Our environment is a major determinant of our health and wellbeing.
In the communities in which we work, we aim for robust solutions
that better sustain life, addressing potential hazards that affect soil quality,
food safety, water supply, spread of disease and biodiversity.
Titanium Sands Ltd, an Australian company, proposes the mining of heavy mineral sands on up to 93% of Mannar Island. What will it mean for the environment, people and their livelihoods of this fragile eco-community?
Heavy mineral sand mining on Mannar Island, Sri Lanka, faces strong opposition from the Mannar community due to concerns about environmental damage, displacement, and potential violations of local laws and community rights. The mining project is located near the Adam's Bridge Marine National Park, raising concerns about the potential impact on this unique and ecologically fragile area.
Residents, environmentalists, and civil society groups are protesting the project, citing significant concerns including potential saltwater intrusion into groundwater, soil contamination, and habitat destruction for migratory birds. Residents also fear losing their homes, farmland, and fishing grounds due to mining activities.
Mannar residents and agencies also allege land grabbing and lack of transparency in the mining process without proper authorization or consultation with relevant authorities. The Central Environmental Authority (CEA), the Geological Survey and Mines Bureau (GSMB), and the Board of Investment (BOI) are government bodies involved in the project.
Bridging Lanka and the Mannar Citizens Committee have been at the forefront of the struggle to bring community awareness to this secretive mining project. The community has taken up the fight against Titanium Sands Ltd and its Sri Lankan based subsidiaries, holding multiple protests since 2021.
The Ceylon Electricity Board’s wind power project on Mannar Island, Sri Lanka, has delivered several negative impacts, including environmental damage, disruption of natural water flow, and potential threats to livelihoods and local wildlife. Poor planning has led to unintended and devastating consequences:
The work schedule for the latest kulam rehabilitation project started with a landscape design and an implementation plan to improve land and facilities around the kulam and to mitigate against local flooding. At the request of the Divisional Secretary and the Pallimunai Catholic Church Bridging Lanka has rolled up its sleeves in response. Coordinators, Steve Dunn and Anna Rowe together with our Technical Officer, Felix Lambert have overseen kulam dredging, building of a rock bund, installing drainage and introducing seating and slide. The real hero was the Catholic priest who was central in ‘influencing’ neighbours to surrender illegal encroached land for kulam widening.
CKD-mfo is caused by factors including the contamination of water with heavy metals, recent environmental unfriendly irrigation and agricultural methods, excessive use of phosphate-rich artificial chemical fertilizer and toxic agro-chemicals. CKD-mfo kills more than 5,000 people annually in Sri Lanka – including Mannar district. Most victims are middle aged male farmers. Much anecdotal evidence suggests that consumption of contaminated water as the most likely source of this deadly disease. Unless prompt action is taken, more than 3 million healthy Sri Lankans who live in agricultural regions, risk contracting CKD-mfo and dying prematurely. Bridging Lanka is trialling a localised response to CKD-mfo in Kunchukulam as isolated areas like this are often overlooked due to their smaller populations.
We have on board Vipula Bandara, an organic agricultural expert, who will drive a year-long ‘behavioural change’ process to take farmers from chemical dependency to organic approaches in cultivation. Vipula now connects regularly with paddy farmers from Kunchukulam and Adampan. His message is simple – genetically modified paddy seed currently in wide use requires agro chemicals to grow. He suggested returning to traditional and more resilient varieties of paddy that don’t require much fertilizers and pesticides. These traditional varieties also have more nutrients and health benefits when compared with new ‘improved’ varieties. To make the transition to organics more realistic, Vipula suggested an incremental approach: (a) continue using urea, (b) stop pesticides, (c) for home consumption stop the use of chemical products, (d) sow traditional varieties of paddy in smaller trial plots.
Our first kulam rehabilitation was a ‘demonstration’ to test-drive a community-owned response to kulam rehabilitation. This involved working in collaboration with the local residents and rural development societies to design spaces for community activity and recreation, removal of weeds and rubbish, creating walking paths and seating, introducing lighting and other improvements for increasing open spaces for social recreation, health and economic benefits. Most importantly our combined efforts reduced local flooding substantially. Gowri and his team of youngsters have now become the custodians of the community-owned space
Kulam Awareness – prize-winning director, Nishanthan Anthonypillai, filmed, directed and edited a video which turned the spotlight on the illegal encroaching of kulams. The video highlighted the dire consequences of these actions for the thousands of residents affected by the flooding of their homes and properties during each wet season. Prior to Bridging Lanka’s pleas, noone, not even government had connected the illegal filling of the kulams and the subsequent flooding of the urban area. Link to the Mannar Drowning video: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=mannar+drowning
