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Lanka neglecting its wetlands; invasive plants a major threat
Sri Lanka’s six Ramsar wetland sites – Wilpattu, Bundala, Kumana, Anawilundawa, Vankalei and Madu Ganga — are greatly affected by spreading invasive plants and this has hit migratory birds which cannot find enough fish in the choking waters, the National Audit Office (NAO) has said.
Ramsar wetland sites are designated to be of international importance under the Ramsar Convention, an intergovernmental environmental treaty established by UNESCO in the 1970s. By 2018, Sri Lanka had six out of 2,331 Ramsar wetlands worldwide.
The NAO has released an environmental audit on the country’s performance in conserving its Ramsar wetlands. The spread of invasive species is seen as a major problem. Birds are discouraged by lack of food, a result of these floaters stopping sunlight from filtering into the water and facilitating natural processes.
Meanwhile, “wellaththa” and “kalapuandara” are threats to dry land, again depriving animals of food and swallowing up natural forest.
The NAO is critical of the authorities’ failure to prepare and continuously implement short or long-term management plans to stem the proliferation of such plants. “Japan jabara”, “salvinia”, “hydrilla” and “diya gova” have increased inside tanks in the Anawilundawa sanctuary.
Most tanks in the Wilpattu National Park, including around three-quarters of the largest Maha Wewa, are covered with floating plants including “hambupan”. While removal of these plants did start last year, “it is being conducted very slowly and not quantitatively”.
At the Bundala Ramsar wetland, audit inspectors observed the rapid propagation of “hambupan” in lagoons. The Malala lagoon is under threat of being covered by this plant, while it has also spread to the Embilikala lagoon.
There was neither enough attention paid nor programmes carried out to uproot the plants. In the Bundala Lagoon Road area, “katupathok” and “kalapuandara” have spread over around 1000 acres. The Government and the private sector did not cooperate sufficiently to prevent their propagation, the NAO said.
Plants such as “kalapuandara” and “katupathok” were seen as well in many areas of the Vankalei sanctuary and there was “salvinia” in the Itikala lagoon at the Kumana National Park.
The NAO has highlighted other issues. For instance, although Sri Lanka is a signatory to the International Ramswar Wetlands Convention, it has not established a separate legal system to implement the terms. Instead, regulation is carried out by the Department of Wildlife Conservation under the Fauna and Flora Protection Ordinance.
Since the declaration of Ramsar Wetlands, there has been scarce research on the sustainability of biodiversity in these wetlands. While a number of strategic and national conservation plans were prepared, there was no performance evaluation.
The wetland boundaries were gazetted but not marked adequately on the ground. Land ownership needed streamlining while unauthorised building construction and illegal land reclamation were observed in some parts. There were not enough employees or basic facilities for conservation, the NAO said.
Much of Sri Lanka’s wetlands are in urban areas. The Wildlife Conservation Department has named Colombo city as the country’s first Ramsar wetland. But 40 percent of the city’s wetlands were lost over the last four decades and are further diminishing at the rate of 1.2 percent annually.
Even after Ramsar designation was granted, there was no follow-up on the present status of those wetlands, the NAO said.
Luminitzera littorea or “rathamilla” grows on an island in the Madu Ganga Ramsar sanctuary. It is identified as one of the two most important “true mangroves” in Sri Lanka and is listed as highly endangered. However, necessary measures for conservation and replanting were not taken at the time of audit in August last year. There were just 48 plants of “rathamilla” on that island and they were over 50-years-old. And they, too, were threatened by the reclamation and building activities of the 43 families that lived there.
Madu Ganga has a unique biodiversity satisfying eight out of nine criteria for designation as a Ramsar wetland.
The NAO highlights the damage caused to the wetlands in Wilpattu during the annual feast of the Pallekandala Church which is inside the national park. Last year, it was held from July 10 to 15. About 70 vehicles went in every day from the two entrances. The total that passed the Eluwankulama entrance was 1,575 in five days.
The number of people that accessed the park during that period was 12,319 (between 394 and 7,457 a day). While live animals were forbidden to be brought into the park, devotees took them in, the auditors said, and alcohol was drunk inside. The increase in vehicles and people made the situation unmanageable, causing conservation issues for the park, affecting the natural grasslands, freedom of the animals and the wetland environment.