On the 15th of November, a National Tree Planting Day was organized by the Ministry of Environment named “Deyata sevana”. In order to communicate the need to restore the highly threatened Mangrove coastal forests. RRI provided 1000 Mangrove Seedlings, planted by 50 students from Kathaluwa Central College and Martin Wickramasinghe Vidyalaya, Koggala.
The planting took place on the Koggala Lagoon system and the program was attended by representative of the Marine Environment Protection Authority; Mrs. Tharanga Wickramarathne, District Secretary Habaraduwa; Mr.Channa Dasanayake, Commanding Officer Air force Based Koggala. RRI assisted the Sri Lanka Navy Officers of the Nilaveli camp by donating an additional 2500 plants which were to help restore the green belt in the Trincomalee area. For more information on the Navy planting please visit
http://www.defence.lk/new.asp?fname=20101116_05
Mangrove and coastal forest restoration is vital, given that Sri Lanka has lost over 99% of it’s mangrove coverage in the past decades due to urbanization pressures and a lack of management. This ecosystems importance in coastal protection was highlighted during the tsunami and will play an important role in the mitigation of climate change related impacts. Coastal livlihoods such as fisheries rely on the mangrove to provide essential breeding grounds for fish.
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