Connect with us

Features

THE WILDLIFE & NATURE PROTECTION SOCIETY:

Published

on

130 years of dedication to Wildlife and Ecosystem Conservation

In 1894, when the Game Protection Society of Ceylon was established by a group of British colonialists who recognized that the local wildlife and their habitats were beginning to disappear, they could not have foreseen the monumental organization it would become a century later. Gratitude is due to those early pioneers and their successors who laid the foundation for modern conservation in Sri Lanka and for the creation of the Wildlife & Nature Protection Society (WNPS).

Over the years, the WNPS had had to adapt, and grow, as the human population of the island soared and increased development placed greater pressures on the wilderness and its wild inhabitants. The greatest threat to wildlife now is from unplanned development resulting in encroachment into natural habitat, and the destruction of hitherto balanced ecosystems. Where once the Society had to deal with a major issue or two during the course of a year, problems now arise on a daily basis, from the length and breadth of the country, from marine to terrestrial, from mountain to coast, and the WNPS has to respond to as many as it can; its history demands it of it.

There was a time, even a decade ago, when the Head Office of the WNPS had just three or four officers to administer it. No longer, for the volume of work is such that a team of 31 are now necessary to undertake its basic functions. There was a time when the Society could manage with just three permanent sub-committees to cater to the conservation issues of the time i.e. a Human-Elephant Conflict, Conservation, and Environment. Today, Conservation has had to be broken up into all of its myriad components as each area faces threat. Yet, the Society also finds the resources to maintain its bungalows, conduct its monthly Public Lecture Series, take its members on expertly guided trips to wild destinations, and continue to publish its journals, Loris and Warana, leading wildlife publications of today.

Who pays?

This begs the question of where is the funding found for all of this? The subscriptions of its registered Members cannot. Instead, the funds are found by the hard work of the Executive Committee in finding donors for each and every function of the Society. Where just a few years ago it was thought an achievement if an amount of four or five million rupees could be raised during the course of a year, a couple of hundred million are now required to sustain the work of the Society, and it is being found. This is not just a tribute to the hard work and commitment of the Committee, but also to the increased understanding, especially in the corporate world, that Nature and Wildlife must be protected for the benefit of humankind, and they have begun to give generously towards this cause. However, they do demand accountability and the Society must ensure that it not only provides this, but adds value to the projects that it is involved in.

The volume of work

The summary given below clearly illustrates the multitude of projects of the Society in 2023:

1. Mangrove Restoration – The WNPS played an instrumental role in Sri Lanka being declared a UN World Restoration Flagship. The Society spearheaded the Nation’s mangrove restoration efforts through a science-based, collaborative approach at the Anawilundawa Accelerated Natural Regeneration of Mangroves Project (ANRM).

2. Empowering Conservation Conversations: The NTB WNPS monthly lectures serve as a dynamic platform for knowledge dissemination and community engagement. The impact is multifaceted, ranging from heightened awareness and informed decision-making to inspiring

direct involvement in conservation initiatives. By addressing diverse topics and perspectives, these lectures contribute significantly to shaping a more environmentally conscious and proactive society in Sri Lanka.

3. PLANT – Since its establishment in 2020, PLANT has led the nation’s most progressive habitat conservation effort to take place in the last few decades. This involves the monumental collaboration for conservation, through which 2500 acres of forest, 15 Kms of forest corridor, and countless species, are now under the Society’s protection.

4. HEC – not only is this Committee working hard to stop the escalating deaths of wild elephants, but is also trying to change local community perspectives of this endangered species by actively engaging with them, particularly with farmers, to protect them and their livelihoods. The Society is testing a low cost Light Repel System (LRS) to keep elephants out of villages and cultivations, is working with academia and the Department of Wildlife Conservation (DWC) to develop a special collar that will keep persistent male elephants away from these places, and has also undertaken a microbial study of elephants in the Elephant Transit Home (ETH) to try and determine the safe antibiotics for use on elephants. The HEC Report has already been referred to in the CNN article on the plight of our Elephants (see https://cnn.it/3w0puXc?cid=ios_app).

5. Wildcats – The WNPS/LOLC Multi Regional Monitoring System is Sri Lanka’s most comprehensive effort to support the conservation of leopards and other wildcats outside protected areas. 100 awareness building programmes were conducted across areas of high human-leopard interaction, with over 9,200 participants island-wide.

6. Endemics – Recognising the importance of preserving Sri Lanka’s rich biodiversity, the WNPS and Hemas Holdings PLC have partnered in an ambitious project to preserve, often overlooked, critically endangered endemic species. In 2023, 10 new projects to protect three faunal and seven plant species commenced, with five more projects added to the pipeline at the end of the year.

