Sri Lanka saves pod of stranded whales
Colombo, Sri Lanka | AFP : Sri Lanka’s navy and local residents rescued a pod of about 20 stranded pilot whales off the island’s northeastern coast on Wednesday, an official said.
Navy spokesman Lt Commander Chaminda Walakuluge said sailors with the help of residents pushed the whales back in to deeper waters after they washed up on the Sampur coast near the port of Trincomalee.
“It was a delicate task to push them back without hurting them,” Walakuluge told AFP. “But there was a happy ending when all of them could be sent back to deeper waters.”He said it was not clear why the mammals got stranded in the area, but noted that the sea was rough due to the effects of Cyclone Mora in the Bay of Bengal and which hit Bangladesh on Tuesday.
In April 2011, a sperm whale was stranded inside the Trincomalee harbour and two navy boats were deployed to guide the mammal out into deeper waters where it was reunited with waiting whales.
Trincomalee, 260 kilometres (160 miles) northeast of Colombo, is a natural harbour and is also a popular tourist spot for whale watching.
Trincomalee is also known as the location where both of the world’s two largest mammals — elephants and whales — can be seen.
The waters around Trincomalee, which was used by Allied forces as a staging post during World War II, have a high concentration of blue and sperm whales while the surrounding jungles have herds of wild elephants.
Source – 01/06/2017,The Island , See more at – http://www.island.lk/index.php?page_cat=article-details&page=article-details&code_title=166040
Govt okays electric fences around waste dumps to save elephants
by Chaminda Silva
Cabinet approval has been granted for erecting electric fences to prevent wild elephants from entering 54 waste disposing dumps located in wildlife zones.
The project has been proposed jointly by Minister of Sustainable Development and Wildlife Gamini Jayawickrama Perera and Minister of Provincial Councils and Local Government Faizer Mustapha to implement a waste recycling programme, giving priority to such wildlife zones.
Improper waste disposal has impacted badly on the environment as well as animals, especially elephants and therefore measures would be taken to implement a waste recycling programme in areas where wild elephants were roaming to protect them, the government said.
There are 54 waste disposing dumps located in wildlife zones and about 300 wild elephants are loitering around those dumps. The government said local authorities would be banned from dumping solid waste in the open.
source – 1/06/2017,The Island, see more at – http://www.island.lk/index.php?page_cat=article-details&page=article-details&code_title=166046
World Environment Day 2017: Connecting People to Nature
World Environment Day – which is observed on 5 June every year across the globe – is the largest annual event for positive environmental action.
World Environment Day was inaugurated in 1972 following the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment in Stockholm, Sweden on 5-16 June – the first international conference on environmental issues.
Since its first celebration on 5 June 1974, millions of people across the world have taken part in thousands of events to raise awareness and generate political momentum around growing concerns such as the depletion of the ozone layer, toxic chemicals, desertification and global warming.
Events range from neighbourhood clean-ups, to action against wildlife crime, to replanting forests.
The Day has developed into a global platform for taking action on urgent environmental issues, driving change in our consumption habits as well as influencing national and international policy.
The host country for this year’s celebration is Canada, succeeding 2016 host Angola.
Canada has chosen the theme “Connecting People to Nature” for 2017, which invites people to enjoy the outdoors and to take forward the call to protect the Earth that we share.
Erik Solheim, Head of UN Environment, said: “It reminds us of what a treasure nature is, and encourages us all to protect and appreciate our environment.”
Countries around the world will host events and introduce initiatives to celebrate the largest annual event for positive environmental action.
This year the citizens of Mumbai, India are taking part in a mass beach clean-up, while Canada is offering free entry to its national parks and marine conservation areas.
To get involved you can join the global album by sharing a photo or video of your favourite place in nature using #WorldEnvironmentDay or #WithNature.
You can also join over 1,000 events taking place across the globe, or even organise your own.
Or why not help build the world’s largest nature database by recording the wonders of biodiversity in your local environment.
World Environment Day has partnered with the iNaturalist global network to record all contributions, which will be shared with scientific data repositories.
Source – 1/06/2017,ClimateAction, See more at – http://www.climateactionprogramme.org/news/world-environment-day-2017-connecting-people-to-nature
