BIOMES: Dr. Rohan Pethiyagoda, Managing Trustee Wildlife Heritage Trust, Sri Lanka presents "East and West Don’t Meet: How the West Crippled Sustainable Development in Sri Lanka"

About the Seminar:
Sri Lanka, a 65,000-sq. km. tropical Indian Ocean island, was from ca 1796 to 1948 a British colony. The island is rich in natural resources and is part of a Global Biodiversity Hotspot. At Independence it was, with thriving tea and rubber export industries, arguably the most prosperous nation in the British Empire. Today, despite the country being a vibrant democracy, its government is insolvent and unable to service its $60 billion of overseas debt. The Sri Lankan people, of course, have only themselves to blame. But I argue that the country’s predicament owes in part to it having fallen victim to Western—and especially US—policies and values. I use three examples to illustrate this thesis: The US Battle Act, the Convention on Biological Diversity, and the role of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in derailing modern agriculture in the island.

I conclude by pointing to the potential for harm in applying a ‘cut-and-paste’ approach to translating Western values, including those of Affirmative Action and the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion framework, to other contexts.

About the Series:
Over the last twelve years, the Yale School of the Environment has held a weekly seminar series, called BIOMES, which has been the School’s flagship forum for bringing cutting-edge research and impactful work to the community. BIOMES stands for ‘Bridging Issues & Optimizing Methods in Environmental Studies”

The series is a community-sourced and student-led effort designed to bring different perspectives to YSE’s main stage.