earthhope

Sri Lanka - ideal location for a UVN Ozone monitoring station:

Towards an Ozone friendly country

by Sajitha PREMATUNGA

The depletion of the Ozone layer is a major problem the world over. Consequently it was more than surprising when a country like Sri Lanka won the presidency of the Vienna Convention for the protection of the Ozone layer. Minister of Environment and Natural Resources, Patalee Champika Ranawaka was elected the president due to the great many initiatives Sri Lanka has taken to face out Ozone Depleting Substances (ODS). With the guidance of Minister Champika Ranawaka the National Ozone Unit has been capable of proving Sri Lanka a promising compliance State of the Montreal Protocol. Dr. W.L. Sumathipala, Director, National Ozone Unit explained its process and function to Sunday Observer recently.

He explained once Sri Lanka became a signatory of the Vienna Convention and the Montreal Protocol in 1989 certain obligations had to be fulfilled. Consequently in 1992 a country wide study program was carried out, initiated by Dr. Sumathipala, funded by United Nations Development Program (UNDP) via the Multilateral Fund established to help 'Article 5' countries face out ODSs, inclusive of a status report of Ozone (O3) depleting chemicals and an Action Plan on how to remedy the problems identified.

The National Ozone Unit was established in 1994 as the result of a necessity of a government authority dedicated to the subject. However, although attached to the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources, National Ozone Unit is an independent unit, funded completely by the Multilateral Fund. "We have never exhausted any government money thus far." says Dr. Sumathipala. "And we are in the seventh year of extension." And believes that this alone proves how successful the unit has been.

However as Dr. Sumathipala explains carrying out the expected actions, while preserving the integrity of the unit is no easy task. The National Ozone Unit is required to report Sri Lanka's consumption and import of ODSs to two authorities - Ozone Secretariat, UNEP Head Quarters, Nairobi, Kenya and the Multilateral Secretariat, Montreal, Canada. "Sri Lanka has never been a non compliant State in the past." In fact Sri Lanka has been such a successful compliant State of the Montreal Protocol that we have been elected as the Regional Representative of the Montreal Protocol Implementation Committee, that decides on how to deal with non compliance. Dr. Sumathipala has been requested, by UNEP, to visit many non compliant States, such as Pakistan, Bhutan, Afghanistan, Mongolia and Maldives, in order to help them to become compliant states.

The secret to this success is a series of services provided by the unit. It has identified industries that emit ODSs and ways for them to become eco-friendly. For example factories that manufacture refrigerators have been converted to O3 (Ozone) friendly factories through providing the technology, training and equipment. Moreover the Ozone Unit has assisted the perfume industry to become O3 friendly by using O3 friendly production methods. The unit is also experimenting on the lines of facing out Methyl Bromide in the Tea plantation industry. It has worked with the Tea Research Institute (TRI) to find a practical substitute for Methyl Bromide. The objective of the National Ozone Unit is to face out Methyl Bromide in other sectors as well.

Through Technical Colleges the Unit provides training to refrigerator and air-conditioner technicians. The necessary equipment for training is also provided by the unit. Converting auto air-conditioning to O3 friendly units have been an ongoing project of the Unit. So far approximately 200 government vehicles have been converted. The National Ozone Unit also provides equipment to auto repair shops to recover and recycle ODSs without releasing them to the atmosphere. Moreover the National Ozone Unit provides financial support for end users such as companies and industries that use air-conditioners, for conversion into O3 friendly technologies.

Apart from the enhancement of the local industrial setting, the Unit also conducts islandwide awareness programs. Bent on maintaining its compliance, the National Ozone Unit, is also focused on strengthening monitoring activities. The Unit provides funding for equipment that can detect ODSs as well as train Customs Officers in order to prevent the unauthorized imports of OSDs. The Unit is in the process of developing other projects. These activities like the National Ozone Unit itself are run completely on grants provided by the Multilateral Fund.

Dr. Sumathipala said that in our attempt to maintain compliance their next step would be to encourage research and data gathering. In this endeavour, Dr. Sumathipala explained that the National Ozone Unit has proposed a UV (Ultraviolet) and 3 monitoring stations.

