ENVIRONMENT-SRI LANKA: Top NGO Makes Polluters Pay

By Feizal Samath Reprint | | Print |

Feizal Samath

COLOMBO, Feb 7 1998 (IPS) - When an ice cream factory built by an Unilever subsidiary outside the Sri Lankan capital began polluting the environment, green campaigners forced it to cut down the noise and build a costly effluent treatment plant.

The same group went to court against a chemical factory that was spewing toxic fumes, causing dizziness, vomiting and respiratory problems among residents in the area. The factory was ordered to move, but it chose to shut down as that was cheaper.

Big or small, Sri Lanka’s Environmental Foundation Ltd (EFL), which started with the pocket money of a handful of interested students in 1981, is ready to take on anyone who pollutes the environment. In 17 years, it has grown into the island’s foremost environmental watchdog, feared by those who flout green rules.

“We have taken action in some 2,000 cases since 1981,” says Hemantha Withanage of EFL. “Most of them have been settled out of court as factories and managements hate publicity.”

Perhaps the most challenging case yet for EFL is that against a proposed phosphate mine and fertiliser plant in the north- central region in which it is pitted against the government.

The Chandrika Kumaratunga government has said it will shortly finalise the agreement for the 425-million dollar project near the town of Eppawal with the U.S-based Freeport McMoRan Resource Partners, IMC Agrico and Japan’s Tomen Corporation.

According to environmentalists, the mine and fertiliser plant, planned near the eastern port of Trincomalee, would together displace some 12,000 villagers, destroy Buddhist temples and schools in 26 villages spread over 56 sq kms of land.

Though project authorities say they will conduct detailed studies on the impact of the project this year, irate villagers and environmentalists are not in a mood to relent.

An alliance of Buddhist priests, farmers, former politicians and ex-soldiers has urged President Kumaratunga to scrap the project, which according to senior EFL member Withanage is not making the “best” use of the country’s natural wealth.

“This (project) is not the best utilisation of our phosphate resources. The government should think of the best utilisation,” he said. Also expressing misgivings is Batty Weerakoon, prominent leftist politician whose party is a member of the coalition government, who has said he is concerned about Colombo’s role.

EFL has earned the reputation of being a serious lobbyist for environmental protection. The brainchild of law students Lalanath de Silva and Ravi Algama, it was helped on its feet also by Iranganie Serasinghe, noted conservationist and film actress.

“The dedication was there, the volunteerism was there … It took EFL nearly seven years of pure volunteer work to convince its first donor, the Environmental Liaison Centre in Kenya to make a grant,” according to de Silva.

Now there is a much longer list of donors, which includes Asia Foundation, NORAD, CIDA, the World Wildlife Fund and the World Resources Council, and a host of others. EFL is probably the country’s most visible environmental group.

Time and again it has forced the government to frame radical new rules. In 1988, the government made it mandatory for all new industries to obtain an Environmental Impact Assessment certificate. An annual Environmental Protection License, issued by the local authority, is also now a must.

Though the government has been only marginally successful with the implementation of either rule, because of rampant corruption and political meddling, Withanage does not give up hope. “We keep on advocating these issues in the hope that public interest will compel industries to follow rules,” he said.

Only a third of Sri Lanka’s estimated 20,000 industries have ever sought environmental clearance. Government agencies are either ineffective or caught in bureaucratic red tape, leaving EPL and a handful of caring greens to safeguard the environment.

EFL has filed cases against carbon industries, for the protection of child labour in rock quarries, polluting factories on the island’s waterways. A case against a diesel-fired power plant cleared by the government two years ago at the height of a drought and crippling power shortages, without waiting for environmental clearance, is pending before the court.

Though EFL succeeded in getting a court injunction stalling the project, the government issued a new order allowing private power companies to bypass rules including those on noise pollution.

Now the EFL is collecting more evidence, including affidavits from government medical doctors, saying children are subject to

loss of hearing and psychological problems due to the high noise levels. “We will go on fighting for the rights of the people against any odds,” said Withanage.

Another fight on its hands is against government plans to set up a 150 MW hydropower plant in Sri Lanka’s central hills. Project planners want to channel water through a 21-km tunnel from the Kotmale reservoir and five smaller lakes to the plant.

Environmentalists are aghast. Five of the country’s most beautiful waterfalls that are linked to these water sources will dry up, they say. NGOs like EFL are determined to stop the senseless destruction of the environment.