Tomorrow, Monday, 22 March, is D-Day for Sri Lanka in Geneva as the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) wraps up three weeks of deliberation on the country’s human rights record and in all likelihood, put to a vote a new resolution aimed at fast tracking delivery of previous commitments to the international HR body, plus some new ones that may not be to the liking of the Government.
On the domestic front, the economic situation continues to be challenging with the rupee further weakening against the dollar, crossing the Rs. 200 barrier for the first time in history, which in turn is likely to trigger a chain reaction that will ultimately further raise the cost of living for the ordinary citizen.
However, despite these more compelling issues, the country seems fixated on an environmental issue and rightly so, brought to the fore by a teenager from a remote hamlet whose plight, as a result of her daring disclosure, is now the talk of the town. True to form, the authorities including the Police, environment and wildlife officers have been hounding the girl from Rakwana ever since she publicly complained that her neighbourhood which is adjacent to the World Heritage Site, Sinharaja Forest, was being cleared for a hotel project - an area also identified as an elephant corridor by the Department of Wildlife. The upshot of it has been a wave of public support for the embattled teenager and a renewed focus on the mass scale deforestation taking place at an alarming rate across the country.
The witch hunt directed at Bhagya Abayaratna, the second female to endure such an ordeal in recent times, simply for publicly standing up against the destruction of the country’s flora and fauna, follows that of the female Wildlife Officer Devani Jayathilaka, who famously told off a politician rooting for the destruction of the Muthurajawela mangroves, highlighting the failed strategy of shooting the messenger and not the perpetrator which has given rise to sweeping deforestation in sensitive ecosystems.
The politician at the centre of the Muthurajawela controversy, in defending his stance, questioned the need for oxygen, asking whether a person could eat it (“oxygen kannada?”). Given the kind of political talent that the electors have been beset with, it is unlikely that the three ministers in charge of the environment and wildlife are aware of the consequences of climate change, especially on an island nation like Sri Lanka which potentially stands to lose large swathes of land due to rising sea levels. This phenomenon is not something that will happen in the distant future but during the lifetime of the current teenage generation, which is why people like Bhagya Abayaratna have all the right to speak out and protect their own future.
A few years ago, intimidating the messenger would have solved the problem of a noisy teenager opposing the clearing of a forest in a remote hamlet. But times have changed, and in this age of information, social media has evolved into a powerful tool that has essentially reversed roles, where a teenager is now able to bring down the might of officialdom and not the other way around. To add to the problem, overzealous cops known to be technologically challenged, yet eager to please their political masters, remain oblivious to these sensitivities with their dated tactics, and in the quest to score brownie points, often cause irreversible damage to their political masters. The erosion of public trust in the Police is largely due to this problem.
Whatever the politicians and their minions might say to defend deforestation, the inescapable bottom line is that it is a ticking time bomb. A cursory glance at the air quality index in the Western Province will confirm the fact that the air that we breathe is more often than not in the red zone. As of late, Colombo is shrouded in fog similar to that found in industrialised, polluted cities. The only difference being that while the other countries affected by the problem are doing all that they can to salvage the situation, we in this country don’t even acknowledge that we have a problem. And to make things worse, we encourage cutting down forest cover that absorbs the toxic air.
On the other hand, is the grave matter of the human-elephant conflict which in the recent past has taken a turn for the worse. So far this year, over 60 elephants are reported to have been killed in confrontations with farming communities. Last year, over 300 elephants fell victim while a similar number of humans also perished in the worsening conflict. If this year’s numbers continue, the annual toll will be double that of last year.
The root cause of the alarming increase in the death toll on both sides is the dwindling forest cover which has forced wild animals to venture into urban areas. The current unsustainable situation has arisen as a result of the Government’s recent decision to handover forests not designated as national parks and reserves under the moniker of “other state forests” to District Secretaries from their previous guardian, the Department of Wildlife and Forest Conservation, ostensibly for “development purposes”.
On the one hand, we are told that tourism is being given top priority and its revival is now top of the agenda. Last week, the Government further relaxed travel restrictions for incoming passengers with the motive of kick starting the industry. But the issue here is that while on the one hand, tourists are being beckoned to come to Sri Lanka, on the other, it is destroying the very reason tourists travel here.
