Affidavit filed by the Chief Wildlife Warden, Assam in the matter of news item titled "the last feral horses in India" appearing in Mongabay, November 5, 2024. The matter relates to the critically endangered status of feral horses in the Dibru-Saikhowa National Park as well as of smuggling of these …
The Sri Lankan forestry industry is in for a massive improvement with tIle Asian Development Bank approving a $60 million loan and $400,000 technical assistance granrecently. The grants will help the government to initiate reforms in the management of 23 regional plantation conipanies to increase productivity and global competitiv ness. …
Bombings of two oil depots of the state owned Ceylon Petroleum Corp (CPQ by the Sri LankqJ Tigers has left the tiny island state literally fuel-less. SO much so that the Sri Lankan government intends to big diesel and jet fuel from foreign countries. It is now in tflp process …
Lake Beira in the heart of Colombo, Sri Lanka has become a shadow of its former self. Jagath Gunawardanx, an environmental legal officer, describes as "a stinking mess".1he two major culprits seem to be excessive toxic waste from factories and domestic from shanties and middle class localities around the War …
Sri Lankan environmentalists fear that unregulated exports of exotic species of birds and fish could spell big trouble in the y future. Jagath Gurawardena, spokesperson for the Society for Environmental Education, quoted in The it Sunday Leader, points out that nearly all of the indigenous species of fish that are …
An imminent food crisis threatens to envelop thousands of Sri Lankans in the island's war-torn Jaffna peninsula in the north, as food supplies to the region have been suspeIJded. The suspension is the result of the refusal of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to escort government vessels …
The recent banning of kidney transplants among non-relatives by the Indian government has proved to be a setback for hundreds of Sri Lankan kidney patients unable to find enough local organs for transplanting. To worsen the matters, the only medical unit of the country performing kidney transplants since 1985, the …
Nalaka Gunawardene Colombo & Leonissah Munjoma Harare IN a recent decision, the Sri Lanka government has decided to take over any ngo it finds guilty of malpractices. The cabinet of ministers has just approved the amending of existing laws to enable the take-over for an interim period "where a prima …
Sri Lankans im hotting up about an ambitious anti-poverty scheme to be launched in June. Us Samurdhi, about 100,000 families earning below US a month will get a direct income transfer of a little 4 US $20 a month from the government. The remais 1. 1 million families earning less …
The Sri Lanka government has asked farmers, community organisations, NGOs and small and medium scale enterprises to comment on the draft of a revised forest policy before the final policy is framed. However, former conservator of forests, V R Nanayakkara points out that the money being poured into the revision …
An unique insurance policy linked to growing teak trees has been launched by Ceylinco Insurance, a Sri Lankan insurance company. A policyholder of Ruk Rekawaranaya (protection of trees) reaps several benefits: as a leaseholder of a plot with 25 teak trees; and as a profitsharer when the policy matures. Besides, …
High on a massive rock, 200 metres above the surrounding plain and 10 km from Colombo, are located the ruins of a magnificent ancient city called Sigiriya. Asia's oldest landscaped gardens flower here. It is an accepted theory that urbanisation could emerge only because of complex environmental, social, economic and …
In a rare victory for the Sri Lankan public, a private firm, Shakkain Engineering Ltd, (SEL) was served with a court injunction to end quarrying and crushing operations at Kirindiwela in north Colombo. Environment Foundation lawyers pelted SEL in the case on behalf of the people. Within 1 year the …
Sri Lanka's fierce civil war has taken a heavy toll on it's wildlife. A recent report in the Sri Lankan Daily News claims that land mines have killed or injured several wild elephants. Charles Santipillai, a Sri Lankan zoologist, estimates that about 20 elephants are killed every year by mines …
The booming prawn industry in Sri Lanka has Worried environmentalists. They fear that mangroves will be destroyed to make way for prawn farms and that prime land will be encroached upon, resulting in the destruction of fish breeding grounds and damaging biodiversity. Besides, the waste from the enterprises will add …
Power shortages could become routine in Sri Lanka by the year 2000, warns the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB). To meet the growing demand from individual consumers and industries, CEB estimates that the installed capacity of 1370 MW will have to be augmented by 500600 MW. However, this addition to capacity …
About 170 million litres of water are wasted every day in Sri Lanka's capital, Colombo. The National Water Supply and Drainage Board supplies 236.39 million litres of water every day to metropolitan Colombo and 263.67 million litres to the suburbs. The bulk of this is wasted as residents of poor …
WHILE the world celebrated World Environment Day on June 5, Sri Lankans relived the horrors of another June 5. On the night of June 4, 1992, while the country's prime minister and key environmentalists were attending the Earth Summit, a considerable portion of the island of Sri Lanka was going …
GENDER'S role in social organisation, economic production -- and their attendant problems -- are attracting the notice they so completely deserve. This book is particularly interesting because it is a comparative study of slum cultures in the 2 Asian countries of Sri Lanka and Thailand. As Thorbek points out, by …
SRI Lanka's more radical environmentalists are learning the relevance of G Bernard Shaw's aphorism--There are 2 tragedies in life. One is to lose your heart's desire. The other is to gain it - as they contend with the effects of a legal instrument they have long advocated: environmental impact assessments …
There have been 180 landslides in Sri Lanka since 1945, says the National Building Research Organisation (NABRO), accroding to a Panos report. Indiscriminate tree-felling, poor drainage and unscientific construction have eroded the soil in areas like Nuwara Eliya, Kegalle and Kandy. With help from the United Nations Development Programme, NABRO …
