Hemantha
Withanage
Executive
Director,
Centre for Environmental Justice
Thirty
five year old Central Environmental Authority (CEA) is one of the agencies in
Sri Lanka that always subject to criticism as a failed institution. Sri Lankans
have lost the faith on the CEA over the last decade since it has not been able
to control natural resource destruction
or control pollution as expected when establishing this agency in 1980. It is
now an agency demonstrating its nickname ‘Can’t Enforce Anything’.
CEA’s problem starts with putting politically appointed
Board of Directors who are not sharing the vision on environmental
conservation. I believe the CEA management in the past decade has misunderstood
its mission and has taken development mandate from political leadership
forgetting that CEA’s role is to protect the environment. The National Environmental
Act has not given powers to the CEA to compromise the environment with the
development but the “management and
conservation of the country’s natural resources in order to obtain the optimum
benefits therefrom and to preserve the same for future generations ...(Section
17 of the NEA No 47 0f 1980).
CEA does not know its limits. It has taken roles on the
waste management, public awareness, and even managing the waste landfills
rather than ensuring the environmental quality in the country, environmental
law enforcement, management of natural resources and guiding the rest of the
government agencies by providing standards, guidelines etc. CEA has not
developed its staff capacity, skills and even the mindset of the employees to
play a more leading role in the conservation.
There are plenty of examples to show that it has failed to
manage the Environmental Assessment procedure and the Environmental Protection
License procedure. Our rivers, soil and air have become more polluted; the
forest and wetlands have been more destroyed and encroached while CEA is
sitting on the National Environmental Act.
The most recent example is that approval of the 1 MW mini
hydro-power project in Morapitiya- Athwelthota waterfall where National
Aquatic Resource and Research Agency found that 15 fish species out of 25
species found during their visit are Critically endangered (1) Endangered (9)
Vulnerable (1) and near threatened (4). In
fact two point endemic fish species i.e Martenstyne’s
Goby and Rasboroides nigomarginatus have been recorded only in this location.
It is a living laboratory for the scientist and national pride for the Sri
Lankans.
As mentioned in the Eppawela Jusdgement "The
capitalist economy" [as distinguished from Adam Smith`s concept of a
market economy] "has a potentially fatal ignorance of two subjects. One is
the nature of money. The other is the nature of life. This ignorance leads us
to trade away life for money, which is a bad bargain indeed. "
CEA Chairman’s decision to destroy this
nationally and internationally important habitat in public trust clearly shows
that in his thinking life has no value compared to making money by converting
water pressure into electricity. I wonder whether he can tell his children and grand
children the he decided to destroy this habitat for just 1 MW hydropower project
which is insignificant where more environmental friendly alternatives are
available in this era of climate change.
Fifty-five
years ago, a famous author, Wallace Stegner wrote "Something will have gone out of us as a people if we ever let
the remaining wilderness be destroyed; if we permit the last virgin forests to
be turned into comic books and plastic cigarette cases; if we drive the few
remaining members of the wild species into zoos or to extinction; if we pollute
the last clear air and dirty the last clean streams and push our paved roads through
the last of the silence,....and "We simply need that wild country
available to us, even if we never do more than drive to its edge and look in.
For it can be a means of reassuring ourselves of our sanity as creatures, a
part of the geography of hope.”
Soon
Athwelthota waterfall will start pumping money for the Sakura Energy, a company
owned by a political dynasty. People will have no choice rather naming and shaming
the government and the CEA. Is this the public interest we can expect from the
public bodies such as CEA?
The
report produced by Dr. Kularathne in the University of Kelaniya at the request
of CEA argue that people agree to destroy of the Athwelthota waterfall just
because 22 people died over the past 5 decades in this fall. I wonder why they do
not understand that in a country where about 2700 people have died only in 2015
by road accidents, where more than 150 people die annually due to elephant
attacks, where over 2500 people commit suicide annually and almost 1 million
people are at earth slide risks, the destruction of this important habitat
cannot be justified in this way. I was
also shocked to hear that he justify the destruction of waterfall that because
some people use this location for drinking alcohol when even Sripada and
Kataragama also have found drunken pilgrims.
