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| Sunday, 5 June 2005 |
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Joint venture to revitalize Sinharaja Forest by Don Asoka Wijewardena A systemised biological resource assessment and effective monitoring program are extremely important to ensure the environmental sustainability in the Sinharaja Rain Forest, said Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Ltd (HSBC) Chief Executive Officer David JH Griffiths after signing an agreement with the Sewalanka Foundation (SLF) on " Sinharaja Forest Youth Bio-monitoring Program, on Monday at the HSBC Head Office in Colombo. Addressing a media conference CEO Griffiths said that the present tea cultivation practice in the Sinharaja buffer zone had already threatened the forest and the future agricultural productivity as clearing of steeps and fragile slopes for expanding tea lands had led to topsoil exposure, heavy erosion, and loss of soil fertility, including the change of vegetation patterns affecting rainfall patterns and water flow. Referring to some vital aspects of the Youth Bio-monitoring program, Griffiths said that the Sinharaja Bio-monitoring program launched in collaboration with the Sewalanka Foundation could be effectively implemented through the development of school science programs where local schoolchildren could collect samples, monitor vegetation growth, conduct population surveys and record and analyse data. He said that such programs would allow schoolchildren the opportunity to become aware of their environmental resources and promote the conservation of the biosphere, in addition to acquiring the mathematical and language skills and knowledge in biology, chemistry and geology which were all parts of a school's fundamental curriculum. Sewalanka Foundation President Harsha Kumar Navaratne said that the SLF was grateful to the HSBC for taking the initiative to join the Sewalanka Foundation embarking on a new environmental conservation project in the Sinharaja Forest and added that this joint venture would revitalise and preserve this rich natural heritage through the Sinharaja Forest Youth Bio-monitoring program which would be co-ordinated with the Kalawana and Deniyaya Forest Department. Navaratne said that the Bio-monitoring program would comprise a creative and integrated agenda that would ensure a cost-effective, replicable system of monitoring soil and water quality, the use of resources and biodiversity, while simultaneously providing an unique opportunity of educational significance to the schools in the resource-strapped buffer zone. The SLF would facilitate the curriculum design, provide teacher training and basic equipment, co-ordinate the analysis and support community exhibition and information fairs where the students would be able to present their work. Navaratne said that in and through these activities the bio-monitoring
program would focus its attention on upgrading education, awareness,
information and appreciation of the buffer zone in the Sinharaja forest
among the local community. |
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