The Hon. K.V. Samantha Viddyarathna - Minister of Plantation and Community Infrastructure

¶ 01 Sir, we are discussing the Heads of Expenditure of two Ministries. I especially wish, at this moment, to present several points relevant to the Ministry of Environment.

¶ 02 Today, the entire world faces vast environmental crises. Most summits and agreements among world leaders are about environmental issues. Like many other countries, our motherland too faces numerous environmental challenges without end, and we are now dealing with their consequences. Even while we talk of global warming, climate change, and biodiversity loss, we can see the practical problems—landslides, floods, forest fires, etc. If we ask where these originate, however one may put it, politics is strongly involved.

¶ 03 We faced a massive economic crisis in recent years; we fell into an abyss. Now, as we try to lift our heads out of it, the old groups try to push us back into that pit. But we think the people have understood this. The country did not collapse only economically; these issues are all interlinked and cannot be solved in isolation. Politically-driven actions have also subjected us to problems environmentally, culturally, and religiously. We now need to untangle these one by one. In the past, there was a tendency to plunder natural resources; a period of extreme destruction of resources existed. From that position, we are now compelled to hold this discussion.

¶ 04 Sir, historically, who protected the environment? Was it the villagers and townsfolk? Officials and ordinary society had to act, but it was the rulers who bore prime responsibility; if we say the main group that harmed the environment was Governments, that is correct. We environmentalists fought in the villages against the Government. Some junior officials might have acted as the Governments wished, but we saw many officials too were pressured along with those Governments. Even then, there were officials who showed courage.

¶ 05 Now a good era has dawned. The entire people together built a Government of the National People’s Power under the leadership of Hon. Anura Kumara Dissanayake, with great hopes. Therefore, now the Government and we together will strive to protect the environment, culture, and religion while rebuilding the country. The economy is not separate from the environment; these are integrated. In the past, they tried to do environmental enemy “development”—development that clashes with the environment. Our view is to take the country towards environmentally friendly development. We can have industries, agriculture, and other policies, but all of it must be done together with the environment. In history, Ministries worked in isolation. A special feature of our Government is to think in an integrated way; we are planning all activities in a coordinated manner so that we move towards environmentally friendly development and build an environment-friendly human society.

¶ 06 Sir, I must note a few urgent issues. This Ministry now has good leadership with environmental sensitivity, capacity, and dedication: Hon. (Dr.) Dammika P. as Minister; and State Minister Hon. Anton Jayakody, an experienced environmentalist and geologist. We believe they have the strength to deliver justice through this Ministry.

¶ 07 In formulating the NPP’s environmental policy, we based it on 13 core principles and proposed 80 actions. I cannot state all here. Our first principle: environmental justice must prevail. In the past, there was no environmental justice—towards rivers, forests, animals, and humans as part of nature. Second: maintain balance between environment and development. The present Ministry, utilizing the NPP policy, has organized its programme accordingly. We discussed sustainable resource use and set out 80 actions for that in our policy. Many officials are already studying and adopting these into new work plans.

¶ 08 Two points from those actions: Under Action 6, soil conservation and creating fertile soils. I live in the central highlands—the heart of the country. The central hills are aging rapidly and suffered large destruction in the past; they could not recover. As a result, we suffer landslides and soil erosion. Our rivers and streams run chocolate-brown, carrying away the fertile topsoil, which deposits in reservoirs like Rantembe and Randenigala. Then the State must spend to dredge them. This affects our agriculture and economy. Therefore, I propose a special project for soil conservation under this Ministry without delay. This loss of soil must be curtailed. Rantembe Reservoir is said to be 65 percent silted—this is from the Ministry’s own data—meaning the reservoir’s womb holds only 35 percent water now. Randenigala too is significantly silted. The last Government built the Uma Oya multipurpose project; now Puhulpola Reservoir too has significant siltation. We cannot keep merely speaking; answers are needed.

¶ 09 With this soil erosion we face major issues—especially landslides in the central hills. Long ago, even before an environmental authority was set up, our Party Leader, the beloved Rohana Wijeweera, warned of this. Now we suffer the consequences.

¶ 10 On the 7th, the Badulla District Coordinating Committee met. Our Ministry has launched a special housing project. In the past, houses were built for political supporters. Our Government decided that where the National Building Research Organisation declares “this settlement is in a high-risk landslide zone; relocate immediately or people may die,” we will prioritize those families for housing. Our Ministry is also responsible for the estate community—line-room dwellers. In our District, 2,219 families in the estates live under high landslide risk; we decided to build their houses this year. Beyond the estates, in Badulla District, 1,815 more families live under such risk. We must act, and we cannot let them suffer as those in Meeriyabedda did.

¶ 11 In the past political culture, it was not only our natural hills that collapsed. Hon. Minister of Environment, in your very Ministry’s domain, the Meethotamulla garbage mountain collapsed causing deaths. There was no focus on environment. Immediate attention is needed. We also have a serious issue of bush fires. In Ella, a tourist hub, controlling fires takes vast expense and affects tourism. This time a vast area of Ella Rock burned, and the Ella-Wellawaya main road was fully closed; a bypass had to be opened a few days ago. People face such problems.

¶ 12 Second, under Action 9, we proposed a programme to protect all water sources. Our water sources are severely abused and destroyed. We discussed with the Minister, the State Minister, and officials to measure and protect these sources, and asked for the opportunity to carry this out. I request that this be treated as a national priority; educate the people, survey the sources, and implement a protection programme. People who die can be born again, but when a spring dies, it is not easy to bring it back. Therefore, focusing on such sensitive issues, we wish strength and courage to the Minister, State Minister, and officials to carry out the Ministry’s work successfully. Thank you.