In February and March 2025, visitors to Yala National Park stood in disbelief as torrents of brown water surged across once-dry tracks, submerging grasslands and turning familiar terrains into murky lakes. Roads disappeared, jeeps stalled, and for days, one of the most celebrated wildlife reserves in the world remained flooded. But while the tourists could leave, much of Yala’s wildlife—especially its ancient predator, the mugger crocodile—had no escape.

Yala, nestled in Sri Lanka’s southeastern dry zone, is not just another national park. It is one of the last great sanctuaries for the Crocodylus palustris, or mugger crocodile. “Yala has perhaps the densest wild population of mugger crocodiles anywhere in the world,” says Dr. Anslem de Silva, Sri Lanka’s foremost herpetologist and a globally respected authority on reptile conservation. “It is a crown jewel in mugger conservation.”

But today, that crown is under threat—not from poaching or pollution, but from the climate itself.

A Reptile Shaped by Water—and Now Endangered by It

The mugger crocodile is one of South Asia’s most resilient predators. With a fossil history stretching back millions of years, it has outlived dinosaurs, survived continental shifts, and adapted to changing environments. But the mugger’s success has always depended on the predictability of water: seasonal wetlands to hunt, banks to nest, and sunlit lagoons to bask. That balance is now unraveling.

“When people see floods, they assume it benefits crocodiles,” Dr. de Silva explains. “But timing is everything. Floods during the dry season can destroy eggs, displace young, and alter the breeding cycle.”

Crocodiles in Yala typically breed between December and March, with females digging nests in sandy, elevated spots along tank and riverbanks. These clutches—often containing 20 to 30 eggs—require specific humidity and temperature conditions to incubate successfully. When heavy rains strike suddenly and raise water levels, these carefully chosen nesting sites are submerged.

“The flooding in early 2025 likely destroyed dozens, maybe hundreds, of nests,” says Dr. de Silva. “That’s an entire generation gone.”

Unlike some reptiles or amphibians, mugger crocodiles typically lay one clutch per season. If that fails, there is no second attempt until the following year. The long-term impact of even a single season of mass nest failure is significant—especially when such floods are becoming more frequent.

A Park Under Pressure

Yala National Park has always been shaped by the monsoon. Seasonal rains replenish its tanks and reservoirs, sustain its grasslands, and dictate the movements of animals. But climate change is altering that rhythm. Rains are becoming erratic, shorter, and more intense. Dry spells last longer, then end abruptly in flash floods.

“The climate doesn’t behave like it used to,” says Dr. de Silva. “We’re seeing long droughts followed by short, violent floods. This puts enormous stress on species that rely on ecological predictability.”

It’s not just crocodiles. Peacocks, elephants, leopards, and dozens of endemic species are having to adapt—often unsuccessfully—to changes in water availability. But crocodiles are particularly vulnerable because their reproductive success is so tightly tied to environmental cues.

In Yala’s Block I, one of the most visited areas of the park, many nesting sites traditionally used by crocodiles have been rendered unusable. Either they’re too dry to dig in during prolonged droughts, or they’re too low-lying and now flood-prone during the breeding season.

Dr. de Silva and his colleagues have observed these shifts over years. “I’ve seen nesting sites that were once productive for decades now sit empty. Either the crocodiles have moved—or they’ve stopped nesting altogether in those areas.”

Not Just Eggs

Floods don’t only endanger eggs. Hatchlings and juveniles are highly vulnerable to changing hydrological conditions. Strong currents can sweep them away from their mothers and traditional basking spots. Floodwaters can also introduce pollutants and pathogens, especially if upstream water sources carry sewage or agricultural runoff.

Dr. de Silva notes, “In some flood events, we’ve seen juvenile mortality increase sharply, not just from drowning but from disease and predation as their habitats are disturbed.”

There are cascading effects too. Fish stocks—the primary food source for crocodiles—may be displaced or reduced following floods. Amphibian populations, which rely on stable pools to breed, also fluctuate wildly, affecting food chains.

Moreover, increased encounters with humans become a concern. When crocodiles are displaced by floods, they often turn up in agricultural canals, village tanks, or even roads. This not only risks their lives but also fuels fear and conflict in local communities.

