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Bitter medicine at Ritigala

We give the expertise-IUCN

This has to be looked at in the context of the government ratifying the Convention on Biological Diversity, under which one of the main activities was the preparation of a Biodiversity Conservation Action Plan. Concurrently there was an interest in conserving medicinal plants, nationally and globally. When the GEF project came about, the Ministry of Health asked us to get involved because we had the expertise in such fields as ethno-botanical studies and plant inventorying, he said.

Rejecting the conspiracy theory, Dr. Mahindapala added, "We have been assisting in drawing up legislation to safeguard traditional knowledge and also in formulating guidelines not only on how 'sensitive' data should be accessed but also how it should be collected."

Meanwhile, numerous telephone calls to the World Bank from The Sunday Times to get a comment on the story did not get a response.

An arishtaya, guli, kasaya, kalka or thailaya to treat any and every illness, be it a fracture or paralysis, a cold or heart problem, have been Sri Lanka's legacy, passed down from the veda mahattayas of yore. And the abundance of medicinal plants, used by these ayurvedic physicians, starting from the humble katuwel batu and venivel geta to the pol pala and kothala himbutu found in Sri Lanka, especially Ritigala have their roots deeply embedded in myth and legend.

For, it is said that during the epic battle between Rama and Ravana, the monkey-king Hanuman was sent to find a rare herb from the Himalayas to heal Rama's brother, Laxshman, who had been injured. Hanuman did not bring just a handful, but a massive piece of the Himalayas itself, parts of which fell in Sri Lanka, one in Ritigala.

But today Ritigala has come into focus not for its historic, archaelogical significance but for its rare plant life. It is embroiled in a controversy over a medicinal plant project being implemented with foreign aid by the Ministry of Health, Nutrition and Welfare.

In the eye of the storm is RITICOE, a non-governmental organization, which acts as an apex body under which comes 12 Grama Niladhari Divisions around Ritigala. 

RITICOE (Ritigala Community-based Development and Environmental Management Foundation) has written a strong letter to Health Ministry Secretary Dr. Reggie Perera under whose purview also falls indigenous medicine, urging an immediate inquiry.

The problems have arisen over the release of funds under the five-year 'Conservation and sustainable use of medicinal plants project' signed by RITICOE with the ministry on November 15, 1999, RITICOE activist Jayantha Wickramanayake told The Sunday Times.

The aim of the project is to arrest the rapidly declining medicinal plant population by conservation and promotion of its sustainable use. This is to be achieved through the establishment of five medicinal plant conservation areas in different ecological zones of Sri Lanka, as part of or adjacent to existing natural forests which are home to threatened species and the cultivation of nurseries, home gardens and plantations to support propagation of these plants and also agronomic research. 

Funding in the form of a grant of US$ 4.57 million has been provided by the Global Environment Facility (GEF) through the World Bank, with the Government of Sri Lanka contributing US$ 0.5 million for this project. 

The five sites of Ritigala, Bibile, Rajawake (Balangoda), Naula (Matale) and Kaneliya (Galle) had been selected for project implementation, with the Health Ministry Secretary as the Chief Implementing Officer, assisted by a Project Management Unit (PMU) in this huge task. The IUCN (The World Conservation Union) had been included in the project to provide technical and operational support. 

A little over two years into the project, RITICOE Chairman W. Ilangaratne has written to the ministry on two main issues. That the agreements with RITICOE have not been honoured by the PMU, which is persisting in delaying the release of funds and that RITICOE is unable to face strong pressure from powerful groups such as the PMU and the IUCN. 

"Biodiversity is a major asset that Sri Lanka possesses and one element is medicinal plants. Equally valuable is the indigenous knowledge that communities such as the veda haula have. RITICOE suspects that groups like the IUCN want to dominate the scene. They want this knowledge. They want to be in a position where the tail will wag the dog," claims Mr. Wickramanayake. 

"It's just not like that. The IUCN is in the project to provide technical and operational support because we do not have the expertise to conduct ethnobotanical and specialised studies," says PMU's Project Director Cyril Pallegedera. 

Adds PMU's Accountant M.J.J. Pieris that the so-called problem of fund delays have arisen because the stipulations under the agreement are not being adhered to by RITICOE. RITICOE should spend its money and then get "reimbursed for remuneration and eligible expenditure" as agreed under the project. "The eligible expenditure would specifically be those in the workplan which has been agreed on with the PMU."

