News

Environment Minister: Crudia Zeylanica plant not removed from Red Data List

Published

2 years ago

2021/09/8

By Ifham Nizam

The Crudia Zeylanica plant has not been removed from the Red Data List as claimed by some of the media, Environment Minister Mahinda Amaraweera said yesterday.

He expressed disappointment at claims that the Crudia Zeylanica plant had been removed from the 2020 Red List.

“But there is no truth in these media reports. The Ministry of Environment emphasises that the Crudia Zeylanica plant has not been removed from the 2020 Red Data List,” he added.

It has been revealed that the Crudia Ceylanica or Pandu Karanda plant near the Daraluwa Railway Station in Gampaha is rare.

In the Red Data List published in 2012, five extinct plants from Sri Lanka were included in that List.

They are (I) Rinorea decora (Violaceae), (II) Rinorea bengalensis (III) Crudia zeylanica (Fabaceae) (IV) Strobilanthes caudata (Acanthaceae), (V) Blumea angustifolia (Asteraceae). There are five types.

However, in the Botanical Surveys conducted after 2012, three species of Rinorea decora (Violaceae), Rinorea bengalensis, and Crudia zeylanica (Fabaceae) were re-surveyed in compiling the Red Data List of 2020 Plants.

Crudia zeylanica is one of them. It was this plant that led to a controversy during the construction of the new Expressway. But with the identification of the particular plant, it had been found in several other places, the Minister said, adding that, therefore, the plant was no longer considered an extinct species from Sri Lanka. However, the plant had not been removed from the Red Data List, which has categorised it as a critically endangered plant.

Strobilanthes caudata (Acanthaceae), Blumea angustifolia (Asteraceae), considered extinct in Sri Lanka were included in the 2012 Red List. The two plant species are also listed as endangered in our 2020 Red Data List.

Doona ovalifolia (Dipterocarpaceae) and Alphonsia hortensis (Annonaceae) are included in the 2012 Red Data List of Extinct in the Wild (EW) .

Eugenia xanthocarpa (Myrtaceae) has been currently listed in the 2020 Red Data List as Extinct in the Wild.

Alphonsea hortensis and Eugenia xanthocarpa are currently cultivated at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Peradeniya.

Therefore, some media and social media reports that the Crudia Zeylanica has been removed from the 2020 Red Data List were false, Minister Amaraweera said.

“This Red Data List is compiled according to the World Conservation Union (IUCN) criteria. Therefore, we cannot add or remove Red Data List as we wish,” the Environment Minister pointed out.

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Stay on course and don’t go back to the past – Dr Indrajit Coomaraswamy

Published

4 hours ago

2023/03/24

Priyan

Former Governor of the Central Bank delivering the keynote address at a high profile Webinar hosted by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka today (24) said that Sri Lanka must implement the structural reforms proposed by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) without relaxing like in the past or else we will be in a deeper economic mess.

The webinar was titled ‘What is next for Sri Lanka in the wake of the IMF programme’

News

Sustainable economic development goals cannot be achieved unless attention is paid to mitigating climate change – Sagala Ratnayake

Published

4 hours ago

2023/03/24

Priyan

President’s Senior Adviser on National Security and Chief of Presidential Staff Sagala Ratnayake said sustainable economic development goals cannot be accomplished without taking steps to mitigate climate change.

He said this while participating in the 10,000 sapling planting program organized by the LEO Youth Vision 2048 Club and the LEO Club at the Royal College, Colombo on Thursday (23rd).

This program was organized in view of President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s birthday, which is today (24), and the required plants were distributed to the main schools of the Colombo District.

News

SF claims thousands of police and military personnel leaving

Published

16 hours ago

2023/03/24

Thilina Walpola

By Saman Indrajith

Thousands of police and military personnel had left the services recently as they did not want to carry out illegal orders, Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka told Parliament yesterday. According to the war-winning army commander 200 policemen have resigned during the past two months and 25,000 soldiers have left the army during the last two years.

“We urged the law enforcement and military officials not to follow illegal orders. We will reinstate them with back pay,” he said.

Fonseka also urged the President and the government MPs not to take people for fools.

“Sri Lanka owes 55 billion dollars to the world. Ranil’s plan is to borrow another seven billion during the next four years. So, in four years we will owe 62 billion to the world.

Ranil and his ministers ask us what the alternative to borrowing is. These are the people who destroyed the economy and society. They must leave. Then, we will find an alternative and develop the country,” he said, adding that the IMF loans had made crises in other nations worse.

“Ranil says that by 2025, we will have a budget surplus as in Japan, Germany and South Korea. These countries are economic power houses, and this comparison is ludicrous.”