President urges Lankans to protect the environment from pollution

President Maithripala Sirisena said that it is the prime responsibility of the public, including the politicians, public servants and school children to protect the environment for the future generations.

“The subject of the environment is a topic of moral. The pioneer environmentalist in the world is our Gautama Buddha, and the importance of the environment is taught by the other religious philosophies too,” he said.

Participating in the  Environment Conference held in Ratnapura, he noted those developed countries in the world once destroyed the environment utilizing the modern technology to achieve their development goals have come forward to take the leadership to protect the  environment for the survival of human beings. "Today, the entire mankind suffers from the results of destroying the  nature."

President also recalled the United Nations Climate Change Conference held in Paris last January and according to the decisions taken at the Paris conference an environmental charter has been prepared. He said the world leaders who participated United Nations Climate Change Conference will meet again in New York, USA to sign that charter and he said the invitation in this regard has been extended by the UN.

He said that when small countries like us signed agreements to protect the environment the powerful countries in the world who give advices to us didn’t sign those agreements and as a result of that  at present they have to carry Oxygen bags with them.

Expressing his views over the illegal gem-mining in the Ratnapura district , he said that those who are involved in this are not only destroying the mother earth but also the people’s right to life.

President Sirisena symbolically handed over scholarships to school children marking the 110 scholarships to school students by the Gem and Jewellery Authority. 450 waste bins were distributed among the religious places and state institutions in the Ratnapura district.

People’s representatives including, Minister John Seneviratne, Thalatha Athukorala, Sabaragamuwa Governor, Marshal Perera, Chief Minister of Sabaragamuwa Province, Maheepala Herath, Deputy Ministers Karunaratne Paranavitana, Dunesh Gankanda, Sumedha G. Jayasena, Secretary for the Ministry of Mahaweli Development and Environment, Udaya R. Seneviratne, Mr. Bandula Harischandra, Divisional Secretary, Ratnapura, public servants and many others participated in the event.