7. Saving Mannar – The WNPS leads the charge in the battle for Mannar, by mobilising media, communities, individuals, and many others to urge the authorities to bring a halt to the massive damage being caused by the proposed Adani Mannar Windfarm. The WNPS stands ready to take on giants to safeguard this island’s resources, and to ensure that this vital migratory hub remains protected.

8. Toque Monkey – The WNPS played a leading role in the global campaign to prevent the Government’s ill-conceived plan to export 100,000 toque macaques to China. Assisted by the collective strength of countless like-minded partners including 176 global conservation organisations, this campaign led to the plan being abandoned, for now.

9. Youth Wing – The WNPS Youth Wing continues to nurture Sri Lanka’s next generation of conservationists through wide-ranging engagement programmes conducted throughout the year. In its ambition to build a better tomorrow, the Youth Wing conducted 42 school programmes with 5,665 participants, trained 73 youth climate leaders, and initiated several interventions and sustainability projects across the island.

The above is a mere snapshot of all that was done by WNPS in 2023, and continues to do with the guidance of science, and the passion and commitment of a dedicated few. If this is to continue, many more are needed to join them, to ensure that generations to come experience, benefit from, and marvel, at the wonders of Sri Lanka’s Natural Heritage. Only then will the future be better, for us all.

(For the full Annual Report for 2023, with greater detail of all of the above, and more, click on the link https://www.wnpssl.org/pdf/annual-reports/wnps-ar-2023_web.pdf).



Continue Reading
Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Features

USAID and NGOS under siege

Published

on

A file photo of the USAID signage being removed in Washington

by Jehan Perera

The virtually overnight  suspension of the U.S. government’s multibillion dollar foreign aid programme channeled through USAID has been headline news in the U.S. and in other parts of the world where this aid has been very important.  In the U.S. itself the suspension of USAID programmes has been accompanied by large scale loss of jobs in the aid sector without due notice.  In areas of the world where U.S. aid was playing an important role, such as in mitigating conditions of famine or war, the impact is life threatening to large numbers of hapless people.  In Sri Lanka, however, the suspension of U.S. aid has made the headlines for an entirely different reason.

U.S. government authorities have been asserting that the reason for the suspension of the foreign aid programme is due to various reasons, including inefficiency and misuse that goes against the present government’s policy and is not in the U.S. national interest.  This has enabled politicians in Sri Lanka who played leading roles in previous governments, but are now under investigation for misdeeds associated with their periods of governance, to divert attention from themselves.  These former leaders of government are alleging that they were forced out of office prematurely due to the machination of NGOs that had been funded by USAID and not because of the misgovernance and corruption they were accused of.

 In the early months of 2022, hundreds of thousands of people poured out onto the streets of Sri Lanka in  all parts of the country demanding the exit of the then government.  The Aragalaya protests became an unstoppable movement due the unprecedented economic hardships that the general population was being subjected to at that time.  The protestors believed that those in the government had stolen the country’s wealth.  The onset of economic bankruptcy meant that the government did not have foreign exchange (dollars) to pay for essential imports, including fuel, food and medicine.  People died of exhaustion after waiting hours and even days in queues for petrol and in hospitals due to lack of medicine.

PROBING NGOS 

There have been demands by some of the former government leaders who are currently under investigation that USAID funding to Sri Lanka should be probed.  The new NPP government has responded to this demand by delegating the task to the government’s National NGO Secretariat.  This is the state institution that is tasked with collecting information from the NGOs registered with it about their quantum and sources of funding and what they do with it for the betterment of the people.  Public Security Minister Ananda Wijepala has said he would deal with allegations over USAID funding in Sri Lanka, and for that he had sought a report from the NGO Secretariat which is operating under his Ministry.

 Most donor agencies operating in Sri Lanka, including USAID, have rigorous processes which they follow in disbursing funds to NGOs.   Usually, the donor agency will issue a call for proposals which specify their areas of interest.  NGOs have to compete to obtain these funds, stating what they will do with it in considerable detail, and the impact it will have.  Once the grant is awarded, the NGOs are required to submit regular reports of work they have done.  The donor agencies generally insist that reputed audit firms, preferably with international reputations, perform regular annual or even six-monthly audits of funds provided.  They may even send independent external monitors to evaluate the impact of the projects they have supported.

 The value of work done by NGOs is that they often take on unpopular and difficult tasks that do not have mass appeal but are essential for a more just and inclusive society.  Mahatma Gandhi who started the Sarvodaya (meaning, the wellbeing of all) Movement in India was inspired by the English philosopher John Ruskin who wrote in 1860 that a good society was one that would care for the very last member in it.   The ideal that many NGOs strive for, whether in child care, sanitation, economic  development or peacebuilding is that everyone is included and no one is excluded from society’s protection, in which the government necessarily plays a lead role.