During the war, Sri Lanka on average attracted around 500,000 tourists who essentially came for the beaches on the southwest coast with a little bit of the hill country and Cultural Triangle thrown in. However, in the more recent post war years, when arrivals peaked at 2.3 million visitors, wildlife had become an essential and necessary part of the tourism product mix, as Sri Lanka became known for its wildlife, only second to Africa itself. Therefore, the current rampage on clearing forest cover that provides access routes for elephants to move from one park to another is akin to killing the goose that lays the golden eggs.
The way things are going, sooner than later, Sri Lanka will have to revert back to the war time mix where sun, sea. and sand may well be the only item on the menu. Then it will be a case of competing with the likes of Thailand, Malaysia, Cambodia, and Vietnam, who are already well established in that segment and in a better position to offer value for money. That may well sound the death knell for the brand of tourism that Sri Lanka was just making a name for itself with; a country known for its thriving diversity.
Today, farmers are no longer in their fields but on the roads protesting against the apathy of the officials to come up with a solution to a profound problem – survival. The human elephant conflict can no longer be settled with an electric fence, it requires political intervention at the highest level to reclaim and re-establish elephant territory. With each passing day that such intervention is delayed, the threat to life and limb as well as tourism will only increase and Sri Lanka’s sensitive biodiversity will reach a point of no return.
At the very least, the gazette notification on the divestiture of forests designated as “other state forests” should be recalled and these forests, at least what’s left of them, should be re-vested under the care of the department dedicated to its protection, the Department of Wildlife and Forest Conservation. Thereafter, it would be appropriate if steps are taken to change mindsets to portray that rare breed called whistleblowers, especially with regard to deforestation and plunder of natural resources, for who they really are – heroes.Spare the messenger
21 Mar 2021
Spare the messenger
21 Mar 2021
Tomorrow, Monday, 22 March, is D-Day for Sri Lanka in Geneva as the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) wraps up three weeks of deliberation on the country’s human rights record and in all likelihood, put to a vote a new resolution aimed at fast tracking delivery of previous commitments to the international HR body, plus some new ones that may not be to the liking of the Government.
On the domestic front, the economic situation continues to be challenging with the rupee further weakening against the dollar, crossing the Rs. 200 barrier for the first time in history, which in turn is likely to trigger a chain reaction that will ultimately further raise the cost of living for the ordinary citizen.
However, despite these more compelling issues, the country seems fixated on an environmental issue and rightly so, brought to the fore by a teenager from a remote hamlet whose plight, as a result of her daring disclosure, is now the talk of the town. True to form, the authorities including the Police, environment and wildlife officers have been hounding the girl from Rakwana ever since she publicly complained that her neighbourhood which is adjacent to the World Heritage Site, Sinharaja Forest, was being cleared for a hotel project - an area also identified as an elephant corridor by the Department of Wildlife. The upshot of it has been a wave of public support for the embattled teenager and a renewed focus on the mass scale deforestation taking place at an alarming rate across the country.
The witch hunt directed at Bhagya Abayaratna, the second female to endure such an ordeal in recent times, simply for publicly standing up against the destruction of the country’s flora and fauna, follows that of the female Wildlife Officer Devani Jayathilaka, who famously told off a politician rooting for the destruction of the Muthurajawela mangroves, highlighting the failed strategy of shooting the messenger and not the perpetrator which has given rise to sweeping deforestation in sensitive ecosystems.
The politician at the centre of the Muthurajawela controversy, in defending his stance, questioned the need for oxygen, asking whether a person could eat it (“oxygen kannada?”). Given the kind of political talent that the electors have been beset with, it is unlikely that the three ministers in charge of the environment and wildlife are aware of the consequences of climate change, especially on an island nation like Sri Lanka which potentially stands to lose large swathes of land due to rising sea levels. This phenomenon is not something that will happen in the distant future but during the lifetime of the current teenage generation, which is why people like Bhagya Abayaratna have all the right to speak out and protect their own future.
A few years ago, intimidating the messenger would have solved the problem of a noisy teenager opposing the clearing of a forest in a remote hamlet. But times have changed, and in this age of information, social media has evolved into a powerful tool that has essentially reversed roles, where a teenager is now able to bring down the might of officialdom and not the other way around. To add to the problem, overzealous cops known to be technologically challenged, yet eager to please their political masters, remain oblivious to these sensitivities with their dated tactics, and in the quest to score brownie points, often cause irreversible damage to their political masters. The erosion of public trust in the Police is largely due to this problem.
