Trees have no place to hide

Where have all these trees gone?

Much talk and action with respect to ‘Plant a Tree’ these days by Government, Private Sector and so on. From President JRJ time’s we have been planting trees every year. All presidents/prime misters have planted a million trees a year in newspapers since then to-date. If so, we should have had at least 40 million trees planted from 1980 to 2020. Where have all these trees gone? Has the number of trees or forest cover increased? Records do show a reduction of forest cover. Keep aside forest cover; many trees outside forest cover get felled day in and day out. Who has these records? None.

Only one president that was interested in saving trees started by banning power saws. His idea was a first step forward saving trees. Next step was to shut down saw mills. Both were excellent ideas. Politicians got together to stop this national movement as politicians destroy forests and operate saw mills. No other country head will have the guts to even make a statement like this. Politicians have no concern for country or people; only their pockets. They enter Parliament poor but within five years they become rich politicians. 

It is politics and politicians that have ruined this country from a rich Ceylon managed by British handed over to people of Ceylon in 1948 to poor Sri Lanka by 2020. We are a developing country for the past 60+ years whereas all countries which were lower in GDP than Ceylon have passed us. Country destruction mechanism is very powerful compared to country progress mechanism. Not only are politicians powerful in moving trees, they are powerful in other country destruction programs such as sand mining, granite mining, red earth mining, mineral resource exploitation of quartz, dolomite, mineral sand mining, graphite mining, ocean resources exploitation, plastic pollution, air quality pollution, water, tank and river pollution to name a few. We are yet to see value addition to quartz, dolomite, graphite and mineral sands since independence

There are regulations, rules and many monitoring ministers, ministries, regulatory/licensing authorities, you name them, the authorities are all there paid by public. Are they performing their duty as they are supposed to? This country lives by excuses. At least the current Minister of Environment is trying but his goal posts too will be shifted by those more powerful than him with vested interest.

The main topic these days is ‘Plant a Tree’ for media coverage. Who takes care of these trees after the trees are planted? In most developed countries where forest fires are rampant burning thousands of acres, replanting takes place by aerial seed bombing at the start of rainy season. A six-year-old student is thought in school that trees absorb carbon dioxide and emit oxygen. This is nature’s way of balance. 

One local pandit stated that Middle East does not have trees and their oxygen levels are maintained. Another uneducated set of politicians challenged an educated forest officer: “Is oxygen to be eaten?”. This forest officer with national interest and plenty of guts to challenge politicians is still a harassed under paid public officials. 

At least now with oxygen being the topic after the China-origin virus in December 2019 has hit us hard, assume those politicians that have high voice but empty upstairs, the type of idiots paid by public that are employed by Government and hold high positions, will realise the importance of oxygen. 

In the past there was Ruk Rakagano. Where are they now? If a tree is planted today, it will take 30 years or more for it to deliver its full potential. Our tree destroyers pick trees that are over 30 years as the girth is just right and easy to be logged and transported. There are managed forests by state as well as private sector which give high yield if managed correctly. Most of the Government plantations look great from the road when passing such plantations. 20 metres interior from the road most of them are minus the growth as tree robbers have beaten the Government officials in harvesting at the correct time as solicitation is rampant in most Government projects. 

In many countries with educated politicians and government officials, there are managed forests in addition to natural forests to maintain the forest cover of a country. In this country statistics show a constant reduction of forest cover. Even in areas when forest cover is shown in this country. Most high value trees are felled within the forest by tree pirates and moved out by use of tractors and transported in the night or they are logged and moved out as planks. 

Media used to report often trucks transporting tree trunks being taken over by police and the poor driver/assistant who are employed are prosecuted whereas the owners and master minds go scot-free to continue their felony. Same with drug traders, suspects get caught and prosecuted. Masterminds are never caught. Same for 21 April 2019. 

When taking a flight in the mountain regions the mountain tops have hardly any trees and most jungles have vacant patches. Thick jungles surrounding reservoirs are no more. When the British managed the country, all forests/trees above 2,000 were not touched. Now Sri Lanka, who cares. Department of Forests should use technology to look after their assets.

Pakistan currently one of the best managed countries in the region has planted 10 billion trees the past few years, as stated by Prime Mister of Pakistan at the UN conference on Environment in 2020. If our tree planting campaigns have been a success forest cover should not have been reduced from 36% in 1980 to 27% in 2019 if statistics are correct or seen by Google Maps.

All deforested areas as per Google Maps in 1980 should be replanted by aerial bombing. A concerned private company started to do so as a CSR project with Sri Lanka Air Force but was abandoned due to unknown reasons. At least the management of this garment company had more brains than all government departments/officials and politicians put together.

The rain season is on these days. Water falls are showing wash outs and muddy water due to removal of trees. If the Government and Private Sector are serious about re-forestation, they should plan now to do areal bombings of mountain tops and surrounding areas of reservoirs before the next rainy season starts without making political capital in planting trees in low lying areas or distributing plants to households and neglecting where trees should be planted. 

There should be planned replanting projects instead of distributing plants to bring back the green and oxygen back to this country for future survival of the ever-increasing population that is now over 350 persons per sq./km. One of the highest in the world in population density. Villages of 25 houses were constructed destroying approximately 500 perches or 3 acres of virgin land. Most developing nations are relocating their homeless to high rise buildings. This country destroys virgin land in relocating the homeless.

Squatters planted by politicians in jungles are now causing problems. There are daily highlights of elephants, leopards and many other jungle animals entering habitations. The animals are sacrificing their lives to protect what is rightfully their land. Thereby we eliminate wildlife in addition to jungles and trees. There are many tanks, reservoirs, ponds within national parks. There are thousands of visitors inclusive of politicians touring these parks. How many have noted that all tanks, reservoirs, ponds within parks are reduced in size by at least 30% as a result of floating weeds and silt? 

All national parks are high income generating. Part of the funds should be used for bringing back to the original size all these water bodies within parks. Authorities go into action only during a drought to build new water holes without realising a newly dug water hole cannot retain water due to seepage as the bottom of such new water holes have no natural sealant at the base. This is basic knowledge in science, Mr. Watson. As I said earlier, we need officials with intelligence in addition to education. 

I feel sad when I see the amount of printed paper on politicians’ tables in Parliament. None of the politicians realise that it takes an average of 24 trees 40 ft. tall, 6-8 inches in diameter to produce 1 tonne of writing paper (Wikipedia); in addition, water/bleach, etc. is used. At least 10 tonnes of paper 24x10 = 240 trees are wasted in Parliament a month. Laptops were given to all Parliamentarians. Why is Parliament still handing out printed documents? Parliament Secretary should publish ‘How many tons of paper is consumed in Parliament each month’ for public knowledge.

When will we ever learn? May not be even when we were the poorest nation of the world with a nothing-to-do 200 politicians. We only need 25 ministers and dedicated well-paid public officials instead of 200 elected parliamentarians who are a burden to the public when observing their behaviour in Parliament which shows their true colours as street walkers with their jeering. Now in addition we are looking at appointing another 300+ duds in to Provincial Councils who are again paid for by public with no monitored delivery or RoI. 

Trees have no place to hide.

Aiyo My Sri Lanka!