The Wildlife Department has failed to submit the comprehensive report on the first national survey of Sri Lanka’s wild elephants which took place in August 2011.

The report was to be handed over to President Mahinda Rajapaksa last September but is yet to be completed.

Wildlife Department Director Operations H. D. Ratnayake told The Island yesterday that the report was delayed due to the absence of one of the key conservationists.

He said that Professor Charles Santhiapillai would soon return to the country to put the final touches and the last chapter.

Atomic Energy Authority officials, along with other stakeholders, collected samples in the deep sea upto four kilometres in the Beruwala area, to check whether they were contaminated due to the radiation leak in Japan.

Atomic Energy Authority Sectional Head Wijeya A. Waduge told The Island yesterday that the earlier test had been done on surface water and no radioactive particles had been found.

Despite Sri Lanka being a biodiversity hotspot along with the Western Ghats in India, natural resources in the country were often misused by a few to gain a quick buck, causing a loss of millions of rupees to the government.

Environment Minister Anura Priyadharshana Yapa says felling is taking place despite strict laws. However, he believes with the support from the grassroots and villages, authorities could put end to the menace.

The Korean Government has provided Rs. 600 million to tackle the much discussed garbage problem in the country.

The Rs. 600 million-grant comes following a number of discussions held by the Central Environmental Authority, Chairman Charitha Herath with the Korean Government officials, under the direction of Environment Minister Anura Priyadharshana Yapa.

Yapa said garbage was a major issue, thus, modern technology and latest methods were of paramount importance to tackle the problem.

Nearly 40,000 children in Sri Lanka are affected with cerebral palsy – a disorder that affects a person’s ability to move and maintain balance and posture. It usually affects children within the first two years.

Cerebral Palsy Lanka Foundation (CPLF) yesterday inaugurated the country’s first Resource and Rehabilitation Centre, at Captain Kelum Rajapakse Mawatha in Wattala, for children affected with cerebral palsy.

Top sea turtle experts from around the globe have discovered that almost half (45 per cent) of the world’s threatened sea turtle populations are found in the northern Indian Ocean, the International Union for Conservation of Nature said yesterday.

The study also determined that the most significant threats across all of the threatened populations of sea turtles are fisheries by catch, accidental catches of sea turtles by fishermen targeting other species, and the direct harvest of turtles or their eggs for food or turtle shell material for commercial use.

Plans are afoot to provide low cost solar power kits and other renewable energy resources to nearly 50,000 families, who are unable to obtain electricity through the main grid, in the Ratnapura District .

During a recent inspection tour Power and Energy Minister Patali Champika Ranawaka visited several regional electrification projects and small scale hydro power projects.

While ensuring protection of the environment and giving more teeth to protect the wetland resources, the Central Environment Authority will shortly launch a programme titled ‘Wetland Auditing System and Wetland Crediting System’.

Sri Lanka’s weather patterns are changing and this fact was made evident on January 13, this year when temperatures dropped dramatically country wide. Colombo’s temperature went down to 18.8 degrees Celsius, the lowest recorded in 61 years.

The recent floods have been catastrophic and are the worst the country has ever faced. Yet our authorities are least bothered. Even officials at the Climate Change Secretariat are not keen when it comes to climate change adaptation or mitigation, but as usual, are keen to attend overseas trips and in turn do nothing.

Steps will be taken to minimise elephant deaths due to train accidents with the assistance of the Railway and Wildlife Departments in the Anuradhapura District.

Agrarian Services and Wildlife Minister S. M. Chandrasena told The Island yesterday that an analysis on how elephants were killed, showed that it was mostly due to the mistakes of humans.