Lankan takes on major global conservation role

From caring for trees, to peatland research

by Ifham Nizam

Sri Lanka born Dr. Lahiru Wijedasa, a senior research fellow at National University of Singapore’s (NUS) tropical peatland research programme, was recently appointed by conservation group BirdLife International as its Asia forest coordinator.The move marks Wijedasa’s first foray into civil society after a career in scientific research, specializing in botany and ecology.His new role will involve working with partners on forest conservation projects across Asia. One of his first projects is in ecosystem restoration, working with Burung Indonesia, an Indonesian bird conservation group, and British charity Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, to conserve the lowland forests of Sumatra, Indonesia.At NUS, Wijedasa worked in forest restoration research, with a focus on peatland swamps. In January, he co-published a paper on a new species of flowering tree found in a peat swamp in Sumatra.

Excerpts of the interview with Dr. Wijedasa.Firstly, on your appointment by conservation group BirdLife International as Asia forest coordinator. Surely you are the first Sri Lankan isn’t it?

I think yes, I am the first Sri Lankan in this role, but not the first or most important one in BirdLife. BirdLife International is a unique kind of international NGO. While there is a broad international team, we only work on the ground by supporting a country partner who is established and working on conservation issues.

In Sri Lanka, the Field Ornithology Group (FOG) is the BirdLife partner, and they are actually the stars who have always been doing the hard work of actual conservation. I am merely a little fruit fly on their shoulder. As BirdLife partners have links with each other, FOG and Sri Lanka has always played a big role in conservation across the world.

Would you mind elaborating on your role?As mentioned, BL works with local partners. My role is to work closely and support partners in their work, through linking them up to funders and securing funding, working closely with them to develop new projects and in some cases provide technical expertise.Can you tell us a litle bit about your role as a senior arborist for the Singapore Botanic Gardens and your contribution there?

It was enjoyable and life changing to spend the first 10 years of my career at the Botanic Gardens where I was in charge of managing all the trees in the garden with my team. This involved hands on work managing all aspects of trees from climbing, pruning, fertilizing and planting.

The gardens include trees over 150 years old as well as new ones, each with different needs. For the old trees, I was involved in nominating many of them for Heritage tree status. We eventually wrote a book about the heritage trees which was launched by the president.

My work also included creating new collections in the gardens, with one of my most important contributions overseeing the development of a five Ha medicinal garden with over 500 species of plants called the Healing Garden.

I also participated in preparing the garden’s UNESCO heritage status bid which it received in 2015, as well the early work on new collections that have been built since I left, such as the Fragrant Garden, the Foliage Garden and the Tyersall Learning Forest.

But the most rewarding work was with organizations around Southeast Asia surveying forests and collecting seeds of rare trees to protect and grow outside of forests. It was during this time that I did a Master’s in plant taxonomy at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, leading me to find and describe new species.

It made me realize that while describing new species and saving them in gardens is important, we really were in a deforestation and extinction crisis. Sometimes we would be working in one part of a forest, while we can hear chainsaws working at the other end. It led to me eventually leaving the Gardens to study the problem and find solutions as a PhD student and consultant across Southeast Asia culminating in my current role in BL.

Your thoughts on permaculture and acquisition of two former tea estates in Sri Lanka?

Personally, I think Sri Lanka has been practicing permaculture from generations ago. When our forests were converted to home gardens, it meant that forests were replaced by a forest like habitat; while these new forests are less species diverse, they still host species in adjacent forests. Deer, pangolins, porcupines, leopards and the many species of endemic birds are a good example. This could even be considered the case for our elephants.Most of my family history has been in different areas of agriculture in the Kotmale Valley. Back when the Kotmale dam was built and flooded the valley, most of the family was displaced. They eventually scattered across the country and then different parts of the world.

I decided in 2016 to go back to Kotmale and with my family we setup Conservation Links. We bought two small tea plantations, inter-planted other crops and started doing organic agriculture and agro-forestry. We started by collecting vegetable waste from villages and towns which was composted and applied as fertilizer.

We continue this for three years, until it was no longer financially viable. Today, we apply a limited quantity of fertilizers and no pesticides. This hands-on experience over time has shaped our own understanding of organic farming. It is definitely viable on a small scale and can play a role in food security at the local level

You are also an authority on carbon credits, in your opinion what are the biggest stumbling blocks in Sri Lanka?This is a tough question, as I am not very familiar with the Sri Lankan situation. Rather than stumbling blocks, there are many positive things which maybe more important. Firstly, a large proportion of our population is already environmentally aware. They know of the issues and would like to do what they can to help solve them. Second, we do have a decent national regulatory network that could allow land zoning for carbon projects to work – note that land allocation for carbon is an important part of getting a carbon credit.

On the note of land, such areas could be reservoir reserves, steep slopes, riparian buffers, watersheds, road reserves and many other lands already zoned for non-use purposes. Third, we are a farming nation, so we know how to grow trees and forests, so we can get it done.Sri Lanka is one of the biodiversity hotspot along Western Ghats Are you happy with the initiatives taken here to preserve fauna and flora?We should be really proud of our achievements in the past till this day. Yes, there have been issues, and our rain forest areas are fragmented, but we have really done well. However, the question is whether our biodiversity survives climate change? This needs a concerted long term study. We should provide the resources for our scientists to do this and associate this with action on the ground to address the problem based on facts. We have the scientists, institutions, botanic gardens, public and will to do it.Who inspired you the most?I have been very lucky to have some important scientists and colleagues such as Prof Theodore Evans (ecology/termites), the late Tony Whitten (conservation), Rick Thomas (tree climbing/arboriculture) as mentors along the way and a family that has supported my eccentric habits.However, the most inspiring example is my grandmother. She grew up in a different world, I remember her telling me about the first car that ever came to the Kotmale valley. The flooding of the valley did change her life completely, but she remained strong and loving at all times. So much so, that when I was younger, I had this interest in snakes and when I found a dead snake on the road, I would bring it home, skin it, boil it and reassemble the skeletons. It was my grandmother who would keep the crows away when I was at school.

Despite not liking it, she did not stop me. She could easily have, and the path I would have taken could be something completely different. For someone of that generation to let me follow my instincts is something commendable.My advice to parents is to let your kids do their own thing, even if the world finds it weird. Don’t make them conform to the world of today, instead let them mould the world into what they want to make it.