New payment based project on oxygen emitted

by plants launched in Vavuniya

Described as a “first in the world”, a new payment based project on oxygen emitted by plants ??was launched ??in Vavuniya on September 27.

The initiative, named ‘Bhumi Sathkaraka’, was inaugurated by Foreign Minister Dinesh Gunawardena at Settikulam, with focus on involving especially widows displaced by the conflict, to restore the ecosystem destroyed by the war in the North.

Families involved in the project are encouraged to grow economic crops in their home gardens, and the specialty is to calculate the amount of oxygen released into the environment annually from such plants and provide a financial grant for up to four years.

Dr. Ranil Senanayake, the founder of the project, which is being implemented for the first time in the world, arrangements have been made to cultivate economic crops such as jak, mango and coconut in all home gardens and public lands in the Northern  province and to pay the families who take care of the plants by calculating the amount of  oxygen released by the plants annually into the environment.

Foreign Minister Dinesh Gunawardena said the initiative will allow the people of the North to revive the environment destroyed by the war as well as rebuild their lives. They will be able to live in a new environment with fresh air.