Tuesday, February 28, 2006
Gilimale no more a safe haven
By Damitha Hemachandra
Certain death hangs over the Gilimale Forest Reserve where nearly 200 giants fell in the name of power.
Today the Gilimale Forest Reserve is no more a safe haven for many endemic and endangered flora and fauna. It had been ravaged by power crazy politicians and pusillanimous government officials, who visibly violated the Forest Ordinance (FO) and National Environment Act (NEA) by giving into the power play of politicians.
Thus Gilimale forest reserve, once rated among the top ten biodiversity hotspots in Sri Lanka, which in turn is rated among the top five Biodiversity hotspots in the world, is a giant dying a slow death, a fortress failing its small but important populace.
It all started in September 2004 when a quick clearance was given to a company to build a mini hydropower project (MHPP) within the Gillimale reserve after clearing its’ path through a mere Initial Environmental Examination (IEE), which is after the August 2000, amendments to the NEA is close to public scrutiny and comment.
Despite the fact that clearance of land within a Forest Reserve with a high environment importance would require a full Environment Impact Assessment (EIA), the Central Environment Authority (CEA) had rushed the IEE process, granting approval even without involving the Forest Department, which should have played the role of a project approval agency (PAA).
The Forest Department was kept in the dark during the project approval period although none can enter a forest reserve without the approval of the Chief Forest Conservator.
Not only an IEE was heavily inadequate to portray the environment importance of the Gilimale Forest Reserve but also the IEE approved by the CEA undermined the importance of Gillimale immensely.
Nowhere in the IEE it mentions that Gilimale is a part of an important ecological system including Horton Plains and Peak Wilderness, a water shed, which provides the lower country with a sustainable supply of water and it happily overlooks the fact that the reserve is the home to too many endemic and endangered flora and fauna species including all the 21 bird species endemic to the country, Stemanophorous Gilimalensis, an endemic endangered plant only found in Gilimale and Relic ant (Aneuretus simoni), a living fossil and the first invertebrate to be listed under the IUCN world red list. It has been recorded only from Sri Lanka and it still survives in Gillimale and Pompakelle, a secondary forest in Ratnapura district. It also does not mention the fact both Stemanophorous and Relic Ant are extremely sensitive to direct sunlight and fragmentation and clearance of forest in the middle of the reserve could spell death for them. The IEE fails to investigate the damages of fragmentation, forest clearance and possibility of the introduction of invasive plants to the reserve and their effect on the plants and animals.
Thus it had failed to perform its duty, which should be clear to any mortal by its name yet the land required for the construction of the MHPP was released through a cabinet paper without any delay under a long term lease of 15 to 30 years under the benefaction of Former President Chandrika Kumaratunga and the clearance of a land patch within the forest reserve started unknown to the general public and the Forest Department.
The first part of the story seems to be too good to be true to a normal entrepreneur, who has to fight the bureaucratic red tape at each step in a project approval process but this project happens to be owned by the wife and brother of a politician turned cricketer.
Thus armed with government sponsorship the project developer went about to deprive the reserve of nearly 150 trees, which stood most probably half millennium but it did not stop there. The same power play was used again in October 2005 to pass a second cabinet decision granting approval for further forest clearance, this time to clear the forest for electric cables, which joins the MHPP to the main grid.
Again the approval was granted in the same haphazard manner this time sans an IEE but through a cabinet paper. The cabinet paper was presented by Former Minister of Finance and Industry and Investment Promotion and the letters announcing the cabinet decision was sent to Ministries Finance, Industry and Investment Promotion and Power and Energy and not to the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources. The letters were sent by the Secretary General of Investment and Project Facilitation Secretariat and not by the cabinet secretary contradicting the normal procedure.
However the Chief Forest Conservator was called upon this instance to give permission to clear the necessary path and he contradicting the provisions of the FO and NEA had given off hand permission without first conducting an EIA or an IEE.
He, according to Environmental Lawyer Jagath Gunewardhana had obeyed a cabinet decision, which superseded the law of the country and only the judiciary could decide the legality shrouding this aspect.
Yet to Gunewardhana one thing is as clear as crystal – the IEE procedures introduced by the amendment 53 to the NEA in year 2000- should be reversed to its former position.
“ The amendment 53 which removed the IEE process from public comment was a god sent for all anti-environmentalists,” he points out.
“ It had during the last five years had helped to destroy the environment dissimilar to any other regulation. It had got bad projects approved and left the public voice out,” he said.
Gilimale may be among many things a good example of the failing IEE system and the role of CEA in Environment Impact Assessment and the calibre of the evaluators.
The necessity of the CEA always involving a PAA, which has a specialised knowledge about the site and subject, in the IEE process, is clearly highlighted in this case. If the Forest Department and the Wildlife Department was involved during the IEE process of the Power Project it would have been difficult to miss out the forest’s great biological importance. The IEE performed for the project mentions no evaluator yet again raising a question of his or her competence.
According to Gunewardhana there is no clear clarification recommending an IEE or an EIA for a specific type of project. A project would be recommended for an EIA based on the revealing of the IEE or presentations made during the public comments. However not many projects with only an IEE had reached the EIA level after the amendment.
“ Today an IEE had become the easiest way to deceive the public and conceal a bad project from regulations, environment organisations and authorities,” he said.
Meanwhile the Forest Department officials said that they have granted the approval for the project only after consulting the Attorney General’s Department and after being assured of the legality of the cabinet decision while the CEA refused to comment on the particular IEE and the IEE process. A legal battle is also on questioning the legality of the cabinet decision and its ability to supersede the law of the country while the giants at Gillimale awaits a certain death in the hands of power.
