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Unawatuna residents in beach clean-up campaign
Doing it their way
By Lori Reese
Before the Unawatuna Tourism Development Society's (UTDS) first beach clean-up campaign last month, the average visitor to the bay's Wella Dewala, Temple on the Beach, could climb the narrow stone steps to the sacred point and take in one of two views: To the north, waves crashed on the rocks curving towards the resplendent Galle Ramparts, and to the south? Garbage. Plastic bags, paper, shattered beer bottles littered the rocks from the temple's edge to the sea and beyond.

But last month the village proved it was no longer content to look away from the alarming pileup of debris ruining not only the beach's surface beauty but also the water's delicate environment balance. This year Unawatuna will receive a record number of visitors - with most hotels booked full through the December and January high season.

"We tried to bring the pollution to the attention of the Community Council," said Jinesena Gemunu, manager of a local vegetarian restaurant, South Ceylon, and assistant secretary for the UTDS. "But we got no response."

Since the government did not answer the call for help, the village decided two months ago to form the UTDS - an independent group of 60 local businessmen, women and foreign residents. During the first beach clean-up, the UTDS tractor hauled away some 500 kilos of garbage from the beach, the cliffs, the water's surface and its depths. Participants included 40 professional divers and dozens of tourist and resident volunteers, who donned swimsuits and snorkel gear and waded into the water, gathering bottles, plastic bags, broken glass and old tyres that were loaded onto the tractor and removed to a sanctioned dumping site. Total cost of the clean-up was Rs. 60,000 and the total time taken was two hours.

"The beach hasn't looked this good since I first came here," said Puma Hammar, a Swedish resident of Unawatuna of five years. "The clean-up was so fast and so inexpensive. I don't know why the government doesn't pay more attention. If they want tourists to come it's so obvious that they have to keep the beaches clean."

South Ceylon's Jinesena said the Environmental Ministry had offered Rs. 15,000 but the government's gesture seemed useless. "It would have cost that much for us to entertain all the government officials who came to pose with the media and take credit for their donation," he laughed. "We told them we didn't need their money."

Rather than rely on political organisations - whose funding can sometimes go into the pockets of higher-ups instead of those in need - the UTDS promotes shramadana, while co-operating with NGOs and government groups."We want an entirely transparent organisation," said Jinesena. "One that won't be tainted by corruption or other confusions."

The clean-up campaign is only the first of several projects the UTDS has planned. In addition to sponsoring language training for local workers, and supporting the sale of village crafts, it hopes to create awareness among local entrepreneurs about how to provide better service for visitors and put a stop to the sort of excessive pricing and crime that can plague many newcomers to Sri Lanka.

"We want to help people understand that cheating visitors isn't good for business," said Jinesena. "We want to make our bay a pure and attractive place for tourists."

The rapid transformation of the beach last month was a good start."It's so much better," said Johan Brynne, a Swedish diver who participated in the clean-up. "There is nothing more boring or disappointing than seeing old tyres and plastic bags under the water." Brynne had enjoyed his first four dives in Unawatuna since arriving, but now he looks forward to future dives with greater anticipation.

"On a couple of our dives the water was so polluted we could see almost nothing," he said, noting that one plastic bag can kill as many as five fish. For now at least, visitors to Unawatuna can enjoy Sri Lanka's unique beauty while looking in all directions even at Wella Dewala.

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