Environment comes fifth

ENVIRONMENTAL issues rankedfifth among national problems inSri Lanka, reports NalakaGunawardene from Colombo.Quoting a study by Survey ResearchLanka Ltd, a market research firm,Gunawardene says cost of living,ethnic issues, unemployment andthe high cost of housing take precedence over environment.

However, more than 50 per centof the 4,000 respondents who identified environment as a seriousissue felt that problems such as pollution had worsened over the lastdecade.