 SELF-INTEREST

 Ironically, those who now demand that USAID funds and those organisations that obtained such funds be investigated were themselves in government when USAID was providing such funds.  The National NGO Secretariat was in existence doing its work  of monitoring the activities of NGOs then.  Donor agencies, such as USAID, have stringent policies that prevent funds they provide being used for partisan political purposes.  This accounts for the fact that when NGOs invite politicians to attend their events, they make it a point to invite those from both the government and opposition, so that their work is not seen as being narrowly politically partisan.

 The present situation is a very difficult one for NGOs in Sri Lanka and worldwide.  USAID was the biggest donor agency by far, and the sudden suspension of its funds has meant that many NGOs have had to retrench staff, stop much of their work and some have even closed down.  It appears that the international world order is becoming more openly based on self-interest, where national interests take precedence over global interests, and the interests of the wealthy segments of society take precedence over the interests of the people in general.  This is not a healthy situation for human beings or for civilisation as the founders of the world religions knew with their consistent message that the interests of others, of the neighbour, of all living beings be prioritised.

 In 1968, when the liberal ideas of universal rights were more dominant in the international system, Garrett Hardin, an evolutionary biologist, wrote a paper called “The Tragedy of the Commons”.  Hardin used an example of sheep grazing land when describing the adverse effects of overpopulation. He referred to a situation where individuals, acting in their own self-interest, overexploit a shared resource, like a pasture or fishery, leading to its depletion and eventual destruction, even though it is detrimental to everyone in the long run; essentially, the freedom to use a common resource without regulation can lead to its ruin for all users.   The world appears to be heading in that direction.  In these circumstances, the work of  those, who seek the wellbeing of all, needs to be strengthened and not undermined.

Continue Reading

Features

Dealing with sexual-and gender-based violence in universities

Published

on

Out of the Shadows:

By Nicola Perera

Despite policy interventions at the University Grants Commission (UGC), university, and faculty levels, sexual- and gender-based violence (SGBV) is so entrenched in the system that victim-survivors seeking justice are more likely to experience concerted pushback than the empathetic solidarity of their peers. Colleagues and friends will often close ranks, rallying to protect the accused under misguided notions of safeguarding the reputation of, not merely the assumed perpetrator, but the institution. While gender and sexual inequalities, inflected by class, ethnicity, religion, region, and other characteristics, shape the identities of the perpetrator and victim and the situation of abuse, the hyper-hierarchised nature of the university space itself enables and conceals such violence. It’s also important to note that women are not the exclusive victims of violence; boys and men are caught in violent dynamics, too.

Similar to intimate partner violence in the private confines of home and family, violence attributed to the sex and gender of abusers and victims in our universities goes heavily underreported. The numerous power imbalances structuring the university – between staff and students; academic staff versus non-academic staff; senior academic professionals as opposed to junior academics; or, senior students in contrast to younger students – also prevent survivors from seeking redress for fear of professional and personal repercussions. Research by the UGC in 2015 in collaboration with the Federation of University Teachers’ Associations (FUTA) and CARE International Sri Lanka, and more recently with UNICEF in 2021, revealed discomfiting truths about the university as places of work and education. In naming oneself as a survivor-victim, even within whatever degree of confidentiality that current grievance mechanisms offer, the individual may also represent (to some members of the university community, if not to the establishment itself) a threat to the system.

Conversely, an accused is liable to not just disciplinary action by their university-employer, but to criminal prosecution by the state. Via the Penal Code, the Prevention of Domestic Violence Act (2005), etc., the law recognises SGBV as an offence that can take place across many contexts in the private and public spheres. (The criminalisation of SGBV is in line with state commitments to ensuring the existence, safety, and dignity of women and girls under a host of international agreements, such as the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women, Vienna Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women, the Sustainable Development Goals, International Labour Organisation conventions regarding non-discrimination in employment, etc.). Specific to the university, the so-called anti-ragging act (the Prohibition of Ragging and Other Forms of Violence in Education Institutes Act of 1998, in addition to UGC circular no. 919 of 2010, etc.) deems SGBV as a punishable offence. The rag is one site where SGBV often finds fluent articulation, but it is hardly the only one: this is not a problem with just our students.

As the apex body governing higher education in the country, the UGC has not remained insensible to the fact that SGBV harms the lives, rights, and work of students, staff, (and other parties) in university spaces. The Centre for Gender Equity/Equality sits at the UGC level, along with gender cells/committees in individual universities. Universities and faculties have elaborated their own policies and bylaws to address sexual- or gender-based harassment and sexual violence. Although variously articulated, these policies touch on issues of consent; discrimination against a person, or creation of a hostile environment, on the basis of their gender or sexuality; the spectrum of actions that may constitute harassment/violence (including through the use of technology); coerced or voluntary sexual favours as a quid-pro-quo for academic or professional benefits; procedures for making and investigating SGBV complaints; protection of witnesses to an investigation; the irrelevance of the complainant’s sexual history to the complaint at hand. And here begins the inevitable tale of distance between policy, practice, and effect.

