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Following a petition filed by the Wildlife and Nature Protection Society (WNPS), the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka has issued an Interim Order preventing the execution of the Gazette notification which lifts the protected status of a section belonging to the Vidattaltivu Forest Reserve in Mannar. Tamil Guardian reported on this last week where a tense situation ensued when Tamils brought up this matter during a district coordinating committee meeting.
Last month, Sri Lanka’s Minister of Wildlife and Forest Resources Conservation Pavithradevi Wanniarachchi issued an extraordinary gazette de-gazetting a section of the Vidattaltivu Nature Reserve to set up an aquaculture industrial farm. The Gazette, which is unavailable in Tamil or English but solely in Sinhala, cites that this section of land originally belonging to the Nature Reserve will no longer be considered part of the reserve. The proposed aquaculture industrial farm was projected to raise $1.3 billion for the Government. The appendix of the gazette has not been made public despite being issued in May, this year. The extent of the land and other details have been withheld.
In their petition, the WNPS argued that this action is illegal, threatens conservation efforts, and was done without proper transparency or due process. The WNPS further highlights the ecological importance of the area, especially the mangroves and seagrass that are within the reserve.
Annalingam Annarasa, Northern Provincial Coordinator of All Sri Lanka's Fishermen's Union told the committee that this was a covert scheme to sell Tamil lands to foreign companies. Although the importance of the nature reserve as Sri Lanka's best blue carbon protected area amid climate change was higlighted by the WNPS, Tamil homeland resources continue to be extracted for the enrichment of the majority community.
The Supreme Court having heard the submissions, issued interim orders staying and suspending the operation and validity of the Minister's order. It also deemed that the Minister and the other Respondents should maintain the status quo as of the date of the Petition.
More details on the Vidattaltivu Forest Reserve here,
