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https://www.bbc.co.uk/future/article/20240917-how-sri-lanka-is-cleaning-up-wastelands-and-reviving-colombos-wetlands>
'Pay Drechsel is going for his daily morning walk around Thalangama Wetland, in
Sri Lanka's capital Colombo. The Sun casts a warm glow over flowering pink
water lilies as a farmer scrubs down his water buffalo. A kingfisher hovers
nearby. Soon, photographers will arrive to capture curved-necked egrets, waders
probing for crawling worms, and little cormorants diving for freshwater fish.
Thalangama Wetland and its surrounding swamps, reedbeds, canals and rice fields
teem with life. But this hasn't always been the case. About 15 years ago, these
ecosystems were degraded and filled with rubbish. They were "dirty, very
dirty", says Drechsel, interim country manager at the International Water
Management Institute (IWMI) in Colombo.
He recalls how he spent one Christmas almost a decade ago cleaning the lake,
scouring for piles of rotting garbage leaking contaminants into the water, and
sorting waste for recycling. To his surprise, passersby stopped and started
helping him. "I realised it's not only me, locals also appreciate it," he says.
"But like me over all the years, they may have been waiting for someone to take
the lead."
The community came together to keep the massive wetland complex clean, forming
the Thalangama Wetland Watch. Residents organise weekly collection runs, piling
up sorted waste at a small collection unit which the municipality sends off for
recycling. School kids volunteer, kayaking through the lake to dig up invasive
water hyacinth.
Home to over two million residents, Colombo is built on and around a massive
network of wetlands. In 2018, Colombo became one of the 18 Ramsar wetland
cities in the world – an accreditation which recognises cities for their
commitment to restore, safeguard and value wetlands, with 25 new cities added
to the list in 2022.
As Colombo is located in a river basin, the city is naturally prone to floods.
Colombo's wetlands act as a flood buffer, with 40% of floodwaters draining into
wetland areas. They also sink carbon, purify the air and control temperatures.
As temperatures warm and rains become more erratic, "wetlands are important to
the city to mitigate climate change impacts", says Chethika Gunasiri, an
environmental scientist at the University of Tokyo who was part of Colombo's
Ramsar application. "Wetlands help Colombo mitigate pollution and natural
disasters. They help reduce human stress as more and more people are now living
in high rise buildings," she adds.'
Via
Positive.News
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
