SL committed to protect and sustainably manage natural resources - President

Sri Lanka is fully committed to protect and sustainably manage its natural resources that contribute to the country's unique and rich biodiversity, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa stated. He made the remarks while addressing the United Nations Summit on Biodiversity yesterday (30). 

Sri Lanka is home to two UNESCO Natural Heritage Sites: the Central Highlands, and the Sinharaja Rain Forest Reserve. We are also proud of our six sites recognized under the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands. Sri Lanka firmly stands committed to protect and sustainably manage these natural assets that contribute to our unique and rich biodiversity” President Rajapaksa told the virtual gathering held under the theme of "Urgent action on biodiversity for sustainable development."

The Summit will highlight the crisis facing humanity from the degradation of biodiversity and the urgent need to accelerate action on biodiversity for sustainable development. It will provide an opportunity for Heads of State and Government and other leaders to raise ambition for the development of the post-2020 global biodiversity framework to be adopted at the 15^th Conference of Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity in 2021, the President's Media Division (PMD) said in a statement. 

Emphasizing that the concept of biodiversity must be at the very core of the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda, President Rajapaksa pointed out that despite the rapid decline seen in biodiversity globally, over the recent decades, Sri Lanka is deeply committed to uphold the overarching spirit of the Convention on Biodiversity.

“There is a critical need for a transformational change in the relationship between nature and people and contemporary global environmental governance,” he remarked.

The ancient governance of Sri Lanka was built on the concept that the ruler is never the owner of the land; he is merely its caretaker on behalf of his countrymen and all living beings. This is the very principle that my Government has adopted in our development agenda said the President while stressing as mere trustees of this planet and its resources we must resolve to protect what is in our trust and pass it to future generations as best as we could.