Web of Life

The Sri Lankan government is awaiting a date from India to hold the 2nd Expert Level Meeting, to discuss issues regarding the ecological changes associated with the Sethusamudram Canal Project.

The meeting was scheduled to be held before the end of this month.
The 1st Expert Level Meeting between India and Sri Lanka discussed various ecological and environmental issues, and the 2nd meeting aims to focus more on the issues presented in the first meeting, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Himalee Arunatilake said.

The Sethusamudram project was set into motion on the second of this month, but the Sri Lankan Government has yet to give consent, according to Ms. Arunatilake.

In early October last year, Indian Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh assured the then visiting Sri Lankan President Kumaratunga that, ‘any issue that may have adverse effects for Sri Lanka will be resolved in Sri Lanka`s favour’.

“The meeting is aimed at reaching a common understanding on the environmental concerns and on addressing those concerns” Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar stated in Parliament on July 7.

According to Rohan Abeywickrema, director of maritime company Sathsindu Ltd., the Sri Lankan Government is yet to be informed about where the dredged silt is to be deposited.

Although the canal itself is dug on the Indian side of the Indo- Sri Lanka maritime boundary, its effects percolate into Sri Lankan waters.

Oceanographers and environmentalists warned that the dredging would make half the Jaffna peninsula go under water. The project is expected to destroy the coral reef in the area that serves as a habitation for more than 750 fish varieties.

(http://www.sundaytimes.lk/050724/news/7.html)

Being a desk jockey weighs heavily on workers, according to a study that finds the more a man sits at his desk, the more likely he is to be overweight.

The finding suggests office work may be an important factor in the obesity epidemic.

"The current findings present the sedentary workplace as a potentially hostile environment in terms of overweight and obesity," conclude the Australian authors of the study, which appears in the August issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine. Researchers at Queensland University examined data on nearly 1,600 male and female full-time workers. They found that workers sat an average of more than three hours a day, with 25 percent sedentary on the job for more than six hours a day.

Higher total daily sitting time was associated with a 68 percent increased risk of being overweight or obese.

Overall, men sat an average of 209 minutes while at work, 20 minutes more than the average for women. Those extra 20 minutes may make a difference: The study found a significant association between sitting time and overweight and obesity in men, but not in women.

Getting workers up and exercising may favourably affect their bosses' bottom line, the researchers added. "Time and productivity lost due to chronic diseases associated with overweight and obesity may make it financially worthwhile for employers to be more proactive in the health of their employees by promoting physical activity at work," they wrote.

(http://www.dailymirror.lk/2005/07/26/life/02.asp)

The pile of bananas on the back of his bike is so big that the rider is hardly visible. In the heat, this Sri Lankan farmer is bringing his produce to the local market. That is possible since a new bridge was built across the Kuda Oya in Uda Walawe.

Constructed with money that came from Amersfoort in Holland, the bridge was opened in January this year. “People can now take their harvest to the market. The children can go to school and patients to a doctor,” says Jayantha Jayewardene.

Jayewardene is Managing Trustee of the Biodiversity and Elephant Conservation Trust (BECT) and an authority on Asian elephants. Four years ago this Sri Lankan trust started a project with the Majro Hoedemaker Elephant Foundation from the Amersfoort Zoo. The Amersfoort Zoo set up this foundation in 2001 in recognition of Marjo Hoedemaker, manager and elephant keeper on completing forty years with the zoo.

Struggling against poverty, the villagers of Uda Walawe find nature in their way: the torrid sun, the rough jungle that has to make way for arable land, and the elephant, that –in search of water and food- leaves the park and comes to their villages. Located on the borders of the Uda Walawe National Park, six hundred families live in these villages. Children walk for 30 to 60 minutes to school every day.

In the last ten years more than a hundred families have suffered in incidents where elephants have damaged or destroyed their crops, mainly rice and cassava.

The Biodiversity and Elephant Conservation Trust and the Marjo Hoedemaker Elephant Foundation are now working to try to reduce the dependence of the farmers on agriculture for their income by training them in other fields and also finding markets for their other produce.

“If their dependence on agriculture for their income is reduced, they will be more tolerant towards the elephants. This would help our efforts at conserving the elephants,” says Jayewardene, explaining the main objective of their project.

