The destruction of Protected Areas (PAs) continues in Sri Lanka as the world celebrated Habitat Day last Monday underlining the need to safeguard whatever green resources are left globally.
Although coming under the PA mantle, the Giant’s Tank Sanctuary is under threat, the Sunday Times learns, with a large swathe of land being cleared once again for banana cultivation by Dole Food Inc., an international company headquartered in the US.
This was as the Sunday Times highlighted some of the major threats to the Sinharaja World Nature Heritage Site and PAs such as the Hakgala Strict Nature Reserve and the Somawathie, Flood Plains, Wilpattu and Ruhuna (Yala) National Parks in the issue of October 2 headlined ‘Destruction in protected areas sounds death knell for eco-systems’.
With Sri Lanka seemingly going bananas and clearing PAs not only for these cultivations but also to cut roads or mine sand, the Sunday Times checked out why PAs are of vital importance.
Explaining that conservation and development are not two extremes but should work in tandem, eminent conservationist Dr. Eric Wikramanayake stresses that the need is to find the “intimate balance” between these two which would ensure sustainability.Prime importance should be given to protecting our national heritage, be it cultural or natural, says Dr. Wikramanayake who has travelled the world as Senior Conservation Scientist of the World Wildlife Fund and seen the consequences of the destruction of the natural environment.
Conservation is not a western ideology foisted on the east, but something which has been very much a part of the eastern culture, according to him. In India and Sri Lanka, as far back as the times of Kings Asoka and Devanampiyatissa there were wildlife sanctuaries.
“The same leverage that is given to protecting our cultural heritage should be given to protecting our natural heritage,” says Dr. Wikramanayake, explaining that Sri Lanka has within its fold an abundance of endemic species which have taken thousands of years to evolve.
Therefore, it is an obligation not only as Sri Lankans but as part of the global community to protect our natural heritage, he says.
Referring specifically to the consequences of harming PAs, Dr. Wikramanayake points out that across Asia, there are only a few forests and if there is continuous encroachment it would affect water sources. This will lead to the loss of water which in turn will impact on agricultural production and shake the very foundations of the economy.
A different impact would be the loss of tourism, the Sunday Times learns.
The government is attempting to boost tourism with a target of 2.5 million tourists a year, but what will we have to offer them, asks Dr. Wikramanayake, if the PAs are destroyed.
There are many other countries with beautiful beaches and other attractions but Sri Lanka is the only country in Asia, where you can fit a “wildlife experience” into the average tourist itinerary, he says. Here is where sights of birds, elephants, bears, leopards and whales can be taken in within a short period of time.
Turning the spotlight on climate change, this conservationist explains that the question is not whether climate change will occur, but how fast it will do so. The effects of climate change include the disruption in rainfall and also rainfall patterns affecting crop cultivations. It will lead to a rise in temperatures affecting comfort levels. Forest cover needs to be maintained to ameliorate the effects of climate change.
With forests getting confined to smaller areas if the destruction continues there will be a cascade of harmful events and no more will Sri Lanka be a paradise island, it is learnt.
Citing the example of the Dominican Republic and Haiti, on the same island separated by an international border, he says there is a clear contrast between the two. The Dominican Republic which fiercely guards its natural heritage is lush and green while Haiti is almost like a barren wasteland.
Urging that Sri Lanka should not fall into the same trap as Haiti, Dr. Wikramanayake points out that if we clear PAs we are gambling not only with our grandchildren’s future but our children’s future as well.
The disastrous impacts will occur very soon, he warns.
What the guardians have to say
While a report is expected soon from a special team appointed by Environment Minister Anura Priyadharshana Yapa to examine the Sinharaja issue, the cutting of the Ilumbakanda-Suriyakanda road has been suspended, the Sunday Times learns.
The 10-member team comprising officials from the Forest Department (FD), the Central Environmental Authority and other government agencies and experts Prof. Nimal Gunatillake and Prof. Hitinayake from the University of Peradeniya, will look into both conservation and social aspects and decide whether there is a need for this road, a source said.
When the Sunday Times contacted the Forest Department’s Conservator (Operations) K.P. Ariyadasa, as the Conservator-General was abroad, he said that action is underway to take-over the LRC lands around Sinharaja. Following two Cabinet papers, the LRC has agreed to conditionally hand over the lands to the FD, after the payment of compensation. However, some plots have been leased out by the LRC to third parties for the cultivation of such crops as tea and cardamoms and they will have to be evicted.
