CAN ECO-BUSINESS PROTECT THE ENVIRONMENT?
B.M.S. Batagoda, B.M.N.K. Dorabawila, S.S. Ariyaratne Ministry of Forestry and Environment In a ‘Sustainable’ society there should not be any particular business called ‘eco-business’, but all human endeavours should be eco-friendly. Since conventional approaches to achieve sustainability through command and control mechanism have failed, world is now beginning to adopt more voluntary approaches that are generally skewed towards economic instruments. Eco-business is one of the major strategies that harnesses the economic power- the strength of investors, consumers, business and the market place, to create an environmentally responsible and socially just society. Though this concept is believed to have a lot of advantages, there is a danger that it can be manipulated by extremists, both environmentalists and developers, to achieve their strategic goals. On one hand, environmentalists may follow an extreme ecocentric approach and expect eco-business to be absolutely free from environment
