Are environmental resources being embezzled?

Environmentalists claim the country’s nature reserves and wildlife in general are under severe threat due to actions of some government politicians and the ‘inaction’, and in some cases open connivance of the authorities. The main problem according to them is the sad state of affairs prevailing at the Department of Wildlife Conservation (DWC).
The Department of Wildlife Conservation (DWC) has been in existence since 1949. The DWC is responsible for 22 national parks, 65 sanctuaries, five nature reserves, and three strict nature reserves, covering some 15 percent of the total protected areas both on land and at sea. However, environmentalists claim that the DWC is currently unable to carry out its duties efficiently due to a number of reasons and that this has resulted in many instances of wildlife coming under threat.
Sajeewa Chamikara of the Environment Conservation Trust (ECT) accused the authorities of allowing the DWC to become a “demoralized and confused” institution. “Honest officials at the Department are unable to carry out their duties and the department is losing the respect it inspired in the public and fear it inspired in wrongdoers,” he added.
Among the main reasons for the problems at the Department is the failure to fill the vacancy of the post of the DWC’s Director General (DG). The post has been vacant for well over a year now with the Secretary to the Ministry of Agrarian Services and Wildlife serving as acting DG. However, the conduct of the DG has come in for severe criticism from environmental groups, who accuse him of a host of irregularities and acts of corruption.
Environmental lawyer Jagath Gunawardena and other environmentalists were “deeply puzzled” by the failure to appoint a person to the topmost position at the DWC, particularly as there were more than enough qualified individuals within the Department to fill the vacancy. “There are officers from the scientific service within the Department who are qualified for the position and yet it’s puzzling as to why the ministry secretary continues to serve as the acting DG,” he told The Nation.
Environmentalists also pointed the finger of blame at former Minister of Agrarian Services and Wildlife S M Chandrasena, who is now the deputy minister in charge of the same ministry. They claim the minister also chose to look the other way despite numerous instances where the conduct of the acting DG came into question.
Among the latest allegations levelled at the acting DG are that he has illegally given approval for 4,000 acres of land belonging to the Elahera-Girithale reserve to be distributed among 1,041 families in the area, and also for allowing a massive stone quarry to operate inside the reserve. The reserve functions as a major elephant corridor for herds moving from the Wasgamuwa National Park to the Minneriya National Park, according to environmentalists.
Addressing a press conference in Colombo this week, environmentalist Pubudu Weeratane accused the acting DG of transferring officers at the Department who were actively engaged in the protection of wildlife. “Even the head of the division in charge of conducting raids has been transferred,” to a national park he alleged.
A few weeks ago, environmentalists and the media shed light on the issue of private ‘eco-tourism’ operators illegally operating permanent campsites inside several of the country’s main national parks, including Yala and Wilpattu. However, Deputy Minister Chandrasena and the acting DG of the DWC rejected the accusations at the time. However, the sites were promptly removed after President Mahinda Rajapaksa issued a directive when he was informed of the activities while attending district development committee meeting in Hambantota.
When The Nation contacted Secretary to the Ministry of Agrarian Services and Wildlife and Acting Director General of the DWC Udeni Wickramasinghe regarding these allegations, he stated he would prefer to answer them in a face-to-face interview. “They (environmentalists) have been levelling many such allegations at me for a long time. I cannot answer all of them just now, but am prepared to go over them one by one and answer in an interview,” he said.
Attempts made to contact Deputy Minister of Agrarian Services and Wildlife S M Chandrasena proved futile as we were told he was attending a string of meetings in Anuradhapura.
President Mahinda Rajapaksa is now the Minister of Agrarian Services and Wildlife. The ministry automatically passed onto him when S M Chandrasena resigned from his post to make way for his brother S M Ranjith to become Chief Minister of the North-Central Province. As such, environmentalists point out that the responsibility of ensuring the safety of the island’s wildlife now rests on his shoulders. While welcoming the President’s directive to remove national park campsites, they point out that it is inevitable that he will be judged on his conduct in the future as well, with regard to issues facing the country’s wildlife.

Source:http://www.nation.lk