CEA chief urges biz community to focus on sustainable development

Udaya Gamanpila, Chairman, Central Environmental Authority, spoke at the sixth Key Person’s Forum on “Business Friendly Environment Management and Regulations leading to Sustainable Development” at Galle Face Hotel.

The Forum was jointly organised by the Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry of Sri Lanka and Small and Medium Enterprise Developers (SMED). SMED is the SME arm of the FCCISL which was established by Friedrich Naumann Stiftung in 1989.

Gamanpila said that it is a wrong notion that the Central Environmental authority is an enemy of the business people and acts against the development goals of the businessmen saying “A lot of people think that we are a big barrier in achieving their business goals”.

Nihal Cooray, Manager, Industrial Engineering, FCCISL, explaining the objective of organising this series of public lectures seminars and discussions said that they feature eminent persons to share their experiences and policy perspectives on matters relevant to private sector. The Forum provides the opportunity for the audience to interact with the guest speaker.

Gamanpila added that CEA was particularly concerned about the development of the country and was in a quest to find the best way of conforming to sustainable development. He said that the aim of CEA is to see that development is achieved in an environmentally friendly atmosphere.

He said that therefore they do not wish to introduce harsh laws and enforce them, but instead, CEA seeks to make developers aware of the environmental implications of their actions.

He said that environment is a matter of sustaining life and the sustenance of the future generations. Gamanpila urged the business community to think of the future so that the future generations would enjoy the same benefits as the present generation.

He said that global warming is showing devastating repercussions and it would be the biggest challenge those in the present world face. He said that due to the warming, the ice caps are melting and those living around the Artic region are happy that they could have easy sea routes but they will soon realise that such countries like the Netherlands and Maldives Islands would submerge soon.

He said that due to the warming there would be a new weather phenomenon that would emerge where all animals would disappear as they would not be able to resist the inclement climate that would emerge. He added that the only surviving animals then would be the bed bugs and cockroaches as they could withstand that emerging inclement climate.

He said that 11,000 people had recently died of heat strokes in Europe- especially in France –a region where such illnesses were previously unheard of. This he attributed to the ‘so-called’ development activities of the people that contribute more and more to the global warming.
Gamanpila said that in the near future apparent development could be seen. People are alive and they strive to have palatial houses, and use new equipment for comfortable life, but at death nothing could be taken with them.

He said that CEA is prepared to work along with the business community and assist them to achieve their development goals within the parameters of environmental norms and conform to sustainable development where matters could be settled in a mutually beneficial manner.

He said that legislation would be introduced in the future to charge for the recycling of waste, as the recycling of waste is a costly affair which distracts the business people undertaking recycling. He said that they would charge the recycling cost at source from manufacturing point and at imports so that funds for recycling would also be available.
Referring to the matter of sound pollution, Gamanpila said that the CEA is taking action to impose the court ruling on sound pollution and when the legislation is in place no one will be allowed to make noises beyond a certain limit after 10 pm to 5 am.

Nawaz Rajabdeen, President, FCCISL summing up the sessions said that the Federation has been working on sustainable development and has been assisting those business people who have sought their support. They have held seminars, workshops and discussions to offer various solutions to eradicate the conflict between the environment and development.

He said that FCCISL is always prepared to assist anyone who wants to carry out their businesses in accordance with the norms of sustainable development. In this regard they will support to conduct any seminars or workshops on environment and sustainable development.