Four strategies vital :

Protecting the wetlands

by Patali CHAMPIKA RANAWAKA

In 2007, in my capacity as the Minister of Environment & Natural Resources, I had to attend a function as its chief guest, to mark the launching of the National Wetland Directory of Sri Lanka. At this meeting, the well known Environmentalist, Dr. Sarath Kotagama pointed out that our wetlands were rapidly shrinking due to human activities. Prior to that observation, it was my perception that the main cause for shrinking of wetlands had been due to deliberate filling and reclamation activities carried out by people and institutions. However, Dr. Kotagama’s observation at the meeting, convinced me to accept the fact that soil erosion contributes much towards the natural shrinking of our wetlands. Every time I visited cities and suburbs, I could see many wetlands - both natural wetlands and abandoned paddy fields, being used as waste dumping yards by individuals, institutions and some local authorities as well. Those who are with vested interests, deliberately dump garbage into wetlands and carryout earth filling on top.

They subsequently block out these filled land and put it up for sale. Some valuable buildings like Hilton Hotel, Nawam Mawatha Buildings, Maligawatta Housing Complex in Colombo have been built on (filled-up) wetlands. Even the Blomendhal garbage mountain once had been an abandoned paddy field and a marshy wetland. The dumping of Colombo Municipal Council garbage at Blomendhal commenced in 1991, and the motive behind that exercise would have been to make that wetland saleable at a latter date. So, filling wetlands with garbage and its subsequent selling have been a lucrative business in Colombo and suburbs.

Sometime back, when I made a field visit to Bellanwila - Attidiya sanctuary to ascertain the new eco system development on a waste dump, the land owners of the sanctuary made representations and requested that they be allowed to fill their respective blocks to make them saleable. This area recorded in epics, written during the Kotte period, was a vast paddy field prior to and in the 1970s. However, due to various reasons these fields were abandoned and as a result, invasive plants like ‘Wel Aththa’ had found their way in to them and it started spreading like a cancer. Unfortunately, these valuable water retention areas and the bird sanctuaries are now gradually vanishing.

The wetlands are kidneys of eco systems. Environmental services provided by the wetlands are very important for the eco systems to survive. When it rains, wetlands act as water retention and filtration areas, raising the water table facilitating the people to tap fresh water. Variety of flora and fauna thrive in wetlands and therefore, they play a very important role in preserving biodiversity.

They also maintain food chains and these vast areas with vegetation, naturally purify the air by absorbing carbon and releasing oxygen. On the other hand they act as essential eco corridors for unsustainable cities that are coming up rapidly. So it is very important to have wetlands as open spaces and eco corridors as sustainable for eco cities, which need to be built in the future. Unfortunately, as the services rendered by wetlands to maintain the equilibrium of the eco system has not been properly identified, their market values are comparatively low. In order to get its market value enhanced, its owners opt to fill it for monitory gains. It is profitable for various institutions including local authorities to purchase low priced wetlands, reclaim and construct buildings or other infrastructure facilities on them. Having set up the Low Lying Areas Reclamation Board - a new arm of the then government, the former President Premadasa pioneered the process of filling and selling lowlands.

Unfortunately, he was so vociferous and took much pride in announcing that he was converting abandoned marshy land to mini cities like Maligawatta Flats and Nawam Mawatha Buildings, without realizing the fact that his exercise would lead to adverse imminent environmental problems. However, within a short period of time, the repercussions of that ill-advised exercise was experienced by its proponents and many others when several areas of Colombo and suburbs got inundated by floods.

It is important to note that present day cities are totally unsustainable.

Without fossil fuels we are unable to maintain sky scrapers, flyovers and fuel guzzling transportation etc., It is reported that the first commercial oil well was found by one DRAKE in 1859 and it is predicted that the last drop of oil in the last well will be exhausted by 2059. We are presently experiencing the much awaited oil peak, and if we look far ahead for the sake of our grand children, we have to look for ways and means of introducing new energies to sustain built environments. On the other hand burning of some fossil fuels cause heat pollution. Green House Gases with carbon cause solar radiation accumulation and it results in the rising of global mean temperature. Global warming and climate change would seriously threaten the mere existence of humanity. So, the depletion of oil resources and its destructive pollution effects would force us to choose a new paradigm or trajectory for sustainable development.

In order to achieve sustainable development, a new concept called Green Economy has been introduced. Green Economy is based on renewable energies and the built environment should essentially be Eco friendly and self sustainable. Generally Sri Lanka’s priority for development is to enhance its infrastructure facilities like road network, electricity and transportation etc. The IMF, the World Bank and the other lending agencies and partners of development aid should focus on this as their top priority.

But as per green economic policies, a new concept called Green Infrastructure has emerged. Multi faceted global crisis promoted this green new big deal and development of green infrastructure. One of its main themes is conservation and the restoration of low lands and wetlands.

As mentioned earlier, the market based value system has failed to add the desired values to the ecosystem services rendered by wetlands or other similar systems. Therefore, the government or the public sector should intervene and introduce new schemes to protect and enhance value of the eco system services. Generally there are four accepted strategies for protection and enhancement of eco services.

(i) Direct intervention by the government by way of direct funding on restoration projects.

(ii) Introducing a fee or a tax on people or institutions which cause damage to ecosystem services. This restoration levy will compensate the damage done.

(iii) By subsidizing the private parties for the steps they take to conserve and enhance the ecosystem services. For example the government can pay the land owners to improve their private property which act as water retention or watershed areas.

(iv) Creating new markets by way of introducing trading systems. This is a widely accepted mechanism which provide a price on Ecosystem services.

Governments do this by allocating trading permits or property rights in ecosystem services and then allow other parties to purchase these permits or rights.

To get the best out of this trading system which could be applied to enhance the value of wetlands, we have to study its practical implementation. In 1995 the city of Eugine in Oregon, USA, established the wetland trading permit system to protect cities of wetlands. They knew very well that their wetlands provided valuable ecosystem services such as water filteration, flood control and species habitat.

A new law was introduced so that any private developer who wanted to build on existing wetland, had to agree to mitigate the impact by creating or protecting other wetlands. That means a developer who wanted to build on a wetland had to meet that requirement either by creating new wetlands or purchasing a wetland trading permit process by someone else.

The city of Eugine also established a Wetland Mitigation Bank. This Bank had a dual purpose where those who owned wetlands could store or deposit their certified wetland credit in that Bank and those who wanted to mitigate the damage caused by their building on wetlands could purchase those credits. That could produce new value to the wetland owners. On the other hand new green businesses enhancing green infrastructure by way of creating new wetlands could promote entrepreneurs and also it would discourage developers to build on wetlands in order to keep their mitigation cost low.

These four strategies should be introduced to protect wetlands in Sri Lanka as well. It is fortunate that The Sri Lanka Land Reclamation & Development Corporation (LRDC) has now launched new projects with these objectives in mind. Presently our Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources is in collaboration with The LRDC to explore the feasibility of implementing these strategies in Kelaniya, Mudunella wetlands, while preserving the flood control and water filteration capability of new developed land for the waste management systems of the area.

The market values of Muthurajawela, Aththidiya and various other lowlands could also be enhanced if we apply these new strategies. The public should be made aware of these strategies before unnecessary politically motivated petty protest campaigns are staged jeopardizing these valuable projects and proposals even before they are put into operation.

The writer is the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources