TV debate series on creating a better future!

If current development trends continue, what would life in Sri Lanka be like by 2048 – when the country marks 100 years of independence? How can Sri Lanka keep growing economically without triggering mass sickness and death due to poisoning of its air and water?

These are among the many questions to be addressed in Sri Lanka 2048 -- a new, innovative series of television debates exploring prospects for a sustainable future for Sri Lanka in the Twenty First Century. The series, which begins airing on Sirasa TV on May 22, will be broadcast every Thursday at 10.45 pm. Each one hour debate will involve -– as panel and studio audience -– over two dozen Sri Lankans from academic, civil society, corporate and government backgrounds.

The debates are being co-produced by MTV in partnership with TVE Asia Pacific (TVEAP), an educational media foundation, together with IUCN, the International Union for Conservation of Nature, according to a TVEAP press release.

Says Mano Wikramanayake, Group Director, MTV Channel (Private) Ltd: "Channel One and Sirasa TV are very pleased to partner with TVEAP in producing socially relevant programmes in which civil society can participate. This could be a forerunner to programmes which encourage public debate on issues that concern all of us."

Dr Ranjith Mahindapala, Country Representative of IUCN, International Union for Conservation of Nature, noted that "IUCN with its unique constitution of state and NGO membership is well positioned to facilitate discussions amongst all stakeholders on issues of topical interest."

"Sustainable development is not some utopian or technical ideal of environmental activists," according to TVE Asia Pacific's Director and CEO Nalaka Gunawardene. "It's about creating a liveable society here and today – where everyone has an acceptable quality of life, ample opportunities to learn and earn, and the freedom to pursue their own dreams."

This TV series is supported under the Raising Environmental Consciousness in Society (RECS) project of IUCN Sri Lanka, which is funded by the Government of the Netherlands.