L OR I Empowering Positive S - JOURNAL OF THE W Biodiversity Action Through I LDL I Awareness FE AND N ATURE PROTECT ATURE JOURNAL OF THE WILDLIFE AND NATURE PROTECTION SOCIETY OF SRI LANKA VOLUME 29. ISSUE 3 I ON S OC I ETY OF S R I L ANKA This publication is presented to you with the intention of revealing greater insights to Sri Lanka’s rich biodiversity. Our earnest wish is that you may gain an even greater appreciation of the value of our biological resources and understand the role you could play in conserving and protecting this rich biodiversity. A Corporate Social Responsibility Initiative by VOLUME 29. ISSUE 3 The Haritha Collection weaves a time – honored commitment to responsible tourism development, with a Sri Lankan family legacy of heritage hotel management. Diverse in concept and location,The Haritha Collection’s destination experiences have one commonality: a commitment to the sustainable development of its natural surroundings. Each property is meticulously upgraded to maximize luxury, while always considering its impact on the community and natural beauty of its environment. A special discount of 15% offered to all members of WNPS, till 30th June 2021. Contact us to make a reservation. T&C apply www.harithacollection.com [email protected] | [email protected] +94 715 338 230 | +94 710 333 634 The red slender loris (Loris tardigradus) Elusive and nocturnal, the red slender loris is endemic to the wet zone of Sri Lanka. The Loris magazine is named after this goggle-eyed primate to whom our rainforests is home. (Pic by Saman Gamage) ISSN: 0024-6514 LORIS VOL - 29 ISSUE 3 1 Contents 3/ Message from sponsor 38/ Seagrasses: The engineers of underwater ecosystems 4/ Editor’s note 44/ Interview: Our response to 8/ The 12 million tree the environment has to be Mahaweli Project more prevention focused - Jagath Gunawardana, environment lawyer 14/ Unveiling the living 46/ IUCN conservation outlook treasures of Sri Lanka for Sinharaja: a significant concern 21/ The algal balls of Palatupana 54/ Birding in Mannar 26/ Temporal and altitudinal variation of avifauna in 60/ WNPS activities for 2021 Belihuloya 34/ Phytoplankton diversity in the Diyawannawa wetland Mannar, the flamingo hotspot. 2 LORIS VOL - 29 ISSUE 3 Message from Sponsor Human history is about arguments. The state, conservationists, scientists, and citizens must come together to decide the conservation blueprint for Sri Lanka and commit to a long-term strategy. The time to act is now. It is time to bring together all stakeholders to agree on policy and use all our energy and resources to implement it. We have come to a point of no return, ecological consciousness and ecological literacy is a must in acting against the insurmountable challenges of global warming. Global warming impacts will have multiplier consequences than the global health pandemic. We might not be able to reverse the impact of past actions taken over decades and fix them in a year or two. But a strong policy framework and a public-private partnership with the largest stakeholder; It’s time for action… the government, is long overdue. We must leave aside all our differences and ensure the formulation and As the full force of the global health pandemic continues implementation of a strategic action plan that our future to impact us, it reminds us that we all need to do more generations can continue to implement and improve on. to protect nature and our natural world to maintain equilibrium. While the whole world is falling apart, the At Nations Trust Bank we are pleased to be involved isolated jungles, rivers and diverse ecosystems are with WNPS and support the conservation efforts of the unifying , deprived of human intervention. There is a role society over the last five years. Our stakeholders and for all of us, while people in decision-making positions teams are privileged to continue to support the activities have to do more. of the Society and provide a full sponsorship for the publication of Loris, Warana and Vaaranam magazines The choices policy makers grapple with in nature and the Nations Trust WNPS monthly lecture series. management is the wise use and preservation of These combined activities create awareness and provide nature. The wise use approach aims to accommodate a platform to bring likeminded people together and foster humanity’s continued use of nature as a resource for constructive dialogue to enhance the eco consciousness farming, food, timber, mining, and other raw materials as and ecological literacy of our citizens. well as its use for recreation. The idea of wise use is to utilise resources for our current best interests while also We feel now is the time for WNPS to take the next step to considering the interests of the humans of the future. formulate a national blueprint, co-create with state policy For the preservationist, the