Marking International Day for Biodiversity today (22nd May), Dilani Hirimuthugodage looks at the Sri Lankan interventions in the wake of its ratification of the International Convention on Biological Diversity 19 years ago. She asserts that concrete steps must be taken soon if Sri Lanka is to safeguard its rich bio diversity, in the midst of the rapid development taking place.

G.D. Dayaratne of the Health Economics Policy Unit of IPS writes a special feature article marking World Health Day (7th April). He argues that it is exceedingly important that the public dismisses the false notion that PPPs will lead to the privatization of the public health care delivery system. Public health authorities have a responsibility to reap the benefits from PPP arrangements, in order to reduce cost, share resources, provide quality assurance, and increase the efficiency of the healthcare delivery system without compromising on equity and fairness. Hence, institutional changes may be required in both the public and private sectors, to better fulfill their social mandate and provide quality health services to the people of the country.

In this special feature article to mark World Water Day today (22nd March), IPS researchers Chatura Rodrigo (Research Economist) and Athula Senaratne (Research Fellow) examine the usefulness of the ‘Integrated Water Resource Management’ approach as a solution to an impending water crisis.   Hydrologists and water resource economists have suggested that by 2030 one third [...]

Driving innovation in Sri Lanka is now increasingly being recognized as a key determinant of the country’s long term growth prospects. Everyone from private sector leaders to government policy planners are keen to understand how the power of innovation can be ignited to drive enterprise profitability and drive faster and inclusive growth nationally. We decided to tackle this issue in the latest version of the IPS Talking Economics Digest through an ‘Innovation Special Issue’.

In this special feature article marking World Consumer Rights Day (15th March), RaveenEkanayake (Research Assistant – IPS) writes that with the growing incidence of food safety risks globally, Sri Lanka mustintroduce smarter and coherent regulation for imported food products to protect consumers’ health and safety.   Introduction   Increased international trade in food has resulted [...]