Bull dozers have cleared native scrub vegetation vital to the survival of wild species over 100 hectares, allegedly to clear land to plant Gliricidia at the behest of a company called United Dendro Energy (Pvt) Ltd (UDE), a subsidiary of Lanka Orix Leasing Company Ltd (LOLC). This is the start of a total clearance plan in excess of 1,500 hectares, or 10 per cent of the total land area of Yala National Park. Vimukthi Weeratunga, Operations Director Environmental Foundation Limited, was quoted in The Nation, a Colombo newspaper warning that the area, which abuts Yala National Park, and the Katagamuwa and Kataragama sanctuaries acts as a vital buffer along the western border of the wildlife habitat. Predictably, laws have been violated, including Sri Lanka's National Environment Act (NEA), which does not allow any projects to come up without prior approval. The land appears to have been allocated for livestock grazing for dairly farming, but locals were supposedly induced to accept the Gliricidea plantation, which is an unpalatable plant. This would trigger communities to push livestock into the forest, thus defeating the very purpose of creating buffer zones. Wildlife experts in Sri Lanka warn that such actions will only aggravate human wildlife conflict, particularly with the four herds of elephants that use the area to feed.
Denials of wrong doing from United Dendro Energy (Pvt) Ltd officials are being looked at with skepticism by environmental groups who point out that in the name of green energy a vital ecological asset is being damaged by signing invalid MoUs that offer a patina of legitimacy to acts that are transparently harmful to wildlife. Read the full report here.
Source: by Mihiri Wikramanayake, The Nation, Sri Lanka.
