No time for half measures 

As the gravity of the MV X-Press Pearl disaster began sank in, the celebration of World Environment Day on 4 June felt less like a celebration and more like a wake, with this gradually being accepted as one of, if not, the worst marine disaster in Sri Lanka’s history.

In that context, it left a bitter taste in the mouth to see the Government’s first thought being to scramble to avoid blame. The Ports Minister has come out and labelled it a “random event”, while President Gotabaya Rajapaksa earlier in the week asked that this incident not be politicised. Nowhere have there been words, let alone actions, to comfort those whose livelihoods have seemingly been destroyed.

And when this, together with this Government’s past record on matters of the environment, is taken into consideration, it becomes increasingly difficult to give them the benefit of the doubt regarding whether they indeed did everything in their power to avert this disaster.

Upon coming into power, the first order of business for the new Cabinet of Ministers in December 2019 was to scrap licensing requirements for sand-mining and soil transportation to “help” the construction industry, following it up with a decision to amend the Mines and Minerals Act to “simplify” the issuing of licences for sand-mining. Environmentalists challenged the Cabinet’s decisions, and mercifully, the Court of Appeal ruled that the Cabinet could not by decision undo enacted laws.

In July 2020, the Cabinet announced another major environmental blow with its decision to transfer residual forest lands to Divisional Secretaries for “economic purposes”, including cultivation. From Anawilandawa to Hantane to Akkaraipattu, mangroves, forests and nature reserves are under a merciless assault. Every day, reports surface of hundreds of acres of forest land being cleared. In Sinharaja, the last remaining primordial rain forest in the west zone, a UNESCO-declared ‘man and biosphere reserve’, a World Heritage Site, the Army is building a road to connect Lankagama, a tiny village inside the forest reserve, to the large southern town of Deniyaya. 

Environmental scientists are justifiably anguished by the President’s decision to proceed with the road construction. While the construction will take place in the rainforest buffer zone, environmental activists remain concerned because the area just outside the forest reserve is also home to endemic flora and fauna that is not only unique to Sri Lanka but also found only in this particular forest on the island. 

A common thread runs through every one of these actions. Behind every assault on precious mangrove forests in Puttalam and the northwestern coastline is a businessman with links to influential local politicians. 

As such, is it any mystery as to why the public has grown weary and sceptical of Government assurances over the country’s environmental wellbeing?

For the ruling party politicos, this may all be a case of the bills coming due – promises made to cronies and business interests ahead of elections, with these Shylocks now demanding their proverbial pound of flesh; but the sacrifice comes at a huge collective cost.

The time for pondering is over. The Government’s failure thus far to act against illegal deforestation and its active political patronage for entities that destroy natural resources for profit have been decried time and again to no avail. 

If the country is to survive the X-Press Pearl fallout, President Rajapaksa can no longer stick to his policy of environmental half measures; when it comes to policymaking, the environment must be front and centre going forward.