Volume 3 | Issue 9-10 2020 September - October WHAT’S UP

GEF-SGP

Launching the Publication on Traditional Knowledge in the Peoples of Knuckles Landscape

Rangiri Thakshana Piyasa (SRL/SGP/OP6/STAR/LD/2018/23) launched their publication titled “Dumbara Udasiya Paththuwe Asparsheeya Sanskruthika Urumaya” on 1st of September 2020 at the Binara Poya Day religious event held in the Temple Trees, . The book was handed over to His Excellency Mahinda Rajapakshe, Prime Minister of Sri Lanka. The book consists of knowledge on traditional medicine, traditional medical practices, rituals, witchcraft, folklore, mythology and information on ancient villages located in the Knuckles Landscape. Moreover, it contains information about the cultural and historical background of the area, environmental and socio-economical aspects, traditional lifestyles, traditional customs and norms, agricultural customs and matrimonial customs etc. about the Knuckles Landscape. Ven. Galahitiyawe Dhammarathana Thero & Mr Ariyarathne Matalehewa of Rangiri Thakshana Piyasa have co-authored this book.

Celebration of World Tourism Day 2020 In celebration of World Tourism Day 2020, the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority and Central Provincial Council hosted INNEX 2020, a trade fair, from 25- 27 September. The three-day industrial exhibition, food festival, and cultural event were held at City Centre (KCC) in Kandy. The GEF-SGP hosted an exhibition

stall at the event to promote the 6 eco-tourism projects carried out in the Knuckles landscape.

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Two - Day Residential Workshop on Climate Change Adaptation and Identification of community-Based Adaptation Strategies for Northern Province Landscape

A two-day residential workshop on Climate Change Adaptation and Identification of Community Based Adaptation Strategies was held by Sri Lanka Environment Exploration Society (SLEES: SRL/MAP-CBA/2020/ 01) on 12th and 13th of September 2020 at Green Grass Hotel, Hospital Road, Jaffna. About 45 individuals and community representatives from the GEF-SGP grantee NGOs of Mannar to Jaffna Landscape and others from Mannar, Kilinochchi, Mullaitivu, Vavuniya and Jaffna districts in the Nothern Province participated in this workshop.

Dr Raji Gnaneswaran, Professor, Department of Zoology, University of Jaffna (Member, National Steering Committee, GEF-SGP, UNDP), Dr P. Iyngaran, Senior Lecturer, Department of Chemistry, University of Jaffna, Dr Gajapathi Kanapathy, Department of Zoology, University of Jaffna, Dr Samantha Suranjan, Environmental Specialist, Mrs Jeyawanthi Roy, Field Coordinator– Mannar to Jaffna Landscape, GEF-SGP participated as resource persons.

The workshop conducted in the Tamil language consisted of important sessions such as Adaptation for Climate Change, Impact of Climate Change on coastal ecosystems, National Action Plan for Climate Change Adaptation etc. Inputs of the community on climate change and their suggestions on climate change adaptation were collected and localized climate change adaptation strategies to Nothern Province Landscape were identified from these inputs.

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Biodiversity Chat #3: Habitat restoration and enrichment in the Heen Ela marsh of Colombo wetlands Mr Shantha Jayaweera from the Organisation on Aquatic Resources Management (OARM: SRL/SGP/OP6/STAR/BD/ 2018/15) shared his work on habitat restoration and enrichment in the Heen Ela marsh in Rajagiriya carried out as part of GEF-SGP at the BioDiversity chat held through th Zoom platform and Facebook on 4 of September 2020. The video recording of the Biodiversity Chat can be found here.

Landscape News – Knuckles Conservation Forest and the Buffer Zone

A label for the Knuckles Landscape Community products A branding logo has been created for the community products made by the communities working with GEF-SGP projects in the Knuckles landscape. The logo created by SLEES with the suggestions and comments of the technical consultants and the officers of the GEF-SGP consists of an artwork depicting the and a frog. The mountain range symbolizes that the products have been originated in the Knuckles area while the frog symbolizes the recently discovered frog species which was identified by the GEF-SGP project carried out by Herpetological Foundation of Sri Lanka (HFS: SRL/SGP/OP6/STAR/ BD/2018/09). The new species will be published soon and it will be named by the GEF Small Grants programme. The label will be helpful to create a brand identity for genuine products such as spices, cereals, food condiments, kithul treacle & jaggery produced by the communities.

