A critical area of biodiversity
Sri Lanka is the Asian country with the highest concentration of species in its territory. It owes this to its diversity of ecosystems, ranging from the mountainous reliefs in the center, to the 1,620 km of coastline, and of course the tropical rainforest. Monkeys, turtles, leopards, elephants, buffaloes, dolphins... Many species are born in the island state, including an exceptional number of endemic species. The most outstanding is the Sri Lankan elephant, which is also the pet of the royal family. Like other animals, the concentration of elephants is very high in the country: it is even the highest density in Asia. Unfortunately, their decline is proportional. From 19,000 specimens at the beginning of the 19th century, there are now only 7,500 individuals. For other species, too, the figures are staggering: 27% of birds, 66% of amphibians, 56% of mammals, 49% of freshwater fish and 59% of reptiles are also threatened. This is quite something for a country with a long Buddhist tradition. Originally sacred and venerated, living beings are now in decline. The main dangers for them are the loss of their habitat, notably through deforestation, the introduction of invasive species, human development and pollution.
Deforestation, a major concern
The figures speak for themselves: while nearly 82% of the territory was covered by forest in 1882, this ratio has dropped dramatically to 16% in 2019. It is not only the extent of the phenomenon that is worrying, but also its speed. In 2017, the forested area still represented almost 30% of the territory, which means that two short years were almost enough to divide it by two. It must be said that deforestation is taking place at a frantic pace of nearly 27,000 hectares razed annually in the 1990s.
The culprits are agriculture, especially tea production, urbanization, but also the exploitation of resources, especially wood, an important pillar of the economy. The government of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has pledged to return to 30% of the country's land area being forested within five years. This ambitious promise is accompanied by an even bolder environmental policy plan.
The failure of environmental policies
In introducing the Vistas of Splendor plan, the President has positioned the environment as one of the ten priorities of his term. At a time when Sri Lanka is going through a major economic and political crisis, not all of these measures are viewed positively. The sudden ban on chemical fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides and fungicides in particular, has had a colossal impact on the hostility of citizens to the government, as it has led to a huge drop in yields: -40% of tea and -20% of rice in just six months, in a country largely dependent on agriculture, putting it at risk of famine and bringing it a little closer to bankruptcy. This sudden and unexpected ban was not followed by educational programs either, so that farmers, who had been using chemicals for decades, were unable to adapt. Soon, supermarkets had to go so far as to implement rationing to avoid starvation, just barely. This measure is partly responsible for the colossal food and financial crisis that Sri Lanka is still experiencing. In November 2021, after weeks of food market inflation and protests, Sri Lanka abandoned its plans to become the first 100% organic country.
Twenty-six natural parks for as many experiences
The first nature reserve in the world is considered to be Sri Lankan, dating back to the 3rd century BC. In the dagoba ofAnuradhapura, one can indeed read on a stone: "formal prohibition to kill an animal within a radius of 35 km from the city". It was King Devanampiya Tissa who signed this decree, along with others prohibiting the hunting of birds or the fishing of fish in the lakes.
Today, the Wilpattu National Park is the largest national park, with an area of 1,317 km2, but also the oldest. With more than thirty wild mammals, the leopard is its most famous inhabitant, since this park has really become its stronghold.
The second largest park, Yalaeast (Kumana) National Park, is often recognized as the most beautiful in the country, even in Asia. It is bordered by the ocean, and includes caves, some of which were carved during the rock era, but also lagoons, grasslands and forests. As for the famous elephant, it is in the savannah ofUda Walawe National Park that we have the best chance to see it. It is estimated that there are 500 individuals. This park does not offer tropical forest, but rather large areas of savannah, which is why it is called "the (almost) African reserve of Sri Lanka".
An unprecedented ecological disaster
At the end of May 2021, an environmental disaster still labeled as the worst in Sri Lanka's history approached its shores, in the form of a Singaporean container ship named MV X-Press. As it was about to enter the port of Colombo, a fire broke out on board, probably induced by a leak from one of the 15,000 containers filled with nitric acid or fuel oil, highly flammable and extremely polluting products. While a towing attempt was underway after 13 days of fire, the stern finally broke off, starting an unprecedented marine ecological disaster. In addition to 25 tons of nitric acid, it contained 28 containers of plastics, 20 containers of lubricants, 350 tons of petroleum fuels, but also caustic soda. An explosive cocktail that seemed designed to annihilate marine life. Nearly 80,000 tons of plastic pellets were dumped into the ocean and deposited on at least 80 kilometers of coastline, resulting in a fishing ban in this region whose economy is highly dependent on it. The consequences were quickly felt. Only one month after the shipwreck, 40 turtle carcasses had already been counted on the Sri Lankan coastline, as well as a dozen dolphins burned by the chemicals, several species of fish and whales. Because of the micro-plastics, effects that cannot yet be measured are also feared in the long term.
