President's Message

Dear Members of the Institution, IESL secretariat staff members and dear readers,

For too long, we have been overexploiting and damaging the ecosystems of our planet. It has been said that “every three seconds, the world loses enough forest to cover a football pitch and over the last century we have destroyed half of our wetlands. As much as 50 per cent of our coral reefs have already been lost and up to 90 per cent of coral reefs could be lost by 2050, even if global warming is limited to an increase of 1.5°C”.

Loss of the ecosystem is not something we should underestimate. The benefits we enjoy from Rapidly reducing carbon sinks such as forests and peatlands are unreplaceable. The greenhouse gas emissions have grown beyond control and still growing resulting in potentially catastrophic climate changes.

The emergence of COVID-19 has also shown just how disastrous the consequences of ecosystem loss can be. By shrinking the area of natural habitat for animals, we have created ideal conditions for harmful pathogens to spread.

With this big and challenging picture, we celebrate World Environment Day which falls on 5th June 2021. This year the focus of World Environment Day is on ecosystem restoration and its theme is “Reimagine. Recreate. Restore.”

The field of environmental engineering has stepped up to support human and environmental needs while mitigating adverse impacts that current human activities are having on the planet. Organizations around the world are being propelled by public sentiment supporting more sustainable practices, as well as new laws aimed at curtailing some of the most impactful forms of environmental damage. Companies are beginning to amend their processes and even change mission statements as the everyday consumer becomes more conscious about organizational commitments to sustainability.

As a result, environmental engineering is a field that has achieved remarkable successes over the past several decades, having inspired and implemented visionary solutions that serve the best interests of people and the planet.

Advances in environmental engineering have been a major player in improving how humanity impacts the environment, however, there is still significant space to grow and innovate, making it an essential sector. While acknowledging World Environmental Day we all must pay more and more attention to our environment and do our best to protect and preserve it for our future generation.

Eng. K. P. I. U. Dharmapala 

President (2020/ 2021)