Sri Lankan Mangrove Conservationist to Receive Seacology Prize
Seacology is pleased to announce that Anuradha Wickramasinghe of Sri Lanka has been selected to receive the 2001 Seacology Prize for his outstanding efforts in mangrove conservation. The Prize is awarded annually to an indigenous islander for exceptional achievement in preserving the environment and culture of any of the world's 100,000-plus islands, and is sponsored by Seacology president Ken Murdock in memory of his mother, Lalovi Fish Murdock. Anuradha will be awarded the $5,000 Prize at a December ceremony at the National Tropical Botanical Garden on the Hawaiian island of Kauai.
Anuradha has worked in community-based natural resource management for the past 25 years. As the executive director of forestry, water resource management and conservation programs in the 1980s, he mobilized more than 1200 community leaders to conduct forest conservation campaigns in Sri Lanka. In 1991 Anuradha became one of the founding members and the first director of the Small Fishers Federation of Lanka (SFFL), a fisher folk-based nongovernmental organization that represents over 20 percent of fisher folk communities on Sri Lanka.
Sri Lanka is a small but biologically diverse island nation located in the Indian Ocean. Despite its size, Sri Lanka has an exceptional amount of mangrove species diversity and contains over half of the mangrove species found on the world's islands. Mangroves, which provide natural protection to coastlines and act as important fish nurseries, are also among the planet's most endangered ecosystems. In the last century alone, one half of the earth's mangrove forests were destroyed, much of that loss resulting from conversion to shrimp farming. In response to threats to Sri Lanka's mangroves, Anuradha and SFFL developed a mangrove conservation program in 1994. Since that time more than 100,000 seedlings have been planted in degraded lagoon areas of Sri Lanka. Anuradha also developed the first mangrove resource center in the country, providing education and training to local villagers.
With support from Seacology, Anuradha and SFFL have expanded their program and established the Kiralakele mangrove conservation program on Sri Lanka's severely degraded southern coast. Working very closely not only with traditional fishermen but also with the active fisherwomen community, Anuradha created a program that combines rehabilitation of degraded mangrove areas with the establishment of a mangrove arboretum as an eco-tourism project, and the construction of the south coast's first mangrove resource center. This new center will offer training for 800,000 school children in Southern and Uva provinces and will benefit thousands of fisher folk.
In addition to his work with the mangrove conservation programs and resource centers, Anurahda is currently involved in improving the economic standards of mothers, children and widows in the impoverished fishing communities and developing a micro-banking system for the fisher folk.
Seacology congratulates Anuradha for his exceptional dedication, commitment and leadership.
Anuradha Wickramasinghe on Receiving the 2001 Seacology Prize
