Financial Times

Of the people, by the people, for the people
By Random Access Memory (RAM)
'Globalisation and Sustainable Development' is the theme of a conference, sponsored by the World Economic Forum which is to be held in Zurich, Switzerland this weekend. Among the topics for discussion at the conference are, 'Impact of globalisation on biodiversity, climate and water' and 'Can financial markets encourage sustainable development?'

A key theme of the World Economic Forum in Davos held earlier this year was 'Searching for a human face for capitalism'. Appearing in a recent BBC 'Hard Talk' session, economist and former Bank of England Monitory Policy Committee member Dr. Anne Julius claimed that 'Capitalism is clearly the best system for wealth creation, if not for wealth distribution'.

At a time when Sri Lanka's policy makers and their advisors are all embracing the direct route to generating wealth through an open sesame type domain, the call is to take a hard look at the global debate on globalisation and sustainability, pause for a little breather, look around and take stock.

The need to move fast to tackle the problem of unemployment, rising costs of living, bridging the budget deficit and cementing the peace dividend is all understood and appreciated. But is linking directly to the global economy, pulling almost all the plugs in our systems, the only way forward we have in meeting our development needs? The justification given to us by our leaders, in pulling the plugs is that our resources have thus far remained 'unutilised' or 'under-utilised'.

An infusion of external capital investment, they claim can generate much needed wealth and employment to bring us all prosperity. This is a very noble and praiseworthy cause indeed. The flaw however, is in the exploration and evaluation of the phenomena of 'unutilised' or 'under-utilised' in some key areas. It is certainly true that there is much to be done in the areas of mismanagement, corruption and wasteful use of resources in Sri Lanka, but that failing should not be equated to the way mother nature has herself utilised the endowments bestowed on us.

The basic questions we need to address are, if the natural environments of Sri Lanka such as the wetlands, lagoons and marshes that are among the richest in the globe in terms of their bio-diversity, have thus far been unutilised? Have the natural habitats that supported and sustained our rural folk for generations for their livelihood, remained unutilised? Have the virgin forests and upland plains, which have given us the very essence of our lives in springing water, been unutilised over generations?

The global deals that provide access to our natural resources come in several forms. The most significant among them are the removal of restrictions on ownership of property and land by non Sri Lankans and allowing access to resources in areas with rich bio-diversity, in return for writing off parts of our debt burden to the developed world.

A look at websites on the Internet for real estate sales of natural habitats that are 'private lands' in areas such as Rekawa, Kalematiya, Nonagama in the deep South, in the central hills and Dutch style houses within the world heritage site of the Galle Fort are but some examples of the fast paced land grabs that are going on.

The frenzied pace at which the deals on the natural resources are taking place, and the low performance systems on the ground for managing what can be done with them is what is scary and of concern. It is true that we in Sri Lanka have management and legal systems modelled after the best in the world to 'care' for our environment, such as Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs), provisions for imposing controls under Coast Conservation, Wild Life Protection and Watershed Management Acts. However, the failing occurs on the ground, when the systems yield to the needs of vested interests and short sighted schemes of those who hold power.

What we must remember is that all is done to provide a better life for our people and in the context of globalisation, the people of the world. Short-term schemes that result in long term negative impacts must be carefully considered and studied without hastily rushing into action.

What seems profitable in the short term may be so, because thinking of the long term has been set-aside in the back burners. Like the native American Chief Seattle in 1852 said, 'How can you buy or sell the sky or the warmth of the Land'. In Sri Lanka what is urged of our leaders is to establish a caring and sustainable system to create and distribute wealth that focus on the very core of democracy that all this is 'Of the people, by the people, for the people'.

Back to Business