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| Sunday, 19 September 2004 |
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Features |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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CITES on another crusade Stringent rules to restrict the trade of high-value fish and timber, the African elephant, minke whale and bald eagle along with turtles, rhinoceroses and medicinal plants will be formulated at the upcoming CITES conference on wildlife trade
The conference will decide on some 50 proposals for improving the conservation and sustainable use of the African elephant, the minke whale, the great white shark, the ramin timber tree, the Chinese yew and other medicinal plants, the yellow-crested cockatoo and the lilac-crowned parrot, five Asian turtles, the white rhinoceros, the Nile and American crocodiles, the European date mussel and many other species. "The CITES conferences are major environmental events because they produce enforceable decisions and practical actions for conserving wild nature and the Earth's biological diversity," said Executive Director Klaus Toepfer of the United Nations Environment Programme, which administers the CITES Secretariat. "By promoting the science-based management of wildlife as a valuable natural resource, CITES also supports the UN's Millennium Development goals of halving the number of people living in extreme poverty and hunger by the year 2015," he added. Long known as the forum where critical decisions are taken about such high-profile issues as the ivory trade and whaling, CITES is increasingly the focus of efforts to protect fish and timber species that are traded globally in profitable commodity markets. "Reversing today's massive destruction of the world's oceans and forests will require governments to use the full range of policies and tools available to them. It is increasingly recognised that the CITES system for regulating trade through a system of permits and quotas is effective and can make an important contribution," said CITES Secretary-General Willem Wijnstekers. This year's most commercially significant proposals include recommendations to add the humphead wrasse, a large reef fish from the Indian and Pacific oceans, and the great white shark, perhaps best known as the star of the 'Jaws' film, to an internationally agreed list of species requiring trade permits. A major step towards using the CITES trade rules for protecting valuable fish species was taken in 2002 when the whale shark 'the world's largest fish' and the basking shark were added to this list. Similar CITES rules have also been introduced recently to address the unsustainable global trade in timber and tree products. All shipments of Latin America's bigleaf mahogany have required CITES export permits since November 2003. Now Indonesia is proposing tighter controls for trade in ramin, one of Southeast Asia's highest earning export timbers, and agarwood trees, which contain the valuable "agar" oil used for making incense, perfumes and medicines. Another group of species threatened by traditional and newly emerging commercial markets are medicinal plants, including Southern Africa's hoodia and Asia's Chinese yew and desert-living cistanche; proposals on the table call for strengthening conservation measures for all three groups of species. Several proposals also seek to conserve Asian turtles and tortoises that are being over-exploited for traditional food markets and the international pet trade. Still other proposals seek to ease the rules on trade in some of the large, beautiful and exotic animals that have been icons of the conservation movement since the 1960s and 1970s. The minke whale and the African elephant are returning to the CITES agenda, and rhinoceroses, bald eagles and crocodiles feature as well. The proponents argue that certain populations of these species have
recovered sufficiently to permit some tightly controlled trade. Saving the leopards
Even though the leopard in Sri Lanka occupies the role of an apex predator, its population number, home range, behaviour and conservation status is not very well known. The Leopard Project is addressing these issues and our ongoing research in selected habitats of the country is filling the gap. The current population of leopards in the island is unknown. What is known, however is the numbers of these elusive animals have decreased substantially over the last century. This was originally due to game hunting during colonial times and later because of poaching for its skin and meat. Although the Fauna and Flora Ordinance of 1938 gave the leopard legal protection, the poaching of leopards outside and inside protected areas has continued unabated. Poaching is still one of the biggest threats to the leopard. From January 2001 to the present there have been at least 35 leopards killed by poachers. Fourteen (14) in the Wasgomuwa area in the Central Province. Five (5) in and around the Yala National Park and another five (5) were kill at Uda Walawe with at least two in the Nuwara Eliya region. Four (4) skins were confiscated in the Chilaw area, presumably poached from the vicinity of Wilpattu National Park. The plight of the leopard is further exacerbated by the burgeoning human population and their need for land. Habitat loss and fragmentation has contributed to the marginalisation of the leopard bringing it into conflict with humans as evident from our ongoing study at the Dunumadallawa forest reserve on the outskirts of Kandy in the Hantana region. The Leopard Project, through our human-leopard conflict and awareness programme (via a soon to be released anti-poaching poster campaign) and in collaboration with the Department of Wildlife Conservation (DWLC) and the Biodiversity Unit of the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources is trying to keep an accurate record of the total number of leopards poached/trapped within the island and the reasons for their loss. By Andrew Kittle and Anjali Watson (Courtesy - Sri
Lanka Wildlife News) An artist in the field Reviewed by Carol Aloysius Some of the rarest and most beautiful birds live in the North of Sri Lanka, much of it forbidden territory to those of us in the South because of the protracted civil war in this country. Now, with the Peace Accord in place, nature lovers have begun to visit Mannar and the Jaffna Wetlands in the hope of making a close encounter with these birds, which are not usually seen in the South. Shorebirds, an artist in the field, is the outcome of some of these visits to the North. In addition it also features shorebirds found elsewhere in the island, in the central, hilly parts of the island and the coastal wetlands. Illustrator Lester Perera and the text writer Gehan De Silva Wijeyeratne visited Mannar and the Jaffna Wetlands last year observing the rich bird life in the northern territory. Shorebirds, an artist in the field perpetuates the sights, sounds and experiences of that trip, one of many since then, in the most interesting and attention gripping manner, with the use of illustrations and on-the-spot reporting to give credibility and immediacy to the book. Lester's on-the-spot sketches of the birds he saw, captures not only the birds, but the spirit of their natural background as well e.g. the sand dunes at Talaimannar; mud flats, estuaries and mangroves at Mannar; the flatlands of Kayts island. Each sketch is accompanied by a caption written by text writer Gehan who describes not only the birds but where they can be found as well, for the benefit of the nature lover. Shorebirds is the first book to be fully funded by Jetwing Eco Holidays well known for its promotion of wildlife and birding holidays. This 48-page coffee table book in matt art paper is in landscape format
with a dust cover and a hard cover and is reasonably priced at Rs 1,500.
