earth hope

Solution to salt water intrusion

Adjustable dam a need of the hour

by Harshini PERERA

K.P.R.S Samarasinghe

Despite the beauty of the sea etched in the hearts and souls of people it can cause many problems to humans. One such problem has reached its pinnacle. Eng. K.P.R.S. Samarasinghe, Assistant General Manager of Water Treatment Plant in Ambatale, explained that the water supply in Colombo and suburbs has to be curtailed unless instant remedial action is taken about saline water intrusion.

Further, explaining the situation he said that due to the severe drought and rapidly deepening river bed, water level of the Kelani River has gone down to 0.5 msl (mean sea level). Consequently during high tide, saline water flows into the river. Saline water contains high levels of dissolved solids and is generally considered unsuitable for human consumption.

"Ambatale intake is the main supplier of water to the city of Colombo and its suburbs, which produces 120 million gallons of water per day and distributes water to 15 to 20 centres. Saline water has reached two kilometres into the river from the point of Ambatale water intake. The effects of the deepened river bed, due to illegal sand mining from Ambatale to Modara area had intensified due to drought. However, two thirds of the river up to Ambatale is filled with saline water and we have laid a barrier with sand sacks to avoid any danger", explained Eng. K.P.R.S. Samarasinghe.

B.A. Peiris, Deputy Director (Mines), Geological Survey and Mines Bureau, noted that the sea water intrusion has become both an environmental and social issue and should be addressed immediately.

Sand sack barrier to minimize salt water intrusion

"Three years back we faced the same scenario, but could not initiate an effective solution. Therefore, we had to face the same situation again. Some serious steps should be taken immediately for Sri Lanka doesn't entertain a high technology of purification of salt water like Saudi Arabia. We could cancel approximately 20 to 50 sand mining licenses which we thought would lessen the damage it caused to the river beds and banks." He explained further.

"Under the "South Bank Development of Kelani River" project to which Danish financial aid is forwarded, we are planning to build a permanent adjustable river barrier across Kelani River. We found temporary sand sack barriers difficult to maintain, overflowing in the periods of flood and people complaining of their houses being flooded solely because it cannot be adjusted. So, there has been a proposal to build a permanent barrier of which the height can be adjusted, by the end of year 2010." People should make an attempt to reduce consumption of water at least till the rainy season arrives. Places like factories, service stations and hospitals should use water meticulously, so that the wastage of water will be reduced. In that way a curtailment of water supplied by National Water Supply and Drainage Board can be avoided. Therefore, public is also advised not to waste water unnecessarily.

True enough that access to hygienic water is a fundamental right of every citizen but at the same time they should use it aptly.

Sri Lanka in the forefront of ‘Eco-friendly Development’

Are so-called developed countries really developed?

First it was the GDP (Gross Domestic Product) then it was PPP (Purchasing Power Parity), whatever development parameters used, only economic development has been so far taken into consideration. When the UNDP decided that development parameters require health and education criteria the average of Life Expectancy Index, Literacy Index along with PPP - otherwise known as Human Development Index (HDI) - became the new criteria for `Development’. But is this adequate to measure the `Development’ of a country?

Minister Patali Champika Ranawaka

No amount of development is of use if it is at the expense of environmental degradation. The scarcity of resources - especially resources such as fossil fuel - coupled with our exploitation rate exceeding the replenishment rate of resources. It has posed a major problem. “By 2050 we will exhaust all our fossil fuel at the rate we are going”, says Patali Champika Ranawaka, Minister of Environment and Natural Resources. But that is not the main problem. Pollution has attracted more attention among environmentalists the world over rather than of the fear of exhausting resources.

Among various forms of pollution heat pollution has been on the table of discussion long before movies like Day after tomorrow was made. It’s the cause for most of the world’s major problems such as global warming and climate change. Although plants absorb Carbon - that increases the temperature of the atmosphere - our emission rate is too high for the plants to cope with.

“The maximum permissible increase in temperature is 2o C” says the Minister. “And this expires in 2030.” This doesn’t leave much margin for error and exceeding this limit could result in catastrophic repercussions, such as rise in sea level - with sea water flowing inland, causing other problems such as salinity; water stress, diseases, extinction of species, propagation of invasive species and melting of polar ice caps that would result in further rise in sea level. Consequently in all rights the development of a country should take into account how eco-friendly or unfriendly its developmental process is.

