Sri Lanka’s environmental protection framework is rapidly eroding, with weak law enforcement, politically driven development and the routine sidelining of environmental safeguards pushing the country towards an ecological crisis, leading environmentalists have warned.

Dilena Pathragoda, Managing Director of the Centre for Environmental Justice (CEJ), has said the growing environmental damage across the island is not the result of regulatory gaps, but of persistent failure to enforce existing laws.

“Sri Lanka does not suffer from a lack of environmental regulations — it suffers from a lack of political will to enforce them,” Pathragoda told The Sunday Island. “Environmental destruction is taking place openly, often with official knowledge, and almost always without accountability.”

Dr. Pathragoda has said environmental impact assessments are increasingly treated as procedural formalities rather than binding safeguards, allowing ecologically sensitive areas to be cleared or altered with minimal oversight.

“When environmental approvals are rushed, diluted or ignored altogether, the consequences are predictable — habitat loss, biodiversity decline and escalating conflict between humans and nature,” Pathragoda said.

Environmental activist Janaka Withanage warned that unregulated development and land-use changes are dismantling natural ecosystems that have sustained rural communities for generations.

“We are destroying natural buffers that protect people from floods, droughts and soil erosion,” Withanage said. “Once wetlands, forests and river catchments are damaged, the impacts are felt far beyond the project site.”

Withanage said communities are increasingly left vulnerable as environmental degradation accelerates, while those responsible rarely face legal consequences.

“What we see is selective enforcement,” he said. “Small-scale offenders are targeted, while large-scale violations linked to powerful interests continue unchecked.”

Both environmentalists warned that climate variability is amplifying the damage caused by poor planning, placing additional strain on ecosystems already weakened by deforestation, sand mining and infrastructure expansion.

Pathragoda stressed that environmental protection must be treated as a national priority rather than a development obstacle.

“Environmental laws exist to protect people, livelihoods and the economy,” he said. “Ignoring them will only increase disaster risk and long-term economic losses.”

Withanage echoed the call for urgent reform, warning that continued neglect would result in irreversible damage.

“If this trajectory continues, future generations will inherit an island far more vulnerable and far less resilient,” he said.

Environmental groups say Sri Lanka’s standing as a biodiversity hotspot — and its resilience to climate-driven disasters — will ultimately depend on whether environmental governance is restored before critical thresholds are crossed.

By Ifham Nizam ✍️