It is available at leading bookshops including Barefoot, Odel, Lake House
Book Shop, Hyde Park Corner and Jetwing House. Learning to care for Kanneliya Tea and conservation. For hundreds of families living on land bordering the Kanneliya-Dediyagala-Nakiyadeniya (KDN) forest complex, tea is a way of life. Perhaps has been since the lucrative crop was introduced to the Southern region and people realised it could be grown in their back yards. Conservation on the other hand, has always been a non event. The forest complex, literally lying in their backyard was something they took for granted, encroaching at will when they needed more land to increase their tea acreage, foraging when they required timber and generally dependent on it for their ancillary needs. Not many gave thought to the unique bio-diversity that made the KDN complex so significantly different. And they didn't have much cause to either. Not when there were no boundary lines to indicate territorial rights (of the forest), no one to tell them not to mess with the forest, and more specifically when it was once a logging camp and the forest was almost felled out of existence. But things are changing. Perceptions are changing. The forest has received a duly marked, concrete-posted boundary line and the villagers are looking at alternative methods of generating income and talking about conserving the forest as a communal responsibility. Much of this new thinking is due to a five-year United Nations Development Programme/Global (UNDP/GEF) Environment Facility funded project to protect the biodiversity of the rainforests in the south of the country, which also includes Pitadeniya and Kosmulla, the southern segments of the Sinharaja, through community based organisations (CBOs). Initiated as a pilot project in 2001 and scheduled to continue till 2006, the project has also earmarked opening up the forest complex for eco-tourism by setting up conservation centres, opening nature trails, publishing guidebooks and fly sheets featuring the biodiversity and endemism of the forests and of course giving the village youth an additional employment option as trained tour guides. Transformation The transformation of Kanneliya and Pitadeniya are already taking concrete form, with Kanneliya, once the home base of the State Plywood Corporation, now proudly claiming its place as a regeneration forest reserve with a high biodiversity quotient that rivals Sinharaja, and attracting a steady stream of visitors. However, what appears as more encouraging is the community response. Though not quite conversant in the nitty gritties of biodiversity, they, courtesy the 27 or so CBOs, have taken to heart that it is up to them to safeguard the forest, if they still want to have it in their backyard. "More than 20 per cent of the forest had been encroached into since the KDN was declared a forest reserve in 1942," says Ranjith Padmajeeva, senior official of the Forest Department and Project Manager UNDP/GEF pilot programme, proud to claim that encroachment offences that numbered over 25 in 1997 had dropped to two by 2002 and was nil in the subsequent years. Much of this is owed to the resurveying and demarcation of boundary lines, which saw the Forest department reclaiming land encroached upon less than six years ago, forfeiting others and getting tough on those messing around with the new boundary posts. Penalties for encroachment include fines and/or prison terms. But much is also owed to new thinking patterns including tie-ups with the Tea Research Institute to train established tea grower on new techniques that could help maximise output and wean others way from tea and their dependence on the forest, through vocational training programmes and start-up loans to help establish small business enterprises. The cornerstone of all this has been the CBOs, established at village level, with a well trained social mobiliser at the helm to facilitate the training programmes for the villagers, help obtain loans from the fund set up by the project to enable CBOs to initiate capacity building and biodiversity-friendly enterprise programmes, provide start up help and monitor the progress of the business once it is up and running. Technique Nalin Kandamby, Vice Chairman of the Kanneliya Conservation Society, Weerapana West, is one of the enterprising tea growers, who after receiving training on tea management, setting up nurseries, how to prune and nip, and intercropping has not only adapted the new techniques to improve yield, but has also been making good profit through improved nurseries and pepper cultivation as an inter-crop. He has also deviated from tea cultivation and planted mango and rambuttan in his land, hopeful of making a good profit when the trees mature and begin bearing fruit. Sarath Korale Hewage also a tea grower with one acre of land under cultivation and a tea nursery with 100 plants, is looking towards driving as an alternative career option. Already in possession of a three-wheeler, which he had been driving without a license, he recently obtained a heavy vehicle driving license after three months training. Funds for the driver-training was provided by through the project. Though relatively well off with a steady income from his tea cultivation, Hewage is looking for a job as a heavy vehicle driver, perhaps in the government sectors. "Until then I will continue with my tea