Namal geared up to divide Sinharaja forest

The sinharaja forest which is considered as a world heritage will be divided by a road initiated by Parliamentarian Namal Rajapaksa today, said ecologist Mr Ravindra Kariyawasam.

He said a road leading from Rakwana Pothupitiya upto Imbulakanda village is to be built when there is another road to access Imbulakanda. Hence repairing the existing road should be done instead of damaging Sinharaja forest, he said.

Mr Kariyawasam added that a number of environment protecting organizations have protested this project and it is done even without an environment evaluation report. He pointed out that this will cause serious damage to the bio-diversity in Sinharaja forest opening another path into the forest.

Meanwhile a hotel project is coming up with the influence of a politician in the Government close to Suriyakanda hermitage.

http://www.lankatruth.com/index.php/news/local-news/9492-namal-geared-up-to-divide-sinharaja-forest

Director General of Wildlife Department of Sri Lanka removed on wild elephant issue

July 27, Colombo: Sri Lanka Ministry of Agrarian Services and Wildlife sources say the Director General of Wildlife Department Dr. Chandrawansa Pathiraja has been removed from the post.

R. M. Ratnayake has been appointed as Acting Director General of Wildlife Department, sources say.

According to reliable sources, the removal of the officer from the post is due to his alleged failure to act properly regarding the wild elephants.

However, Sri Lanka's pro-opposition media reported that the official protested the chasing away of wild elephants from the jungles in the Anuradhapura district to Wilpattu Wildlife Park.

He has also opposed the construction of a road across the world heritage Sinharaja forest, opposition media reported.

Sri Lanka is preparing for its first census of wild elephants next month. The two-day counting of elephants will begin on August 13.

http://www.colombopage.com/archive_11A/Jul27_1311775886KA.php

And now a Road Through the Sinharaja Forest

The latest illegal construction to take place in the Sinharaja Forest Reserve has been initiated by UPFA parliamentarian Namal Rajapaksa, according to propaganda posters put up in the Ratnapura District on a road construction project.

AbeywickremaThe poster displayed in many parts of Ratnapura states that a 5 km road from Imbulkanda to Sooriyakanda on the border of the Sinharaja forest in the Ratnapura District would commence construction from July 27th on a directive issued by the young Rajapaksa.
The road is estimated to cost Rs. 6.5 million and the Highways Ministry has passed the finances.
The Highways Ministry is interestingly under the purview of President Mahinda Rajapaksa.
A picture of the propaganda poster put up in Ratnapura on the road project is shown in the newspaper.
Despite complaints made by environmentalists, the Sinharaja Forest Reserve continues to be destroyed with the authorities failing to take any action to protect the forest that has been declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.
Environmentalists say that while several illegal constructions have taken place in the forest reserve, some areas in the forest have been cleared to make way for so-called tourism projects.
The Sunday Leader is in possession of photographs that show some of the illegal constructions and clearing of areas in the Sinharaja forest.
National Coordinator of the Center for Environment Studies, environmentalist Ravindra Kariyawasam said that complaints have been made to the Environment Ministry since 2008 on the illegal clearing of areas taking place inside the Sinharaja forest and the construction of roads and other structures within the forest reserve.
Unfortunately, the authorities have failed to take any action against the violators and the destruction of the forest reserve continues unabated.
“Everyone passes the buck and the Sinharaja Forest Reserve continues to be destroyed,” he said.
Referring to the road that was inaugurated last week from Imbulkanda to Sooriyakanda, Kariyawasam said that according to the Flora and Fauna Protection Ordinance, no construction should be allowed within 100 meters from the reserve boundary line.
“However, this road will be constructed on the boundary line. It is a complete violation of the law,” he said.
Ironically, the lawmakers in the country are initiating the construction of the road.
A similar road Kariyawasam noted had been constructed in the Diyaduwa reserve, which is under the Sinharaja Forest Reserve, in the Deniyaya area.
Kariyawasam added that a 14-acre area in the Sinharaja Forest Reserve has been cleared in the Sooriyakanda area for a tourism project.
He said that a swimming pool has also been built in an area called Aranya in the forest. “The swimming pool has no owner. When the Central Environmental Authority (CEA) was informed of the swimming pool they could not find any one responsible for the construction following their investigation,” he said.
Kariyawasam explained that any construction needed to have an environment impact assessment done and an announcement made for the public to respond with any petitions within a 31-day period.
However, these procedures are not been followed and the destruction happens freely, he lamented.
“Sinharaja is one of the primary forest reserves in the world and a study conducted by the Food and Agriculture Orgaization (FAO) in 2010 had ranked Sri Lanka in the fourth spot where the destruction of primary forests is concerned,” Kariyawasam said.
Kariyawasam called on the environment authorities to implement the National Conservation report that had been prepared based on the biological value of the country’s forests.
“It has been years since the report was prepared but it has not been implemented,” he said.
When contacted by The Sunday Leader, the CEA said the Authority did not have any mandate to act against violation of regulations related to forests in the country.
CEA Chairman Charitha Herath said that contrary to the common perception, all environment related issues were not under the Authority’s purview.
He said that the issues related to the violation of the Sinharaja forest was under the Flora and Fauna Protection Ordinance, which is monitored by the Forest Department. Conservator General of the Forest Department, H. M. P. Hitikanda was not available for comment. A deputy conservator at the Department when contacted said that he was unable to comment on the matter and asked The Sunday Leader to contact Hitikanda for comment.

