Environmental protection: President seeks Solheim's help

12 March 2018 09:07 am

President Maithripala Sirisena yesterday requested for assistance from Eric Solheim, the Executive Director of the UN Environment Programme, to introduce alternate technologies for Sri Lanka to eliminate the negative impact of excessive soil and sand mining in the construction industry.

The President met with Mr. Solheim on the sidelines of the International Solar Alliance Summit in New Delhi.

Mr. Solheim, a Norwegian diplomat, earlier worked as a facilitator between the Sri Lankan government and the LTTE during peace talks. He has visited the country on numerous occasions and met with officials from both the government and the LTTE sides in his role as facilitator.

A statement from the President’s office said that Sri Lanka has planned to increase its forest cover to 32 per cent of the total landmass.

He told Mr. Solheim that surveillance was done by air in order to identify the extent of the damage caused to the forest cover recently.