Anselm

Climate Science and Crocodile Survival

Scientific studies have confirmed that Sri Lanka’s dry zone is experiencing increased climate variability. According to the Climate Change Secretariat of Sri Lanka, mean temperatures in the country have increased by 0.8°C over the past century, while rainfall has become more erratic. The frequency of floods and droughts is projected to increase in the coming decades, especially in the southeastern regions like Yala.

What does this mean for the mugger crocodile?

“It means extinction pressure—slow, creeping, but real,” says Dr. de Silva. “These animals have persisted through the ages, but their survival depends on stable reproductive cycles. Climate change breaks that.”

In response, conservationists are calling for adaptive strategies. Dr. de Silva advocates for detailed monitoring of nest success rates, mapping of climate-resilient nesting grounds, and even the creation of elevated artificial nesting banks in flood-prone areas.

“In extreme years, we might even need to consider conservation hatcheries—not as a permanent solution, but as an emergency measure,” he says.

He also emphasises community education. “Local people need to be part of the solution. If they understand the role crocodiles play in wetland ecosystems—as regulators of fish populations, as scavengers—they are more likely to protect them.”

Yala National Park

Lessons from a Flooded Future

The flooding of Yala in early 2025 was not an anomaly. It was a harbinger of what lies ahead in a warming world. The scenes of submerged forest tracks and stranded animals are part of a new reality that conservationists must grapple with.

For the mugger crocodile—an ancient survivor now battling modern threats—the future is uncertain. But Dr. de Silva remains cautiously hopeful.

“These are incredibly resilient animals,” he says. “If we give them the space, the protection, and the right conditions, they will adapt. But we must act now. Nature won’t wait.”

What Can Be Done?

Monitor Nesting Sites

Regular mapping of nesting grounds to track success rates and climate impacts.

Artificial Nesting Mounds

Elevated, flood-resistant mounds to ensure egg survival during wet years.

Seasonal Water Management

Using sluice gates in reservoirs to manage water levels during breeding months.

Conservation Hatcheries

Controlled hatching in years of extreme climate events, with hatchlings released into the wild.

Community Education

Involving villagers and park guides in conservation through awareness programs.

Mugger Snapshot

Scientific name: Crocodylus palustris

IUCN Status: Vulnerable

Breeding season: December to March

Clutch size: 20–30 eggs

Habitat: Freshwater lakes, tanks, rivers, and marshes

Range: India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Iran, Pakistan.

by Ifham Nizam

Cancer incidence is increasing worldwide, but at the same time, the death rate due to cancer has been decreasing thanks to advances made in cancer therapy and diagnosis (Another side of cancer, The Island 25-06-09). Even though battles have been won, the war against cancer continues. A fascinating account of this centuries-old war can be found in the Pulitzer Prize winning 2010 book ‘The Emperor of all Maladies’ by Siddhartha Mukherjee, which was also made into a television series by Ken Burns, the renowned documentary film maker. What follows are some recent developments in cancer therapy.

Surgery remains the common and often crucial first-line treatment for many cancers, especially solid tumors. However, in case of inoperable cancers such as blood cancers, and when surgery fails to remove all cancer cells, other treatments like chemotherapy, radiation, and targeted therapies can also be primary treatments, depending on the type of cancer and its stage.

As cancer results from uncontrolled cell division, the goal of treatment is to stop uncontrolled cell division. And that is what chemotherapy, the use of a class of drugs commonly known as cytotoxic drugs, does. However, there is a major drawback: cytotoxic drugs do not see the difference between uncontrollably dividing cancer cells and healthy dividing cells. Recall that it is necessary to replace some three hundred billion cells every minute, and cell division remains an essential function of the normal healthy body. The death of healthy cells causes many side effects: the major ones are decrease in blood cells causing anemia, weakened immunity, hair loss, nausea, and fatigue. Despite this shortcoming, chemotherapy continues to play a key role in cancer therapy, and researchers in both academic and industrial labs are earnestly searching for alternatives, the elusive ‘magic bullet’ that can kill cancer cells without harming normal cells.

This drug discovery effort continues in two fronts: Biologics and Synthetics. Biologics are drugs derived from living organisms, such as cells, tissues, or microorganism, while the synthetics, as the name suggests, are designed and made by chemists. Biologics are proteins while synthetics vary widely in their structure. They also differ in the way they are manufactured, administered, and the way they kill cancer cells. As detailed in Another side of cancer, cancer originates as a result of errors made in copying the genetic materials, and the failure of the natural systems to eliminate those errors during cell division. Besides this ‘typographical error’ the composition of cancer cells and normal cells remain mostly identical, and that is what makes it maddeningly challenging to make drugs that can see them apart.

