LMDtv 1
It’s not too late to save Sri Lanka’s precious biodiversity “if everyone can play their part and work together,” said the Senior Technical Advisor of Biodiversity Sri Lanka Shiranee Yasaratne, on LMDtv recently.
She added that though Sri Lanka is a biodiversity hotspot, it is “in a very vulnerable situation. We have high biodiversity but it’s declining at a very rapid rate.”
Biodiversity conservation has always been a challenge but awareness of the need for conservation has increased over the years. Yasaratne explained that “back then, it was always a battle between the environment and development but today, I see a much bigger synergy between the two.”
Sri Lanka is moving towards a greener economy, which requires integrating biodiversity into national sustainability dialogues. And it’s encouraging to see the country’s development process taking the environment into consideration.
She noted: “The most recent development is that the Central Bank of Sri Lanka has a green finance taxonomy and all banks have to look at greening their portfolios.”
“Banks are also expected to have a percentage of their loan portfolio in the green sector. This means that financial service providers are participating in greening the economy, and the economists and ecologists are talking at last,” she added.
Yasaratne elaborated: “We are seeing private sector companies implementing their own projects, and also engaging in multi-company and multi-sector collaboration that impact the national biodiversity agenda. Competitors are working together to conserve biodiversity.”
She continued: “Companies are keen to invest but the state must also do its bit. If we take the example of forest restoration, private sector companies are looking for locations where they can work. However, since the state is the custodian of most of the land, it needs to indicate where restoration can happen. Until the state does this, it’s difficult for organisations.”
On the positive side, companies have plenty of trained and qualified sustainability professionals who can evaluate, monitor and give advice, she observed: “And we also have a lot of entities such as Biodiversity Sri Lanka, and several resource people from universities and other institutions, who are willing to support private sector efforts.”
And Yasaratne asserted that “If the state can play an enabling role and bring all these efforts onto one platform, it will be easier and more effective – because all of them require investments.”
The public has a crucial role to play in conserving biodiversity. “Even a small act can have a big impact. We mustn’t think that bringing our own glass bottle and not using a plastic bottle is insignificant because in reality, it can have a strong impact on the environment,” she stressed.
Communities that live near areas requiring biodiversity conservation such as coastal communities, mountain dwellers and other groups should also get involved.
She explained: “It would be effective if the communities too could benefit in some way. For instance, if a community centred mangrove restoration project is able to obtain carbon credits, then a portion of the earnings should be shared with the community in the project area as a means of incentivising them.”
Yasaratne continued: “Innovative financial incentive mechanisms are very important. Many private sector companies implement activities to protect the environment but community support is mostly voluntary.”
“If the residents can be incentivised in some way by way of carbon credits, plastic credits or payments for ecosystem services, they will be better able to support the work of the private sector. Saving the environment shouldn’t operate like a charity,” she added.
Yasaratne concluded: “It would be good if the state can think of encouraging and incentivising sustainability efforts because then we can bring all sectors together to work beneficially towards conserving our environment.”
