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New paddy varieties developed

New paddy varieties have been developed by the Bathalagoda Rice Research and Development Institute (BRRDI) to meet the fast changing climatic conditions of the country. This was revealed by BRRDI Director Nimal Dissanayake. He said the BRRDI had developed a 2½-month variety of rice which could yield five tons per …

Just like a forest

It’s afternoon and wisps of clouds have already enveloped the Sora Muni shrine that keeps watch over Sri Lanka’s Horton Plains massif. Here, Tamil workers of the Thotulagalla tea estate in Haputale offer a sacrificial goat to the deity following the annual pruning of tea bushes. It is ironic to …

Draft national climate change policy for Sri Lanka

This draft of the National Climate Change Policy for Sri Lanka contains a a vision, mission, goal and a set of guiding principles followed by broad policy statements under Vulnerability, Adaptation, Mitigation, Sustainable Consumption and Production and Knowledge Management. The most demanding challenge for the developing countries today is to …

A revolution gone awry

In the early 1990s, hospitals in Sri Lanka’s North Central Province, the main agricultural region of the country, started reporting an unusually high incidence of chronic renal failure. About 5,000 persons reported ill in 1993. By 2009, the disease assumed epidemic proportions. That year over 9,000 patients from North Central …

Alarm over air pollution and public health, languishing vehicle technology, and mobility crisis in South Asian cities

New Delhi-based Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) and TVE Asia Pacific jointly organise a media briefing in Colombo on the Challenges of Air Quality and Mobility Management in South Asian Cities . Colombo, like Delhi, is facing a serious air pollution problem – toxic risk from rapidly growing numbers …

Alarm over air pollution & public health, languishing vehicle technology & mobility crisis in South Asian cities

New Delhi-based Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) and TVE Asia Pacific jointly organise a media briefing in Colombo on the Challenges of Air Quality and Mobility Management in South Asian Cities . Colombo, like Delhi, is facing a serious air pollution problem – toxic risk from rapidly growing numbers …

Challenges of understanding and combating air pollution in Sri Lanka

This document contains the presentation by O A Ileperuma of University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka at Second country media briefing on “Challenges of Air Quality and Mobility Management in South Asian cities” held in Colombo on 27 April 2011, organized by CSE and TVE Asia Pacific.

Gasping for fresh air?

This document contains the presentation by Nalaka Gunawardene, Director of TVE Asia Pacific at Second country media briefing on

Worst La Nina in 40 years

SEVERAL countries in the Southern Hemisphere experienced their worst floods in decades in the past two months. While intense rainfall for over a month kept parts of Australia inundated for weeks, severe floods and landslides killed hundreds of people in Brazil and Sri Lanka, and affected more than one million. …

Lots in a name

Sri Lanka’s government has decided to change the names of all state institutions still bearing the nation’s former British colonial name, Ceylon. The decision to use the country’s modern name comes 39 years after the country was renamed Sri Lanka.The energy minister submitted a cabinet memo in January to change …

Dangerous liaisons

Sri Lanka is becoming a power hungry nation. Several coal power plants with a total generation capacity of 3,200 MW are on the anvil. The country’s new energy minister, Champika Ranawaka, wants a nuclear power plant by 2025. That’s a sure sign of change: Ranawaka started his career as an …

Pollution of River Mahaweli and farmlands under irrigation by cadmium from agricultural inputs leading to a chronic renal failure epidemic among farmers in NCP, Sri …

Chronic renal failure (CRF) associated with elevated dietary cadmium (Cd) among farming communities in the irrigated agricultural area under the River Mahaweli diversion scheme has reached a significantly higher level of 9,000 patients. Cadmium, derived from contaminated phosphate fertilizer, in irrigation water finds its way into reservoirs, and finally to …

Chronic renal failure in Sri Lanka caused by elevated dietary cadmium: Trojan horse of the green revolution

The endemic of chronic renal failure (CRF) emerged in 2002 in the farming provinces of Sri Lanka. An estimate of dietary cadmium intake was between 15 and 28 microg/kg body weight per week. The mean urinary cadmium in patients diagnosed with stage 5 kidney failure was 7.6 microg/g creatinine and …

Officials push five-in-one vaccine

THE Union health ministry is pushing for the inclusion of the pentavalent vaccine in the universal immunization programme (UIP) for children. In April, the government tried to convince the Delhi High Court to clear the vaccine by submitting a World Health Organization (WHO) report that said there was no problem …

Chronic renal failure among farm families in cascade irrigation systems in Sri Lanka associated with elevated dietary cadmium levels in rice and freshwater fish (Tilapia)

Chronic renal failure (CRF), in the main agricultural region under reservoir based cascade irrigation in Sri Lanka has reached crisis proportion. Over 5,000 patients in the region are under treatment for CRF. The objective of this study is to establish the etiology of the CRF. Concentrations of nine heavy metals …

3rd International Conference on Climate Change & Social Issues 2014, July 28-29, 2014, Colombo, Sri Lanka

CCSI 2014 offers a valuable opportunity to network with colleagues from many countries who share the same goals. Session themes for the conference cover a rich and diverse range of research topics. CCSI 2014 aims to take initiatives to forge better solutions to reduce future risks and threats of climate …

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