Only 5% of SL’s rainforest left
View(s):Much of Sri Lanka’s forest was ‘cleared’ 150 years ago, making way for plantations that first grew coffee followed by tea. This left behind only five per cent, or 800 square kilometres, of rainforest remaining today.
This observation was made at a recent public event marking the United Nations International Day for Biological Diversity, organised by Sri Lanka Business and Biodiversity Platform (SLBBP) of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce, in conjunction with Hatton National Bank and Dilmah Conservation.
The keynote speaker at this event, Dr. Madhava Meegaskumbura, of the Faculty of Science, University of Peradeniya, told the “Frog Story” to the assembled audience, demonstrating the reasoning behind Sri Lanka being declared a “biological hotspot” along the lines of the Western Ghats of India.
“Most amphibians are threatened by habitat loss because they have very peculiar and small ranges, what you would call point endemism. So if you lose a small patch of forest even as little as one square kilometres, then you may lose a whole species,” commented Dr. Meegaskumbura. Significantly, amphibians also act as bio-indicators signalling environmental stress and climate change.
Further, it was revealed at the event that “(one-third) of the world’s 6,000 amphibian species are threatened with extinction according to the IUCN Red List, while 122 species have become extinct globally over the past 25 years. One-third of the species that have become extinct are native to Asia. Out of the extinct species in Asia, 55 per cent are native to Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka has lost 20 per cent of its amphibian fauna. Of the remaining species, more than 50 per cent are at risk of extinction. Most amphibian extinctions in Sri Lanka occurred about 150 years ago”.
(JH)