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| Sunday, 12 May 2002 |
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A 31-year-old Sri Lankan gets out to preserve Sri Pada, and achieves international recognition On a conservation crusade By Jayanthi Liyanage She symbolises the rising new young of the country. A conscientious, growing young, confronted with the formidable task of reversing the legacy of injustices the succeeding generations had bequeathed on our environment and its inhabitants.
Two hundred Army personnel, Eco-V's friends, supporters and other environmentalist groups will join the cleaning campaign. Last year, Eco-V mailed a poster, advising "Don't make Samanala Mountain a Garbage Mountain!" to 2,000 temples around the island, in a bid to prevent "Nades" (pilgrim parties) carrying polythene wrapping to the holy site.
Devoted She and her like-minded university friends hid stray dogs in lecture halls to save them from slaughter and shouted to drown out dog whines from the municipal workers on the kill. Married to Dr. Thushara Ranasinghe, a demonstrator at Sri Jayawardenapura University, with a five-month baby who is already straining to hear the "Konda Kurulu" song at dawn, Kanchana has her home in Kuliyapitiya but finds herself at Moratuwa fully devoted to the projects of Eco-V. Kanchana's four-year project design for conserving the Peak Wilderness Sanctuary placed her among the top six world-wide winners for the 2002 Whitley Laing Awards presented by the Whitley Laing Foundation, U.K. for international nature conservation. "Along with winners from Guatemala, Brazil, Cuba and Argentina, I received my award from Her Royal Highness Princess Anne in March," Kanchana says with justifiable pride, surrounded by Lal, Sujani, Harsha, Sudharshi, Samanmalee and Chaminda, the enthusiastic and dedicated working committee of Eco-V.
The project is now into its second year. "The Peak Wilderness is a reserve which has a very large biological diversity," Kanchana elaborates. "All of Sri Lanka's 23 endemic birds are there. What you mostly find is the lovely and endangered Blue Magpie (Kahi Bella)." The Sanctuary is also home to the equally endangered Red-Faced Mal Koha, Spot-Winged Thrush (Wal Avichchiya) and Whistling Thrush (Aranga). Research on Wal Avichchiya provided fodder for Kanchana's and Lal's Master Degrees in Natural Science. "Sri Pada's pilgrims always stray beyond the demarcated paths and the noise and garbage they scatter is driving the birds more and more into the jungle," she says. "During the pilgrim season, people chop down the forest trees to build boutiques. Even the tender young plants are being pulled out." Medicinal Eco-V spent the project's first year telling the schoolchildren of villages fringing the Samanala Mountain, the value of its flora and fauna. Temples were quick to respond to the poster they received by mail. "The praise we got from the Nayaka Theras was a big boost to our work," Eco-V echoes. "Ayurveda Veda Mahattayas from all over the island who know the value of medicinal plants in the Peak Wilderness wrote to us. Many of them are now our volunteers," Kanchana says. "A retired Police Officer who had served in Sri Pada and knew its villagers saw us on TV. Now he is coming with us to clean Sri Pada during Vesak." For the project's third year, Eco-V has picked two villages bordering the Sanctuary - Mapalana and Balawana. "Many villagers are totally dependent on the forest and we try to identify the conflicts brought on by this bond," Kanchana said. "We can't order villagers not to cut down trees in the jungle. They are not going to look after the jungle, if the jungle has no use for them." Eco-V seeks to provide the forest-dependents with alternative options for generating income. "People who chop trees for fire-wood can grow their fire-wood in a sustainable manner. We will help those who uproot medicinal forest plants for medication to start their own nurseries and find a market for such plant produce. We will free cows from slaughter-houses and give them to the villagers to produce curd and yoghurt," says Kanchana. Two students from the Social Services School, volunteering with Eco-V, now conduct a pilot survey at the two selected villages to identify the living needs of the villagers and how these conflict with the preservation of the Peak Wilderness. "By year four, we want to see pilgrims climbing Sri Pada without polythene. Next season, we will introduce to them a cloth and a paper bag at a low cost," Kanchana explains. "Our other dream is to see the fringe communities at Sri Pada achieving fulfilled lives through Peak Wilderness without destroying it. Even now, some soft drink boutiques have replaced plastic cups with paper cups. Eco-V's mission is to produce a nature-loving younger generation in these areas, by making them aware of nature's value!" Species This young Eco-V President has a great deal of praise for Prof. Sarath Kotagama of Field Ornithology Group, Sri Lanka (FOGSL), partner to Birdlife International, U.K. "As a volunteer of FOGSL, I worked in the Sinharaja 97, its joint project with the Cambridge University and got the chance to be trained in endangered species management at Jersey Zoo in the Channels Islands," Kanchana explains. She is featured in the Birdlife International poster of BP Conservation Program of U.K. "Soon, with the funds of Oriental Bird Club, we will start a study into another of our endangered birds, Spot Billed Pelican (Pas Thuduwa) which can be seen in Beira Lake and Aththidiya. We want to educate people to stop hunting Pelicans for meat." The findings of the study will be turned over to the FOGSL's Important Bird Areas program. "Prof. Kotagama is among our panel of advisers, along with Dr. A.T. Ariyaratne and Dr. Harsha Liyanage of Sarvodaya and Dehiwala-Mt. Lavinia Divisional Secretary, Mr. Wijesinghe." Eco-V is ready to accommodate requests for awareness lectures from schools or other environment-concerned groups all over Sri Lanka. "Join us at Nallathanni at 6 a.m. on May 25 to make Sri Pada a polythene-free mountain," is an open invitation from Kanchana and Eco-V to the public. All polythene litter will be turned over for recycling. Lend your hand to them on May 25 and 26 in their endeavour to create a cleaner and better-preserved Peak Wilderness Sanctuary. |
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| Editorial | Security Produced by Lake House |
Kanchana Weerakoon Ranasinghe has chosen the land's holiest mountain,
Sri Pada (Adam's Peak) for her latest conservation crusade. During Vesak,
she and her equally-impassioned conservationist group - Eco-Friendly
Volunteers (Eco-V) - will collect polythene strewn by the pilgrims from
all six paths leading to the Sri Pada Mountain. "Beyond Indikatu
Paana right up to the Maluwa, Sri Pada is a polythene mountain,"
Kanchana sounds indignant.
Kanchana, a vivacious and chirpy 31 year old, was born in Anuradhapura
and bred in Matale among six cats and two dogs in a family of avid nature
lovers. Her empathy for natural sciences could well spring from her
father, previously a Rural Development Officer in Social Services
Department and her mother, a floriculturist. "I studied at Sangamitta
B.V. and Science College, Matale, and joined the Open University to do my
degree in Natural Sciences and later, the Colombo University for
Masters," she says.
