Mega Cultivations Continue To Gorge Wildlife Sanctuaries

by Hafsa Sabry (sundy Leader) 2015.11.20
Despite all authorities in the country being kept informed of the alleged rape of the crown land, several of Sri Lanka’s flagship national parks and highly sensitive conservation areas including the Wilpattu National Park in the North Western Province and Lunugamvehera National Park in the Southern Province, are allegedly being pillaged and plundered for mega commercial cultivations.
Environmentalist and Researcher of the Centre for Environmental and Nature Studies (CENS), Ravindra Kariyawasam said the companies are located in the border of the national park which is largely used by wild elephants to migrate to and from Wilpattu where there is a possibility of human-elephant conflict when the elephant corridors are changed into industrial areas.
He went on to say that the local farmers had claimed that their products have very low demand in the market as the factories that cultivate hybrid fruits and vegetables have captured the market.
“On the other hand, this has not only adversely affected the economy of the farmers and the habitat change in the wild-life but also caused health diseases for humans and water crisis for every-day use. People in the area claim that the water they use is contaminated with the factory’s chemicals, pesticides and fertilisers and they suffer from several chest pains, asthma and skin diseases after the consumption of groundwater. Not only animals and plants but even humans are also affected when these poisons accumulate in the food chain,” he further claimed. He went onto say that it is highly questionable whether the companies obtain approvals from the respective government bodies in the country to continue their agricultural operations on the land which should be protected as conservation areas by relevant authorities of the island. However, it is learnt that from the beginning of 2008 to 2015 the government had given 165,000 acres of reservation lands to industries
He added that environmentalists in the country have brought the burning issue highlighting the threat to nature reserves and the conservation areas of the island by the operation of commercial industries to the notice of respective authorities in the country. “ However, a response for it is yet to be received says Kariyawasam.
The Sunday Leader questioned the wild-life conservation authorities as to why the areas and lands which should be protected by law are ill-used by industries with the approvals of government authorities.

No breach of laws – DWC
Responding to the questions the Director General of the Department of Wildlife Conservation, H.D. Ratnayake said that the licenses for the company’s cultivations are approved only if their operations are not harmful to the environment as well as wildlife.
“We are very concerned about the wildlife of our country and therefore we grant the license after thorough inspections and investigations on the company’s operations and cultivations and, if they fail to meet the requirements we will not approve their licenses,” he said.
He also claimed that the border areas of Wilpattu where hybrid fruits and vegetables are cultivated are operated under many conditions.
However, he said that they are closely monitoring of any sort of pollution or wild life disturbance that is posed by the factory and if they are proven to violate the regulations the authority will cancel the license while preventing them from their operations.
The country’s environment is facing many a threat by multi-million dollar industries which allegedly fail to act according to environmental rules and regulations. Since 2006, many government lands and natural reservations of the country were handed over to several international companies and local companies for the cultivation of Cavendish banana and papaya, a hybrid variety which is exported to foreign countries, while damaging the reservoirs which also resulted in many a problems faced by the people in the area. These vegetables and fruits are exported to South America, Africa and Vietnam.
The pesticides, a substance used for destroying insects or other organisms harmful to plants are used in the cultivation to protect the plants which also result in environmental pollution. The pesticides are harmful to the flora and fauna while the ground water is also contaminated with harmful chemicals and therefore becomes unfit for human consumption.

Rape of Uva crown lands
In Buttala, 500 acres has been allegedly given to Dole Food Company, Inc., an American agricultural multinational corporation headquartered in Westlake Village, California.
The company is the largest producer of fruits and vegetables in the world to which the government has given several acres of lands in Sri Lanka for its cultivation of hybrid papaya and banana. They are accused of spraying pesticides using large bowsers to protect the plants from any harmful pests.
Meanwhile, another 3,000 acres of land which belonged to the nature reservoir of the Lunugamvehera National Park is also being used by the same company. The Lunugamvehera National Park in Sri Lanka was declared in 1995, with the intention of protecting the catchment area of the Lunugamvehera reservoir and wildlife of the area.
The national park is an important habitat for water birds and elephants in which the factory is allowed to continue its operations with pesticides and fertilizers used on plants. The environmental pollution to this land would result in the change of wild-life habitats says Ravindra Kariyawasam.