WNPs lecture looks at forgotten wildlife of the North and East

Dr. S. Wijeyamohan will talk on ‘Wildlife and Wilderness in the North - Largely ignored but of vital value’ in this month’s Wildlife and Nature Protection Society (WNPS) lecture on October 19 at the Jasmine Hall, BMICH at 6 p.m.

When the war ended in 2009, visitors to the North and the East were astonished at the sight of pristine forests, unlike many left in the remainder of the country, intact and beautiful. Vast tracts of forest and large numbers of wildlife had endured the 30-year conflict.

That was 14 years ago. Today, there are reports of rampant deforestation and the killing of wildlife. The human-elephant conflict has reached levels never seen before.

Yet, just as during the war, information on this barely trickles through to the general public who remain unaware that the nation’s natural wealth is being ravaged here, as it is in much of the rest of the island, at a rate never seen before. Are these areas, freed with considerable human and financial cost, all to be destroyed on the altar of greed?

Dr. S. Wijeyamohan is well known in conservation circles as someone who has long championed the cause of conservation in the North and the East. Specializing in wildlife ecology, conservation and management, he is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Bio-science of the University of Vavuniya. Though much of his work has been on human-elephant conflict (HEC), particularly in trialling low cost ‘hanging’ electric fencing for its mitigation, he has also campaigned for the preservation of all wildlife and the wilderness of these special areas.

A member of the IUCN Asian Elephant Group and of the IUCN Crocodile Specialists Group, he has numerous publications to his credit.

The lecture is supported by the Nations Trust Bank and open to both members and non-members, free of charge.