Different faculties of the same university may or may not include SGBV awareness/ training in the annual orientation for new students. The faculty’s SGBV policy may or may not appear in all three languages and Braille in student handbooks. Staff Development Centres training new recruits in outcome-based education and intended learning outcomes may or may not look at (or even realise) the politics of education, nor include an SGBV component in its Human Resources modules. Universities may or may not dedicate increasingly stretched resources to training workshops on SGBV for staff, or cover everyone from academics, to administrative staff, to the marshals, to maintenance staff, to hostel wardens.

Workshops may in any case only draw a core of participants, mostly young, mostly women. Instead, groups of male academics (aided sometimes by women colleagues) will actively organise against any gender policy which they construe as a personal affront to their professional stature. Instead, the outspoken women academic is painted as a troublemaker. Existing policy fails to address such discourse, and other normalised microaggressions and subtle harassment which create a difficult environment for gender and sexual minorities. In fact, the implementation of gender policy at all may rest on the critical presence of an individual (inevitably a woman) in a position of power. Gender equality in the university at any point appears to rest on the convictions and labour of a handful of (mostly women) staff or officials.

The effect is the tediously heteropatriarchal spaces that staff and students inhabit, spaces which whether we acknowledge them as such or not, are imbued with the potential, the threat of violence for those on the margins. The effect, as Ramya Kumar writing earlier in this column states, is the inability of our LGBTQI students and staff to be their authentic selves, except to a few confidantes. Since the absence/rarity of SGBV complaints is no evidence that the phenomenon does not exist, perhaps a truer indication of how gender-sensitised our institutions and personnel are, comes back again to the reception of such complaints. Thus, a woman accuser is frequently portrayed as the archetypal scorned woman: abuse is rewritten not just as consent, but a premeditated transaction of sexual relations in exchange for better grades, a secured promotion, and so on. A situation of abuse becomes inscribed as one of seduction, where the accuser basically changes their tune and cries harassment or rape when the expected gains fail to materialise. Especially with the global backlash to MeToo, society is preoccupied with the ‘false accusation,’ even though there is plenty of evidence that few incidents of SGBV are reported, and fewer still are successfully prosecuted. These misogynist tropes of women and women’s sexuality matter in relation to SGBV in university, because Faculty Boards, investigative committees, Senates, and Councils will be as equally susceptible to them as any citizen or juror in a court of law. They matter in placing the burden of documenting abuse/harassment as it takes place on the victim-survivor, to accumulate evidence that will pass muster before a ‘neutral,’ ‘objective’ observer.

At the end of the day, when appointments to gender committees may be handpicked to not rock the boat, or any university Council may dismiss a proven case of SGBV on a technicality, the strongest policies, the most robust mechanisms and procedures are rendered ineffective, unless those who hold power in everyday dealings with students and persons in subordinate positions at the university also change.

(Nicola Perera teaches English as a second language at the University of Colombo.)

Kuppi is a politics and pedagogy happening on the margins of the lecture hall that parodies, subverts, and simultaneously reaffirms social hierarchies.

Continue Reading

Features

4th Feb. celebrations…with Mirage in the scene

Published

on

Mirage: Singing the National Anthem…in the Seychelles (L) / A proud moment for Mirage (R)

There were celebrations everywhere, connected with our 77th Independence Day, and in the Seychelles, too, it was a special happening.

Perhaps, it was also the very first occasion where the group Mirage found themselves in the spotlight, at an Independence Day event, and singing the National Anthem, as well.

It all happened on Tuesday, 4th February, in Silhouette Island, in the Seychelles.

Sri Lankans, plus the locals, joined in the celebrations, which included the hoisting of the National Flag, by the General Manager of the Hilton Seychelles Labriz Resort & Spa, Marc Schumacher, the singing of the National Anthem, and the usual Sri Lankan delicacies, connected with such special occasions.

The National Anthem, led by Mirage, was sung with enthusiasm, and pride, by the crowd present, waving the National Flag.

Hoisting of the National Flag (L) / General Manager of the Hilton Seychelles Labriz Resort & Spa (R)

Mirage also did the Valentine’s Day scene, on 14th February, at the Labriz Lounge.

The group has turned out to be a favourite with the folks in the Seychelles. and the management at the Lo Brizan restaurant and pub, where the group performs six nights a week, is keen for the band to return, in December, for another stint at Lo Brizan.

This is the group’s second visit to the Seychelles and they are now due home on the 19th of this month.

They have already got a big assignment on the cards, in Colombo, where they would be seen in action at ‘Legends of Ceylon,’ scheduled for 19th March, doing the needful for some of the legends in the local music scene – Joey Lewis, Dalrene, Manilal, Gefforey Fernando, Mignonne and Sohan.

Continue Reading

Trending