National Trust lecture: ‘Sri Lanka’s nature – Red Alert’
View(s):The 58th session of the monthly lecture series of the National Trust Sri Lanka–a lecture by Dr. Sriyanie Miththapala on ‘Sri Lanka’s nature – Red Alert’ will be held on Thursday, January 30 at the HNB Auditorium, 22nd Floor, HNB Towers, 479 T.B. Jayah Mawatha, Colombo 10 at 6.30 p.m.
For a small island, Sri Lanka boasts of a great diversity of species and ecosystems. Sri Lanka boasts of about 4,000 species of native flowering plants, nearly 11,500 invertebrates, 87 of freshwater fishes, 110 species amphibians, 209 terrestrial reptiles, 493 bird species and 95 species of land mammals. Among these, nearly one in four species is endemic to Sri Lanka. But Sri Lanka is also home to over 20.6 million people a land area of 65,610 sq km with a density of 322 persons per sq.km. The island’s wealth is besieged by a range of threats; habitat loss, habitat degradation, overexploitation, pollution, invasion of alien species and climate change.
(Left and right) Vesak Orchid and Red slender loris (Pix by Luxshmanan Nadaraja), centre, Blue Oakleaf butterfly (Pic by Chamara Amarasinghe)
This presentation is a broad brush overview of the natural wealth of the island, the threats to this wealth, and asks what each one of us can do to help arrest this distressing trend of loss.
Dr. Sriyanie Miththapala is a graduate in Biology from the University of Colombo and obtained her MA in Biology from Smith College, USA and her PhD in Wildlife and Range Sciences from the University of Florida, USA. She has been a visiting lecturer at the University of Colombo and Sri Jayewardenepura and was Principal of Ladies’ College, Colombo. A Smithsonian Research Associate, she is presently Consultant to the Sri Lanka Country office of IUCN (International Union for the Conservation of Nature). She serves as a member on IUCN’s global Commission on Education and Communication.
A natural history writer and illustrator, her publications range from scientific papers to books and articles on biology for laypersons. With her father, she is joint author of three books for children on mammals, birds and butterflies of Sri Lanka as well as “What tree is that” a layperson’s guide to some trees of Sri Lanka. She is also the author of several books for both the regional and country programmes of IUCN. She is the chief author on a book written on behalf of the National Trust of Sri Lanka “Flowering Plants commonly encountered in Sri Lankan Habitats”.
The National Trust – Sri Lanka conducts monthly lectures on the last Thursday of each month. The lectures are open to the members and the public at a nominal fee. The HNB Sustainability Foundation is the principal sponsor of the events of the National Trust – Sri Lanka.
Further information can be obtained from the Trust Office at the Post Graduate Institute of Archaeology, 407, Bauddhaloka Mawatha, Colombo 7. Tel: 2682730.