President Maithripala Sirisena said the government intends to strengthen all environmental protection laws and if needed more laws would be formulated in future.
The President made the observation yesterday at the inauguration ceremony of “Sri Lanka NEXT - A Blue Green Era,” conference and exhibition at the Bandaranaike Memorial International Conference Hall (BMICH), organized by the Ministry of Mahaweli Development and Environment.
He said that the world is initiating action on environment conservation and sustainable use of resources by establishing international conventions, protocols, agreements and programmes.
The President said the country will march forward towards sustainable development and added that Sri Lanka is a signatory to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Paris Agreement.
He further said that “Sri Lanka NEXT - A blue Green Era programme” showcases the national strategies and achievements on blue green economy and reviews the vision, overcoming challenges and future plans of the government.
“Climate change is one of the major challenges faced by almost all the countries. It has led to several socioeconomic, political and environmental issues. We need to take every possible step to control and minimize the negative impact of climate change”, he said.
President Sirisena noted that Sri Lanka was the only country to protest when there was a ban on polythene and added that it is the responsibility of every citizen to protect environment for the development of economy and well-being of the people.
“We need to encourage the public to plant more trees and implement the national tree planting programme. We need to protect those trees and plants as we protect the girl children in our societies”, he said.