Moreover the Minister pointed out that the wealth distribution of developed countries does not reflect their development. “To measure holistic development at least three more parameters are imperative - Poverty Index, which takes into account the number of people below the minimum poverty level; Ecological Index, which takes into account the resource base and the Climate Index, which focuses on emission levels.”

According to the UNDP Carbon budget, the maximum permissible amount of Carbon emission per person is 2170 kg. Sri Lanka emits only 600 kg of Carbon per person. “Whereas a US citizen on average emits 24,000 kg of Carbon and an Australian 20,000.”

The Minister points out that technically Sri Lanka should be permitted to further emit Carbon. “But since developed countries have already burnt out our share as well, we have no choice but to limit our emission level.”

There may not seem to be any environmental justice in this. “We are all in this together” says the minister. However that is exactly why Sri Lanka proposes that the parameter of development be SHDI - Sustainable Human Development Index, the average of a combination of the Human Development Index, Poverty Index, Ecological Index and Climate Index. According to this parameter Sri Lanka ranks on 27th.

“Although the US ranked 12th in HDI their SHDI rank is 94th! We firmly believe that this is how development should be assessed in the future. Sri Lanka went from 119 to 111 to 99 to 27 in its ranking of development. When the parameters change the ranks also shuffle.”

Which form of `Development’ is `real’ is now in question.

Banker discovers a new species

‘Scientific knowledge is not a must,what matters is the dedication’

by Sajitha PREMATUNGE

With the dawn of 2009 a new split in the species of Paradoxurus zeylonensis - the Golden Palm Civet - an endemic species, was published in Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2009 and with it a new species of Civet was identified. However what was more surprising was that one of the authors of the paper and the person who initiated the whole research was a banker! Channa Rajapakse is a Junior Executive Assistant of the E-banking Division of Commercial Bank.

A passion for wildlife photography, he had since his school days, had first brought him to the attention of Dhammika Malsinghe - in year 2000 - Assistant Director of the Zoological Gardens, Dehiwala, at the time. As advised by her, Channa embarked on the study of the Golden Palm Civet. Something usually never attempted by a novice.

Channa Rajapakse

“I have always had a passion for surgery and veterinary science. I used to do voluntary work for a vet.” says Channa. “I believe that - although scientific knowledge is important - it’s not a must for such a study. What matters is dedication.”

Although a member of the Wildlife Heritage Trust of Sri Lanka and having followed a course in Wildlife in the Open University, Channa has had no previous exposure to research work of this calibre. However Channa’s study of the Golden Palm Civet proved extremely difficult not just because he lacked the background knowledge in the subject but because of difficulties in obtaining funds and the lack of previous research data.

According to Channa no extensive research has been conducted on the species except the research conducted by Dr. Ditteus. “Live specimen was not available even at the zoo” says Channa.

His research included the study of parasitic diseases the Golden Palm Civets are afflicted with, pheromone and their breeding.

He has also dwellt on the possibilities of captive breeding, release and methods of minimizing threats. He claims that some of the species, specially the newly discovered species is highly threatened.

“They have to be bred in captivity and released into the wild.” He hopes to conduct further research on treatment for parasitic diseases in the future.

Although he worked on the research alone he has had a lot of support. “The staff of the Wildlife and Forest Departments helped me to get the permits.”

With no prior experience in the field and not attached to any other organization, obtaining permits to work in forests like the Knuckles would have proved impossible had it not been for the trust Channa had been able to build up with the authorities.

“I also had a good supervisor.” Channa explained that most researchers face the dilemma of supervisors intervening in the research process. “But Dr. Devaka Weerakoon was always open-minded.” He explained that he had the liberty to make decisions throughout the research. “If I wanted to study the behaviour of the Civets I had the freedom to do it.”

Moreover he acknowledges the many resource persons who helped him to achieve this task. He claims that if the feedback of a certain resource person is insufficient he would ask around and surf the net in search of a more suitable candidate. “I mainly work independently.” Colin Groves, Kelum Manemandra-Arachchi, Sampath Gunatillake, Dr. Ditteus, Dhammika Malsinghe, Dr. Ganga, Dr. Prithviraj Fernando, Dr. Erik Wickramanayake and Jayantha Jayawardhane are some of the people without whose support Channa would not have been able to pull this off. Channa’s special thanks also go to his wife, the E-banking and Treasury Divisions he spent nine years in, Marketing and Logistics Departments and the top management including Ravi Dias, Chief Operating Officer.

