Environmental damage to Southern coastal belt

This includes the tourist zones of Bentota, Balapitiya, Ambalangoda, Hikkaduwa, Galle and Habaraduwa divisions

Galle District Director of Planning and Plan Implementation Pushpa Malalasekara said the coastal belt and the forests and shrub jungle to a distance of several miles interior had been undergoing extensive environmental damage due to human activities.

Commenting on the proposed two year National Environmental Conservation plan for 2016/ 2018 she told the District Environmental Committee that the area from Bentota to Goviyapana in Ahangama was the worst affected.

“This includes the tourist zones of Bentota, Balapitiya, Ambalangoda, Hikkaduwa, Galle and Habaraduwa divisions. Extensive damage has been caused to the Unawatuna beach which was by haphazard sand mining, unauthorized constructions and dumping of garbage. Artificial beaches constructed at several locations have changed the natural course of currents and silted the coral reefs. Meanwhile the free flow of canals in Hikkaduwa has been obstructed due to human activities, while sea erosion was going on unchecked due to the damage caused to the mangroves. Squatters have caused extensive damage to state forests, shrub jungles and marshy land,” she said. She stressed that the Coast Conservation Department, the Forest Conservation Department, the Environmental Authority, Marine Conservation Authority, the local authorities and the divisional secretariats should put their heads together and work out a mechanism to change this situation under the proposed national environmental conservation plan.