Abstract:
The importance of environmental assessment as an effective tool for the purposes of integrating
environmental considerations with development planning is highly recognized in Sri Lanka. The
importance of this management tool to foresee potential environmental impacts and problems
caused by proposed prescribed projects under the National Environmental Act (NEA) and its use
as a means to make projects more suitable to the environment are highly appreciative in terms of
environmental conservation. Considering the size of the development, intervention and its
potential environmental impacts, placement of an effective Environmental Monitoring
Programme is a must. Monitoring tells us what is happening, research tells us why something is
happening and modelling helps to tell us what can happen. Monitoring programs can be designed
to test hypotheses or to validate quantitative models used by planning and policy. Long-term
observations also reveal trends and patterns that can help interpret experimental results or yield
new research hypotheses. Viewed in this manner, monitoring is a valid and important endeavour
within the realm of eco-system science that deserves stronger commitments from government
agencies and other funding institutions (Mazzotti et al., 2007).
Environmental Monitoring is a requirement under the National Environmental (Procedure for
Approval of Projects) Regulations No. 1 of 1993 as contained in Gazette Extra-Ordinary No
772/22 of 24th June 1993 and No 1159/22 of 22nd November 2000.
Regulation 14:
“It shall be the duty of all Project Approving Agencies to forward to the Authority a report which
contains a plan to monitor the implementation of every approved project, within thirty days from
granting of approval under regulations 9 (i) and 13 (i) by such agencies” (Centre for
Environmental Studies, 1997).
