Category: Environment

July 01, 2013 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s wild life conservation authorities and a biodiversity organization, with funding from private business will count and estimate a sloth bear population in a national park in the North West of the island.The chamber said in a statement that the sloth bear sighting have declined in recent years and […]

PHNOM PENH, June 26, 2013 (AFP) – A new species of bird with a distinctive orange-red coloured tuft of feathers on its head has been found in Cambodia’s populous capital city, conservationists said on Wednesday. The remarkable discovery of the Cambodian tailorbird, or orthotomus chaktomuk, in Phnom Penh — and several other locations including a […]

PHNOM PENH (AFP) – Japan’s Mount Fuji, a series of ancient terraced rice paddies China, and the desert city of Agardaz in Niger were among the cultural jewels granted World Heritage status by UNESCO at its annual meeting on Saturday. On Saturday, UNESCO also inscribed the landscapes of terraced rice fields of Honghe Hani, south […]

COLOMBO, June 10, 2013 (AFP) – Naval boats and helicopters scoured seas off Sri Lanka Monday for dozens of missing fishermen, as the confirmed death toll from heavy monsoon rain and strong winds rose to 31, an official said.The bodies of 30 fishermen plus one victim on land have so far been recovered while another […]

COLOMBO, June 9, 2013 (AFP) – Monsoon rains and strong winds in Sri Lanka have killed at least 19 people with dozens more missing, most of them fishermen caught in rough seas, officials said on Sunday. A 20-foot (17-metre) long whale washed ashore in Colombo on Saturday while a stranded giant sea turtle was rescued […]

June 8, 2013 (AFP) – At least five people were killed and dozens were missing as strong monsoon rains and wind lashed Sri Lanka on Saturday, damaging buildings on the tropical island, police said.Five people were confirmed dead, four at sea and one on land, while dozens of fishermen were missing, police spokesman Buddhika Siriwardena […]

June 01, 2013 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s cigarette production has slumped 15 percent over two decades to 4.27 billion sticks and 21 percent of the male population and 0.8 percent of the female population still smoked, a media report said.The Island newspaper quoted the Pubudu Sumanasekara, the Alcohol and Drug Information Centre (ADIC), an anti […]

SYDNEY, May 22, 2013 (AFP) – A controversial cull of up to 10,000 wild horses in Australia’s harsh Outback reportedly began Wednesday in a bid to control the feral animals which officials say are destroying the land. The Central Land Council said animals — including horses, donkeys and camels — were dying in their thousands […]

COLOMBO, May 15, 2013 (AFP) – At least seven people have been killed and two are missing in floods and mudslides following heavy rain across Sri Lanka, the disaster management centre said Wednesday.Sri Lanka depends on monsoon rains for irrigation and power generation, but the seasonal downpours frequently cause deaths along with damage to property.A […]

May 08, 2013 (LBO) – Heavy rains have left 90,000 people hit by floods in Sri Lanka’s Western province around the capital Colombo, but there was no cyclone threat, authorities said.However general public has been advised to be vigilant about heavy rain, lightning activities and localized strong winds during thundershowers. Torrential rains over the past […]

May 07, 2013 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Commercial Bank said it is helping wildlife authorities replant coral in a marine park in the South West of the island which has been damaged over the last 15 years. Sri Lanka’s Department of Wildlife plans to replant 1,000 square feet of coral in Wadduwa which is part […]

May 01, 2013 (LBO) – The first conference in Sri Lanka to be certified as ‘carbon neutral’ will take place in September, when a regional economic policy conference will be held in the island, organizers said.The conference will allow individual delegates to ‘opt in’ to a scheme where they could contribute to offsetting their own […]