In fact, not just in Sri Lanka, but people everywhere are extremely concerned about our environment. We need to generate about two lakh jobs per year. Yet, plans for employment-generating industries may be resisted by the opposition on environmental grounds. We have to find ways to deal with both issues. In a country which tackles terrorism on a daily basis, there would be an enormous impact on the environment in terms of clearing of areas, use of hazardous substances, mobilization of huge amounts of resources for the armed forces, etc.
Every war is associated with environmental hazards.
But what we are dealing with is terrorism. We do try to minimize the disturbance as far as possible but the terrorists use unconventional and unauthorized ways and means of fighting. So it is quite natural that the environment is disturbed. We are very concerned about the development of ports for sea trade. We have already started modernizing our ports, especially Colombo, which is one of the biggest business areas in the Asian sector.