goal is to protect pristine makers and set in motion a strategic action plan. Let us nature and not to use it carefully or otherwise. From the remember that when we strive to be good and effective in preservationist perspective, wild places should be allowed our negotiations on behalf of nature, we should above all to develop on their own with as little interference from strive to be good ancestors. humans as possible. The naturalness of the non-human world is what is valued. Sri Lanka must decide her “You carry Mother Earth within you. She is not outside balance between these two options as a long-term policy. of you. Mother Earth is not just your environment… So breathe in and be aware of your body. Look deep into it All stakeholders must decide and earmark the areas we and realize you are the Earth and your consciousness is are going to subject to the sustainable, wise use of nature also the consciousness of the Earth.” Thich Nhat Hanh. and what areas we are going to strictly preserve. This must be done with a clear understanding of the value of ecological systems and the value of species. Priyantha Talwatte Director and Chief Executive Officer Nations Trust Bank PLC. LORIS VOL - 29 ISSUE 3 3 Editor’s Note the forest reserve as well as on its dense vegetation to prevent the Ecocide periphery and of plans to build two Vietcong from taking cover in it and reservoirs. the results of course are history. Man, the most evolved of the species, Research has proven that Agent has been violating the rules of Meanwhile, the International Union Orange is carcinogenic and exposure cohabitation with its other species. for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) in to it results in not only cancer but its latest world heritage conservation As Barbara Wood said ‘we have also birth defects, heart disease outlook released in December 2020, forgotten how to be good guests, how and a multitude of other afflictions gave Sinharaja an assessment of to walk lightly on the Earth as other which can linger. Its impact on the ‘significant concern’ which means creatures do’. ecology is equally ruinous. Once that the site’s conservation values are it’s devastating effects were proven, Over the past months, threatened and/or are showing signs Galston lobbied the US government to conservationists and concerned of deterioration. stop the use of Agent Orange. citizens in Sri Lanka have been Most of the land and forests which raising the red flag about the These days, there are moves that have been cleared are home to destruction of the environment which are underway to make ecocide an elephants, who more often than manifested in a series of protest international crime by bringing not is the keystone species in that marches all over the country. it under the jurisdiction of the ecosystem. Ousted from their habitat, International Criminal Court (ICC). If Swathes of forest and other land elephants start entering nearby so, ecocide will become the ICC’s fifth which are being cleared in the name villages and coming into conflict jurisdictional responsibility alongside of development and crop cultivation with their inhabitants. Sri Lanka is genocide, crimes against humanity, are putting ecosystems and local among the countries with the highest war crimes and crimes of aggression. communities at peril. The list is number of elephant deaths from the Once ecocide becomes a crime in the seemingly endless with incidents human elephant conflict. ICC, member states ratifying it will of land clearance coming to light have to make provision for ecocide To use a cliched phrase these are regularly. to be enacted through their domestic but the tip of the iceberg. The legislation. About ten countries Farmers and villagers in Walsapugala unprecedented levels of threat to the including Vietnam already have in the Hambantota district have environment has made ecocide, a national laws for ecocide. been protesting for months in a bid word which was quite rare in the Sri to gazette an elephant management Lankan lexicon, a buzzword these The group driving this move is Stop reserve to protect themselves and days. Ecocide, an international NGO based elephants. Acres of land on the banks in the Netherlands, whose exclusive What is ecocide? An aggregate of of the Rambakan oya reserve in objective is to make ecocide a global its numerous definitions can be the Ampara district, including land crime. whittled down to identify ecocide inside the forest reserve, have been as the ‘destruction of the natural denuded. It deprived the indigenous Proponents of ecocide, dubbed the environment by deliberate or community in the area of some of new super crime, don’t anticipate a negligent human action’. the land they used to cultivate paddy. cakewalk with their efforts to make it The deforestation in the Dahiyagala a global crime.