Centre for Environmental Justice

Vision and Mission
	Centre for Environmental Justice is a social service environmental organisation based in Sri Lanka with the mission for Protecting the equal environmental rights of the people & environment and promote ecological sustainability by supporting ecologically sound community activities. Our vision is "Environmental Justice for all"

	Ravindranath Dabare- Chairperson
	Ravindranath Dabare is the Chairperson of the of the Centre for Environmental Justice.He is an old Anandian and a Mechanical Engineer. Later he became an Attorney-at-Law. He is also a lecturer in Law. Mr Dabare is also a Presenter of the Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation. He also served as a Advisory Board Member to the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation. Formerly he served as the Community Legal Officer of the Ministry of Justice and Legal Officer of the Legal Aid Commission. He was the Former Senior Legal Officer of the Environmental Foundation Ltd. He serves as the Legal Officer for the Old Anandian Media Circle. During his service at the EFL he filed several law suits including the case for the Protection of Muthurajawela santuary, the case against Oxime Carbamate containers and the case against the degazetting of Karagan Lewaya Santuary.

	Hemantha Withanage - Director
	Hemantha Withanage is a co-founder and the Executive Director of Centre for Environmental Justice. He is also seving as an Executive Member to the Friends of the Earth International. He is also the Convenor of Sri Lankan Working Group on Trade and IFIs. Hemantha served as the Environmental Officer, Senior Environmental Scientist and the Executive Director positions at the Environmental Foundation Ltd., since 1990. He was instrumental in building the Environmental Foundation Ltd to leading NGO in Sri Lanka. He was an active member of the following International Committees and Networks during past years; Elected International Convener of the NGO Forum on Asian Development Bank 2002 and 2003(term ended on July 2004), Executive Committee member of the FOEI (Friends of the Earth International) 2002-2004, Steering Committee Member of Oilwatch, Coordinator of the FOEI (Friends Of the Earth International) Working Group on Water, Coordinator of the FOEI ADB Task Group. He is a member of the ELAW (Environmental Law Alliance- Worldwide) since 1991. Hemantha was instrumental in many environmental campaigns in Sri Lanka including the struggle against Kandalama Hotel, Eppawela Phosphate mining, Upper Kotmale Hydropower project, Southern Transport Development project, Baby corn plantation in Balaharuwa, Pineapple plantation in Nilgala and campaign against the water privatization in Sri Lanka. He was instrumental in most of the public interest environmental litigations in Sri Lanka including the case against Eppawela phosphate mining. His cases lead to bring some national policies including genetically modified food regulations. Hemantha has written numerous article, blogs and publications and contributed to number of national and international magazines.

	Kamini Meedeniya Vitarana- Director
	Kamini is a prominent environmental activist in the country. She has more than 25 years experience in the environmental field. She was the President of “Ruk Rakaganno” (Tree Society) for number of years. She was the Chairperson of the Environmental Council of the Sri Lanka Association for Advancement of Science (SLAAS) for 1987-1989 period. She is an environmental scientist and she holds a degree on Zoology and M Phil on Microbiology. Kamini was the first Senior Environmental Scientist of the Environmental Foundation in 1989. She has been actively engaged in the various committees on environment. She is a member of the Women and Environment and has participated in a number of national and international environmental events. She has authored a number of environmental articles and publications. Kamini is a leading environmental advocate in the Country.

	Suranjan Kodithuwakku - Director
	Suranjan is the Convenor of Green Movement of Sri Lanka which is a network of over sixty environmental groups. He is a leading environmental activist in the Country. He has over 15 years experience in the environment Field. He has authored a number of environmental articles. He was a co-ordinator of several national and regional environmental networks such as ANAC and SUNPEC.

	Chandana S. Jayakody- Director
	Chandana is a computer technologist. He has a vision topromote environmental information sharing through IT. He is a founding member of the organization. He conducts research on electronic waste and possible solutions.

	Dilena Pathragoda - Director
	Dilena is a Management graduate and a Diploma holder in Human rights.He has knowledge on environmental mediation, collaborative management of natural resources. He was working at EFL as the Assistant Co-ordinator of the Environmental Mediation Centre and Co-ordinator of the Environmentally Sustainable Industrial Development Project until 2003. He also has knowledge on monitoring the implementation of IFI projects and policies.

	Dr. E.A.S. Edirisinghe
	Dr. Edirisighe was awarded her M.B.B.S. from University of Colombo, and subsequently awarded post graduate Diploma in Child Health by Post Graduate Institute of Medicine. She conducts number of researches on health and environmental related issues.

Campaigns
Publications
Resources
Programmes
Environmental Issues
Follow us on...

Sharpen the public debate on environmental good governance,

Promote ecologically sustainable development and environmentally responsible neighbourhoods,

Safeguard nature and people from environmentally & socially irresponsible activities and human rights violations,

Promote community participation in decision making on natural resources and,

Promote environmental justice and equity through legal and other means

Mission

Protecting the equal environmental rights of the people & environment and
promote ecological sustainability by supporting ecologically sound
community activities,

Vision

Environmental Justice for all

Staff Members

Hemantha Withanage- Executive Director

Dilena Pathragoda- Project Director

Chamali Liyanage- Environmental Officer

Rohana Kumara- Environmental Officer

Nilmal Wickramasinghe- Legal officer

Indu Wattege- Legal Officer

Gayan Panagoda- Information Officer

Nalin Jayasuriya- Programme Officer

Thilini Amarasinghe- Admin/ Finance Officer

Read Blogs

Latest Press Releases Centre for Environmental Justice

Read blogs from Cancun Hemantha Withanage

1000 Cancuns and .... Friends of The Earth International

Photostreams

Flicker Photostream Hemantha Withanage

Flicker Photo streamFriends of the Earth International

Water, air, land, are the basic natural resources for life. The earth is our mother. Oceans, forests, rivers, wetlands, arid zones even deserts are the habitats for living things. Humans, as well as all other living things have a right to nature and its resources. We all have equal environmental rights.

The Natural environment is at risk today. Good environmental governance is far behind our expectations. We believe that environmental protection should be done at all levels. While government has a major role to play, every citizen has a responsibility to care for the environment in which we live.

Centre for Environmental Justice is a new initiative to protect the environment, to ensure equal environmental rights for all people and to promote ecological sustainability by supporting environmentally sound community activities.

Our Dream is to see a world that does not fight over nature and its resources; to see environmental peace within and across borders and to see and live in environmentally responsible communities.

We hope to see a world which shares the remaining natural resources and respects the environmental rights of all. Our task is to protect and conserve these natural resources; to preserve the ancient wisdom that enabled us to live in harmony with nature; to fight for better environmental governance for a sustainable future and for a better world which has environmental justice and equity.