Giving an example, Mr. Pieris said, "The PMU gave them a mobilization advance of Rs. 1 million in December 1999, soon after the agreement was signed under the project on the condition that it will be recovered in 12 instalments and that happened to the letter. From the very beginning they were asked as per the agreement, to operate a separate bank account for these project funds without mixing them up with their own funds. But it didn't happen for 11/2 years. Only in March/April 2001 did they do it," he says.

Another instance is the selection of sub-contractors by RITICOE. Under the original agreement with the ministry, RITICOE should submit a proposal, call for quotations, and select the most suitable person and get PMU approval. But it does not happen like that. Recently they selected subcontractors without getting PMU approval and then paid them a 30% advance when the stipulated amount under the agreement is 20%, alleged Mr. Pieris. However, RITICOE's Mr. Wickramanayake says the problems started even before the agreement was signed. Both the ministry and World Bank had instructed the PMU to sign the Memorandum of Understanding with RITICOE and release funds before December 15, 1998, he said. However, on December 14, 1998, when the PMU sent RITICOE a letter with an attachment that monitoring responsibilities had been moved to IUCN, RITICOE protested against it.

According to him the ministry agreement with RITICOE was that the planning and implementation of the project would be the sole responsibility of RITICOE, while the monitoring and financial auditing would be carried out by the government. 

With RITICOE's protests, by early 1999, the then ministry secretary instructed the PMU to keep to the original agreement. RITICOE ultimately signed the MOU on November 15, 1999 in Habarana. The signed document was not immediately handed over to RITICOE as is customary. Nor were any attachments shown to them. The signatories also did not place their initials on every page of the document, as done normally, says Mr. Wickramanayake. "It was a case of trusting the ministry, but now we realize that we have been fooled. For we find that one of the so-called annexures was an MOU, which says that the monitoring will be done by IUCN consultants." 

"All this while we thought these were isolated incidents, but now we suspect that it is a conspiracy to destroy RITICOE, because it has been a model for the whole country. Files have been stolen, accounts and ledgers have gone missing. We feel that a campaign of destabilization is being carried out," he says.

"The ground situation is very poor. RITICOE does not seem to have done much work. There is also quite a lot of problems with the villagers and factional fighting within RITICOE. It's all to do with money," explained a source on the assurance of anonymity.

Meanwhile, the Additional Secretary of Indigenous Medicine, Buddhika Wijeratne stressed that the ministry will look into the allegations in RITICOE's letter very seriously and impartially. "I will request the ministry Secretary to appoint an independent panel to inquire into all aspects," he said. With biodiversity, conservation of rare species, especially medicinal plants and prevention of bio-piracy being a top priority in the world today, the Ritigala vibrations need immediate attention. The government should act quickly.

Why is Ritigala so important?

He states, "The density and variation of animal fauna too are very rich in the hill range. The range is also a perennial water source for many village tanks located around the hill range, and an important part of the catchment of the Malwathu Oya and the Yan Oya.

The high endemicity of species at Ritigala is due to the survival of many wet zone species due to the availability of suitable environmental conditions here, even though it is in the dry zone. It is evident that the hill range provides a natural refuge for species which are extremely rare, and possibly extinct from other localities of the island. There are organisms here which have specifically adapted to surviving in this environment alone. The evolution of one species, coleus elongatus, endemic to the top of Ritigala has been used extensively as evidence for Darwin's theory of Natural Selection."

On November 14, 1941, 1528 hectares of the range were declared a Strict Natural Reserve (SNR) and brought under the administration of the Department of Wildlife Conservation. Admission to the SNR is allowed by the DWLC Director only for approved research.

Adds Mr. Weerawardane, "The hill is also a declared archaeological reserve, there being extensive antiquities dating back to the Anuradhapura period present on the main hill.

Around the SNR, there is a ring of 14 villages, half of which are purana gamas, the community dependency on the hill range being very high.

"Ritigala has been on the cultural record since 4 BC, and there is inscriptional evidence from 2 BC.It is mentioned in the Mahavamsa as being the refuge of the first king of Anuradhapura, Pandukhabaya, for eight years, when he was in hiding. The antiquities on Ritigala are mostly monumental remains: an ancient Buddhist monastery belonging to the Pansakulika Bhikkus dating from 9 AD," he says.