3rd March 1996

Honorary Wardens to Police Attidiya

by Taruka Dissanaike

Bellanwila-Attidiya , a sanctuary in the city. A haven for birds for birds so close to the metropolis. A wonderful gift of nature- but severely threatened by pollution and abuse of land. Although there are several authorities overseeing the sanctuary, the protection afforded to it is so Spartan that the condition of this 372 hectare marsh had been going from bad to worse in the last few years.

Today the Department of Wildlife along with the Wetland Conservation Project is attempting to introduce a new system of controlling pollution in the area and patrolling the sanctuary for illegal activities. This is to appoint honorary wardens from the NGOs that are doing field work to oversee the area and take to task those who dump garbage and do illegal land filling at Attidiya.

This is a novel scheme that has not been tried out at any other protected area in the country. Here, the appointed wardens will act on behalf of the Department of Wild Life Conservation and have authority to take in offenders and hand them over to the department.

Bellanwila -Attidiya was declared a sanctuary under the Fauna and Flora Protection Ordinance in 1990, after much agitation by NGO s . But it was only very recently that the area was surveyed and the boundaries of the sanctuary properly identified. 90 percent of the land area inside the sanctuary belongs to private owners, thus limiting the DWLCÕs authority over the activities of the area. But this is the least of the problems that plague the sanctuary.

Bellanwila-Attidiya is located in an ideal yet suicidal way. Ideal because of its proximity to Colombo and suburbs, where people could easily visit the place and enjoy the wild life there. Suicidal because its proximity to the city puts additional pressures on the land and water resources in the sanctuary.

The marsh is used as a place to dump garbage- households as well as factories find it convenient to just throw their garbage into the shallow grass-lands that are in the periphery . Industrial wastes are diverted into the Bolgoda Canal, that traverse the marsh, turning once clean water to a murky black.

Unrestrained land-filling for housing and cultivation is threatening a main function of the marsh- flood retention- and as a result the surrounding urban area is subject to seasonal flooding.

The Wild Life Department which exercises direct authority over the sanctuary were pressed for manpower and paid little attention to Attidiya. Around three years ago the Wetland Conservation Project was initiated which identified several key wetland areas in the country and sought to preserve them.

But the results of their work is apparent only in the little information centre, by the sanctuary. This centre is manned by some DWLC men, who cannot successfully control the degradation of the marsh. Meanwhile pollution has only been getting worse.

Jagath Gunewardena of the Society for Environmental Education said that several fish and bird species that feed on fish had dwindled during the last few years because of the terrible water pollution in the canal.

Several endemic species of fish have not been recorded for years now he said. Instead hardy, introduced fish species like gurami and tilapiya are thriving

Birds like the Little Cormorant, who feeds on small fish have also dwindled in numbers. According to Gunewardena the Large Green Frog which was commonly found around the canal has also become rare due to pollution.

The canal surface is covered with water hyacinth said the President of the Nature Foundation.

Prasantha Jayasekera ,another NGO official involved in an awareness campaign in the area says, ÒThis is causing eutrophication and stagnating the water at certain points

Inside the sanctuary we came across points where the land has been filled and new construction of small thatch houses were going on. People had barbed wired land inside the boundaries to cultivate. A large garbage dump was seen in the middle of the marsh. People were freely bringing wastes to this site.

Factories away from the area bring wastes in trucks and vans and throw them into the park at night Kitsiri Almeida, President of the Young Zoologists Association said. During a recent cleanup we found even hospital waste, we believe to be from private clinics thrown in here

While pollution slowly destroys this little paradise the authorities concerned have yet to take strong measures to stop the violations, that are happening before their very eyes.

I. Dissanayake of the Wetland Conservation Project ( a part of the Central Environmental Authority.) said that they are attempting to buy the privately owned land at Attidiya therefore making it a completely state owned sanctuary. The state controlled Wildlife Trust is begging public assistance to fund the purchase of the land.

But the water pollution he said is not their baby. The CEAO's protection division has to take measures to prevent industrialists from dumping their refuse into waterways that end up in the marsh added Dissanayake.

But the CEA, though they have been threatening polluting industrialists with cancellation of licenses have not succeeded in bringing out substantial results. In fact pollution of waterways has worsened.

Both the WCP and the Wild Life Department are thus keen on implementing the honorary warden program.

We feel that this would be ideal for Attidiya where the main problems are concerning pollution, Ò Chandra Jayawardena , Assistant Director DWLC said.

The honorary warden concept was first introduced by NGOs almost two years ago, but it has taken all this time to be implemented. To make this project a success all the NGOs working in Attidiya need to be unitary- at least in purpose, otherwise this entire exercise would be counterproductive.

Several of these organizations are doing public awareness projects for residents of the area, which is very important. Without the co operation of the public it would be impossible to forcibly implement protection schemes for any area.

One can only hope that through the bureaucracy and differed interests of the groups involved in Attidiya, there would emerge some proper plan which would help restore this beautiful marsh to at least a semblance of what it used to be.

It's a kind of magic -Wildlife at Attidiya.

Early morning is a magical time at Attidiya. As dawn breaks through the cool mists that surround the marshy waters, one can observe the rich bird life at Attidya as they move freely around looking for food and preening themselves for the day.

Silhouetted against the orange dawn, we could see the dark outline of the Adam's Peak range of mountains. The air was damp with the remnants of an early morning mist and the peaty, dark soil was soft and muddy as we began a nature trek through the sanctuary.

The best travelled trail begins close to the information centre at Attidiya and continues through the marsh, alongside the Bolgoda canal on to the opposite boundary of the park on Attidiya road.

Halfway down the trail there is a viewing tower built by the department for nature lovers to view the wild life of the park at close quarters.

According to a study done by the Society for Environmental Education, there are some 166 species of birds sighted in the area of which most are residential and around 40 migratory. The area also has a recorded 71 species of butterflies and 44 species of fish.

The rare birds inhabiting the marsh are the Indian Shag, the Blue Breasted Banded Tail and the Ruddy Crake. Rare visitors including Spot Billed Pelican, White Ibis, Painted stork and the elusive Glossy Ibis which is believed by bird-watchers to be migratory.

There have been reports of crocodiles inhabiting the canals now and then.

There are also small mammals like the fishing cat here. Some have recorded sighting jackals too.

During the couple of hours we spent there, we recorded 35 bird species and a couple of water monitors. Our eyes feasted on flocks of Purple Coot feeding among the marshes, Storks watching still ponds for breakfast and wide winged purple herons flying overhead with quiet grace.

There are other trails to follow inside the park depending on- as one young bird watcher put it- how much mud you'd like to get on yourself.