By Mandana Ismail Abeywickrema (the sunday leader)

වැහිලිහිණින්ගේ අභිරහස් මරණ

ප්‍රදේශ කිහිපයක සංචාරක වැහිලිහිණින් මිය යාමට හේතුව බැක්ටිරියාවක් බවට සැකකරන බව වනජිවි දෙපාර්තමේන්තුව පවසයි.

වනජීවි දෙපාර්තමේන්තුවේ නියෝජ්‍ය අධ්‍යක්ෂ පශු වෛද්‍ය තාරක ප්‍රසාද් පැවසුවේ, ලිහිණින් මිය යාමට හේතුව සෙවීම සඳහා තවදුරටත් පරික්ෂණ ක්‍රියාත්මක බවයි.

පරික්ෂණ සඳහා වැහිලිහිණින්ගේ ශරිර කොටස් අද දිනයේ ද ගන්නෝරුව පශු පර්යේෂණ ආයතනයට යවන බව ඔහු සඳහන් කළේය.

ඊයේ දිනයේ දී මිය ගොස් සිටි වැහිලිහිණි සිරුරු 8ක් සොයා ගැනිණි.

දෙහිවල, පානදුර, කළුතර, මාදිවෙල, සහ තලාහේන යන ප්‍රදේශවලින් එම සිරුරු සොයාගෙන තිබේ.

බූන්දලම මුහුදු ප්‍රදේශයෙන් ද වැහිලිහිණින්ගේ සිරුරු සොයා ගනු ලැබ තිබේ.

නියෝජ්‍ය අධ්‍යක්ෂවරයා පැවසුවේ, එම වැහිලිහිණින් ජලාශවල සිටියදි මියගියේද නැත්නම් පියාඹන විට මිය ගියේ ද යන්න පිළිබඳ පරික්ෂණ පවත්වන  බවයි.

by: http://www.ethalaya.com

Snake with foot found in China

A snake with a single clawed foot has been discovered in China, according to reports.

Snake that grew a foot out of its body  Photo: CEN/Europics

Dean Qiongxiu, 66, said she discovered the reptile clinging to the wall of her bedroom with its talons in the middle of the night.

"I woke up and heard a strange scratching sound. I turned on the light and saw this monster working its way along the wall using his claw," said Mrs Duan of Suining, southwest China.

Mrs Duan said she was so scared she grabbed a shoe and beat the snake to death before preserving its body in a bottle of alcohol.

The snake – 16 inches long and the thickness of a little finger – is now being studied at the Life Sciences Department at China's West Normal University in Nanchang.

Snake expert Long Shuai said: "It is truly shocking but we won't know the cause until we've conducted an autopsy."

A more common mutation among snakes is the growth of a second head, which occurs in a similar way to the formation of Siamese twins in humans.


Such animals are often caught and preserved as lucky tokens but have very little chance of surviving in the wild anyway, especially as the heads have a tendency to attack each other.  




by: www.telegraph.co.uk