Sunday Island Editorial

Striking the right balance

Sunday 01st November 2015

It is beyond argument that Sri Lanka has already done incalculable harm to her environment; but it is also a fact of life that environmental damage is a price that must be paid for the development and material benefits that mankind today enjoys in comparison to what his forefathers had in the pre-modern age. What is essential is to strike the right balance and all nations, developed and developing, must ensure that their people enjoy better lifestyles without destroying the planet in which we all live. Ironically, western countries that have inflicted huge environmental damage on themselves in their thrust towards industrialization and reaped enormous benefits from what they have done for their people now preach loudest on environmental issues to poor countries whose people don’t enjoy a fraction of the material benefits in which those living in the developed world luxuriate. Some of these countries are not beyond dumping all kinds of toxic wastes generated by their industries on unsuspecting (sometimes greedy) Third World nations.

Many years ago, the editor of a leading newspaper here wrote a leader page article on how countries of the decadent West fed cattle on corn to produce "corn beef!" He argued that the millions of tons of corn thus fed to beef cattle would have dulled the huger pangs of those condemned to near starvation in the third world. It was soon pointed out to the concerned writer that there was no such thing as "corn beef" (although animal feeds sometimes include grains) and the familiar product on supermarket shelves was corned beef (not corn beef) – referring to the cooking process rather like roast beef, grilled beef or whatever. The editor’s response was brief. Even Homer nods, he said. We have been told that some expensive beef is produced in Japan by feeding prized breeds of cattle with beer and massaging the animals. But some searching on the Internet will reveal what that is all about and those interested can conveniently educate themselves.

Here in Sri Lanka we have for many years been subjected to a chronic kidney disease that has plagued agricultural communities in the dry zone where most of the rice we eat is grown. There is evidence that although the cause of the disease of unknown aetiology has not been firmly established, it is very possible that victims have been exposed through the food and water chains to toxic chemicals in weedicides/pesticides and fertilizers. This is why there is an ongoing effort to provide safe drinking water collected through rainwater harvesting and much more expensive reverse osmosis processing to the vulnerable sections of the population. There has also been a ban imposed on a widely-used weedicide which some experts say is a gut reaction not backed by firmly established research findings. They urge that this that will be most detrimental to the already beleaguered tea industry, where the cost of production in the estate sector is well above the tea sale average, which will not be able to afford manual weeding. Thankfully smallholdings supported by a green leaf subsidy are still viable though in difficulty.

There are many people, mostly in the developed world, who are strong advocates of organic food produced without using inorganic chemical fertilizers, weedicide and pesticides. Some producers here, admittedly in a small way, have attempted to take advantage of this trend towards organics in the West by producing various organic crops. But it is unlikely that Sri Lanka or other similarly placed countries will be able to produce their food requirements without taking advantage of spectacular developments of the ‘green revolution’ which requires considerable fertilizer use. Organic crops are more expensive to produce than conventional foods. While the organic concept is undoubtedly attractive, the economic realities of producing such foods in quantities sufficient to feed an ever-growing global population will not bear examination.

Moving away from agriculture, it would be useful from the Sri Lanka context to look at the now suspended Port City project on which about 10 percent of the work has already been completed by the world’s largest dredging company. Observers and analysts are convinced that this project will eventually resume, probably next year, for many reasons including the fact that China, apart from being a world power, has been an old friend of Sri Lanka. Colombo will certainly not want to offend Beijing on this issue although the agreement that has been signed is not between China and Sri Lanka but between a Chinese company, CHEC Port City Colombo (Pvt) Ltd. and the Sri Lanka Ports Authority. The commitment of the two governments to the project was signaled by the Presidents of Sri Lanka and China being present when the USD 1.5 billion project was launched last year. That there will be some environmental impact from a land reclamation project of this magnitude is obvious – even building a house has an environmental impact - but whether the cost-benefit advantage overall will supercede the negatives require careful assessment if it has not already been done.

The fact is that the propaganda that the previous regime had a too cozy relationship with China and the suspicion that the project was hurried for venal reasons clouded issues. A country like ours looking desperately for foreign investment for economic take-off cannot lightly spurn the biggest single investment attracted thus far. Sri Lanka is not putting up any funds for the project and the foreign investor is banking on the country’s potential to ride the Asia boom for its eventual success. The Hong Kong international airport has been built on land reclaimed from the sea and there have been many such projects undertaken globally. The current administration is committed to the creation of a Megapolis in the Western Province and the Colombo Port City will be an intrinsic factor of such a development. The quicker the various issues involved in the resumption of the project are ironed out, with due respect to environmental and other considerations, the better for the country and its people.