Timber Racket: one suspect arrested
A suspect has been taken into custody for illegally transporting a stock of Kumbuk timber. The arrest was made in the Uda Walawe area. The Police said that the timber was being transported from Wellawaya to Colombo.
The raid had been carried out a group of officers of the Uda Walawe Police who were engaged in night patrol.
Value of the stock of timber was reported to be over one million rupees.
The stock of timber was covered with jak fruits. The arrested suspect is a resident of Wellawaya.
Source – 03/07/2017, ITN News, See more at – https://www.itnnews.lk/local-news/timber-racket-one-suspect-arrested/
SLN produces ultra-purified water for dialysis
The UPW plant
An Ultra-Purified Water (UPW) plant produced by the Sri Lanka Navy’s (SLN) Research and Development (R&D) Unit was installed at the Dialysis and Kidney Transplant Unit of the Kandy Teaching Hospital on Friday, the SLN said. The facility can produce 10 tons of UPW per day, required for the dialysis process.
The SLN’s R&D Unit has produced this system utilizing their technological innovations and expertise. The market price of this UPW plant is estimated at Rs 13 million, while SLN’s R&D Unit had produced this unit at relatively low cost of only Rs 1.7 million. The purified water processed through this unit has been awarded the Association of Advanced Medical Instrumentation (AAMI) certification, and has received higher recognition from the Kidney specialists of the Kandy Teaching Hospital .
Empowering the national programme of Kidney Disease Prevention, the SLN is determined to install similar facilities at every hospital that possesses dialysis units. Up to now, the SLN has installed a total of 223 Reverse Osmosis plants throughout the country, and facilitates the civilian population with safe drinking water.
Source – 02/07/2017, Sunday Times, SEE more at – http://www.sundaytimes.lk/170702/news/sln-produces-ultra-purified-water-for-dialysis-248431.html
Wildlife officers to be deployed at Sooriyawewa Cricket Stadium to keep elephants away
The Wildlife Department will deploy teams of officers to prevent wild elephants from invading the Sooriyawewa Cricket Stadium when Sri Lanka hosts Zimbabwe for a series of one-day internationals at the Hambantota stadium.
Experts will be on hand for all three ODI games at the 35,000-capacity stadium, which is next to an elephant sanctuary, a wildlife official told AFP on Monday.
“There had been a few instances when elephants broke through the fence and invaded the pitch at night,” said the official, who asked not to be named.
“A jungle patch starts about 100 metres from the stadium and we are deploying 10 wardens to make sure that fans don’t stray into that area and provoke the elephants,” he told AFP by telephone from Hambantota.
He said there was a herd of about 25 elephants roaming the area, 240 kilometres (150 miles) south of Colombo, posing a potential threat to fans.
Source – 03/07/2017, see more at – http://www.sundaytimes.lk/article/1026970/wildlife-officers-to-be-deployed-at-sooriyawewa-cricket-stadium-to-keep-elephants-from-invading-stadium
Enhancing environment of Knuckles Conservation Forest
Biodiversity Sri Lanka together with HSBC and IUCN Sri Lanka have been working together on measures to conserve and improve the mini watershed area of the Puwakpitiya Oya in the Knuckles Conservation Forest and Environmental Protection Area.
This engagement has been ongoing since August 2015 and is a three- year intervention. As a responsible corporate entity and a patron member of Biodiversity Sri Lanka, HSBC’s sustainability drives underpin identifying and addressing environmental, social and ethical developments which present risks or opportunities for environment and business. Technical assistance to the project is provided by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, Sri Lanka (IUCN).
The Knuckles Conservation Forest along with the Peak Wilderness Protected Area and the Horton Plains National Park have been declared as an UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2010.
Prior to this, it was declared as a conservation forest by the Forest Department in 2000 and an Environmental Protection Area under the National Environmental Act in 2007. The Knuckles area constitutes 30 percent of the watershed forest of the Mahaweli catchment – a major source of water for the agricultural sector of the country.
Although the forest landscapes in the Knuckles region are managed by the Forest Department and are legally protected, some landscapes are heavily degraded due to anthropogenic activities. Unsustainable land use practices and deterioration of watersheds severely threaten biodiversity and associated ecosystems. The main aim of the project is to restore the ecological value of the Puwakpitiya Oya sub-catchment area in order to enhance watershed functions and biodiversity in order to develop a replicable model to expand the programme to other sub-catchments of this vital forest range.
Puwakpitiya is a highly visited location by local tourists. Hence improving the visitor facilities of the Puwakpitiya (Illukumbura) office of the Forest Department is a part of this project. The HSBC funds have helped the construction of an information centre alongside the development of necessary knowledge products, which will benefit both the Forest Department and the visitors. This centre is expected to be declared open in August 2017.
Although adequate sanitary facilities are a basic need of any household, most of the toilets in the Puwakpitiya area are below standard hygienic levels. Regrettably, a majority of the people within the community do not recognize safe toilet facilities as a basic human need.
The project has improved and promoted the construction of adequate toilet facilities and raised awareness on the importance of sanitation.This is considered to be an eye opener to the villagers and it has been catalytic in getting the villagers to realize associated values. The project is expected to bring about a change at local level, which will have a lasting impact beyond the lifetime of the project.
Since the project area is located within the immediate catchment of the Moragahakanda reservoir, community members are being made aware of crucial conservation aspects through community discussions and meetings. Raising awareness among the community members could finally contribute positively to the conservation of the forest and its buffer zone together with the upper catchment of the Moragahakanda reservoir.
Recently a group of volunteers from HSBC made a field visit to observe and take part in work on ground. This volunteer programme included a visit to the Illukkubura Visitor Centre from June 16-18 where staff actively participated in landscaping and cleaning the centre. They also conducted a visitor awareness programme at Sera Ella.The team actively took part in field interventions and constructed contour barriers on the hilly edges to prevent soil erosion.
Upon completion, the project will have multiple environmental benefits. Firstly, the Knuckles region is well-known for its natural and aesthetic beauty centered on its breathtaking landscapes and associated fauna and flora.
Sustainable utilization of this valuable asset can be achieved through proper conservation and management practices.
Secondly, this region has been declared as one of Sri Lanka’s Natural World Heritage sites namely the Central Highland World Heritage Site because of its unique biodiversity, aesthetic value and ecosystem services. Hence, conservation and management practices will eventually lead to conserving this pristine and valuable ecosystem.
Enhancing watershed services, micro-climate regulation and carbon sequestration would provide both socioeconomic and environmental benefits. A monitoring system will be developed to ensure the sustainability and continuation of the positive outcomes of this project.
Source – – 03/07/2017, Daily News, see more at – http://www.dailynews.lk/2017/07/03/business/120676/enhancing-environment-knuckles-conservation-forest
Gem mine collapses in Niwithigala; kills one injures two
A miner had been killed and another two injured when a gem-mine collapsed at Madara in Niwithigala this morning, the Police said. They said an earth embankment of the mine collapsed on the workers, while they were mining. The injured were admitted to the Wathupitiwala Hospital and 34-year-old resident of Madara succumbed to his injuries.
Source – 02.07/2017, Dailymirror, see more at – http://www.dailymirror.lk/article/Gem-mine-collapses-in-Niwithigala-kills-one-injures-two-132017.html