Dipping into the misty history of how Sinharaja was declared a World Heritage Site, he said when Sri Lanka aspired for this prize, the legal safeguards for this rainforest were thought inadequate and with foresight the National Heritage Wilderness Areas Act was passed.
Earlier there were only ‘Reserve Forests’ that’s why it was deemed necessary to pass this Act to show the world how serious we were about protecting Sinharaja, said Mr. Ariyadasa, pointing out that this biodiversity treasure is the only one under the Wilderness Areas Act.
Later, the Forest Ordinance was amended to include a category called ‘Conservation Forests’ which affords the highest form of legal protection and the second World Nature Heritage Site to be declared in Sri Lanka by UNESCO, the Central Highlands come under this category, he said. Then come ‘Reserve Forests’, ‘Village Forests’ and ‘Other State Forests’.
Underlining that all forests are important for the well-being of Sri Lanka, he said ‘Other State Forests’ are also important but have been categorized thus as they lack clear demarcations, with Kikiliyamana in Nuwara Eliya being an example.From 2000-2008, 17000 km of forest boundaries have been surveyed country-wide under a US$ 15 million Asian Development Bank project, according to Mr. Ariyadasa. The country has roughly about two million hectares of forest, 16% of which is managed by the FD and 14% by the Department of Wildlife Conservation (DWC). Twenty-three percent has dense forest and about 7% open forest.
Referring to eastern Sinharaja, he said that a forest area of 1,200 hectares is to be acquired by the FD, to have Sinharaja as one contiguous area. Although the forests are separated by natural boundaries, it should be maintained as one block, a recommendation by the National Conservation Review.
He agreed that fragmentation would disrupt the ecological cycle, and danger to the survival of species would follow close on its heels.
Pointing out that many species would have gone through the evolution process within Sinharaja itself, he cited the 56 different species in the hora family as an example. Leading the Sunday Times into the distant past, Mr. Ariyadasa refers to the Gondwana Ages and its relic species found at Sinharaja which entailed it to secure World Heritage Site status.
“The evolutionary process initiated from geological times still continues inside Sinharaja,” he says, adding that if the biotic process stops due to some kind of destruction, the evolutionary process will collapse and most people will not even know that it has happened. The lack of clear signs leads to the misconception that everything is all right.
Meanwhile, DWC’s Director-General H.D. Ratnayake, when contacted by the Sunday Times was adamant that the banana cultivations were not within Somawathie National Park but at the Kandakadu farm which was outside the boundary, but assured that the DWC would once again check the boundaries.
Explaining that there was no threat to the biodiversity within Somawathie from the banana cultivations, he said that nothing could be done on what was happening at the farm which had been in operation before too.
With regard to the Flood Plains issues, he said that the DWC was in the process of evicting squatters.
Referring to Hakgala, Mr. Ratnayake said the DWC was demarcating the boundaries and the Ambewela boundaries would also be checked.
Tight-lipped about Wilpattu, he said it would be better not to touch on it as the matter was in court.
Danger of Sinharaja
being de-listed?
Clearing any part of the Sinharaja Adaviya not only means just cutting down trees but killing the origin of the world, the Sunday Times understands, and tea and cardamom cultivations as well as encroachment are harming its sensitive ecosystems.
When they see the lush canopy many ignorantly believe that all’s right with Sinharaja, but the biodiversity destruction is not visible to the naked eye, sources said, pointing out the possible danger of this World Heritage Site being de-listed by UNESCO.
Anybody can make a complaint to UNESCO if an illegal and harmful activity is pursued, another source said, explaining that then UNESCO will verify the situation. In the case of Sri Lanka, UNESCO will ask the government through the Sri Lankan Embassy in France, where UNESCO is based.
The verification will then be forwarded through the Foreign Ministry to the government and a response awaited. Thereafter, the World Heritage Committee (WHC) will discuss the impacts on that particular site at its annual meeting and recommend to the relevant government that action needs to be taken to reverse the process if there are adverse effects.
If the government persists in creating the adverse effects, the WHC, as a last resort, could de-list the site. It would then be near-impossible to regain World Heritage Site status, the source said.
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