Organised by youth of a group of conservationists:

Change family concept from Paapedi

The immensely rich biodiversity is the magnetic power of our island-nation and is what makes this land a paradise. Out of the total area of the country which is 65,610 square kilometres and on average with 323 people living in every square kilometre, 26.5 percent of the country is declared as protected areas. This is a higher percentage of protected areas than in all of Asia.

Every inch even in a small home garden is a piece of this valuable heritage of ours. But how much do we know about this? On top of everything how much do we know about how we are damaging it? Each individual acts to understand this national asset, and to protect it matters, especially considering the fate of the future generation. At a time climate change is affecting every living being on earth how can Sri Lanka, a top biodiversity hot spot of the world, ignore nature getting destroyed?

In such a background 25 youth are preparing to put an effort to make communities living along the Colombo - Anuradhapura road aware of what is happening to their surroundings riding on bicycles just the way so many adventurous youth of many generations travelled to the ancient city Anuradhapura. "Our bicycle journey across Sri Lanka aims to build a sense of pride and responsibility for this sensitive island and further the process of empowering young people as social and environmental actors and to demonstrate how the bicycle can be a positive and powerful force of social change in this age of fast-paced, consumer driven life," said Kanchana Weerakoon, who leads in organising this journey.

The journey is organised by youth of the Eco-Friendly Volunteers, a group of conservationists. Why bicycles? "The bicycle has become a global symbol of our shift towards sustainability. In western countries people are driving less and cycling more, proving that riding a bicycle is functional, fun, healthy and an environmentally positive choice,"President of the Eco-Friendly Volunteers (Eco-V) Weerakoon said, explaining their rationale behind the bicycle journey. Though in countries like ours bicycles remain primary modes of transportation as globalisation and modern values become intertwined in the social fabric of Sri Lanka, many people are choosing motorcycles, cars and three-wheeled autos. We chose to use bicycles as our transportation option for this journey as a demonstrative and educational tool to show people various functions and sustainable attributes to cycling, said Kanchana.

"We will be producing panniers from recycled materials and bicycle carts from renewable and recycled materials to demonstrate functional uses of the bicycle. Our education campaigns will also use the bicycle to demonstrate zero-emissions and healthy life choices," she said.

Eco-V have named the bicycle journey as 'Paapedi - a bicycle journey for climate justice' which will be a journey of ten days travelling over 230 kilometres by 25 young girls and boys. "The journey will include a focus on the study of wetlands and Sri Lanka's extensive and intricate rain-water catchment system that has, for generations, supplied farmers with sufficient water to sustain Sri Lankans with over 300 varieties of indigenous rice.

It is a system now under threat from agrochemical pollution, unsustainable use, modern mismanagement, invasive species and climate change," explained Kanchana.

"Our travellers will educate through interactive street theatre, formal presentations, personal conversation and story-telling. We will teach them how to do water quality testing, air quality testing and about the importance of organic, wholesome and sustainable living," she said.

Started in 2001, ECO-V has a network of 400 volunteers throughout Sri Lanka who have dedicated themselves to conservation of the environment. They contribute to the projects whenever their support is needed. Kanchana says this is an effort in planting green leaders.

"The ECO-V concept of approaching climate change and environmental degradation is to develop community based leaders across Sri Lanka, to nurture their enthusiasm and passion, and to support them with trainings, opportunities, journeys and skills so that they grow into their greatest capacity as environmental stewards," Kanchana added.

"Climate Change issues are still not widely discussed at the grass roots level in Sri Lanka. Over 2011 river journey was the first National level campaign that was able to reach grass roots level communities along the Kelani River. Many people are not aware of adaptation and mitigation strategies and we aim to share knowledge and inspire new thinking around environmental protection.

There is a pressing need for a national level awareness campaign targeted at improving understanding amongst the younger generation and to support them to grow into future community leadership roles," Kanchana said.

According to Kanchana Eco-V have created the concept of a journey for climate justice as a process to give young people access to a practical and safe learning space. "In 2011 we coordinated a journey along the entire length of the Kelani River, from its source at Adam's Peak to its confluence with the sea. With the first journey we realised the potential of this transformative process of young Sri Lankans. Many continuing in carrying forward their vision of a sustainable society," said Kanchana proudly remembering their first experience in climate journey.

"Participants in this year journey will come from every province in Sri Lanka and we aim to have a group with an equal number of male and female travellers. The journey will also include a number of foreign volunteers with expertise in environmental education and bicycle advocacy and maintenance. The international youth will bring additional support, but will also help show that climate change is a global issue that requires action at local, national and international levels," as Kanchana said.

As she further explained the multi modes of their journey environment is an ethnically neutral concern and the consequences of human induced climate change will affect everyone equally thus using this factor will be an entry point to build inter-cultural relationships which is a viable and an opportunity to forge lasting and positive avenues for inter-cultural collaboration. "We are having a long term plan of 'Paapedi' taking forward. For that we have a concept called Change family. We are working towards individual change to family and then society and the country," Kanchana said.

- DY