Channa sacrificed a lot for his research, but ultimately it all paid off with the discovery of a life time. He had received no grants and had to bare all expenses.

“Sometimes I would get on a bus from Monaragala at night and come to work the next morning” just because he lacked funds. “I did not apply for promotions because I was always at the zoo or Knuckles.”

During his 19 year career as a banker, ten were spent on research. He firmly believes that ‘no time’ is a lame excuse.

“If you like something hard enough you’ll always find time to do it.

Split in the Golden Palm Civet species

New species discovered in the process:

by Sajitha PREMATUNGE

Splitting of a species involves further division in the taxonomy of a species. A paper reporting the split of Golden Palm Civet species was recently published by Colin P. Groves, Channa Rajapakse and Kelum Manemandra-Arachchi, in Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society.

Two species of palm civet, belonging to the Paradoxurus genus - locally referred to by many names such as Kalawedda, Uguduwa and Hothambuwa - are reported from Sri Lanka - the widespread common species, the Common Palm Civet or the Toddy Cat (Paradoxurus hermaphrodites), found commonly in South and South-east Asia and the endemic golden species, the Golden Palm Civet (Paradoxurus zeylonensis).

The latter has two varieties - one golden and one dark brown - both of which are recorded from all three major biotic zones - wet, dry zones and cloud forests of Sri Lanka.

Latest research indicates that the different varieties of Golden Palm Civet are in fact different species. Names are available for two of them, a third has been described as a new species, and there may even be a probable fourth species, based on two distinct specimens of which the origin is unfortunately unknown. The species identified depict significant difference in coloration and structure.

At present, three species of endemic palm civet can be identified - Golden Wet-Zone Palm Civet (Paradoxurus aureus), supported by a mounted skin, in Museum National d’Histoire Naturelle, Paris, Sri Lankan Brown Palm Civet (Paradoxurus montanus), identified by a sub adult male skin and skull, found in Nuwara Eliya, cloud-forest zone of Central Highlands and a new species Golden Dry-Zone Palm Civet (Paradoxurus stenocephalus), identified by an adult female skin and skull, found from Panama - sea coast and adult male skin and damaged skull found from Koslanda, Lipton’s Tea Estate; and a newly discovered Paradoxurus species that has not been named yet.

The specimens of this particular species found, presented by one John Whyte, and ticketed ‘Ceylon, confined to the Hills’, indicates that this species is different from any other species of its kind.

Research suggests that the locality of the species might be Dickoya region at the eastern end of the Bogawantalawa valley.

However until further evidence becomes available, it has proved impossible to describe the species. It appears that the name zeylonensis probably does not apply to a golden palm civet at all.

Endangered:

Stemonoporus moonii (Hora-wel) under risk of extinction?

Scientific Name - Stemonoporus moonii Thw

Sinhalese Name - Berumandoru, Hora-wel

Status - Critically Endangered, Endemic

Stemonoporus moonii belongs to family Dipterocarpaceae (Hora family) this particular genus is restricted to Sri Lanka. It contains twenty six species among them S.moonii is highly restricted to periodically inundated stream banks of Kaluganga Swamp forest and adjoining area of Honeka Kanda near Bulathsinghala town.

A small slender tree grows up to 4m, 4cm in diameter with few branches. Leaves aggregate at apex of the branches with long linear leaf, shaped apex and narrowed leaf base. Linear and clustered stipules are prominent among the leaf base.

According to the 2007 Red List of Threatened Fauna and Flora of Sri Lanka Horawel is a critically endangered species. This species is on the brink of extinction due to usage of slender stems for agricultural practices, habitat distruction, etc.

Reference: Kostermans, A.J.G.H. (1992) A handbook of the Dipterocarpaceae of Sri Lanka. Wildlife Heritage Trust of Sri Lanka.

By Dilup Chandranimal

IUCN (The International Union
for Nature Conservation)
Sri Lanka-Country Office