“We need better intelligence and international corporation to curb Wildlife Crime” said the law enforcement officers participating the CITES-ADB Symposium on Combating Wildlife Crime. Being the last day, the participants were teamed into different groups for Breakout sessions on selected themes. There were 3 Tracks on Technical Training on Special Investigative Techniques, Interactive Discussions on Wildlife Law, Policy and Governance, including barriers to Convictions and ...
The second day of the “Symposium on Combating Wildlife Crime” as a side event to CITES COP16 was started at Queen Sirikit Convention Centre at Bangkok on 11.03.2013. The law enforcement officers and other involved parties in addressing Wildlife Crime have shared their experiences and discussed on ‘how to tackle the ever increasing issue of Wildlife Crime’. Everyone agreed that ...
Maybe we Sri Lankans too should be celebrating National Elephant Day. We are making plenty of money from the National Parks and the world famous Elephant Gathering at Minneriya.Elephant fans have gathered in Thailand to celebrate the annual National Elephant Day honouring the tusked beasts.In Pattaya resort, Chonburi province, 52 elephants were treated to an all-you-can-eat fruit buffet to mark ...
Two great websites on Ecology/Environment of Sri LankaReptiles of Sri Lanka: http://www.srilankanreptiles.com/Sri Lanka Wildlife Conservation Society: http://www.slwcs.org/
Sri Lankan Snake Study Reveals New Species, Rich Biodiversity in Island Country Check out the links for Dushantha Kandambi and Ruchira Somaweera. They are doing some really cool stuff. Dushantha KandambiIn 2011, Alex Pyron's fieldwork in Sri Lanka studying snake diversity on the island led him to confirm the identity of 60 known species of snakes. With Sri Lankan collaborators, ...
Beauty that cannot be put into words...
“The Symposium on Combating Wildlife Crime” has been organized as a side event to the 16th meeting of the CITES Conference of the Parties. This is jointly organized by CITES Secretariat and Asian Development Bank (ADB) and participated by law enforcement officers from different parts of the world. Today (10.03.2013) was the Day 1 of the event that is also ...
As the triennial meeting of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora takes place in Bangkok, Malaka Rodrigo stresses on the need to save those species which are fast becoming a rarity in our waters A crucial proposal on protecting sharks and manta ray species has stirred debates and discussions ahead of a vote ...
Forest officials and experts have expressed serious concern over illegal and unchecked harvesting of weni wel, Sri Lanka’s age-old multi-cure herb, by racketeers and profiteers driven by the high demand for it. �Recently, forest officers in Thawalama arrested four people who were transporting without a permit some 700 kg of weni wel. Thawalama forest officer Sunil Kaluthotage said the suspects ...
I found this video funny, and thought to share it with others. Happy Friday, and hope you’ll have an awesome day.
CITES conference to adopt measures to combat overfishing, illegal logging and wildlife crime
Window to Nature
The 16th Conference of Parties (COP16) of CITES starts today. This meeting will be particularly important for Sri Lanka as there are few proposal for enlisting Manta Ray (Maduwa in Sinhala) and Sharks in CITES Appendix II which will then need a permit system, if the country needs to export parts of these animals. The Gill Rakers of Manta Ray ...
Beauty I found at the garden of National Museum, Colombo, Srilanka.
කාලෙකට ඉස්සර මම නිදියගෙන ඉන්නකොට එකපාරටම ජනෙල් තිර රෙද්ද පිටුපසෙන් සද්දයක් ඇහුනා. සතෙක් වගේ නිසා මම කල්පනාවෙන් හිටියා. ආහ් මෙන්න බොලේ ලේනියෙක් ඇවිල්ලා කූඩුවක් හදනවා. මමත් ඉතින් ඒක එච්චර ගණන් ගත්තෙ නැහැ. හැබැයි මේකා, මේක හැදුවෙ මගේ ඇඳ ලඟ තියන ජනේලෙ. දැන් මට හුලඟක් වදින්නවත් ජනේලෙ ඇරගන්න බැහැ නොවෑ. මම ඒ දකිනකොට ගොඩක් හිතුව දවස් 5-6ක් විතර යන්න ඇති ය ...
Overfishing threatens the magnificent and prized ‘Ali Maduwa’, writes Malaka Rodrigo� A giant “maduwa”, or manta ray, was netted last week by fisherman in Welipatanwila, Ambalanthota, on the South coast. The ocean creature was pregnant and weighed 1,500 kilograms. A week earlier, another manta ray was caught by fishermen in Akkaraipattu, on the East coast. Both sea creatures have been ...
The haul of African Elephant tusks seized by Sri Lanka customs last year are still locked inside the customs stores securely, assured the Leader of the House minister Nimal Siripala de Silva. He made these comments in the parliament on 22nd Friday answering a special statement made by opposition leader Ranil Wickremasinghe about an attempt to release this stock of ...
(Published in SundayTimes on 17.02.2013) Environmentalists have voiced concern over public apathy regarding the supplementary Environmental Impact Assessment of the second phase of the Uma Oya multi-purpose project though it has been open to public comment since January. The EIA document will be open for public comment at the Central Environment Authority (CEA) only until February 22, and environmentalists are ...
Voices of Youth: Towards a Green South Asia from India
End Poverty in South Asia - Promoting dialogue on development in
At the 9th South Asia Economics Students' Meet on Green Growth, participants shared their vision about South Asian cities of the future. These are their innovative ideas. The creation and expansion of urban centers has been a hallmark of the development process. As per capita incomes in South Asia have increased, urbanization has expanded from 18% in the early 1970’s ...
Quenching thirst...
The cinematography and visuals are amazing (footage taken from here) and what struck me was the sheer, breathtaking beauty of this place we call home. The call to save it is really a call to save ourselves. The Earth will live on, evolve, adapt, thrive.. but look at everything we are destroying and what we are leaving behind. Is this our legacy?