Certain death hangs over the Gilimale Forest Reserve where nearly 200 giants fell in the name of power.
Today the Gilimale Forest Reserve is no more a safe haven for many endemic and endangered flora and fauna. It had been ravaged by power crazy politicians and pusillanimous government officials, who visibly violated the Forest Ordinance (FO) and National Environment Act (NEA) by giving into the power play of politicians.
Thus Gilimale forest reserve, once rated among the top ten biodiversity hotspots in Sri Lanka, which in turn is rated among the top five Biodiversity hotspots in the world, is a giant dying a slow death, a fortress failing its small but important populace.
It all started in September 2004 when a quick clearance was given to a company to build a mini hydropower project (MHPP) within the Gillimale reserve after clearing its’ path through a mere Initial Environmental Examination (IEE), which is after the August 2000, amendments to the NEA is close to public scrutiny and comment.
Despite the fact that clearance of land within a Forest Reserve with a high environment importance would require a full Environment Impact Assessment (EIA), the Central Environment Authority (CEA) had rushed the IEE process, granting approval even without involving the Forest Department, which should have played the role of a project approval agency (PAA).
The Forest Department was kept in the dark during the project approval period although none can enter a forest reserve without the approval of the Chief Forest Conservator.
Not only an IEE was heavily inadequate to portray the environment importance of the Gilimale Forest Reserve but also the IEE approved by the CEA undermined the importance of Gillimale immensely.
Nowhere in the IEE it mentions that Gilimale is a part of an important ecological system including Horton Plains and Peak Wilderness, a water shed, which provides the lower country with a sustainable supply of water and it happily overlooks the fact that the reserve is the home to too many endemic and endangered flora and fauna species including all the 21 bird species endemic to the country, Stemanophorous Gilimalensis, an endemic endangered plant only found in Gilimale and Relic ant (Aneuretus simoni), a living fossil and the first invertebrate to be listed under the IUCN world red list. It has been recorded only from Sri Lanka and it still survives in Gillimale and Pompakelle, a secondary forest in Ratnapura district. It also does not mention the fact both Stemanophorous and Relic Ant are extremely sensitive to direct sunlight and fragmentation and clearance of forest in the middle of the reserve could spell death for them. The IEE fails to investigate the damages of fragmentation, forest clearance and possibility of the introduction of invasive plants to the reserve and their effect on the plants and animals.
Thus it had failed to perform its duty, which should be clear to any mortal by its name yet the land required for the construction of the MHPP was released through a cabinet paper without any delay under a long term lease of 15 to 30 years under the benefaction of Former President Chandrika Kumaratunga and the clearance of a land patch within the forest reserve started unknown to the general public and the Forest Department.
The first part of the story seems to be too good to be true to a normal entrepreneur, who has to fight the bureaucratic red tape at each step in a project approval process but this project happens to be owned by the wife and brother of a politician turned cricketer.
Thus armed with government sponsorship the project developer went about to deprive the reserve of nearly 150 trees, which stood most probably half millennium but it did not stop there. The same power play was used again in October 2005 to pass a second cabinet decision granting approval for further forest clearance, this time to clear the forest for electric cables, which joins the MHPP to the main grid.
Again the approval was granted in the same haphazard manner this time sans an IEE but through a cabinet paper. The cabinet paper was presented by Former Minister of Finance and Industry and Investment Promotion and the letters announcing the cabinet decision was sent to Ministries Finance, Industry and Investment Promotion and Power and Energy and not to the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources. The letters were sent by the Secretary General of Investment and Project Facilitation Secretariat and not by the cabinet secretary contradicting the normal procedure.
However the Chief Forest Conservator was called upon this instance to give permission to clear the necessary path and he contradicting the provisions of the FO and NEA had given off hand permission without first conducting an EIA or an IEE.
He, according to Environmental Lawyer Jagath Gunewardhana had obeyed a cabinet decision, which superseded the law of the country and only the judiciary could decide the legality shrouding this aspect.
Yet to Gunewardhana one thing is as clear as crystal – the IEE procedures introduced by the amendment 53 to the NEA in year 2000- should be reversed to its former position.
“ The amendment 53 which removed the IEE process from public comment was a god sent for all anti-environmentalists,” he points out.
“ It had during the last five years had helped to destroy the environment dissimilar to any other regulation. It had got bad projects approved and left the public voice out,” he said.
Gilimale may be among many things a good example of the failing IEE system and the role of CEA in Environment Impact Assessment and the calibre of the evaluators.
The necessity of the CEA always involving a PAA, which has a specialised knowledge about the site and subject, in the IEE process, is clearly highlighted in this case. If the Forest Department and the Wildlife Department was involved during the IEE process of the Power Project it would have been difficult to miss out the forest’s great biological importance. The IEE performed for the project mentions no evaluator yet again raising a question of his or her competence.
According to Gunewardhana there is no clear clarification recommending an IEE or an EIA for a specific type of project. A project would be recommended for an EIA based on the revealing of the IEE or presentations made during the public comments. However not many projects with only an IEE had reached the EIA level after the amendment.
“ Today an IEE had become the easiest way to deceive the public and conceal a bad project from regulations, environment organisations and authorities,” he said.
Meanwhile the Forest Department officials said that they have granted the approval for the project only after consulting the Attorney General’s Department and after being assured of the legality of the cabinet decision while the CEA refused to comment on the particular IEE and the IEE process. A legal battle is also on questioning the legality of the cabinet decision and its ability to supersede the law of the country while the giants at Gillimale awaits a certain death in the hands of power.