"Although there are already many such monitoring stations around the world Sri Lanka is an ideal country to establish such a facility." He explained that the absence of any other land masses south of the island all the way to the South Pole makes Sri Lanka a good candidate for such a venture. It would be highly costly and the National Ozone Unit is in the process of trying to convince the Multilateral Fund and the World Meteorological Organization for funds. Such a facility would provide the much needed hard core data, that could only be obtain via a ground based monitoring system.

**************

Vienna Convention and the Montreal Protocol

** 1985 Adoption of the Vienna Convention

** 1987 Adoption of the Montreal Protocol

* This is a legal instrument of the Vienna Convention and once a certain State becomes a signatory, it is compulsory for the country to adhere to its conditions, failing to do so the country will be regarded as a non compliance state.

* All signatory states belong to a certain `Article'. Developing countries are referred to as `Article 5' countries.

* The Montreal Protocol's main focus is substances that cause the depletion of the Ozone layer. The Protocol has identified 96 Ozone Depleting Substances (ODS). And most of them are synthetic (man-made).

* The Protocol decided to face out ODSs such as Chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) by year 2000. But `Article 5' countries - developing countries - as depicted in the Protocol were given a grace period of 10 years.

* Facing out included the termination of production, trade and use

* The Multilateral Fund - this has been established to assist

'Article 5' countries to face out ODSs. Four organizations are permitted to request for funding on behalf of an `Article 5' country - UNDP, UNEP, UNIDO (United Nations Industrial Development Organization) and the World Bank.

** 1989 Sri Lanka signs the Vienna Convention and the Montreal Protocol.

** 2001 Thirteenth Meeting of the Parties of the Vienna Convention took place in Sri Lanka amidst many difficulties (terrorist attack on the airport).

** 2003 Sri Lanka is presented the presidency of the Montreal Protocol.

** 2008 Sri Lanka is awarded the Montreal Protocol Implementers' Award in recognitions of the effective implementation of the Montreal Protocol and the Global effort to protect the Ozone layer, by United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

** 2008 Sri Lanka is elected the Regional Representative of the Montreal Protocol Implementation Committee for a two year term.

** 2008 Minister of Environment and Natural Resources, Patali Champika Ranawaka is elected the President of Bureau, Vienna Convention for a term of three years.

*************

2008: A promising year for Sri Lanka's freshwater fish

by Rohan PETHIYAGODA

As a result of so many of its species having been exploited by the international ornamental fish trade for almost a century, Sri Lanka's freshwater fish have received more attention from both hobbyists and scientists than almost any other group of animal except perhaps birds. Endemic and colourful species such as the Black Ruby Barb, the Crimson Carplet and Cuming's Barb, to name just three, have been in common international trade since the early 1930s, a trend that slowed only after conservation attention began to focus on the over-exploitation of this resource in the early 1990s. Today, the World Conservation Union considers 39 species of Sri Lankan fish to be threatened with extinction.

Mystus ankutta, a new species of catfish endemic to the wet zone streams of Sri Lanka, described last September (pic: Dr. Anjana Silva).

Puntius reval, whose name is a reference (in Sinhala) to its red fins (pic: Rohan Pethiyagoda).

Inspired by research previously conducted by Dr. Ranil Senanayake, with the help of Rodney Jonklaas, one of the foremost naturalists Sri Lanka has produced, I began a survey of the island's freshwater fish in the late 1980s. Armed with snorkels, masks and collecting nets, we sampled almost every major river in the country, recording the mix of species at each location. Serendipitously, we would sometimes discover a hitherto unknown species, and these were occasions for special rejoicing. Several such 'new' species were discovered in the course of this work, some of which (such as the Asoka Barb and the Bandula Barb) had already been known to aquarists-but not the scientific community-for some time. Others were altogether novel discoveries and cause for much rejoicing.

