggling remain rampant in the region and are further complicating the security matrix,

Full Story

Socio-economic scene

Whose vanity, whose sanity?

The inability of our bureaucracy to cope with the modern world was graphically illustrated recently at the conference of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka, held at Waters Edge, Battaramulla.

Full Story

Need for regional body to match IO’s influence

The Indian Ocean is a region of growing strategic significance. The nations of this region are home to 2.6 billion people, almost 40 percent of the world’s population, accounting for 10 percent of global GDP - and rising rapidly. Its sea lines of communication are among the world’s most important - 40 percent of global trade passes through the Indian Ocean,

Full Story

 

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