The Uncertain Fate of Rambo the Elephant
Rambo, the mature male elephant that has become an icon of the Uda Walawe National Park, was doomed to be captured from within the park and imprisoned in a so-called Elephant Holding…
Environment
The Urgent Need for a Plastic-Free World
Over a month after a fire broke out onboard the MV X-Press Pearl that brought about the worst ecological disaster, Sri Lanka is still far from recovery. The inferno of the chemical-laden…
Climate Conscious Development Planning Vital for Sustainable Development
The beginning of the southwest monsoon season has triggered heavy rains causing flash floods and mud slides across several districts across the country. The risk of increased extreme weather events – heavy…
X-Press Pearl Disaster: An Oceanographic Perspective
The container ship, X-Press Pearl, was registered in Singapore and operated by one of the largest feeder ship operators in the world, X-Press Feeders. X-Press Feeders operates a route that includes Port…
The Toxic Ship – What Price for Environmental Devastation?
“” This is a politician’s perception of the vessel-source pollution caused by the X-Press Pearl that caught fire and sank off in the Sri Lankan waters. Not only the politicians but the…
An Avoidable Environmental Catastrophe: Where Did It Go Wrong?
Sri Lanka is currently experiencing the greatest marine disaster in its history caused by the burning and sinking of the MV X-Press Pearl in the shallow waters less than 10 nautical miles…
Ecosystem Restoration is Not a Choice But an Imperative
Making of a blue-green planet Planet Earth was formed nearly 4.5 billion years ago. As far as we know it is the only planet that supports life. Life evolved and flourished in…
The X-Press Pearl Fire – A Disaster of Unimaginable Proportions
After 12 days, the ship MV X-Press Pearl finally sank about 9.5 nautical miles from the Colombo harbour. It has not sunk fully because it is touching a coral bed. The ship…
Not Seeing the Forest for the Trees
The Japanese practice of Shinrin Yoku or forest bathing, is now used as a de-stress practice in many western countries. The idea is to be in a forest, preferably alone, just sit…
Human–Elephant Conflict: Lessons Not Learnt
In 1949, a year after Sri Lanka gained independence, a Committee on the Preservation of Wildlife (Sessional paper XIX – 1949) recommended that when development takes place, elephants living in the proposed…
Saving Sinharaja: Many Layers of Protection But Threats Continue
Sinharaja’s conservation status is of “significant concern”. According to the World Heritage Outlook, published by International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), Sinharaja has been assessed in 2020 as a World Heritage…
Saving Sinharaja: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
The Sinharaja Rainforest has been in the public eye for a few weeks now. Is it being threatened by encroachment and development? Will it lose its UNESCO World Heritage status? Are there…
Preserving and Protecting Precious Water Sources
World Water Day 2021, at the start of a critical decade for climate action and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), opens with an outcry by stakeholders about the impacts of ongoing rampant deforestation…
Where Journalists Self-abduct and Ecocide is Green
To mark the Global Climate Action Day, the youth wing of the Wild Life and Nature Protection Society put up a massive mural decrying ecocide. The President’s environmental-loving soul was lacerated by…
When Crying in the Wilderness is Just Not Enough
“Knowledge is power: You hear it all the time but knowledge is not power. It’s only potential power. It only becomes power when we apply it and use it.” Jim Kwik These are…