Describing these newly-discovered species was never easy. To validly publish the name and description of a new species in a scientific journal, it is necessary first to eliminate the possibility that an older name for it exists already in the historical literature. Given that the scientific literature on zoological taxonomy (the methodology for naming species) began as long ago as 1758, this often involves days of tedious work in the great libraries and museums of the world, looking up rare works in languages ranging from Latin, French and German to-in a minority of cases-English. What is more, given the close biological links with southern India, it is also necessary to compare the species with closely-related fish there, and also ensure that the species has not been previously described and named, e.g., from Kerala or Tamil Nadu. Having published a book (Freshwater fishes of Sri Lanka) on the state of the island's fishes in 1990, I continued surveying fishes in the company of many colleagues, including Cederic Martenstyn, Kelum Manamendra-Arachchi, Mohammed Bahir and Dinesh Gabadage not just in Sri Lanka but also in South India. Hundreds of scientific specimens were collected and carefully preserved for subsequent study.

When I began working on fishes after leaving my job in the Ministry of Health in 1987, 13 endemic species of carp-like fishes of the family Cyprinidae were known from Sri Lanka. As a result of this work, however, by 1990 the total had risen to 16. Today it stands at 26-exactly twice the count at the time I began my work. In the 1990s, however, I had begun to be increasingly drawn towards the study of reptiles and amphibians, which led to fishes being neglected. Now, with that work largely complete-with more than 10 new species of reptiles and 40 new species of frogs having been discovered and described (and many more yet remaining to be named)-last year we were again able to begin focusing on the fishes. To facilitate this, however, we had to conduct the necessary research in several overseas

institutions, principally the Zoological Survey of India in Kolkata, the Natural History Museum in London and the National Museum of Natural History in Paris. With this work now complete, the formal description of the newly-discovered fishes could commence.

Puntius kelumi, a remarkable barb with a rough body, named after the naturalist Kelum Manamendra-Arachchi in 2008 (pic: Dr. Anjana Silva).

Puntius kamalika, a freshwater barb named after the late Dr. Kamalika Abeyeratne, one of the founders of the HIV-positive activist group, Lanka-Plus (pic: Rohan Pethiyagoda).

Laubuca ruhuna, one of three species of these keel-bellied fishes described from Sri Lanka last year (pic: Wildlife Conservation Society, Galle).

While traditional taxonomy dealt almost exclusively with the external characteristics of the fishes, we chose to adopt a multidisciplinary approach similar to the one we had earlier adopted for amphibians.

One of the members of our team, Dr. Madhava Meegaskumbura, was working in the genetics laboratory of Boston University, and with permission from the Department of Wildlife Conservation, we sent him samples from many of the freshwater fishes so that DNA analysis could be done. As a result of this, we today have detailed information on the evolutionary relationships of Sri Lanka's freshwater fishes.

Then, in 2007, two medical pre-interns, Kalana Maduwage and Anjana Silva joined our team. Though working primarily on reptile problems, Kalana was able to prepare fish specimens for osteological analysis, drawing the minute bones of these diminutive fishes with great skill with the aid of a microscope. Together we were able to present a number of papers describing new species and have several more at various stages of preparation, involving about another ten new species.

Apart from the carps, new species were discovered also amongst other groups including gobies, catfishes and eels. In the course of 2008 alone, three species each of the carps known as Laubuca and Puntius, and a catfish of the genus Mystus were described as new to science, all of them endemic to Sri Lanka.

More recently, other workers have engaged in researching Sri Lanka's remarkable diversity of freshwater fishes, including a highly motivated group of young naturalists at the Wildlife Conservation Society in Galle. Their explorations of the streams and rivers of the island's wet zone have served to uncover a number of possibly new species, showing that much remains to be discovered in the assessment of the true diversity of Sri Lanka's freshwater fishes. Added to this initiative has been the work of scientists such as Dr. Suneetha Gunawickrema at Ruhuna University, who have brought a number of new techniques to the study of various aspects of Sri Lankan fishes.

Despite these promising discoveries, however, there is also much bad news. Owing to causes we yet do not fully understand, but probably involving agricultural chemicals, the degradation of habitats and the proliferation of introduced foreign species such as tilapia, the populations of many indigenous fishes have crashed precipitously. Right now, we estimate that four endemic species may have become extinct, while many others are on the brink of extinction.

The situation is so serious that emergency measures-such as the maintenance of captive populations-are an urgent necessity if these species are to be saved.

The alternative is that many of the species that made Sri Lanka famous as an island famous for its freshwater fishes may soon disappear.