A Wake-up Call for Nature Protection

By ROSSANA FAVERO-KARUNARATNA

“O great King, the birds of the air and the beasts have as equal a right to live and move about in any part of the land as thou. The land belongs to the people and all living beings; thou art only the guardian of it”

Chapter XIV of the Mahavamsa

“Honesty and integrity (ajjava). He must be free from fear or favour in the discharge of his duties, must be sincere in his intentions, must not deceive public”

The Ten Duties of the King

Sri Lanka is a small island but known world over due to its ancient history, archaeological sites, its sandy white beaches, green forests and its tea production. However, it is now also known as the place where the world’s emptiest airport exists.

Set on a 5,000-acre plot, in the ecologically and environmentally important, wrongly described as dry zone, the Hambantota airport was built despite serious and grave environmental issues and concerns. The President at that time explained it would be a boost for the tourism industry, and be able to handle one million passengers a year. The only people on site, after nearly a decade, continue to be the staff members. At one time this “World’s Emptiest Airport,” was even used to store paddy. Meanwhile, elephants are seen wandering aimlessly looking for their former habitat, birds fly with no sense of direction crying for their lost nests, and several other species wonder what happened; in other words, it created a huge and irreplaceable environmental degradation and damage. But the airport was built.

Hardly a decade has passed, and the rape of our environment not only continues but has increased under the guise of “sustainable development”. I wonder whether those who utter the words “sustainable development” know the meaning of these precious words, which came about after the Rio Declaration in the 1990s.

Now it is the case of the continuous self-destruction of our inheritance, which is solely profit motivated and politically supported. Large scale destructions of the environment are daily highlighted by some of the news media. These include virgin forest lands, the falling of trees which stood proudly for hundreds of years, blocking natural waterways, and drying up the water resources and denuding the land. Awareness by the people as to what is happening is very important and it is the people who, in the absence of any action by the governmental authorities, must rise to the occasion to stop these actions.

The case of Sinharaja forest is a classic example, which woke the people up from their lethargic slumber, into action. The situation of  Sinharaja  was highlighted by student Bhagya Abeyratne, who had the courage and fortitude to denounce what she sees everyday; it  was a wake-up call to the nation. Any country would salute and be proud to have students like her, who refuse to remain silent and bring up these issues to defend the land they love. Any action to silence her voice or divert from the main issue by any person, whether government or not, should be condemned without any reservation. Address the issue and find the remedy. Don’t shoot the messenger.

We must remember that several of our natural resources, such as Sinharaja  and Knuckles are UNESCO World Heritage Sites, under the World Heritage Convention, and the following considerations  as “natural heritage”:

=Natural features consisting of physical and biological formations or groups of such formations, which are of outstanding universal value from the aesthetic or scientific point of view;

=Geological and physiographical formations and precisely delineated areas which constitute the habitat of threatened species of animals and plants of outstanding universal value from the point of view of science or conservation;

=Natural sites or precisely delineated natural areas of outstanding universal value from the point of view of science, conservation or natural beauty.

In the selection criteria, Sinharaja contained much more than required, and was the most important and significant natural habitats for in-situ conservation of biological diversity, including those containing threatened species of outstanding universal value, from the point of view of science or conservation.

We must take into consideration that once that recognition is given, the protection, management, and integrity of properties are important issues. We must responsibly look after the maintenance of these sites as they belong not only to us but to the whole world.

I wonder how Arahat Mahinda would have questioned King Devanampiya Tissa pointing to a mango tree, in the absence of any trees.