With conservationists up in arms against alleged proposals to build hotels in buffer zones around Nature Reserves, Wildlife Minister S.M. Chandrasena was quick to respond that no moves were underway to breach the Fauna and Flora Protection Ordinance (FFPO).
The FFPO clearly prohibits the construction of hotels in the one-mile buffer zones around Nature Reserves, the Sunday Times understands and a Gazette notification will not suffice to give the green light for such measures.
The FFPO will have to be amended, pointed out environmental lawyer Jagath Gunewardene, who stressed that it would be a sad day for Sri Lanka if such amendments are rushed through for a quick buck.
Twenty years of conservation efforts would then be changed by the stroke of a pen, he lamented, a view echoed by many others.
Section 3A of the FFPO introduced in 1993, after studying the pros and cons of building hotels in the buffer zones, clearly stipulates that no hotels should be set up in these areas, said Mr. Gunewardene.
Section 9A also brought in the same year (1993) and further strengthened in 2009, deals with any other development activity within the buffer zones (exclusive of hotels which are prohibited) and mandatorily calls for an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) or an Initial Environmental Examination (IEE). It is only after an EIA or an IEE that the Department of Wildlife Conservation (DWC) will permit such activity and monitor it thereafter, it is understood.
Pointing out the serious adverse effects of allowing hotels in buffer zones, Mr. Gunewardene said hotels should be in one hub away from Nature Reserves, allocated land from large tracts owned by the state, and tourists taken from there to the National Parks. Backing up his arguments with scientific reasons, this environmental lawyer said hotels in buffer zones will cause major disturbances to wild animals, with vehicles and people moving around creating a lot of noise and lights being kept on into the night.
What of all the chemicals used in hotels to clean the toilets, for laundry and even against insects such as mosquitoes and flies? These will have serious impacts not only on the environment but also the wildlife.
Adding his voice to these concerns, Sajeewa Chamikara of the Nature Forum reasoned why one-mile buffer zones have been demarcated around the boundaries of Nature Reserves such as National Parks. The buffer zone has an “edge effect” in protecting vulnerable and sensitive species which find a haven in the Nature Reserve. It also acts as a co-zone for animals such as elephants in their movements and minimizes conflict with humans.
The chemicals used in buffer-zone hotels will not only pollute the water and the soil of Nature Reserves but also cause harm to rare amphibians, he said. According to Mr. Chamikara the FFPO has defined a hotel as any building having more than 10 rooms. Another worrying factor for lawyer Gunewardene is the huge amounts of garbage generated from such hotels which would not only pollute the area but attract unwanted animals such as scavengers. These animals will harm wild animals and spread disease among them, he said, citing the documentation of the spread of swine flu and also foot and mouth disease in Yala in the 1980s from meat brought to hotels there.
Moving from the scientific to management issues, Mr. Gunewardene stressed that hotels in the buffer zone will tempt bio-pirates and bio-thieves to smuggle out valuable plants and animals. “We would be offering them our valuable stuff on a platter,” he said.
The hotels too will carry out nefarious activities and attempt to have collections of animals and plants or private sanctuaries within their boundaries, this conservationist explained. The repercussions will be immense, with the mega wild animals thus enticed resorting to deviant behaviour, not only with changes in their breeding and feeding but also escalating the human-animal conflict.
“By setting up private sanctuaries in hotels, tourists will be lured to them and not to the National Parks,” he said, stressing that moves to bring about ‘economic gains’ will be counterproductive as the Parks would then lose out. Ultimately, it will be an ecological and an economic disaster.
For Mr. Chamikara of the Nature Forum, there are many hotels already attempting to attract wild animals in areas like Sigiriya, Uda Walawe and Yala, where he has seen water melon and pineapple tied up in bunches for wild elephants. The situation will get much worse if hotels are built in buffer zones.
Pointing an accusing finger at some nature photographers who in the guise of nature lovers are attempting to promote short-term gain, in which they too would benefit, at a long-term cost to the country, Mr. Gunewardene asked how a severely short-staffed DWC which is finding it difficult to control illegal activity within National Parks would be able to monitor the hotels in the buffer zones. This view too was endorsed by many conservationists including Mr. Chamikara.
Meanwhile, conservationist Pubudu Weeraratne highlighted a very important fallout of clearing the buffer zone of forest cover to build hotels. Hasn’t anyone in authority thought of the loss of large swathes of forest cover when every effort should be made not only to protect but also extend forests in view of climate change and carbon emission issues which are having drastic consequences not only in Sri Lanka but across the globe, he asked.
What all conservationists are pleading in one voice from the government is: Let saner counsel prevail – do not destroy what we have. For the effects will impact not only now but on the generations to come.
Moves such as these will not only toll the death knell for Sri Lanka’s ecosystems but also for our children and their children in the light of climate change impacts, they add.
Agrarian Services and Wildlife Minister S.M. Chandrasena, when contacted by the Sunday Times said no official discussions have been held yet with regard to building hotels in buffer zones.
We will not go against the FFPO, he assured. When contacted, Tourism Minister Lakshman Yapa Abeywardena who made the announcement about hotels in buffer zones in early June, said he was outstation and would give an interview this week to the Sunday Times. |
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