-
Wimalaweera Dissanayake says he would protect environment whether environmentalists tell him to or not
State Minister of Wildlife Protection, Adoption of Safety Measures including the Construction of Electrical Fences and Trenches, and Reforestation and Forest Resource Development Wimalaweera Dissanayake[/caption]
What is the main focus of your Ministry?
The environment has a complicated definition. Most people only talk about the forest and trees. But the environment is everything, including this building and the roads. Here, the most important thing that the Ministry focuses on is the human-elephant conflict. Other than that, we also look at toque macaques, monkeys, peacocks, and grizzled giant squirrels and their conflict with humans and crops. Thirty percent of the food supply is wasted every year due to them. So the country cannot move forward due to this situation. Other than that, elephants also cause human deaths, destroy homes, and they themselves die due to the HEC. To minimise the harm, what are the measures we can take? For example, when you take a home that a person has built for 25 years, an elephant can destroy it in five minutes. We only pay Rs. 100,000 as compensation. Is that fair? Can you build a home with Rs. 100,000? We can’t even build a toilet with that money. So, people get poorer due to these conflicts. This is a national problem, not restricted to one place. That is why we have put more focus on minimising the HEC.
What specific measures will you take or have you taken to solve the HEC?
We are going to build a new 1,500 km-long fence. This affects 17 districts in Sri Lanka. This is a traditional fence. However, the problem cannot be solved on merely the traditional fence. This is why we assigned a 4,000-person-strong civil defence force – specifically for this problem. However, that was not very successful either. So we are looking at new, modern ways of solving this problem. We can modify the fence and we are conducting experiments to do it. There are some instances where we can see it being successful.
This week, a Danish engineer introduced us to (the areas of) Wellawaya (and) Anapallama. There, the sound waves are emitted by the equipment 10 metres ahead, and the elephant does not approach due to these sound waves. This was an experiment that’s being conducted over 11-and-a-half months now. We are also joining forces with the Ministry of Transport where they give us stones and sand for the “ali agalaya”. To reduce the cost in Ampara and Anuradhapura, we are requesting the help of the Army and Navy. Sometimes, we have to put in tenders.
Farmers in Walsapugala have engaged in protests for over 60 days now, asking for the gazette for the elephant management reserve. Will that process be expedited? When will the gazette be released? Why has it not been released yet?
As farmers, it is good that they are thinking of an elephant management reserve where elephants can live peacefully, separate from them. It is an area of 50,000 acres in the Monaragala and Hambantota Districts. We have started work to build it. But I do not completely understand what they are saying, because gazettes cannot be immediately printed sometimes. This is a joint cabinet paper from the Mahaweli Authority and us. We have to discuss our problems and come to an agreement on the regulations. We cannot do it immediately, just because they are sitting there. (The) Mahaweli (Authority) has told us they want a 2,900 hectare land from the reserve area. After we give that, we have 50,000 acres remaining. From our side, all discussions are concluded. However, there is a small problem that arises where some elephant corridors are part of the land that the Mahaweli (Authority) is requesting.
Is it difficult to do this job because of the many institutions?
No, we work together: (The) Mahaweli (Authority and the Ministry of) Wildlife and Forest Conservation.
Whom do you report to? Is it difficult to work with two other ministries?
No, we are requested to work together. The Ministry of Environment is usually in charge of policymaking. However, we have had no problem up to now. Minister (Mahinda) Amaraweera is understanding. Subjects have also been gazetted specifically to me. We do not check who is the boss, we just work together. That is not the problem – the big noise of “cutting, cutting” or “killing, killing.” That is the lie here.
Are you referring to the concerns of environmentalists?
Don't environmentalists have any other job? Is this their job? If this is their job, then they are someone else’s tool. I am not completely saying they have ulterior motivations. There may be some genuine environmentalists too. But even if they tell us or not, we would anyway protect the environment and wildlife. These regulations were anyway made by the colonisers – they did not do it because of the environmentalists. Why do they only shout about things here? Take (the) Amazon (Rainforest) – how many acres were destroyed due to the recent wildfires? Quite possibly millions of acres. The environmental problem is not just one country’s problem. Saving the environment must be a collective effort by the entire world.
Environmentalists and wildlife officers have raised concerns about President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s “Gama Samaga Pilisandarak” programmes, claiming that he encourages deforestation. What are your thoughts on this matter?
The only thing the President is saying is to continue cultivations in lands that are already cultivated. He does not encourage new deforestation; only to cultivate small crops during the rainy season in the year. Is there anything wrong in innocent people earning a living through that? How can people from Colombo, in urban environments, dictate to villagers how to live? They have to live an entire year on the year’s crops. If their corn is eaten by the elephants, they would not be able to live that year. Colombo’s romantic, synthetic dreamers cannot understand this or do not even try to understand this. Colombo people might be able to dream but they do not know the practical situation.
This Government works for both the people and animals. If you take the President, he does not even eat dry fish. I do not eat even dry fish either. I do not kill a mosquito either. I am better than the media and Facebook posts (make me out to be). I do not live in my own house – I live in a rented house. There is a small garden and I keep it as green as possible even in Ampara. Some months, my water bill is even Rs. 26,000. I keep the ground wet and green. I keep five stray dogs as well. There is one dog who is paralysed; I spend a lot of money to keep him alive. This is why I believe that nobody needs to teach me how to love animals.
If we take Devani Jayathilake, the forest officer, is she an angel? Then, are we destroyers? She also lied saying that the Crudia zeylanica in Mirigama is the only plant of that type in Sri Lanka and the monk went and tied a rope around it. There are 12 of the same plant in the Botanical Gardens as well. They just try to destroy the nation with their words – the media also just write what other people say. Wherever the media is, there is myth there. We do not have to govern the way the media wants. I have done politics for 25 years and live in a rented house, with no money in my bank; then I am not afraid of any son of a b***h.