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 …
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 …
THE Sri Lankan economy is being threatened by the evils of privatisation, according to environmentalists. They maintain that this has resulted in large-scale deforestation in several tea and rubber estates in the country, especially in the Horton plains and Namunukula in the south. The wanton destruction not only threatens the …
SRI Lanka's forestry master plan is to be revived, reports Mallika Wanigasundara from Colombo. The plan, which was prepared between 1983 and 1986, with the help of the Finnish Development Agency and the World Bank, had to be shelved because of fierce opposition from environmentalists. One of the main objections …
THE Bellanwila-Attitdiaya marsh, near Colombo in Sri Lanka, is in deep trouble, reports Mallika Wanigasundara. Despite being declared a wildlife sanctuary in 1990, its survival is threatened by the dumping of wastes, water pollution caused by the discharge of industrial effluents from nearby factories, and the reckless exploitation of its …
The price of power THE Arun III controversy continues to dog Nepal, reports Jan Sharma from Kathmandu. In an uncanny coincidence, just as loan negotiations for the construction of the Arun III hydroelectric power project were about to begin with the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank and Germany's KfW …
Disappearing herbs SOME of Sri Lanka's natural wonders could be destroyed in the frantic race for industrialisation, says an article by Wijitha Nakkavita. A case in point is the beautiful Roomassala Hill, once the repository of over 500 rare herbal plants. Today, they have dwindled to about 150 rare species. …
MECHANICAL mining rights are being considered on the flood-prone Kalu Ganga south of Colombo for the South African gem trading company, Colombo Sapphire Ltd. According to Panos Features, this will increase the threat of floods as dredging by CSL might weaken the banks and cause them to collapse. Besides, siltation …
TORRENTIAL rains and consequent floods in Sri Lanka have rendered 375,000 people homeless and devastated large tracts of paddy. Among the worst affected areas are the war-torn northern and eastern provinces. Most of the tanks and rivers in the north and east have overflowed, forcing government troops and rebels to …
THE INCREASE in high-risk sexual contacts between homosexual beach boys and tourists in Sri Lanka has worried the government. Though there have been only 22 cases of AIDS to date, the government's chief venereologist, Gamini Jayakuru, estimates as many as 2,500 Sri Lankans are HIV positive, registering a rise of …
A ONCE-peaceful herd of about 150 elephants in southern Sri Lanka has turned violent, destroying property and killing humans in a last ditch attempt to save its habitat, writes Mallika Wanigasundara in a Panos report. The pachyderms feel threatened by the Pelwatte Sugar Co -- an ill-conceived project that encroached …
THE ENVIRONMENTAL Foundation Ltd (EFL) of Sri Lanka has threatened the country's Central Environment Authority (CEA) with legal action for becoming an "advocate for industrialists" by granting "illusory legitimacy" to a metal quarry in Nittambuwa. EFL says CEA issued the quarry an environmental protection licence, ignoring the protests of the …
A CONSORTIUM of organisations and individuals is opposing the construction of a hotel in the catchment area of the Kandalama reservoir in Sri Lanka. The consortium is worried the drawing of groundwater for the hotel's needs will affect the tank's water-level.
ECOLOGISTS have opposed the proposed 31-km Colombo-Katunayake expressway, writes Mallika Wanigasundara in a Panos report. They claim it will dislocate approximately 2,500 families, affect the livelihood of 2,000 fisherfolk and destroy about 35 ha of biologically rich marshland. The environmentalists contend the flood problem will be aggravated as the expressway …
THE LUNAWA lagoon in southwest Sri Lanka is being polluted by various dyes and toxic chemicals being discharged by industries, especially textile plants, writes Tinil Fernando for Biosphere. The livelihood of many people have been affected and 74 per cent of the fisherfolk of the region had to give up …
IGNORING vehement protests by environmentalists, the Sri Lankan government has decided to go ahead with construction of a coal-fired thermal power plant in Trincomalee, on the island republic's eastern seaboard. Ecologists have been objecting to the project ever since it was first proposed in 1987 by the Ceylon Electricity Board. …
SRI LANKA'S National Aquatic Resources Agency (NARA) has said there is no need to impose a total ban on dolphin catches, reports Mallika Wanigasundara. A NARA study shows that such a ban would endanger the livelihood of the country's fisherfolk. While admitting that accurate information on the size of the …
One of the last environmental actions of recently assassinated Sri Lankan President Ranasinghe Premadasa was to block a private company's attempts to initiate mechanised gem mining in the Kalu Ganga riverbed south of Colombo. Responding to a representation from the local member of Parliament, Premadasa instructed the Central environment authority …
