WNPS zooms in on the plight of Lanka’s mangroves

‘Do or do not, there is no try: Mangroves and their future’ the Wildlife and Nature Protection Society’s (WNPS) monthly lecture for July will be delivered online by Dr Sevvandi Jayakody at 6 p.m. on July16 via Zoom.

Register online at https:// forms.gle/ Ks5TRqm13pqgZ3Mo9

Mangroves are a group of trees and shrubs that live in the coastal intertidal zone. The mangrove ecosystem consists in addition to mangrove plants (true mangroves), of other plants commonly found in coastal areas (mangrove associates), micro and macro fauna adopted to live permanently or seasonally within this ecosystem, as well as the unique physiochemical conditions created by tides, fresh water flows and silt.

Sri Lanka is home to 1/3rd of the known mangroves in the world, but sadly, coastal development has shrunk the mangrove cover to less than 15,000 hectares and badly fragmented and destroyed connectivity.

Pressure to clear pristine mangrove areas to expand aquaculture and salterns continues, and industry is even eyeing the degazetting of already protected areas such as Vidaththalaithiv. Impacts of waste accumulation, sand mining, river diversions, invasives, land grab and unsustainable fishing escalate yearly. The current situation is a clear demonstration of conflict of interests and disregard of the true value of natural capital.

Dr Sevvandi Jayakody PhD, competed a BSc ( Hons.) in Zoology from the University of Kelaniya, Post Graduate Diploma in Wildlife Management and Conservation from the Wildlife Institute of India and a PhD in Zoology from University of Aberdeen, UK. Her post- doctoral research was at SCIRO, Australia, James Hutton Institute, Scotland and IDRC, Canada.

She joined the Department of Wildlife Conservation as an Assistant Director in 1997 and currently serves as a Senior Lecturer Wayamba

University of Sri Lanka. She was the Coordinator for CITES CoP18 and currently is chairperson of the National Mangrove Expert Committee, a member of the Commonwealth Blue Carbon Initiative, the National Environmental Council and a Director of the Environmental Foundation Limited.

Her research interests include coastal ecosystem management, policy and impacts of human disturbance on ecosystem processes and functions.