business," he says, adding that he had obtained a loan from the Project when he expanded his land to set up a 500-plant nursery. " Premila Samanthinka of Galandala, whose family has two acres of land under tea bordering the KDN complex decided to go into business and set up 'Kumari Tex' on the Galaandala-Udugama, with guidance from Rupa Nilanthi, the social mobiliser for Galandala, two years ago. Premila, who had studied up to O/Ls received rudimentary training from experts in the field and a start up loan of Rs 10.00 from the project, via a loan committee which approves the loan applications based on a business plan and the approval of the local CBO. She repaid her loan in 18 months and with another Rs 20,000 loan set up a grocery store adjacent to 'Kumari Tex" which sells readymade garments purchased wholesale from Pamunuwa. Paremila says she makes a good living from her two businesses and is happy that she didn't have to leave her village in search of a job. Premadasa Seneviratne is one of the very few Galandala residents, who has never been involved in tea is a former employee of the State Plywood Corporation, who was witness to much of the indiscriminate felling in the 70s. He retired in 1991 and with a Rs 5000 loan from the project set up a small business making rattan products including food covers, colanders and other utility stuff. He obtains his raw material from the village, operates from home and makes a profit of about Rs 3500 from the products. He says there is a good demand for his products, but finds it difficult to obtain the required rattan. Nimala Wijewardene (53) set up her tailoring business with a Rs10,000 loan after a six-month training programme. She is now the unofficial village seamstress and trains six other women, who also act as her assistants. A tea smallholder, with a backyard plot, she had earlier obtained a Rs 5000 loan to resuscitate her tea cultivation, when last May floods destroyed much of her crop. But now she feels her sewing business is much more lucrative than growing tea and plans to open a shop in the town centre. "We are economically better off now, than when we were dependent solely on the income from tea," she says. Group loans Mangalika Amaratunge is also a seamstress, but unlike Nimala she specialises in bridal and children's wear and three months ago, on the advice of her social mobiliser, converted her one-woman enterprise into a group affair with five others. This has enabled her to obtain bigger loan facilities and also expand her business and increase her profit quotient. The project, implemented with the Forest Department of the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources as the executing agency, has provided training programmes on an exhaustive range of course, including computer training, beauty culture, mushroom cultivation, enterprise development, driving, forest guides and a whole host more, some of which appear redundant compelling the youth to venture outside their villages to seek employment. It has also granted Rs 6.2 million in loans to set up business ventures, or to expand existing business since 2001. Around 90 per cent of the Rs 6.2 million has been recovered. The project has also provided training facilities to forest officers and forest guards and according to Padmajeeva, plans are in motion to enrich the KDN forest complex with replanting, set up nurseries and get the CBOs in charge of re-planting. According to Dharshani de Silva, Environment Programme Analyst UNDP, the KDN biodiversity conservation project is part of a larger GEF programme, and had been proposed by the Forest Department as a pilot activity that could be replicated in another 31 forests in the future. The priority was to identify concerns detrimental to the conservation of the forest and formulate alternatives and make the community aware of what would happen to the forest if they continued with their practices, such as encroachment. Allocation The project dealt with encroachment in a legalised manner, says de Silva, adding that draft proposals are also in place to enable the Forest Department to receive at least 40 per cent of the income generated by the KDN Forest Complex, so that the project is sustained even after the five-year period and the conservation efforts are continued. At present all funds generated by the forest complex is sent to the Treasury, which makes an annual allocation to the Forest Department. "The UNDP was trying to get a six months extension to the project, at least until the policy comes into existence," she says. - HI |
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| Produced by Lake House |
The 166-member governments of the Convention on International Trade in
Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) will meet in Bangkok
from 2 to 14 October to update the trade rules governing some of the
world's most charismatic, exploited and economically valuable wildlife
species.
Recent genetic studies show that the Sri Lankan leopard is distinct
sub-specie of the mainland leopard. Being the sole large carnivore in Sri
Lanka, significantly increases its role as a keystone species, helping to
determine the population density and health of prey species such as
Spotted Deer (Axis axis), Sambar (Cervus unicolor) and Wild Pig (Sus
scrofa). Another important role of the leopard is as an environmental bell
weather-indicator-species.
