President Directs Tough Action to Safeguard Coastlines and Speed Up Environmental Projects
July 23, Colombo (LNW): President Anura Kumara Dissanayake has instructed authorities to adopt the toughest possible measures to protect Sri Lanka’s rapidly developing Northern and Eastern coastal belts, while ordering firm legal action against unauthorised structures that threaten fragile coastal ecosystems.
The directives were issued during a high-level meeting at the Presidential Secretariat on Wednesday, where progress on environmental initiatives funded under the 2026 Budget was reviewed alongside preliminary discussions on priorities for the 2027 Budget, according to the President’s Media Division.
As part of the Government’s strengthened approach to coastal conservation, the President directed officials to establish a steering committee responsible for coordinating, supervising and monitoring coastal protection efforts across the country. He also ordered the appointment of a panel of experts to study the worsening coastal erosion affecting the Oluvil shoreline and submit recommendations without delay.
The meeting examined the implementation of projects undertaken by the Ministry of Environment, which has received an allocation of Rs. 19,719 million under the 2026 Budget. Progress on both recurrent and capital expenditure by institutions operating under the ministry, including the Central Environmental Authority, the Department of Wildlife Conservation, the Forest Department, the Department of National Zoological Gardens, the Department of National Botanic Gardens, the Water Resources Board, the Department of Coast Conservation and Coastal Resource Management, and the Marine Environment Protection Authority, also came under review.
President Dissanayake expressed concern over the slow pace of initiatives aimed at reducing the human-elephant conflict, warning that prolonged delays continue to endanger lives and livelihoods in affected communities. He instructed officials to complete the projects within the prescribed deadlines while ensuring that the full budget allocation is effectively utilised before the close of the year.
He further stressed that decisions on the location and extent of elephant fences should be based primarily on safeguarding people rather than merely defining wildlife boundaries, noting that practical solutions were needed to minimise conflict between humans and elephants.
Officials also reviewed the progress of several flagship projects being implemented under the “Clean Sri Lanka” programme. These included initiatives to conserve water sources, the Clean Coastline Project, the Coastal Recreation Parks Development Project, and improvements to accessibility for persons with disabilities at the Sinharaja and Kanneliya forests.
Environment Minister Dr Dammika Patabendi informed the meeting that the Ministry was preparing a national carbon emissions policy designed to attract greater investment while supporting the country’s long-term climate commitments.
Meanwhile, Ministry Secretary K.R. Uduwawala observed that weak coordination in the past had resulted in several ministries securing foreign funding for overlapping activities. To address the issue, he said a permanent coordinating committee would be established to improve planning, eliminate duplication and ensure more efficient implementation of externally funded projects.
The discussions also covered plans to modernise holiday bungalows operated by the Departments of Wildlife Conservation and Forest Conservation, promote floriculture as a key economic sector, and further strengthen the National Botanic Gardens to enhance biodiversity conservation and environmental research.
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