Sri Lanka’s next Parliament has many issues to contend with, but underpinning many of these is the looming threats to our nature and biodiversity. Elected members of Parliament at the forthcoming General Election need to understand what these issues are, and what priorities need to be tackled. CSF contributed to a document that is released today on selected critical environmental issues facing Sri Lanka, aimed at informing prospective legislators in our next Parliament. CSF Co-founder/Director was part of a group of professionals in the conservation and ecology space who, over several months, collaborated to compile this document that highlights a selection of issues that require urgent attention, and must be prioritised by legislators.
This ‘citizen’s manifesto’ is, on one hand, an immediate rallying call for politicians and political parties contesting in the forthcoming General Elections to urgently focus their attention on these conservation and environmental priorities; and on the other hand, it is a roadmap for a future government to chart a nature-positive economic recovery that can benefit generations of Sri Lankans to come and present a positive and inspiring story about Sri Lanka to the world.
CSF particularly contributed to the priority area #2: ‘Reorient development policies to focus on conservation and environmentally responsible growth, putting nature at the heart of Sri Lanka’s economic recovery’. In it, one of the key areas we focussed on was the need to specifically recognise importance of natural capital in our economy, and commit to making the environment a core consideration rather than a residual consideration in policy and planning.
Following the release of this document today, marking World Ecology Day 2024, the group will engage in advocacy efforts with Parliamentary candidates from various political parties.