Training Programme on Food Technology A training programme on food technology was held on 15th of September 2020 at Food Research Unit, Department of Agriculture, Peradeniya. Forty individuals representing the community of several organizations working in the Knuckles landscape participated in this training. The training programme covered topics such as the production of peanut butter, dehydration of fruits, green leaves and vegetables, production of fruit juice and bites. Various types of machinery used in the food production industry were introduced to the participants. Technical instructions on drying machines and bottling techniques, preserving methods and packaging techniques were also explained. The information and the technical instructions were very helpful for the participants to start and formalize their small scale food production ventures. SLEES (SLEES: SRL/SGP/ OP6/STAR/CD/2017/04) jointly organized this workshop with the technical consultants of the GEF-SGP.

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Opening Ceremony of Reverston Midlands Eco-Tourism and Eco Adventure Park

The Opening ceremony of Reverston Midlands Eco-Tourism and Eco Adventure Park was held on 29th of September 2020 at the Kataranthenna Lake premises in the Midlands Estate in Rattota, Matale. The event received the participation of Ministers of the parliament, government officers, GEF-SGP officials, private sector, media & general public. This park consists of many adventure activities such as abseiling, kayaking, target shooting, archery, camping, bicycle riding, hiking and ziplining etc. A camping site also has been established around the lake where visitors can enjoy the scenic view of the lake and tea estates in the surrounding hills. Nature trails and bicycle tracks have been established around the lake. The adventure park was established as an activity of the GEF-SGP funded project carried out by Grama Abhiwurdi Foundation for Environmental

Conservation (GAFEC: SRL/SGP/OP6/STAR/LD/2019/27).

Distribution of Spice dryers in Narangamuwa & Lakegala Nirmani Development Foundation (NDF: SRL/SGP/ OP6/STAR/BD/2018/22) has provided two spice dryers to Lakegala and Narangamuwa villages. These dryers are used to dry spices such as pepper, clove & cardamom etc. as well as other vegetables such as breadfruit, bitter guard etc. The dryers which have a drying capacity of 50Kg per hour are operated by burning of paddy husk and electricity. The dryers are owned and managed by the CBO established in the village. These dryers provide benefits to 100 families in the two villages.

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Landscape News - Colombo Urban Wetlands

Youth Created new Apps for Wetland Conservation and Management Lassana Kolonnawa Wetland Conservation Youth Network participated in an IDEA Mart workshop regarding mobile applications on 6th of March 2020. The workshop was coordinated by Emotional Intelligence and Life Skills Training Team (EILSTT: SRL/SGP/OP6/STAR/LD/2018/14). Altogether 7 members joined the workshop. Using the experience gained by Idea Mart during the last curfew period they were able to develop new applications themselves. The application developers are mentioned below along with the apps they created. Manula Nilesh (22yrs) is a SINEC Campus student studying for a degree in Logistic and Transportation. He is the treasurer of Lassana Kolonnawa Youth network. He has developed the following apps. Soopawediya App This is a cooking application designed to cater to a sophisticated level of needs. A person with high knowledge of cooking can enjoy a variety of recipes while a beginner can gain knowledge on cooking and learn the benefits and uses of the ingredients that go into various dishes. This is all included in one app, where you can access, listing ingredients for recipes, creating meal plans and provided suggestions for cooking. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=io.ionic.prog5eaaf0320e54d77d15933d1b

Govi Updates This app advises on how to grow and harvest at home. The young enthusiast developed the app to help with the on-going pandemic, they even mentioned that it is a great way to spend time at home doing something useful and get fresh life stock for oneself. GOVI UPDATES helps farmers get the right information and knowledge about their agricultural products and stay updated on any new discoveries in the agricultural industry. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=io.ionic.prog5efc8673b51d7d09f2393b02

Theth Bima This app has been developed to provide a better understanding of wetlands since the knowledge about wetlands are low. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=io.ionic.prog5ef8f22ee4547362036051e3 Isuru Ranaweera [22yrs], the vice president of Lassana Kolonnawa Youth Network is a student of Open University. He is currently working in the IT field. Isuru developed a program for the Salamulla Divisional Secretariat and to create a computerized database for the Lassana kolonnawa youth network. Following apps were developed by him.