It is unfortunate CEA has no conservation mindset, competent
experts or adequate staff to save the environment. So far CEA has approved over hundred Mini
Hydro power project with Fish ladders and environmental flow has given as an
important conditions. But non of these dams are operating the fish ladders or adequate
the environmental flow. The truth is that CEA doesn’t monitor these projects
and they have no idea what these dams done to our river network. Over 143 dams
operating in the country has already killed more than 200 kilometers of the rivers
and streams in Sri Lanka.
Half of the politicians in Sri Lanka and the rich families
continue to destroy the environment disregarding the value of nature. It is the
practice of the CEA, Forest Department, Wild life Department, Geological Survey
and Mines Bureau or NARA to provide conditions and approve the project just to
manage the political pressure on the staff, the management and make developers
happy. GSMB even has own technical service to provide reports in favor of the developers,
which is a clear conflict of interest. These
agencies are not concern on the environmental damage to these microhabitats. Although
they are on public pay role very rarely a Sri Lankan citizen question the quality
of their work and validity of those conditions or even the role of project
monitoring. It is unfortunate that some corrupted officials in these
institutions use this weakness to make money out of destruction.
The Central Environmental Authority was set up “for the protection of any portion of the
environment with respect to the uses and values, whether tangible or
intangible, to be protected, the quality to be maintained, the extent to which
the discharge of wastes may be permitted without detriment to the quality of
the environment and long range development used and planning and any other
factors relating to the protection and management of the environment”(Section
10 a).
CEA was also set up to preserve the nature for future
generations. It is clear that CEA has no powers to compromise the environment
with the development but the “management
and conservation of the country’s natural resources in order to obtain the
optimum benefits therefrom and to preserve the same for future generations and
the general measures through which such policy may be carried out effectively”(Section
17 of the NEA No 47 0f 1980).
His Excellency the president claims that he is much
committed for environmental protection. In fact his manifesto says “I will prepare the background for preventing
the destruction of forestation and
conserving sensitive ecological systems in order to protect forests and forest
animals. All environmental laws will be implemented without reservation and in
doing so offenders will be punished irrespective of their standing in society.
A clear policy on forest cultivation will be formulated and implemented without
prejudice to the traditional livelihoods of the rural community.
President Manifesto also states that “Zones
that are environmentally sensitive and under threat of destruction at present
will be identified and protected. Environmentally vital zones already destroyed
or facing extinction will be restored using the latest scientific knowledge
available in the world.”
As a public body CEA manages the environment and nature in
public trust, but has no authority to allow destruction in accordance with the
legal principles established under the Bulankulama
v. Min. of Industrial Development (Eppawala case), S.C. Application No. 884/99
(F/R) also knows as Eppawela case.
In the Eppawela Judgment referring to Jaya Ganga judgment states
“The Jaya Ganga, which the petitioners,
as well as the National Academy of Sciences and the National Science
Foundation, have drawn attention to, is not merely a water course or
transportation canal corridor, or even ` an amazing technological
feat",......, Its preservation is therefore not only of interest to the
literati at a higher plane, ads a matter concerning the heritage of humankind
that must be preserved, but also, at the more mundane level of the petitioners
and thousands of others like them who depend on the continued and efficient
functioning of that ecosystem for the pursuit of their occupations and indeed
for sustaining their very lives, matter of grave and immediate personal
concern.”
When
compared Jaya Ganga to the Palan Ganga which is flowing down from Sinharaja rain
forest has more natural value than the manmade structure such as Jaya ganga. In
this context Athwelthota Waterfall is a natural heritage which public in Sri
Lanka have a collective rights to this ecosystem. Therefore it should be
protected for present and future generations.
Government of Sri Lanka committed to the achieving of Sustainable
Development Goal by 2030. The Goal 15 states
“Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems,
sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land
degradation and halt biodiversity loss” .
The Central Environmental Authority is totally out of touch
on these legal principles, national and internationals commitments made since
it is highly politicized agency. It now only services rich and oligarchy but not
beneficial to the environment or public at large. Its time to reform this
institution to serve the country. If CEA
is ready, then they can start with reversing the decision on Athwelthota
waterfall ecosystem.
It is a known fact that environmental controversies in the
country are due to the malpractices, ignorance and the falseness of the environmental
agencies. H.E the President has to
listen to the conservation community as he agreed during his election campaign
to reverse the situation before these agencies destroy the nature we have
burrowed from our future generations.
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