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Archive for the ‘Environment’

Gratitude for Life

While the word biodiversity is gaining currency worldwide as a result of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) an internationally binding set of agreements. Whose articles are legally binding and used today to address some or other aspect of nature. Thus it is critical to appreciate the true nature of biodiversity and what role it has in our future. Biodiversity is the measure of the variability of living organisms at any spatio-temporal point i.e. the number of different species at anyplace at any given time. It does not mean wild, endemic, rare or even native, it is merely a measure of diversity. This measure has various meanings, from indicating a potential for conservation to indicating changes in the environment. It also signifies the way natural cycles work, cycling substances such as carbon, oxygen or water. The conservation of biodiversity refers to the conservation of this diversity of actions. The variability of our living world, has been the source of human…

Urban wetlands park plays host to Army tank

Urban Development Authority (UDA) has seen fit to place a used army tank there for everyone to see. Every evening, as the park fills up, people clamour to get an up close look at the vehicle. While such objects naturally attract the attention of most people, it is surprising that the authorities have chosen to place this in a “child friendly” environment. In fact, the image of the people crowding a tank in a public place is not too dissimilar to those images seen of people in the West Bank in Palestine crowding around abandoned Israeli tanks (see attached photos). The only difference between the situations is Palestine is a war zone, the Urban Wetlands Park is exactly what the name suggests, a park. Officials have claimed that the tank was one that was used during the war and they wanted to give the public an opportunity to see it up close. As to why they chose to put it…

Unseasonal Rains

Devo vassatu Kalena (may the rains fall in due season) Sassa sampattu hetu ca (may there be a rich harvest) Phito bhavatu loko ca (may the world prosper) Raja bhavatu dhammiko (may the ruler be righteous) Four conditions governing the well being of humanity each inexorably tied to the other. It has been pointed out by many commentators this also reflects the traditional view of the system of governance. Without a righteous ruler, the rains will not come in season, the harvest will be poor and the world will not prosper. Many millions recite this verse every day, well aware of Dharma (as the perennially fixed set of natural laws governing causation). These laws present the structure of rules which if understood correctly leads to natural or skillful action (dharma) which provides fortunate consequences (kusala kamma) or if not understood and contravened leads to unskillful action (adharma) with unfortunate consequences (akusala kamma). Wholesome, fair-minded actions always bring forth positive future…

On the felling of trees

Photo courtesy Dushiyanthini “The trees being cut-down on Reid Avenue are the perfect example of the kind of ‘development’ that Colombo, and some other parts of Sri Lanka, are now facing.” (http://groundviews.org/2012/12/03/the-felling-of-a-tree/) The author summaries eloquently the malaise that affects Sri Lanka today. The idea that modernism and consumerism must be used as the drivers of so-called ‘Economic Development’ and that concern for nature is irrelevant to the engine of growth, is not new, the bureaucrats and politicians who pushed us along this path continue to do so still. It was twenty years ago , in October 1982, when I wrote the following in the national newspapers : RAPE OF THE GIANTS Do you remember what a large tree looked like? Once they were all around us, not just the forest giants like the Hora or Palu, but the fine old Mango and Jak trees that would have taken at least four or five men to girdle. The next time…

The Felling of a Tree

Photo courtesy Dushiyanthini When I heard that the large, beautiful trees that pave Reid Avenue in Colombo were being felled, my heart broke. I was so stirred inside – and it was hard to explain to anyone else why this particular incident had moved me so much. When I came to Bangalore, my first thought was that this was another city that was home to large, beautiful, old trees – trees that had stood for decades, centuries perhaps, trees that had seen change, seen families come and go, people grow old; trees that had seen governments topple and others take their place, many of these trees probably saw the end of colonial rule and the beginning of the life of Independent India. It made me miss Colombo just a little less. It has been hard to imagine returning to Colombo and seeing the grand old trees on Reid Avenue uprooted and chopped up, lying sadly on the side of the…

24 Nov, 2012
Herman Kumara
5 Comments
Colombo,
Development,
Economy,
Environment,
Features,
Peace and Conflict,
Politics and Governance,
Post-War

Whose beaches in Sri Lanka?