The mechanism of biologics is to enlist the body’s own defences, i.e., the immune system to fight the cancer. The immune system detects and eliminates any foreign material entering the body, which includes bacteria, viruses, parasites, and cancer cells. It does this by identifying some unfamiliar molecular features on the invader, which are referred to as ‘antigens,’ and producing ‘antibodies’ that can neutralise the invader. The strategy of immune therapy development is to assist the immune system to recognize cancer cells as foreign material, when in reality they are part of the body, and stop the growth.

The most widely used biologic is immunoglobulin, which has been in use since the nineteen fifties. Immunoglobulin, a type of antibodies, is obtained from human plasma, the liquid portion of blood, from healthy donors. Immunoglobulin is used to boost a weakened immune system but not necessarily to treat cancer, even though some anticancer properties have been seen in animal models. Biologics being proteins cannot be administered orally because digestive enzymes will break them down. Therefore, they must be administered intravenously by injection; this requires stringent manufacturing conditions to ensure safety.

There are a number of genetically engineered antibodies that are in clinical use for cancer therapy. They are designed to detect specific antigens on cancer cells and are called monoclonal antibodies (mAbs). Accordingly, their proprietary names have the suffix -mab or -zumab. Two examples are rituximab and trastuzumab, used for the treatment of lymphoma and leukemia and breast and stomach cancer, respectively.

Monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) work in diverse ways. Once attached to cancer cells, they can act as “flags” that signal immune cells like T cells and natural killer cells to recognise and destroy the targeted cells. Some mAbs can directly kill or prevent the growth of cancer cells by blocking essential biochemical pathways. An emerging technology is to attach chemotherapy drugs or radioactive particles to the antibodies so that they can be delivered selectively only to cancer cells.

On the other hand, synthetic effort too has been successful in delivering the elusive magic bullets. The completion of the human genome project in 2003 was a major contributing factor to this success. This project deciphered twenty-five thousand genes in human DNA, or the sentences in the instruction manual of the human body. The technology that made it possible allows the researchers to identify the mutations, or the misspelled words, in cancer cells and identify the resulting ‘foreign’ proteins that cause havoc.

Once the offending protein is identified, two things are possible. Molecular biologists can express the protein in bacterial cells, E. coli, for example, and isolate it in quantity. Crystallographers and spectroscopists can determine its three-dimensional structure using their techniques on a routine basis. Otherwise, there are computer programs that allow for building accurate 3-D models based on the composition of the protein as spelled out in the instruction manual. Recall that the 3-D structure of a protein is what drives its function. Understanding this structure enables medicinal chemists to design molecules that can alter its activity and stop the growth of cancer cells carrying that protein.

Major advances in cancer biology have been made since the genome project. The human genome encodes 518 protein kinases. These kinases are a diverse group of enzymes that play a crucial role in cellular signaling, the process that tells a cell when to start dividing. When one or more of those kinases are mutated, meaning deviated from their normal function, that causes the cell to divide without control and become cancerous. The mutated kinases provide a prime target for cancer drug development.

As of June 14, 2025, there are 88 FDA-approved small molecule protein kinase inhibitors in clinical use. There are hundreds more in the pipeline. Since they are designed to interact with a specific protein in the cancer, the undesired side effects remain minimal. Furthermore, they can be formulated for oral administration, making both manufacture and patient compliance easy. The proprietary names of this class of anticancer compounds have the suffix -inib. Two examples are imatinib (Gleevec) and lapatinib (Tykerb).

Another exciting development is the discovery of CRISPR gene editing technology for which Jennifer Doudna and Emmanuelle Charpentier were awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2020. In the instruction manual parlance used here, this technology can be likened to word processing: it allows for correcting those typographical errors and stop the cells from producing wrong proteins and become cancerous. This technology offers promise for developing therapies for many chronic diseases such as Alzheimer’s. There are nineteen clinical trials ongoing using this therapeutic approach as of this writing.

