News
Activists denounce protected tree’s secret burial
View(s):By Tharushi Weerasinghe
Contrary to previous claims, the “Pandu Karanda” (Crudia Zeylanica) tree, which was razed overnight to make way for the Central Expressway in Gampaha, was not the last of its kind in the country.
While on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s red list of critically endangered species, many mature trees and hundreds of cultivated plants of the Sri Lanka Legume Tree exist in Sri Lanka alone.
The death of a protected tree
Research has also revealed that the plant is not endemic to Sri Lanka. While the oldest record of the tree specimen is from Sri Lanka in 1867, other specimens of the tree were recorded in Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam in 2018 by botanist Dr. Boris Domenech.
Nonetheless, the tree that was razed came under the protection of the Fauna and Flora Protection Ordinance and was even ‘ordained’ by Buddhist monks of the National Bhikku Front in 2021. According to Highways Minister Bandula Gunawardena, who
ordered the overnight removal of the 100-year-old tree, the razing had Cabinet approval.
Dr. Ravindranath Dabare of the Centre for Environmental Justice noted that this was not a decision within the purview of the Cabinet.
He asserted that neither the Cabinet nor Minister Gunawardena had the authority to damage or remove a specimen protected under Section
42 of the Fauna and Flora
Protection Ordinance.
“To do so is a crime that carries a fine of up to Rs. 20,000 and two years of imprisonment. Those involved should be held accountable in a court of law,” he said. The Act permits the warrantless arrest of those who commit an offence under it. This tree in particular was listed under subsection 8 of Section 42 of the Act as a protected tree.
The tree was discovered in 2019 by a team led by environmentalist Himesh Jayasinghe. In 2021, the Ministry of Environment added it to the red list as a critically endangered plant. It had not come under the radar during the Environmental Impact Assessments that were carried out before the highway construction began.
“This entire ecosystem was destroyed with four backhoes on the night of July 10 and buried in a massive pit in the vicinity,” claimed Rainforest Protectors Convener Jayantha Wijesinghe. Multiple Conservation methods were suggested, and the root ball conservation tactic was deemed to be the most appropriate mode of removal by environmental organisations, private corporates, and multiple departments of the State itself. The Cabinet Paper, approved on July 5, was implemented secretly before it was made public.
Minister Gunawardena claimed the cost of replanting was too expensive. However, the Minister made these remarks while a private company had already offered to do this free of charge. “Why the tree was so abruptly destroyed while options were being explored is a question,” Mr. Wijesinghe noted, adding that ignoring the many avenues of conservation that were offered to the State shows how much the government really cares about sustainable development and how apathetic the expressway project and the company constructing it are towards the environment. “The cost of safe removal would not even amount to 1% of what it cost the government to add an extra highway entrance in Kasagala out of political interests.”
The Sunday Times reached out to the Minister for comment but to no avail.
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