Photo by AP Photo/Gemunu Amarasinghe, via Sulekha Tourism will bring millions to Sri Lanka but will we see any of it? During the last week of October this year, the BBC Sinhala Sandeshaya service featured a story about Sri Lankan tourism, which was in turn aired by the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation. The piece drew particular attention to irregularities in development and other environmental concerns caused by the tourism industry in Sri Lanka. In the same dialogue, a civil society organization (CSO) representative raised the issue of poor environmental management, referring to the establishment of camp sites within the country’s nature reserves. This action is illegal under the provisions stipulated in the Flora and Fauna Act of Sri Lanka. The Deputy Minister Laxman Yapa Abeywardena responded to these allegations by slinging mud against the CSO engagements on various aspects of the issue: “When there is a tourism project proposed by an investor, we follow all the rules and regulations according…

Forests: Beyond The Wood II

According to the FAO, 28.8% or about 1,860,000 ha of Sri Lanka is covered by trees. Of this only 9.0% (167,000) is classified as primary forest, the most biodiverse and carbon-dense form of forest. This should be a shameful statistic for a country that sells itself as a ‘biodiversity hotspot’. The rest is degraded forest, plantations and home gardens. With 185,000 ha of planted monoculture tree plantations, the country has more plantations than primary forest. These timber plantations have none of the attributes of the native forest, they are a veritable desert in terms of biodiversity, but claimed by ‘foresters’ to be a replacement for the lost forests. But only 9% primary forest? Should this not be a cause for national alarm? We claim to be a ‘biodiversity hotspot’ and we have only 9% of our primary forests to protect this biodiversity. The tragic reality of this much vaunted boasting about our biodiversity ‘hot spot’ claims, is that many of…

Forests: Beyond The Wood I

It is time to recognize the fact that much of the investment in “forests” up to date has missed the forest for the wood. We have engaged ourselves in actions that addressed only one aspect of a forest, its wood or timber. This myopic vision has allowed the massive discounting of all other values of a forest. While the value of a forest in biodiversity conservation is just being appreciated, its value in acting as a buffer for problems wrought by climate change is still poorly understood. It is urgent that we re-evaluate a forest, so that the institutions of ‘forestry’ act effectively within their mandate ‘the art and science of managing forests’ The forest has long been recognized as an important source of many environmental and cultural needs but a higher relative value being placed on wood by modern ‘forestry’, resulted in their being discounted in national and international economic decisions. The industrial plantation sector has been especially active…

Monsoons and Intermonsoons

Photo courtesy The Telegraph The New Zealand cricketers should not be surprised that their matches are being rained on. The following is from an article titled “The Language of Climate in Sri Lanka” (Daily News 28/04/09): “In an article published a few years ago (Daily News, Thursday 4th December 2003) we found the schedules and venues of the Test cricket matches for a decade were out of sync with the climate. Most of our test matches had been scheduled at the start of the Maha season – a time to make a good muddy field.” I recently met the author of this article, Lareef Zubair, who explained that a large part of the problem is the public perception of the word monsoon. The word is redolent of darkening skies, torrential rain and tropical lushness. I myself have often wondered why there was no classic monsoon rain during the so-called monsoon, and why the heaviest rain always seemed to be referred…

Manel Tampoe: Perceptive Chronicler of Sri Lanka’s DDT Generation

One of the earliest photos of Manel Tampoe, around age 15 Manel Tampoe, school teacher turned journalist and environmentalist, was a force to reckon with – but she didn’t look the part. Beneath her soft spoken and demure personality, she harboured a keen intellect, steely resolve and a strong sense of justice that lasted for all her 85 years. Those who underestimated Manel soon discovered their mistake, similar to what happened with Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple. Such comparisons go only so far: unlike the fictional detective, Manel raised a family, travelled the world, wrote a book, and left her mark in at least three fields: education, journalism and environmental activism. Born in 1927, Iranganie Manel Tampoe (nee Goonesekera) graduated from the University of Ceylon with an honours degree in English shortly after Ceylon gained political independence in 1948. The first two decades of her working life was mostly devoted to teaching English at leading schools — Visakha Vidyalaya (her Alma…

Facing an Uncertain Future: A ‘non-suba anagathayak’

