Island of islands

New book published by the National Trust Sri Lanka, sponsored by Sail Lanka Charter (Pvt) Ltd to be launched at the National Trust’s monthly lecture at 6 pm on March 25.

Authors:

Shereen Amendra, Maneshka Borham, Shravasti Dhammika, Sarath Ekanayaka, George Cooke, Somasiri Devendra, Sarala Fernando, IUCN Sri Lanka, Hema Goonatilake,Thangamuthu Jayasingam, Sunela Jayawardene, Rasika Muthucumarana, V. Pahalawattarachi, Nishan Perera, Christopher Silva

Principal Photographers: Stefan D’ Silva, Luxshmanan Nadaraja, Lalith Ekanayake,Studio Times, Sampath de A. Goonatilake

Editorial:

Somasiri Devendra, Stefan D’ Silva, Sarala Fernando,

Consultant (Scientific) Dr Malik Fernando

Most Sri Lankans would assume that Sri Lanka’s boundaries arose from the  land mass of the island, yet how many would even think of the small islands and islets off the coast which fall well within our territory? It is only recently that researchers have sought to identify the many offshore small islands and islets, which by one account number over 100 , varying in size from the largest Mannar to islets like Sinigama and Werallaiya. Sri Lanka’s coast line (before the construction of the Port City) was estimated to be 1,340 km and the offshore islands were thought to account for an additional 342 sq. km area including one of the two marine national parks of Sri Lanka adding to valuable maritime resources, the territorial sea and economic zone.

After much discussion, the editorial team decided to include both offshore islands in the sea and in sheltered bays, as well as inland islands in lagoons and rivers on the basis of the argument that offshore or inland, all share a common characteristic being “pieces of land surrounded by water,” whether salty, fresh or estuarine, the products of natural forces acting upon the water surrounding them.

This subject raises many questions of legal, historical, geographical and environmental import especially in the contemporary era of rising concerns over global climate change which will have direct impact on small islands through the warming  of oceans and sea level rise affecting coast lines. Some of these small islands will get submerged in time as predicted in the IUCN report on the Northern islands and discussed in terms of real experience in the Kalpitiya articles. What preventive measures, if any, can be taken?

The small islands of Sri Lanka are of considerable variety due to different natural conditions affecting their biodiversity, as well as through historical developments and patterns of human habitation. Our task will be path-breaking, venturing to document not only the past and present status of the islands but also to make some predictions for the future in view of global climate change. Historically, the Adams Bridge islands and Kachchativu were the first to come to the attention of the Sri Lanka government after independence in 1948 because of the necessity to engage with India on the drawing of the maritime boundary between the two states. These negotiations were concluded through friendly negotiations which agreed that Kachchativu was under Sri Lanka sovereignty. In 1976, a second boundary agreement was entered into in order to extend the maritime boundary between the two countries by determining the boundaries in the Gulf of Mannar and the Bay of Bengal. Under this agreement falls the Adam’s Bridge or  Rama Setu described in chronicles and legends. It is  a chain of limestone  shoals, 48 km  long, divided between India and Sri Lanka. The  eight-10 islands on the Sri Lanka side comprise sand dunes with sparse vegetation and are uninhabited, used today mainly by migratory birds and patrolled by the Navy. Since the sand dunes keep shifting, these islands have been described as ‘dancing’ islets.

Visiting the small islands of Sri Lanka is a fascinating experience because of the differences in topography and their natural endowments shaped by historical developments. Crossing the causeway to Mannar Island one sees the waters ebb and flow on either side depending on the time of day, a remarkable sight. In the northern island of Delft  are the reminders of the early Arab traders who brought donkeys and ponies for transport and trade and baobab for fodder. Similarly, colonial era lighthouses around the island remind of the perils of navigation for vessels, like in the Basses off the rocky southern coast. Taprobane island on the cover of our book, , is a rare privately owned island off Aluthgama, with its own history of distinguished foreign owners and writers in residence.

Vulnerable to both natural and man-made disasters, the islands have not been exempted from the trials of armed conflict and the devastation of the 2004 tsunami. Yet life has resumed and all along the coast, there are renewed calls to protect the reefs and cultivate natural barriers like mangroves. Around the mainland from Mannar island to Fort Hammenhiel in Jaffna,  to Puliyanthevu where the Batticaloa Fort is located, once an island now linked to the mainland, the colonial era great stone forts, their guard duty completed, are  being refurbished for purposes of tourism. One island in Batticaloa, once an isolated leprosy treatment hospital, is looking for other uses with that feared disease now declared defeated. Yet everywhere, plans for development are being opposed by people fearful of the destruction of culture and heritage.

Impossible to cover all the many, the choice of the few islands to cover in articles depended on the interest of the authors and the variety of perspectives of biologists, conservationists, architects, marine archaeologists, academics, diplomats and religious leaders. The first half of the book describes the best known offshore islands beginning with geology and history in Mannar, then to historic Delft, Kachchativu and Nagadipa before walking through the Northern islands recording biodiversity and making recommendations for sustainable development. Then the focus moves down the coast of Kalpitiya, down the Southern coastal stretch to the rocky islands, Seenigama and Paraviduwa, further down to the Basses along the East coast ending with the historic islands in Trincomalee. The second half of the book looks at inshore islands in the rivers and lagoons with their own special characteristics. This separation in the chapter plan needs to be looked at flexibly since there are islands which straddle both the ocean and the river like Paradise Island, a barrier island in Bentota and those between the sea and the lagoon like many of the Batticaloa islets. The Crow Island articles traces how it became mainland with the silting up of one branch of the river channel to the sea. It reminds of the history of sites like Slave Island, once the largest island from a series of land masses connected via ferry within the port city of Colombo and used to segregate foreign slaves in colonial times.

Light linkage is provided between the articles by the photography, the background of the sea, the river and lagoons ever present in nature surroundings with birds, flora and fauna of the islands. The life of the people on the islands and their preoccupation with fishing, is conveyed through the photo essay on the devotion to St Anthony, patron saint of fishermen and sailors, visible in the many small churches along the coast from Dondra to Point Pedro dating back to the influence of Portuguese colonial rule.. Local Gods to whom the people pray on the Southern coast such as Devol and Pattini are discussed in the essay on Rocky Islands while the concluding article dwells on Polgasduwa, notable in the history of Buddhist forest hermitages in the island. In the two photo-essays, nature and protection of biodiversity are highlighted in Maduganga while the economic transition from history to modernity is underlined in Sober Island, with its colonial military structures now converted for tourism and rewilded after the end of the armed conflict.

All the work, the writing and the photography was done on a voluntary basis, each author free to chose his or her style of writing so that the texts vary from the scientific to the imaginative and the coordination is provided by the photographs of distinctive scenery, fauna and flora and the ebb and flow of life measured by the sunrise and sunset. Sri Lanka, at the tip of the huge South Asian landmass beyond which is only ocean,  never ceases to amaze by its natural beauty and wealth of heritage assets, tangible and intangible, which seems to have deposited here over the centuries, layer upon layer. This book is only a glimpse into the origins and fate of the small islands, and the hope is to inspire others to take up the challenge and fill the gaps of knowledge.

Contact: thenationaltrustsrilanka@gmail.com. Also available at Vijitha Yapa and Barefoot bookstores.