Samanal Uyana This app helps to improve the breeding of butterflies by providing knowledge on butterfly gardening to its users. Lassana Kolonnawa team built & developed the app together. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=io.ionic.prog5f0dfebfb7d5624a6f818256

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Completion of Soil and Water Quality Testing in Colombo Wetlands

The final report of water and soil quality in the locations of Colombo wetlands was given by Senior Professor Pathmalal Manage. He has given out many recommendations for paddy fields and home gardens in the Colombo wetlands landscape. Some of the recommendations are conducting a thorough study of the economic, social, and environmental results of organic farming systems vs. conventional agriculture, develop educational programs to increase public awareness of the value of recycling organic waste on soil, collect more information on the extent to which the utilization of organic waste could be improved through relaxation of regulatory restraints or establishment of incentives, develop a soil-based fertilizer application system for organic farming practices and wetlands, obtain Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) certification. The professor has given out the following recommendations for future research also. Investigate organic farming systems using a holistic approach, determine the factors responsible for decreased crop yields during the transition from conventional to organic farming systems, determine the long-term effects on the productivity of selected soils from recommended applications of chemical fertilizers and pesticides in conventional farming systems, develop through breeding programs crop varieties that are adaptable to organic farming systems, protect genetic variability of traditional paddy crops and vegetables & expand research on biological nitrogen fixation.

Workshop on Participatory Guarantee Systems (PGS) certifications

“Participatory Guarantee System (PGS) are locally focused on quality assurance systems. They certify producers based on the active participation of stakeholders and are built on a foundation of trust, social networks and knowledge exchange.” Official Definition 2008,

A workshop on PGS certifications was conducted by Ms Madushani Rathnayeka of Good Market, Colombo on the 23rd October 2020 via zoom platform. Many participants including individuals from Knuckles and Mannar landscapes joined the workshop to gain a better understanding of the PGS certifications process. Surakshi (SRL/SGP/OP6/STAR/CD/2017/06) is currently working on creating a handbook with all the guidelines to make the process easier for any interested grantee.

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Landscape News – Mannar Landscape Restoration of Mangrove Voluntary Organization for Vulnerable Community Development (VOVCOD: SRL/SGP/OP6/STAR/BD/ 2019/29) restored 2970 mangrove seedlings in selected places of along the coastal line of Palavi, Kiranchi and Valaipadu in Kilinochchi District during October 2020 with the collaboration of Coastal Conservation Department. Based on the environmental condition, different species of mangroves including Rhyzophora, Avicennia marina and Ceriops were restored with community participation to make them aware of the importance of mangrove. Seventy-one youths from the villages of Valaipadu, Kiranchi and Veravil, members of fisheries society, 9 Naval personnel and staff of VOVCOD were actively involved in the restoration activities. Altogether 10,637 plants were restored in this 18 km of coastal area by VOVCOD.

Planting Palmyrah Seeds VOVCOD (SRL/SGP/OP6/ STAR/BD/2019/29) initiated establishing a palmyra live fencing in Mottayankattu and Kiranchi area where they have planted 10000 seeds during the end of September 2019. As per the maintenance of live palmyra elephant fence, a team consisting of VOVCOD staff and village youth groups inspected and assessed the survival rate of palmyra seedlings. Farmer organization and the village youth planted 5000 palmyra seeds to fill the gaps due to the damage caused by wild boars and wild animals during October 2020.

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Knowledge Sharing program on Mangrove restoration

VOVCOD organized a knowledge sharing session on Mangrove Restoration at coastal areas of Kiranchi and Valaipadhu on 23rd Oct 2020. Twelve staff members from the NGOs in Kilinochchi district participated and visited the places where VOVCOD have restored the Mangrove. Main objectives of the program are to share their knowledge on mangrove restoration, challenges they faced and community participation in planting and maintenance of mangrove restoration in this area. A half a day session conducted by the VOVCOD staff and the site visit was arranged with the support of youth from the sports club. It included practical sessions on mangrove planting, site visit and experience sharing.

Stakeholders Meeting at kiranchi, Ponnaveli The VOVCOD organized two meetings for the Grama Niladhari, Samurdhi Officer and Development Officers of Kiranchi and Ponnaveli Grama Niladhari Divisions on 15th September 2020. The meetings were organized mainly to review the progress and results of the project which was started in June 2029, challenges faced and how to overcome those challenges in future. The members of Fisheries Societies, Women’s Rural Development Societies, Sports club, Farmers organizations and the beneficiaries participated and shared their opinions about the project activities.

Grievance Mechanism A grievance mechanism has been introduced for GEF/SGP grantees from August 2020 to raise any grievances pertaining to their projects or programme as a whole. The main purpose of this mechanism is to bring up synergy among all and encourage a cohesive and friendly work environment which will lead towards making a positive sustainable impact in the environment sector. Project Grievances can be brought forward to GEF/SGP through post or via email on [email protected].

We welcome all feedback and suggestions. GEF Small Grants Programme, United Nations Development Programme 202-204, Bauddhaloka Mawatha, Colombo 07, Sri Lanka +94-112-580692 |[email protected]|www.gefsgpsl.org

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