By Meleeza Rathnayake
“As soon as someone hears the SDG ‘Life on Land’ what they think is deforestation, combat desertification, halt and reverse land degradation, and halt biodiversity loss. Therefore, I wanted to address an untouched area of this main concept. Also, sustainable planning is still in an initial stage in the Sri Lankan context. Because of that, I wanted to make a better foundation for a longer journey towards sustainability,” said a young SDG enthusiast.
With the vision to be a “blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all”, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were set up in 2015 by the United Nations General Assembly (UN-GA) and are intended to be achieved by the year 2030.
The Road To Rights youth-led organisation initiated the national SDGs campaign amidst the pandemic in 2021 with a mission to achieve the SDGs within Sri Lanka. As a segment within the campaign, the “G17 University Ambassadors Consortium” was launched to make sure the youth of Sri Lanka is involved in making this mission a success.
The consortium is a fellowship programme to empower students to become the next generation of young professionals to make SDGs a reality through its four pillars, including capacity-building, leadership, policy advocacy, and action.
At the initial stage of this programme, 170 undergraduates were appointed as SDG Ambassadors from 10 Sri Lankan universities, governed by the National Executive Committee, which is a coalition of 20 undergraduates coming from diverse backgrounds.
This programme aims to not only engage students nationally and internationally, but also to empower them with knowledge and skills to become effective agents of change to create a sustainable university system, ultimately empowering students to prioritise sustainable development in their lifestyles, behaviour, education, and professional career.
“I am a final-year undergraduate from the Department of Food Science and Technology at the University of Sri Jayewardenepura (USJ). At the same time, I work as a Brand Intern at Nestle Lanka PLC and as a research assistant. I have worked as a volunteer in many other organisations. I am a nature-loving person, a writer, and a fitness enthusiast. Research and development is my major field of interest. Moreover, I love to serve the community while uplifting and empowering others as a responsible citizen,” said USJ Ambassador for SDG 15 – Life on Land Dilusha Munasinghe.
Project “Ignite” was a project implemented by Dilusha to achieve SDG 15 in Sri Lanka. Brunch was mesmerised to see how much of a thought process the young SDG enthusiast has put forward to make it a reality. The project was conducted at the Port City Colombo on 20 July.
“The name itself gives you an idea of a spark. Therefore, the main objective of this project was to increase awareness on sustainable planning especially in the Sri Lankan context. This was conducted as a physical project along with a site visit at Port City Colombo, which is known as the best example for sustainable planning. The visit commenced with a presentation about the impact of the project for the years to come, from an economic and an environmental standpoint, followed by a site visit for an in-depth understanding of the project. Many of us have not heard about sustainable planning as it is not very common here. But we thought that this is a concept which can be applicable to any industry, development, or construction. Hence, this project was conducted as an initial step with the massive support of the PCC officials,” said Dilusha.
The project motivates all individuals to make sure the concept is implemented in the respective sector or industry they are involved in. While the main objective of the project was to secure the “Life on Land”, the main purpose was to raise awareness on sustainable planning. Sustainable planning is the practice of creating structures and using processes that are environmentally responsible and resource-efficient throughout the life cycle of a building, from selecting the site to design, construction, operation, maintenance, renovation, and, finally, deconstruction. The lessons of the knowledge sharing sessions, site visits, and real-time experiences are planned to be shared among the community.
“Fixing a date for the visit was the major problem due to the pandemic. The number of participants were limited due to the same reason. In the beginning, we planned to have physical awareness sessions, but we had to cancel them all,” said Dilusha.
Dilusha further said that this project was planned to be conducted on 17 May, but due to the pandemic, it was postponed till 20 July. This time too, a limited number of participants – eight to be precise – were involved. Social distancing was maintained during the knowledge-sharing sessions. Wearing masks and obeying the other Covid-19 guidelines were mandatory inside the premises.
Brunch learnt that after the visit, a post series was published along with a documentary in social media platforms like Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. “I personally got so many comments asking what happens there at the Port City Colombo and what kind of measures they are taking to minimise the impact to nature,” said Dilusha.
Dilusha believes that we could all help eliminate many misunderstandings about sustainable planning happening at the Port City Colombo through our knowledge-sharing and experience. As Port City Colombo is still a construction site, and also due to the pandemic, only limited people are able to visit. Therefore, not many people would get a chance to understand the concepts that Port City Colombo is practising. Therefore, through this project, many people, especially undergraduates, understood the concept and its importance.
“I would like to convey my gratitude to all the officials at Port City Colombo, all the executive members, university ambassadors of the G17 University Consortium, especially my team, and the university co-ordinator of the University of Sri Jayewardenepura, as well as everyone who engaged in and supported this project. Each one of us matters and everyone has a role to play in order to make a difference. We believe these initial steps will make a bigger impact on the world someday.
“Youth will take the lead of this country one day. For them to work more responsibly and to sustain their mother Sri Lanka, even small steps like these would be important. Finally, I believe with all these, we could make a positive impact on the community through our project,” Dilusha added.
