Vital Northern Mangroves Need Uncompromising Protection
Tashiya de Mel On the northern coast of Sri Lanka in the Mannar District is a place of extraordinary importance to conservation and to the economic wellbeing of the human populations who…
Environment
Critical Zone: In Search of New Aesthetics
We are living in a critical zone. Have you ever thought of the critical nature of the zone that we live? Probably not; we take the earth that we live on for…
Converting Conflict into Coexistence Between Humans and Elephants
Photo courtesy of Gehan de Silva Wijeyeratne The situation of Asian elephants, Sri Lankan elephants in particular, is critical due to the increase in human-elephant conflicts. Even before the current economic crisis, Human-Elephant…
Saving the Sri Lankan Leopard from Extinction
The leopard is a big cat in the genus Panthera () that has a distribution throughout sub-Saharan Africa, through the Middle East and into several countries in Asia. Once occupying a vast…
Conserving and Protecting Sri Lanka’s Threatened Marine Resources
The oceans around Sri Lanka are a vital resource for food security, trade and shipping, coastal livelihoods, tourism, coastal protection and national security. Its coastal and marine resources and biological diversity, as…
Protecting the Environment in Times of Economic Turmoil
World Environment Day is celebrated every year to highlight the importance of the environment we live in. This year the theme is only one planet but to Sri Lankans it would be…
Protecting and Preserving the Environment Against All Odds
The country’s recent economic and political woes have taken the spotlight away from the myriad cases of blatant environmental degradation going on every day. Big business interests, corrupt officials, unscrupulous politicians and…
Preventing the Extinction of Species
Sri Lanka is home to about 900 species of vertebrates, about 960 species groups of invertebrates (mostly insects), 3,000 species of seed bearing plants and 1,750 species of lower plants. There are…
The Horror Of Horowpathana: Starving Elephants to Death
Right now, and understandably, the media is consumed by the political events of the day, matters of such magnitude that the very future of Sri Lanka is at stake; the wrong decisions…
A Brief Response to the Current National Crisis – A Way Forward
Sri Lanka is at a crossroad, facing multiple crises, as well as the present impasse of an unwanted Executive with all powers and an inadequate Legislature with little powers. The call of…
Taking the Fight Against Ecocide to the Galle Face Protest
The last two years have witnessed the unparalleled destruction of Sri Lanka’s environment, with more than 1,000 cases of environmental degradation being reported throughout the country. The plundering of natural resources by…
Preserving and Protecting the Hidden Resource of Groundwater
Each World Water Day brings with it a new theme and a new resurgence of interest, although momentary, in that most critical source of support for human lives and ecosystems – water.…
Ecosystem Restoration? Stop the Continuing Destruction
The laudable theme of this year’s World Wildlife Day is Ecosystem Restoration. What a noble ideal but is it applicable to Sri Lanka? In the last two years, the country has seen…
Conservation in 2021: A Year Like No Other
In 2021, the Covid-19 pandemic devastated the world and under its malevolent cloak, Sri Lanka’s environment, wildlife and wilderness had to face some of the greatest threats they have ever had. Not…
A Disastrous 2021 and Conservation Challenges in 2022
Environmental conservation in Sri Lanka is as challenging as the economy of the country. Environmental degradation is fully supported and carried out with the blessings of corrupt politicians. This has been the…