While Yala National Park – Sri Lanka’s most-visited and second-largest national park – is famous for having one of the world’s highest leopard densities as well as being home to several endangered mammals such as elephants, Sri Lankan sloth bears and wild water buffaloes, it is far less known that massive deforestation is encroaching on its borders.

‘Mother Nature is taking a break’, is now a common phrase seen on social media during the coronavirus lockdown. These words stem from the fact that we now have much better air quality because of the lack of vehicles in otherwise smog-filled cities. Whilst nature might seem to be suffering less on the surface, recent reported incidents of poaching and violence against rangers in National Parks show that illegal activities are now rampant in sensitive eco-systems.

It was a dry Wednesday with very little catch in the lagoon's murky polluted waters. As Kumara moored his rundown fishing boat amidst the mangroves the unmistakable smell of smoke rose around him. He was unconcerned, as this was the norm, fires would be lit and doused and then more garbage dumped. However, reaching his house he was surprised to find it enveloped in smoke with his invalid wife outside. Acting fast he lifted his wife and carried her outside through the garbage paved path, to the main road for fresh air. be fore heading back towards the flames, to save his boat.

The Zero Waste movement is a lifestyle trend which many people have adopted globally to combat waste. Whilst no zero waste household is literally ‘zero’ in its waste generation, it is an ideal that they aspire to achieve by aiming to send very little to a landfill, by reducing what they need, reusing as much as they can and sending little to be recycled and composting all biodegradable waste. Achini Wijesinghe and Thushara Dasanayake popularly known as the ‘Zero Waste People’ are a couple that has taken up this challenge in Sri Lanka, their Instagram page which was started in September 2019 has quickly gained almost two thousand followers and depicts the everyday challenges they face as well as the sustainable alternatives they find.

Plastic is everywhere. The ubiquitous material that was once called the world’s most useful substance has now become a nuisance in its permanence. Plastic is now strewn across our lands, in our waterways and have also contaminated our oceans. However, few know that plastic is also ingested by us on a regular basis. An awareness programme conducted by the Ministry of Environment revealed that one person ingests around 1669 pieces of microplastics per week, which is equivalent to eating a credit card.

Studies have shown that one person ingests around 5 grams of microplastic per week, which is equivalent to eating a credit card a week, said General Manager of the Marine Environment Protection Authority, Dr. Terney Pradeep Kumara yesterday (14).

Sand mining is the act of mining sand for commercial purposes. To many, these words usually do not strike the same chord of dismay as wildlife trafficking, or natural disasters. Marketed as a seemingly innocent lucrative business, particularly by politicians, sand mining has now become a mafia threatening to ruin the island’s ecosystem as well as economy.

Sri Lanka was Wednesday (4) ranked the sixth most vulnerable country in the Climate Risk Index 2020 by environmental think tank Germanwatch.

Sri Lanka's elephants are being displaced due to rash Government resolutions, Conservationist Rukshan Jayawardena said yesterday (9).

“I don't want your hope. I want you to panic. I want you to feel the fear I do. Every day. And want you to act. I want you to behave like our house is on fire. Because it is.” - Greta Thunberg These are the words of 16 year-old Swedish environmental activist, Greta Thunberg who pioneered the Global Climate Strikes. These Climate Strikes have since then become a rising phenomenon across the world to call for stronger action to mitigate the threats posed to the world by Climate Breakdown.

Sri Lanka was once a country with more than 80 per cent forest coverage, however with rapid population growth and ‘development’ our forest coverage is now decreasing at an alarming rate. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization by the end of 2005, Sri Lanka became the fourth worst deforesting country in the world. Amidst this furious rate of deforestation, the 30 yearlong civil war inadvertently kept the forests to the North of the country significantly safe. However, fast forward to the present with the end of the three decade-long brutal war, much of the North has also significantly lost its forest coverage.

A generation ago when the very first mobile phone was introduced, it became a cherished item for those who could afford it. However, nowadays the average person uses a mobile for a maximum of two and a half years before they move on to a newer model. This abundance of technology now contributes to one of the fastest growing waste segments; electronic waste.

Sri Lanka is blessed with the best of both worlds; in land and in the sea. We are the proud home of the largest majestic creature on land; the elephant, as well as the largest mammal in the sea, the blue whale. However, both of these animals are being threatened through pollution and habitat destruction caused by mankind. Speaking at a public lecture organized by the Wildlife and Nature Protection Society, Marine Biologist Dr. Asha de Vos elaborated on the issues faced by whales off the Sri Lankan coast.

Sri Lanka is a country that has faced many a disaster; be it man-made or natural. The people of this island are no strangers to landslides, floods, droughts, and even tsunamis. However, despite decades of harrowing experiences, we are still the least prepared.

Multicolored coral reefs swarming with billions of lives surrounded our beautiful isle in the past. But today upon visit to the deep blue depths that surround the country, one would be lucky enough to find a precious few intact. In the rare event that someone dives in to our seas to look at these marvels they might also be unlucky enough to hear an explosion shattering a coral reef into pieces, instantly decimating years of Mother Nature’s work.

Colombo has now become the hotspot for a myriad of different weather conditions. On a typical day out in the city, a person can now experience mild to scorching sun, flash rains and even thunder, all in a matter of a few hours. Last year, Sri Lanka was ranked as the second most vulnerable country to climate change, in the‘Global Climate Risk Index 2019’, published by Germanwatch whilst the World Bank states that approximately 19 million people in the island live in locations that would become moderate or severe climate hot spots by 2050.

As an island nation in the Indian Ocean, Sri Lankans were once proud owners of glimmering golden beaches that would stretch as far as the eye could see. But alas, the beaches that we claim to have today are far from pristine. The copper hued sand that once gave the island its name is now littered with plastic which then go on to pollute the depths of the ocean.

The story of oceans is the story of life. A defining factor of our planet, Earth’s nickname ‘Blue Planet’ is derived from the sheer abundance of water on its surface; of which 96.5 per cent is contained in oceans. Our oceans also provide the air we breathe and produces over half of the world’s oxygen and absorbs 50 times more carbon dioxide than the atmosphere. They also regulate our climate and weather patterns, by transporting heat from the equator to the poles.