Environmentalists have urged the Election Commission (EC) and all political parties to adhere to environmental laws and avoid polluting the environment, expressing growing concerns about the environmental pollution caused during election periods.
Speaking to The Sunday Morning, Centre for Environmental Justice (CEJ) Executive Director Hemantha Withanage identified election posters and cutouts as major sources of pollution.
He further highlighted the extensive use of plastic and polythene decorations and banners as another significant pollution method.
“We asked the Central Environmental Authority (CEA) to develop guidelines and requested the Police to prevent these poster campaigns due to incidents of visual pollution.”
Highlighting the issue of visual pollution, Withanage noted that the CEA had proposed developing a Visual Pollution Regulation under the National Environmental Act instead of guidelines issued in 2009.
However, this initiative did not commence until 2012.
An appointed committee, including the Road Development Authority (RDA), the Police, and the CEA, prepared a document on visual pollution that was neither published nor gazetted until 2019.
According to Withanage, this regulation mandates that every agency approving posters must produce guidelines on the size of banners, whether they can be illuminated or include LED screens, the size of letters, and the charges involved.
“Even recently, we had a discussion with the CEA to produce these guidelines and distribute them to relevant agencies. But so far, since 2019, none of these agencies have developed these guidelines or implemented the Visual Pollution Regulation,” he stated.
Withanage pointed out the lack of laws or regulations to charge for election posters, which could become a source of revenue if local authorities implemented them.
He emphasised that visual pollution could easily be controlled, but that many banners and cutouts covered all scenic areas.
“In 2017, there were 6-7 gazettes published. One mentioned not allowing plastic, polythene (in lunch sheets included in free meal packets), and decorations for political or any other campaigns,” he added.
Withanage also highlighted a gazette published on 1 September 2017 (2034/37/2017), banning the use of polythene and polypropylene products as decoration in political, religious, social, and cultural matters.
However, these regulations have been widely overlooked, which Withanage considers a common problem in Sri Lanka.
“They have already put up election posters which violate the Visual Pollution Regulations we already have,” Withanage said.
He pointed out the lack of implementation of Visual Pollution Regulation No.1 of 2019, adding that neither the Government, Government agencies, nor the people were benefiting from this regulation.
“We wrote to the CEA and other Government agencies, but no Government agencies except the CEA are aware of the visual pollution, which is unfortunate.”
However, when contacted, EC Chairman R.M.A.L. Rathnayake urged all political parties to adhere to existing environmental laws during their election campaigns and to avoid polluting the environment.
“Once the nomination period is over, we will inform all candidates to be mindful of the environment during their campaigns,” he said. “Candidates will not be allowed to put up posters after the nomination period and we will take action to remove any posters that are put up.”