As the world marked World Environment Day this week with a united call to #BeatPlasticPollution, Tamil environmental activists condemned Sri Lanka’s continued neglect of the North-East’s deepening ecological crises.
While government officials launched a tree-planting and coastal conservation project along Colombo’s Marine Drive on June 5, activists in the North accused authorities of deliberately ignoring marine pollution and environmental degradation across the Tamil homeland.
Speaking at a press conference in Jaffna on Thursday, Annalingam Annarasa, media spokesperson for the Northern Province Maritime Network, criticised the Sri Lankan government’s selective approach.
“It is worrying that the government, which is cleaning up the land on Environment Day, is ignoring the Chinese government's plastic waste and various banned fishing nets in the sea,” Annarasa said. “It originates from Chinese-backed sea urchin farms and illegal fishing operations.”
Annarasa highlighted Parutthitheevu, where plastic waste from a Chinese-operated sea urchin farm continues to accumulate in local waters, with no regulation or clean-up efforts in sight. The growing pollution is placing fish stocks and other marine species at risk, with potential health dangers for coastal communities that depend on seafood for their livelihoods.
Since the end of the armed conflict, environmental protection and development in the North-East have been consistently sidelined by successive governments. Budget allocations and environmental policies remain heavily skewed towards the South, while local activists in the North face mounting challenges: rising pollution, eroding coastlines, and the impacts of militarisation and unregulated foreign investment.
The issue of Chinese-backed projects fuelling environmental destruction has drawn increasing concern across the North-East. Activists point to a pattern of economic ventures backed by Colombo that harm local ecosystems while offering few tangible benefits to Tamil communities.
As World Environment Day passes, Annarasa and other campaigners say the government’s failure to address these long-standing grievances further entrenches environmental injustice and risks leaving the North’s fragile ecosystems to deteriorate further.