We have amassed a formidable armamentarium for the war against cancer. However, there is one missing element in our battle plans: timing. As discussed earlier (Another side of cancer), cancer can begin with one mutation in a single cell. It can take years or decades before the symptoms to appear and the cancer is diagnosed. Exceptions are blood cancer, which can progress within weeks. During this long dormant period, the cell undergoes billions of divisions, which are many more opportunities for making additional typographical errors, the dreaded mutations. This means that most cancers are driven by multiple mutations by the time the diagnosis is made. In other words, cancer is not a homogenous one at that point; it is a collection of diverse types of cancer driven by different mutations. In such cases, the ‘magic bullets’ or targeted therapies are of limited use.

In the nineteen fifties, the global life expectancy was around 46 years; today it is about 73 years. This extended life span provides many slow growing cancers, which would have gone asymptomatic and undetected in early years, the opportunity to manifest as life threating conditions. Not to undermine the contribution of manmade carcinogens to the environment, but an aging population is one of the reasons for the increase in worldwide cancer incidence. Therefore, the significance of early diagnosis of cancer cannot be over emphasized.

While individuals have a role to play in this respect by reducing cancer risks with lifestyles changes and having regular checkups, improving diagnoses remains a key component of battle against cancer. An emerging field of science called metabolomics offers a law cost way to develop largescale screening methods for a variety of diseases as we monitor blood glucose or cholesterol to assess the risk of diabetes and cardiovascular diseases, respectively. Historically, there had been periods of rejection and skepticism by the establishment before such revolutionary ideas became accepted. These modern technologies are no exception. Science has delivered the armaments to fight the war on cancer, but the outcome will depend on the decisions we make.

By Geewananda Gunawardana, Ph.D.

Formed in 1945 by the victors of World War II, the main aim of the United Nations was to preserve international peace and security. The UN Charter provides for pacific settlement of disputes between members, and, if the parties fail to settle the dispute by peaceful means, the Security Council may step in, and adopt coercive measures ~ ranging from diplomatic and economic, to the use of armed force.

Coercive measures were seldom applied during the Cold War period, because of liberal use of veto by the United States or the Soviet Union. Post-Cold War, till recently, USA was the only superpower left, so it rampaged unhindered through Iraq, erstwhile Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, Yemen, Libya, Syria ~ to mention only some of its misadventures. Former US President Barack Obama succinctly observed: “In the middle of the Cold War, the chances of reaching any consensus had been slim, which is why the UN had stood idle as Soviet tanks rolled into Hungary or US planes dropped napalm on the Vietnamese countryside.

Even after the Cold War, divisions within the Security Council continued to hamstring the UN’s ability to tackle problems. Its member states lacked either the means or the collective will to reconstruct failing states like Somalia, or prevent an ethnic slaughter in places like Sri Lanka” (A Promised Land, 2020). In its early days the UN actively promoted decolonisation, hand holding the eighty colonies that gained independence in the aftermath of WWII. The UN, through its agencies like the FAO, IMF, World Bank and programmes and funds like UNDP and UNICEF actively supported the newly independent countries, helping them tide over food shortages, droughts, medical emergencies, etc.

All countries, developed and undeveloped, are immensely benefited by UN agencies like ILO, ICAO, UNESCO, WHO, UPU, IMF, World Bank etc. as also UN sponsorship of nuclear arms control treaties and environmental initiatives. However, now with the Russian invasion of Ukraine in its fortieth month and the Israeli invasion of Gaza in its twentieth, the failure of the UN to stop hostilities in either case highlights its increasing irrelevance. The ongoing war in Ukraine began in February 2014 when Russia occupied and annexed Crimea from Ukraine and then occupied eastern Donbas region in 2018, followed by a full-blown invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The Ukraine war has resulted in a refugee crisis for both Russia and Ukraine, as also a million dead and injured on the Russian side and 700,000 dead and injured on the Ukraine side ~ all for a gain of around 113,000 sq.km. of Ukrainian territory by Russia.

The Security Council has been unable to act ~deadlocked by the veto power of Russia. True, the UN General Assembly has debated and condemned the Russian role in the war, but unlike the Security Council, its resolutions are not binding on member states. In the UN session called to mark the third anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the US twice sided with Russia. Firstly, the US opposed a European-drafted resolution in the General Assembly that condemned Moscow’s actions and supported Ukraine’s territorial integrity. Then, the US sponsored a resolution in the Security Council, which called for an end to the war but contained no criticism of Russia. The ongoing invasion of Gaza strip by Israel since October 2023, has resulted in an unprecedented tragedy; according to official figures of the Gaza Health Ministry, as of 4 June 2025, almost 57,000 people (55,223 Palestinians and 1,706 Israelis) have been killed. The dead include 180 journalists and media workers, 120 academics, and over 224 humanitarian aid workers, which include 179 employees of UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).

