RPC’s responsible management helps people, environment
View(s):The Regional Plantation Company’s (RPC) agenda, since privatisation, has revolved around the promotion of eco-system integrity, supplemented through high-conservation measures, and complemented by multi-faceted initiatives aimed at improving stakeholder involvement, through direct methods such as awareness campaigns and forest rehabilitation.
Among Sri Lanka’s 20 privately managed RPCs there exist numerous examples of successful conservation programmes aimed at safeguarding unique environmental habitats. In a pioneering venture, Kelani Valley Plantations launched an extensive biodiversity conservation project that directly led to the establishment of a 634.4 acre forest reserve. Situated 4,000 feet above sea-level, the 4 year programme at its Wewelthalawa Forest Reserve has brought Gordonia speciosa –also known locally as ‘Rath mihriya’ – back from the brink of extinction through the planting of 3,000 indigenous trees.
The company has also made similar efforts to protect and enhance groundwater and streams through the implementation of a comprehensive Watershed Management Plan, an initiative with IUCN, which has also provided immense benefits to over hundred flora and fauna found on the company’s Halgolle Estate, the RPCs said in a media release issued by the Planters Association (PA).
Other examples of RPCs contributions towards protection of the environment can be seen through the visionary efforts of Dilmah and Kahawatte Plantations. Working in partnership with the Zoology Department of the University of Colombo, the companies established Sri Lanka’s first ever, private sector-led Climate Change Research Station situated within the Queensberry Estate. The estate’s name itself has since been given to the rare species of lichen – Heterodermia queensberryi – which was first discovered in 2014. An essential, but mostly unnoticed part of nature, lichens are vital to the health of eco systems, and also serve as an important living indicator of air pollution, ozone depletion and metal contamination, all types of climate change which the station was established to measure. The station is expected to play an important national role in recording and researching climate change in Sri Lanka and its findings will have global importance moving forward.
RPCs have also led the charge on numerous other innovative measures including integrated pest management systems such as those practiced on the Waltrim Estate of Watawala Plantations PLC. In 2013, it was discovered that tea crops on its Elgin Division were free of damage caused by the dangerous Tea Totrix caterpillar. Following a comprehensive biodiversity survey, it was discovered that an insectivorous species of bat – Hipposideros galeritus – was the unseen ally feasting on the caterpillars that had been decimating tea crops in several estates.
Also substantial resources have been channeled towards the preservation and improvement of soil quality over time, through the propagation of ground cover vegetation and planting of natural barriers to reduce soil erosion and runoff sediments to rivers, streams and lakes, while fire is never used to prepare plots for cultivation.
Similar efforts have also been channeled towards forest conservation and rehabilitation, with the majority of RPCs certified with the Forest Stewardship Council, the release added.
“Gradually, the RPCs aim is to continue to augment their business models with multi-faceted sustainable initiatives including a push towards the adoption of renewable energy, and optimization of resource usage through the installation of more energy efficient equipment and water conservation through the implementation of practices like rainwater harvesting. Ultimately it is clear that the long-term success of Sri Lanka’s plantation industry will hinge on its ability to transform itself into new generation plantations that go beyond mitigating the impacts of commercial-scale cultivation, to make significant and meaningful contributions to the overall resilience of Sri Lanka’s truly unique ecosystems,” it said.