In former times, the almost 400 elephants in the park were the undisputed masters of the area. It was no problem at all when they set ‘foot’ outside the national park: the jungle was everywhere. Today the animal has to share its habitat with the fast growing human population. When the elephants leave Uda Walawe they are immediately confronted with sugarcane plantations, army camps and villages.

In most cases male elephants come looking for food in the evening. The park is only partly surrounded by an electric fence. “Humans and elephants do not dislike each other. It’s just that the elephant doesn’t know any better and the humans –most of them already in debt- are not going to roll over and play dead when an elephant comes to destroy their crops,’’ explains Jayewardene.
“People now think of the elephant as a threat. What if we can convince the villagers of the fact that the elephant can be worth money to them,’’ says Marjo Hoedemaker.

That’s why Jayewardene made an inventory of what people near Uda Walawe needed. A bridge over the Kuda Oya was what the villagers desired most. The reason? During the high water season they were unable to go to market, school or a hospital. “ The bridge is of no direct effect on the lives of elephants,’’ admits Jayewardene, “but it is something that the villagers needed desperately and so we decided to build the bridge first.’’ Costing about Rs. 3,500,000, the bridge was completed in three months and was declared open in January of this year.

New projects for the well-being of the elephants and humans are in the pipeline, focusing on the creation of employment and income generation by furthering ecotourism. The villagers are enthusiastic. “Ever since we got together to build this bridge our sense of being a community has grown,’’ says a local farmer.

A Gramasevaka from Pottuvil district was Monday (25), remanded by the Colombo Chief Magistrate for allegedly soliciting a bribe of Rs. 20,000, to release tsunami aid, granted to a homeless tsunami victim.

Colombo Chief Magistrate Kusala Sarojini Weerawardena remanded the suspect Adamlebbe Mohamed Haroun of Area 15, Kalapukattu, Pottuvil, who was arrested by the Bribery Commission while allegedly accepting the bribe.

Police Sergeant Chandrasiri of the Commission to Investigate into Allegation of Bribery or Corruption informed court that the suspect was arrested following a complaint by Pallithambi Kapul of Pakyawatte, Pottuvil, who had been recommended to receive relief.

According to investigations, the complainant had been made homeless by the tsunami. Later, he had built a temporary house with Rs 30,000 given by the mosque in the area. Last April, the suspect Gramasevaka along with the Pottuvil Divisional Secretary, had visited his house and informed him that Government relief had been received but, was not eligible, as he already had a house. The complainant had petitioned the Divisional Secretariat and was recommended to be granted the relief.

Following this recommendation, a person working under the suspect Gramasevaka had informed the complainant that Rs. 100,000 had been allocated for him and that he had to give Rs. 20,000 to the Gramasevaka, for the release of the funds. The complainant had handed over the necessary documents, with Rs 5,000 as bribe, when he was informed that he would have to give the rest of the bribe, to receive the grant.

The complainant had informed the Bribery Commission and, using a decoy, the suspect was arrested while accepting the bribe.

The court refused to grant bail to the suspect and ordered him remanded till August 1.

(http://www.dailymirror.lk/2005/07/27/news/1.asp)

People of Galenbindunuwewa area complain that Wild Life officers had come only twice to treat a cow elephant stuck in a swamp for more than three weeks after being shot at.

This incident had been brought to the notice of the Community Development and Estate infrastructure Deputy Minister S.M. Chandrasena. The Deputy Minister who visited the swamp in Meegaswewa area had observed that the people in the area were dedicated in providing food for the animal with their children fetching water in cans to prevent it from dying of hunger and dehydration. People complained to the Deputy Minister that wildlife offices had neglected their duties having come only twice to see the animal.

The Deputy Minister said he would promptly inform the Wild Life and Environment Minister Fowzei of this matter.

On inquiry, Assistant director of wild life, Wayamba zone Manjula Amararatne said that the wild life department had come to know about the she elephant which was in an irremediable condition for the first time on June 26 and veterinary surgeons had gone there and treated the animal. “Vet surgeons informed me that the condition of the cow elephant was critical and that she would die within two or three days. Since almost all the wild life officers were busy in Mahawa area tracking deadly wild elephants, it had not been possible to treat the cow elephant properly, he said.