COPA proposes joint committee to oversee Muthurajawela conservation

• COPA discusses ongoing environmental destruction of Muthurajawela sanctuary
• Finds that boundaries of sanctuary not demarcated
• Notes discrepancies in the land area designated as sanctuary  

The Committee on Public Accounts (COPA) has proposed the appointment of a joint committee consisting of all stakeholders responsible for the conservation of the Muthurajawela sanctuary.

The decision was taken at a recent COPA meeting where the ongoing environmental damage caused to the wetland was discussed.

Although Muthurajawela had been gazetted as a sanctuary by Gazette Notification No. 947/13 of 1996, the committee pointed out that the boundaries of the sanctuary have not been demarcated thus far.

Committee members inquired as to the reasons that only 1285 hectares of Muthurajawela had been designated as a sanctuary even though the Central Environmental Authority (CEA) had identified 2,569 hectares as an ecosystem.

The committee focused on the importance of protecting this wetland in line with the Ramsar Convention entered into force in Sri Lanka on 15 October 1990. Representatives of the Muthurajawela Protection Organization and the Muthurajawela Protection Archbishop Environment Committee also made a special presentation on the conservation of Muthurajawela.

The committee also noted the failure of the relevant agencies to properly identify the total extent of land in the Muthurajawela ecosystem, exceeding 6000 hectares, and the exact extent of private land and government land within the sanctuary.

Although a number of complaints have been received by the government institutions such as the Sri Lanka Land Development Corporation, the Central Environmental Authority, the Urban Development Authority and the Agrarian Services Department, regarding the illegal filling of lands belonging to the Muthurajawela Ecological Zone, it was found that no proper action has been taken in this regard.

It was this that prompted the appointment of a joint committee to ensure that the environmental destruction taking place in the area is stopped.

Chairman of the committee Prof. Tissa Vitarana, State Ministers Lasantha Alagiyawanna and Dayasiri Jayasekara, Members of Parliament Tissa Attanayake, Mohamed Muzammil, B.Y.G. Ratnasekera, Dr. Upul Galappaththi, Weerasumana Weerasinghe and Dr.Harini Amarasuriya, and Secretary to the Ministry of Environment Anil Jasinghe, along with a group of officials and representatives of civil society organisations for the protection of Muthurajawela, also participated in the meeting.