Scholars have estimated that 80 percent of Palestinians killed were civilians. A study by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNOHCHR), which verified fatalities from three independent sources, found that seventy per cent of the Palestinians killed in residential buildings were women and children. The Gaza war has led to extreme famine conditions in Gaza Strip, resulting from Israeli airstrikes and the ongoing blockade of the Gaza Strip, which includes restrictions on humanitarian aid. More than two million Gazans ~ about 95 per cent of Gaza’s population ~ have been displaced, and are categorized as facing acute or catastrophic food insecurity. There are currently no functioning hospitals in Gaza. After the end of the two-month ceasefire with Hamas on 18 March, Israel resumed attacks on Gaza.

According to a U.N. assessment, since then, the Israeli military has dramatically altered the map of the enclave, declaring about 70 per cent of it either a military “red zone” or under evacuation orders, and pushing hundreds of thousands of Palestinians into ever-shrinking pockets. A fortnight ago, the Israeli government approved a plan to expand military operations in the Gaza Strip, which would, eventually, include occupation of the entire Gaza Strip. Israel intends to move Gaza’s civilian population southward “for its own defence,” though forced displacement is a crime under international law. Eyal Zamir, the IDF chief, said: “We will operate in additional areas and destroy all infrastructure ~ above and below ground.”

The Israeli cabinet also ratified a plan to take control of and sharply reduce the distribution of food and lifesaving aid. As of now, Israeli soldiers sometimes fire on crowds assembled to seek food. Images of starving Palestinians scrambling for paltry aid packages, herded in cage-like lines and then coming under fire have caused global outrage. Israel’s actions have the complete backing of the US, which is bankrolling its invasion and providing weapons and intelligence for the genocide of Palestinians. US President Trump seems to have provided the roadmap for the future of the Gaza strip; in a video posted in late-February, President Trump outlined the concept of a plan for the U.S. taking ownership of the Gaza Strip and turning it into the “Riviera of the Middle East.”

The question naturally arises as to what the UN is doing when such egregious violations of its underlying principles are taking place? As early as December 2023, to draw attention to the Gaza crisis, in the first such move in decades, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres invoked Article 99 of the UN Charter; the UNSC failed to act because a US veto blocked a ceasefire resolution, supported by more than 150 countries. Every time the issue came up in the Security Council, similar US vetoes stalled action against Israel. As late as 4 June 2025, the United States has vetoed a United Nations Security Council resolution that called for an immediate, unconditional, and permanent ceasefire in Gaza. Notably, the US was the only country to vote against the measure, while the 14 other members of the Security Council voted in favour.

The dangerous impasse in the UN, is part of a larger problem of incompatibility of 20th century multilateralism and 21st century geopolitics, and quest of a global balance of power, between a West on the defensive, rampant authoritarian powers, and an emerging South, demanding its place at the high table. The world over the UN is perceived to have failed in its objectives ~ even in the US ~ which has strengthened its hegemony through the UN; a Disengaging Entirely from the United Nations Debacle (DEFUND) Act was introduced, in the US Congress in 2023. However, the failure is mostly of the Security Council, which is extrapolated to the entire UN. UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres noted that “the U.N. is not the Security Council,” but all U.N. bodies “suffer from the fact that the people look at them and think, ‘Well, but the Security Council has failed us.”

A more correct assessment is that members of the United Nations have failed it ~ while big powers pursue their rivalries through the UN, poorer countries are only interested in the money they can get from the UN and its agencies ~ which is mostly eaten away or spent on unconnected purposes. A quick fix solution could be to abolish the veto in UNSC, or to empower the General Assembly to override a veto in specified circumstances. The second secretary general of the UN, Dag Hammarskjöld, observed that the UN wasn’t designed to take humanity to heaven, but prevent it sliding into hell. Let’s hope it can do that at least, before the flames engulf us. (The Statesman)

(The writer is a retired Principal Chief Commissioner of Income-Tax.)

by DEVENDRA SAKSENA ✍️