• PLANT Chairman Sriyan de Silva Wijeyeratne outlines how species conservation alone is not enough and that ecosystem conservation is the need of the hour

 For over 120 years, the Wildlife and Nature Protection Society of Sri Lanka (WNPS) has led the charge to protect and preserve the country’s exquisite wildlife. It is the WNPS that established the Wilpattu and Yala National Parks, among others, while also being instrumental in setting up the Department of Wildlife Conservation.

The newest initiative of the WNPS is Preserving Land and Nature (Guarantee) Limited (PLANT) Trust, which aims to acquire privately owned land for the purpose of conservation, in order to contribute towards creating reasonably connected corridors of protected natural spaces and forest ecosystems. PLANT, which was started in 2020, is all about preserving biodiversity for the now and for the future.

On Kaleidoscope this week was PLANT Chairman and former President of the WNPS Sriyan de Silva Wijeyeratne, who delved into what PLANT does and aims to do for the future of biodiversity conservation in Sri Lanka.

Following are excerpts from the interview:

Why PLANT and why now?

 Sometimes, an idea needs to have its time and an organisation that is ready to take it on and drive it forward. The stars need to align and come together for things to happen. The time has come for PLANT now.

WNPS has always been an ecosystem player. We created wildlife Parks and the relevant Department to ensure Wildlife preservation. This has always been our focus, our big picture. Species conservation alone is not enough – we need ecosystem conservation.

The more important aspect is the role of the private sector. For example, some very important areas like education and health, now have private sector engagement. In education, the private sector is producing people required to facilitate the growth of the country. So, why not ecosystem conservation? If we need and want to conserve what we have, the State sector cannot do it alone.

In other countries, private sector involvement is a tried and tested model. Sri Lanka also needs its private sector playing a big role in conservation and being the driver of that concept.

What is the overarching theme of PLANT?

There are three major aspects. The first would be ‘preservation is better than reforestation’ which is my take on ‘prevention is better than cure’, because we have a lot to preserve.

Secondly, we’re all about corridors. This is not about creating another Yala or another space, but rather about connecting already protected spaces so that animals have much broader ranges for movement.

We picked Emerald Trails, off the south west part of Sri Lanka, which is where 90% of the country’s endemic species thrive. It is also in this area that there are the most people and rapid development, which is why corridors are critical.

Thirdly, we see ourselves as a facilitator with partners. So, in essence, our objective is to drive more corridors by connecting two spaces with a corridor and bringing in more partners.

PLANT is about acquiring privately owned land. What are the challenges when it comes to this?

 The first thing is the archaic laws in the country. What we need right now is someone who will authorise the WNPS to acquire the land which falls into these corridor categories. The end goal is that we are trying to acquire land and give it back to nature, for conservation.

Another challenge is Sri Lanka’s lands being fragmented due to various reasons throughout history, which has resulted in there being no big land parcels. International donors typically seek bigger land blocks.

There are also the usual delays which hold up the start and end of any project. The difficulty to ascertain land ownership in some cases is also a problem.

Combine all these and the underlying political theme that enters these equations, often weaving their way into every area, makes it very tough, no matter how good our intentions are. We could be progressing faster if not for this but that’s the landscape that we are dealing with.

How important is the private sector in terms of biodiversity conservation?

 The private sector should be important and could be important, but right now, we’re not at the right place in the country for that to be the case.

Take the United Kingdom - the largest land owner is the Forestry Commission which has 2.1 million acres. The second highest is the National Trust and the National Trust for Scotland. The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds owns the fifth largest quantity of land with 300,000 acres. This is more than the royal family owns. Just imagine if our Forest/Forest Conservation Department owns at least 30–40% more land that is privately owned? What a boon for biodiversity conservation.

These countries have their high net worth individuals and large corporations funding these causes. Similarly, we need high net worth individuals and corporations being a part of this journey in Sri Lanka. We can’t do this on our own. The roadmap to success is clear as is the road that the private sector should be following.

How successful has PLANT been?

 It has been relatively very successful in some areas. One area is the footprint – our coverage is now more than 2,500 acres, which is way more than what we thought that we could achieve in two years. We work with our own land and lands belonging to our partners. Ownership doesn’t matter; it’s all about conservation.

