Celebration of International Ozone Day

Celebration of International Ozone Day
16 th September 2011
Theme: “HCFC Phase out; a unique opportunity”.
Hambantota, Sri Lanka
National Ozone Unit
Ministry of Environment
980/4, Wickramasinghe Place
Etul Kotte, Kotte
Sri Lanka

Celebration of International Ozone Day (IOD) to Mark Signing of Montreal Protocol on
16 th September 2011, Hambantota, Sri Lanka.
Theme: “HCFC Phase out; a unique opportunity”.
All parities to the Montreal Protocol on substances that deplete on Ozone Layer celebrated the International
Ozone Day on 16 th September, this year too. “Preserve the Ozone Layer/ Protect yourself and the world in
return,” is the eternal message that National Ozone Unit (NOU) of Ministry of Environment takes forward every
year on the International Ozone Day celebrating the success in recovery of stratospheric ozone layer under the
Montreal Protocol and the Vienna Convention.
This year too, under the leadership of HonourableAnuraPriyadarshanaYapa, Minister of Environment, the
National Ozone Unit (NOU) has celebrated this important day as a national event. International Ozone Day in
2011 celebrated Sri Lanka with dignity, since Sri Lanka is one of the countries that recognized as a successful
country in reducing the emissions of CFCs and other aggressive ozone-depleting substances zero by
implementing the Montreal Protocol very effectively.
Since saving the ozone layer will remain as an unfinished task until the HCFCs are phased out, this year theme of
the IOD celebration is “HCFC Phase out; a unique opportunity”. This theme is very important to Sri Lanka too as
we have already initiated the actions to phase out of HCFC and Hon. Minister of Environment in Sri Lanka
decided and held this year celebration in the historical southern city of Thissamaharama in Hambantota district
where the economy is booming due to recent rapid development in agriculture industries, tourism and shipping.
The city of Hambantotain Sri Lanka is also known as Hámbangtotte in the 19th Century is a coastal city in the
south of Sri Lanka. It is the capital of the Hambantota District. An underdeveloped area that was hit hard by the
2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, it is currently undergoing a number of major development projects, including the
construction of a new sea port, international airport and an international cricket stadium hosting games for the
2011 Cricket World Cup. Hambantota is also a candidate city for the 2018 Commonwealth Games. We selected
the Deberawewa National School of the Thissamaharama in Hambanthota District to hold this International
Ozone Day celebration in national level.
Debarawewa School
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Considering the theme of the IOD celebration “HCFC Phase out; a unique opportunity”and the starting point of
taking action of HCFC phasing out of Sri Lanka, it is a great opportunity us to make this event more Historic as it
was decided and held this event with the distinguished patronage of Hon. NamalRajapaksha, Mmber of
Parliament of HambanthotaDistrict, Chairman of District Coordinating committee of Hamanthoata. As our effort
is to save our country and the world for our future generation it will be more historic this year as we are getting
Hon. NamalRajapaksha’s Leadership too as a young dynamic Member of Paliament who work towards the
theme of “Tomorrow for the Youth” and also Hon. NamalRajapaksha is the son of His Excellency
MahindaRajapaksha, President of Sri Lanka.
Further, we invited to the distinguished participation of the Hon. ChamalRajapaksha, The Speaker of the
Parliament of the Democratic Socialistic Republic of Sri Lanka as the Guest of honourand the brother of the H. E.
the President of Sri Lanka, Hon. MahindaAmaraweera, Minister of Disaster Management and with the
participation of other Hon. Ministers and other distinguished guests on the Invitation of Hon.
AnuraPriyadarshanaYapa, Minister of Environment of Sri Lanka, and Hon Alhaj A R M Abdul Cardar, Deputy
Minister of Environment of Sri Lanka. All the Hon.Ministers of the country, The Chief Minister of the
Hambanthota District,All the Secretaries of the Ministries, All the Governors, All the District Secretaries,
Provincial Secretaries, and Head of Departments, of the country, Stake holders, Coordinating committee
members, implementing agencies are invited to be present at this national event too.
