Sixtieth anniversary of Department of Wildlife Conservation:

'Wildlife if nourished, good money spinner'

by Sajitha PREMATUNGE

Over the 60 years the DWC (Department of Wildlife Conservation) has been in existence, it has been responsible for the management of a network of more than 90 PAs (Protected Areas) an equivalent of 13% of the total land area of the island. Migratory birds as well as fish species come under its jurisdiction. It is also the implementing government body of such international conventions such as CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) and Ramsar.

Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickremanayake	Minister of Environment and Natural Resources, Patali Champika Ranawaka	Minister of Tourism Nandana Gunathilaka

At a ceremony organized to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the DWC - which was established in October 1, 1949 - winners of the poster, photography and painting competitions were awarded certificates by Chief Guest Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickremanayake, Minister of Environment and Natural Resources, Patali Champika Ranawaka and Minister of Tourism Nandana Gunathilaka. Appreciation awards for forest rangers as well as staffers and officers of the DWC and its staff members who died while on duty, were also presented during the ceremony. A special envelope was also issued to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the DWC. Publications on elephants of Sri Lanka and a souvenir for the 60th anniversary were also launched during the ceremony. An exhibition was held from October 1 to 3 to commemorate the anniversary.

The Prime Minister pointed out that scientists predict a trying time in terms of global warming and climate change. Weather changes are increasing in number. Wildlife, nature and natural phenomena like climate are interlinked and therefore conservation of wildlife is of utmost importance for the survival of mankind. Consequently the duty bestowed upon the DWC is not to be taken for granted. And the Department has considerably developed with the times. He stressed the importance of a sustainable development, methods like reforestation. "We do not require the services of voluntary organizations that act as puppets of funding nations" said the Prime Minister.

The Prime Minister pointed out that the tourism industry has a close relationship with wildlife and that it was important to develop tourism in such a way not detrimental to Sri Lankan culture.

Minister of Tourism Nandana Gunathilaka said that we have a legacy of wildlife conservation. "Our literature and culture can vouch for this. Sri Lankans are intrinsically nature loving, irrespective of religion." Reinforcing the fact that wildlife and tourism go hand in hand, Minister Gunathilaka said that there is a lot to be gained, specially economically, by protecting natural resources. "Yala earns over 4 lakhs a day from one single gate! If we take a commercial perspective wildlife is the best commodity we could use to promote tourism in Sri Lanka."

Minister Champika Ranawaka said that the obstacles that the DWC had to face during its 60 years in existence has only made the establishment stronger.

"We have been able to strengthen the legal standards concerning wildlife conservation as well as improve the infrastructure of the DWC", said the Minister. Pas - that is more than 12,000,000 ha. Including twenty parks - are managed by the DWC and the lack of staffers and labourers have always been a serious managerial setback. An additional 400 personnel have been recruited to the workforce last year alone, says the Minister. Hundreds of kilometers of roads have been renovated. He also revealed that parks like Lunugamvehera, Udawalawa have been revamped. Kumana National Park will be reopened shortly. The Minister also revealed that they hope to commence the conservation process of the Wilpattu National Park by next year and that the DWC is working to reopen all NPs (National Parks) including Chandikulam and Mudhu next year.

The Minister also revealed that they are also working on solutions for the human elephant conflict. According to the latest statistics there are more than 6000 elephants in Sri Lanka - the number has doubled in the last 15 years - 70% of them are outside PAs. "Although culling has been practised in the 1950's, it is no longer an option", said the Minister. He added that the work done by the DWC regarding the human-elephant conflict is not to be taken lightly. "The DWC staff has saved countless lives of lost and wounded elephants."

One of the major problems encountered by the Gaja Mithuro project is that all the Pas have exceeded their carrying capacity, terrorism and unplanned villages only added to this constraint. Until 2008 electric fences were put up at the rate of 60 kms per year. "But with the dedication of DWC staff we have been able to increase it up to five times, over 300 kms.

A massive research - costing around Rs. 3000 million - on villages affected by the human-elephant conflict is to begin next year.

The dry zone of Sri Lanka is facing and extreme drought situation due to which wildlife in the area has to undergo much hardship, pointed out the Minister.

Weather changes in rain patterns can be identified as the cause. "This is bound to intensify over the next few decades with global warming. This is a problem that required immediate attention because most of our national parks are situated in the dry zone" and warned that our dry zone may one day face the same problem of desertification faced today by African countries.

"Citizens of developed nations enjoy certain privileges in spite of their unplanned and untimely industrialization and development", said the Prime Minister, and claimed that the so-called developed nations should work to provide third world countries with what is rightfully theirs, by making penance for their unplanned development activities.

Minister Champika Ranawaka claimed that the sole cause for this situation is the over exploitation by the so-called developed nations. "They have deprived the basic human rights of over seven million people suffering in the dry zone."

The Minister also revealed that it will be proposed at the next Copenhagen Summit that every industrialized country pay 1% of their Gross National Income to low carbon emitting countries, for conservation activities and the betterment of their living standards. "They have achieved such development at the expense of whole ecosystems."

Over 100 countries including Bolivia is working towards making this a reality. "Our priority should be to protect the country's water resources which are in imminent danger due to global warming."

He said that the ten year national action plan Haritha Lanka was formulated to achieve just this.