We also have a great partner network. Hayleys PLC has been our largest land contributor. The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, United States, has helped us with our website. There’s also MAS Holdings and we just signed up with Spa Ceylon for some reforestation work. The Rainforest Trust and the Quick Response Fund for Nature are also in our international partner network.

We need more people however. We are growing fast and since we’re volunteer based, we need more hands on deck. We also need to build an institution to cater for capacity based work, which means that we need donors.

We have a long way to go but I’m extremely happy with our progress thus far.

Can we citizens help in any way?

 Absolutely. As an individual, by giving your time and skills, be it in knowledge, writing, and fieldwork, while people with science backgrounds will also be helpful. Citizens can contribute in different capacities.

There are even those who have written their land to us – blocks of land that they don’t use. It would be wonderful if some of those lands become a permanent part of Sri Lanka’s conservation landscape. There are those who write lands to religious institutions – why not for conservation? The birds and animals will sing their praises for generations to come.

There’s a vast acreage of biodiversity that sits outside our protected space. We need help in getting to these and protecting these sensitive land blocks.

Another is in research – companies which do their own research on land, plants, and various areas of knowledge could definitely help us.

What are the greatest threats facing Sri Lanka’s biodiversity?

A big challenge is the exploitation of ecosystems as there is no balance. We see that in Yala or in the mangrove networks, in many of our ecosystems. They are used way beyond their carrying capacity and as a result, the whole ecosystem is destroyed. This is because they are operated and maintained in an irresponsible manner.

For example, last year (2022), there was some discussion about taking an entire sector of the Sinharaja Forest Reserve and making it a reservoir, and another topic was building an expressway over the Thalangama wetlands. These are irresponsible decisions.

Then, there are illegal land grabs, unplanned settlements placed in elephant corridors, and the fragmentation of lands, which prevents animals from moving to and fro, leading to species extinction. These are all destroying our ecosystems.

Sri Lanka has about 114,000 kilometres of roads and wherever you go, you will see a lizard, snake, or bird kill. If you put one species every three kilometres, that’s about 20,000-30,000 species’ deaths per day, just on our roads. Thus is the impact of expanding human settlements.

Another threat is the expansion of agriculture - 27% of land was used for agriculture earlier but now it’s up to 50%. It’s not that this increase has helped our exports or food security in any way. Hence, we shouldn’t be taking conservation land away and using it for agriculture. Instead, we have to find a way to better utilise the land already being used in agriculture.

Climate change, pollution, plastic waste generation, invasive species, and military and religious implications on ecosystems all add up to a considerable number of threats impacting Sri Lanka’s biodiversity.

Who has the power to drive change?

 The President, Ministers and authorities are parts of one big player. If we are blessed with a visionary leader, a few powerful changes legitimately executed to completion could be the transformation for this country. There’s a lot of power vested there, and we can only hope for better times than what we’ve had.

Also, a powerfully empowered bureaucracy would be a boon. Unfortunately, we don’t see them testing those powers, and often, they fall well short of the powers that they could exercise for the sake of biodiversity conservation.

Public and international bodies also play a part and seem to be the only thread between order and chaos, because the authorities don’t come to the fore.

Corporate giants have the capacity to join the party in a different way. Right now, they’re looking inward, trying to minimise pollution and tick environmental, social and governance related boxes, as opposed to being a force for the better.

In other countries, we’ve seen big corporations staking their claim and pledging to drive massive change by donating a percentage of profit and working with various entities. We have not yet seen that kind of corporate leadership on the topic of biodiversity conservation.

What are the biggest problems that you face when it comes to holding and maintaining the people’s interest in wildlife conservation?

 The first biggest challenge is the economy. We don’t have enough models that offer enough employment to keep our talent engaged in the conservation journey. They need development and to progress economically. If we don’t have conservation funders, then, only a few will remain in the field to sustain what we do.

Conservation is by nature a long term journey and must be looked at through a multi-year horizon. The social dynamic of ‘quick and fast results’ will contribute to a loss of interest, fast.

We also badly need role models like David Attenboroughs of the world. We must have the ‘givers’, the entrepreneurs and corporate leaders fully committed on the conservation journey. If we have these role models, public support and interest will augment and the whole journey becomes easier for us to work towards our goals of ecosystem conservation.

(The writer is the host, director, and co-producer of the weekly digital programme ‘Kaleidoscope with Savithri Rodrigo’ which can be viewed on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn. She has over three decades of experience in print, electronic, and social media.)