The invitees from the UNDP Is as follows
• Mr. SubinayNandy, Resident Representative, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
• Mr. Douglas Keh,, Country Director, UNDP
• Dr. AnandaMallawathanthri, Assistant Resident Representative, UNDP
• Mrs. RazinaBilgrami, Deputy Country Director, UNDP
A picture of the Reception pandol which is made out of environment friendly material is given bellow
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A picture is the Invitation card prepared in three languages is given below for your information
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A picture of the Stage of the celebration of IOD - 2011 in Sri Lanka made out of environmental friendly material
giving message of Ozone layer protection is given bellow
A banner campaign displaying the theme of IOD is held all over the country and the sample of a banner is given
below;
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At the outset the chief guests and other distinguished guests were welcome by Secretary of the Ministry of the
environment and other senior Government Officers
The School Band of the Debarawewa School received the chief guest and other distinguished guests
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Hoisting the National Flag by the Hon AnuraPriyadarshanaYapa, Minister of Environment, Dr. R H S
Samaratunge, Secretary Ministry of Environment and MrDissanayake Chief Secretary of Southern Province Sri
Lanka.
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Playing the National Anthem of Sri Lanka
A Nar tree (National Tree of Sri Lanka) has planted at the Debarawewa School garden in Hambantota to mark
this year IOD ceremony in Sri Lanka
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An Art exhibition was organized displaying the selected arts drawn by school children who are participated for
the completion held towards the IOD celebration and Hon Minister of Environment opened the same
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Lighting the Oil Lamp
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Welcome the gathering by Dr. R H S Samarathunge, Secretary Ministry of Environment Sri Lanka
Cultural show
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Winning speech of the Oratory competition of the Sinhala and Tamil medium
Awarding texts books sets to representative from each province in Sri Lanka in education sector
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Staging winning drama of the drama competition
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Addressed the audience by Hon. AnuraPriyadashanaYapa, Minister of Environment
The National Ozone Unit of the Ministry of Environment has organized the following activities too towards the
IOD celebration as follows.
• NOU of the ME organized an awareness programme for education sector for make the education
officers of all over the country to aware about the ozone layer protection and its importance. And there
were six competitions proposed i.e. Essay, Oratory, Quiz, Power Point Presentation, painting and Drama,
to hold among the schools of the each zones of education by Zonal Educational Officers with assistance
of the NOU. All the competitions were held successfully and winning students who won the 1 st and 2 nd
place were called for final competition, which were held in Colombo.
• Winners of the above competitions were called for final Competitions which held on 8 th and
9 th Septermber 2011 in Colombo by NOU of ME and selected 1 st 2 nd and 3 rd places and they were
awarded certificates and presents at the IOD celebration at Hambantota.
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The some of the pictures of Awarding certificates and Prizes to the winners of the said competitions are given
below for your information
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Speech delivered by the Dr. Ananda Mallawathanthri, Assistant Resident Representative, UNDP
representing UN organizations.
