Last week, I took a short day trip to the charming little forest patch, the Bodhinagala Forest Reserve. Also home to a monastery, there is an abundance of people around it and plenty of edge habitat. I realized just how sub-urban it is only when a motorcycle hurriedly drove past while I was photographing a pair of Sri Lankan Grey Hornbill (Ocyceros gingalensis), who did not seem to bat an eyelid at the noisy diminutive vehicle revving beneath them. Despite this,
From conserving habitats to preventing illegal wildlife trade, the law is a crucial instrument in protecting Sri Lanka’s biodiversity and ensuring that endangered and endemic species are not forgotten and lost in waves of development. While Sri Lanka is bound by international conventions such as the Convention on Biological Diversity and the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, it has a diverse range of domestic legislature under which biodiversity is governed and considered. Biodiversity
Despite global recognition for their biodiversity, Sri Lanka’s moist tropical evergreen forests seem to be less valued by its citizens, as development goals and population pressures have steadily eroded forest cover, often leaving only isolated patches which still sustain rare and endemic species. Buoyed by green credibility and a conducive policy framework that was afforded to renewable energy, mini hydro power projects have mushroomed in the South-west, harnessing water sources that are often found in pristine and untouched rainforests. While the
We have all heard of “invasive species”, but what are they really, and why are they such a big problem? Through natural and man-made processes, many species are introduced to areas outside of their normal range – these are known as non-native, or “alien” species. Many of these alien species will not be able to adapt to the new environment at all, and may eventually die off. Today, as with the rest of the world, hundreds of new species of