Whatever the politicians and their minions might say to defend deforestation, the inescapable bottom line is that it is a ticking time bomb. A cursory glance at the air quality index in the Western Province will confirm the fact that the air that we breathe is more often than not in the red zone. As of late, Colombo is shrouded in fog similar to that found in industrialised, polluted cities. The only difference being that while the other countries affected by the problem are doing all that they can to salvage the situation, we in this country don’t even acknowledge that we have a problem. And to make things worse, we encourage cutting down forest cover that absorbs the toxic air.
On the other hand, is the grave matter of the human-elephant conflict which in the recent past has taken a turn for the worse. So far this year, over 60 elephants are reported to have been killed in confrontations with farming communities. Last year, over 300 elephants fell victim while a similar number of humans also perished in the worsening conflict. If this year’s numbers continue, the annual toll will be double that of last year.
The root cause of the alarming increase in the death toll on both sides is the dwindling forest cover which has forced wild animals to venture into urban areas. The current unsustainable situation has arisen as a result of the Government’s recent decision to handover forests not designated as national parks and reserves under the moniker of “other state forests” to District Secretaries from their previous guardian, the Department of Wildlife and Forest Conservation, ostensibly for “development purposes”.
On the one hand, we are told that tourism is being given top priority and its revival is now top of the agenda. Last week, the Government further relaxed travel restrictions for incoming passengers with the motive of kick starting the industry. But the issue here is that while on the one hand, tourists are being beckoned to come to Sri Lanka, on the other, it is destroying the very reason tourists travel here.
During the war, Sri Lanka on average attracted around 500,000 tourists who essentially came for the beaches on the southwest coast with a little bit of the hill country and Cultural Triangle thrown in. However, in the more recent post war years, when arrivals peaked at 2.3 million visitors, wildlife had become an essential and necessary part of the tourism product mix, as Sri Lanka became known for its wildlife, only second to Africa itself. Therefore, the current rampage on clearing forest cover that provides access routes for elephants to move from one park to another is akin to killing the goose that lays the golden eggs.
The way things are going, sooner than later, Sri Lanka will have to revert back to the war time mix where sun, sea. and sand may well be the only item on the menu. Then it will be a case of competing with the likes of Thailand, Malaysia, Cambodia, and Vietnam, who are already well established in that segment and in a better position to offer value for money. That may well sound the death knell for the brand of tourism that Sri Lanka was just making a name for itself with; a country known for its thriving diversity.
Today, farmers are no longer in their fields but on the roads protesting against the apathy of the officials to come up with a solution to a profound problem – survival. The human elephant conflict can no longer be settled with an electric fence, it requires political intervention at the highest level to reclaim and re-establish elephant territory. With each passing day that such intervention is delayed, the threat to life and limb as well as tourism will only increase and Sri Lanka’s sensitive biodiversity will reach a point of no return.
At the very least, the gazette notification on the divestiture of forests designated as “other state forests” should be recalled and these forests, at least what’s left of them, should be re-vested under the care of the department dedicated to its protection, the Department of Wildlife and Forest Conservation. Thereafter, it would be appropriate if steps are taken to change mindsets to portray that rare breed called whistleblowers, especially with regard to deforestation and plunder of natural resources, for who they really are – heroes.Kapruka
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Discover Kapruka, the leading online shopping platform in Sri Lanka, where you can conveniently send Gifts and Flowers to your loved ones for any event. Explore a wide range of popular Shopping Categories on Kapruka, including Toys, Groceries, Electronics, Birthday Cakes, Fruits, Chocolates, Automobile, Mother and Baby Products, Clothing, and Fashion. Additionally, Kapruka offers unique online services like Money Remittance, Astrology, Medicine Delivery, and access to over 700 Top Brands. Also If you’re interested in selling with Kapruka, Partner Central by Kapruka is the best solution to start with. Moreover, through Kapruka Global Shop, you can also enjoy the convenience of purchasing products from renowned platforms like Amazon and eBay and have them delivered to Sri Lanka.Send love straight to their heart this Valentine's with our thoughtful gifts!