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Winners of the School Competitions and Prize Awards are as follows;
1) Competition on Power Point Presentation on Competition “Why we should protect the Ozone Layer”
1 st Place – Rs. 7,000.00
R W M ThanushiHasharaRajapaksha
Sri SumangalaBalikaMahaVidyalaya-Panadura
2 nd Place – Rs. 4,000.00
ViduraSubarathaBandaraPihillanda
Dharmaraja College – Kandy
3 rd Place- Rs. 2,000.00
C LasithKaushaalyaAbeysinghe
Sri Sumangala College- Panadura
2) Poster Competition on “Why We Should Protect the Ozone Layer”
1 st Place – Rs. 7,000.00
H.A. SachiniSandunika
Deiyandara National School – Deiyandara
2 nd Place – Rs. 4,000.00
NuwanChamodhSenevirathne
AgrabodiMahaVidyalaya – Vavuniya
3 rd Place- Rs. 2,000.00
H. M. M. G. AjithSusantha Kumara Herath
Pallegama Central College – Pallegama
3) Essay Competition on “Why We Should Protect the Ozone Layer”
1 st Place – Rs. 7,000.00
K H G Amaya Shashini
VishakaVidyalaya – Kalaniya
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2 nd Place – Rs. 4,000.00
SamithaPiumiAbeysingha
AnandaMaithriVidyalaya – Balangoda
3 rd Place- Rs. 2,000.00
J W Osaka PanchaliBotheju
SangamiththaMahaVidyalaya – Kalaniya
4) Quiz Competition “ Ozone Denuma Minuma-2011”
1 st Place -Rs. 10,000.00 (Each Teammate receive Rs.2,500.00)
VijayaVidyalaya – Welimada
1. R M DilshaniNimeshika
2. M. G. TharushikaDananjani
3. K. M. KasuniKaushalya
4. M. K. PurnimaSanjeewani
2 nd Place – Rs. 6000.00 (Each Teammate receive Rs.1,500.00)
DammapalaBalikaVidyalaya - Beliatta
1 AbesuriyaPatabadigeMenakaUdayangani
2 MahakalutotageGimhanaiDeshika
3 KankanamGamageSachiniPramalka
4 KariyawasamSingappuliTantrigeChalindraRangadhari
5) Oratory Competition on “why we should protect the Ozone Layer”
Tamil Medium
1 st Place – Rs. 7,000.00
P. Kalaiyarasi
Muttaiankaddu Left Bank Girls Tamil MahaVidyalaya – Mullaitivu
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2 nd Place – Rs. 4,000.00
S. Sathurshan
PuthukudiyiruppuCental College – Mullaitivu
3 rd Place- Rs. 2,000.00
K. Kuvenikka
YogapuramMahaVidyalaya – Mullaitivu
Sinhala Medium
1 st Place – Rs. 7,000.00
H G RasanjaliIreshaJayasooriya
MadiriyaRajyandaMadyaMahaVidyalaya - Monaragala
2 nd Place – Rs. 4,000.00
K A ChamodSalinda
Sri BuddarajaMahaVidyalaya - Kotmale
3 rd Place- Rs. 2,000.00
M HasiniPoornimaDayananda
Delta GamunupuraMahaVidyalaya - Kotmale
6) Drama Competition
1 st Place – Rs. 15,000.00
KahawattaMadyaMahaVidyalaya - Kahawatta
Special Awards
Outstanding contribution given for organizing and conducting school competitions - Sinhala
Medium
Rs. 2,500.00
Mr. J M D Bandara, Asst. Director of Education
Walimada Education Zone - Badulla District
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Out standing contribution given for organizing and conducting school competitions - Tamil
Medium
Rs. 2,500.00
Mr. K A SivanarulrajahMulative District
Asst. Director of Education -Provincial Education Department
Northern Province -Jaffna
Parallel to the International Ozone day celebration following events also be taken place.
• A special paper supplement is published in Sinhala, Tamil and English Languages in National Newspapers
on Ozone Day, ( Sinhala and English versions of the paper supplement are sent herewith).
• Radio broadcast under the topic “Protect the Ozone Layer; Save Life on Earth” and “Be prepared to
phase out HFC” was aired on the IOD celebration on 16 th September 2011.
• About this IOD celebration held on 16 th Sept 2011 was telecasted through the main channels of the
Television in Sri Lanka.(The link of one of the news items telecasted in TV channel is given for your
information)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0nqUOPFuR3whttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0nq
UOPFuR3w
• The presentation of the winner of the power point presentation in Sinhala version and the presentation
won the second place contest in English medium is sent herewith .
• Booklet on Ozone Science and Leaflets on HCFC Phase out information etc. to be produced and
distributed to the audience during the function
• A Leaflet containing details on HCFC phase out Management Plan is distributed among the participants
and copy is attached herewith
The ceremony compeered in Sinhala, Tamil and English medium by professional personnel who are involved
with the Government Media channels and Vote of thanks delivered by them as well. Accordingly successful
International Ozone Day celebration was held in Sri Lanka this year at Debarawewa School in Hamgantota
district
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