Photo courtesy Bindaas Madhavi While the so-called ‘rulers’ prance about in their hubris, ignoring the global events that will also affect us, there is very serious concern that ‘We Are ‘Entering A Long-Term And Politically Dangerous Food Crisis’ . The author of the study suggests that, ‘we are five years into a severe global food crisis that is very unlikely to go away. It will threaten poor countries with increased malnutrition and starvation and even collapse. Resource squabbles and waves of food-induced migration will threaten global stability and global growth. This threat is badly underestimated by almost everybody and all institutions with the possible exception of some military establishments.’ Many reasons are given as to why such a crisis will occur, but two factors identified by this study must be considered in all ‘development’ projects that are being touted as ‘progress’ in Sri Lanka. To do less will tantamount to a betrayal of the nation. (1) There will be increased weather…

22 Aug, 2012
Ranil Senanayake
7 Comments
Colombo,
Environment,
Politics and Governance

Protecting Sri Lanka’s Ocean

Sri Lanka is exposed as the worst polluter of the Indian Ocean. The new maps on human impact on the world’s oceans are now on the web (http://www.nceas.ucsb.edu/globalmarine ). Although there had been regular commentary on the need of every government and various authorities to be cognizant of oceanic health, it was a shock to see the evidence that is now before us. The map of the Indian Ocean shows an ugly halo of pollution and ocean impact that rings the ocean around Sri Lanka. The irresponsible use of our land, cutting the forests, eroding the soil and drenching it with artificial fertilizers and agro/ industrial toxins, finally result in polluting the ocean. First there was the loss of the rock pool corals, then the shore corals, next the fringing shallow reef and finally the deep reef. We saw these degrade and disappear within our lifetime, but the extent of the damage to the ocean around us was not even…

The Urgent Need of a National Water Resources Policy

Sri Lanka is endowed with rich and sustainable water resources emanating from the central highlands. The island wide average of rainfall is about 1,900 mm, almost two and a half times more than the world annual mean of 750mm. We are water rich! The total volume of fresh water received annually is 13,230 million m3. The average annual river flow, which is 31% of the rainfall, is 40,680 million m3. Although Sri Lanka has abundant water resources in aggregated terms, this picture is misleading, a very large portion of our water resources are, mismanaged and misused, primarily owing to the lethargy and inefficiency of the statutory bodies with responsibilities to ensure a robust water sector and of course, aggravated by that cancer of our nation: political interference. Another strong reason as to why we have allowed our water resources to degrade to such a disturbing state is the level of ignorance, nationwide, on the individual rights and responsibilities vis-à-vis water….

The National Soil Question: Part 2

Read Part 1 here. The effect of clearing the forests and allowing erosion of the soil, especially on the mountain areas became obvious to scientists who visited this country. Dr. Strange, an agricultural expert to Ceylon made this observation in 1909 with respect to the clearing of the mountain forests: “It would not have been necessary to notice here the matter of soil denudation, did it not affect irrigation and water supply. The result of stripping the soil is to make the springs on tea states dry up quickly; to diminish the fair-weather flow of streams and to increase their storm flow (whereby temporary irrigation weirs are carried away) and to choke with silt the beds of the streams and the irrigation channels led from them. It is also said to reduce the fertilizing property of the water, as there is now less leaf mould in solution. Even paddy fields have been ruined by sandy deposits laid on them. When…

The National Soil Question: Part 1

There are some very disturbing trends in the management of the land of this nation, that cries out for action, but who will hear the cry? We are ever ready to talk about and fight about land, without the slightest inkling about or concern for the land that we are so willing to fight for. Land comprised of four basic elements, its water, its rocks, its soil and its biodiversity. These elements come together on varied landscapes to give us mountains, valleys, flatlands, forests, rivers and lakes. The protection and maintenance of these landscapes is what dedication to ones land must be measured by; the rest is politics, opportunism and greed. Land, when seen only as an abstract political or economic entity usually results in its degradation. To understand one’s land, we must have some measure of knowledge about its elements. A discussion on water has begun. In a similar manner we should also understand the basics of soil, then…

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Archive for the ‘Environment’

Gratitude for Life

Urban wetlands park plays host to Army tank

Unseasonal Rains

On the felling of trees

The Felling of a Tree

Whose beaches in Sri Lanka?

Forests: Beyond The Wood II

Forests: Beyond The Wood I

Monsoons and Intermonsoons

Manel Tampoe: Perceptive Chronicler of Sri Lanka’s DDT Generation

Facing an Uncertain Future: A ‘non-suba anagathayak’

Protecting Sri Lanka’s Ocean

The Urgent Need of a National Water Resources Policy

The National Soil Question: Part 2

The National Soil Question: Part 1

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