Crudia Zeylanica to be conserved dailynews.lk - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from dailynews.lk Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
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Colombo (News 1st); Saplings of the Crudia zeylanica plant species to be introduced to Botanic Gardens and other suitable environments, said the Department of National Botanic Gardens on Tuesday (02).
The Ministry of Tourism quoting the Department of National Botanic Gardens said the Crudia zeylanica sometimes known as Sri Lanka legume was once thought to be extinct.
The IUCN Red List of 2006 categorized it as extinct, as does the National Red List of 2012, prepared by Sri Lanka’s ministry of environment.
The Department of National Botanic Gardens said however, it is now understood that 20 saplings are in conservation at the Royal Botanical Gardens, Peradeniya, and 06 are in conservation at the Henarathgoda Botanical Garden.
The Government has allocated a total of Rs. 517 million to develop five botanical gardens in the country within next year.
The five botanical gardens that will be developed next year include Peradeniya, Gampaha, Hukgala, Seethawaka and Mirijjawila. The Royal Botanic Gardens Peradeniya (1821), Hakgala Botanic Gardens (1861) and Henarathgoda Botanic Gardens, Gampaha (1876) were established by the British while Mirijjawila Dry Zone Botanic Gardens, Hambantota and Seethawaka Wet Zone Botanic Gardens, Avissawella were opened to the public in 2013 and 2015 respectively as new botanic gardens designed by local experts.
Tourism Minister Prasanna Ranatunga said the Government has recognised the importance of developing these botanical gardens to attract tourists to showcase the vast biodiversity and floriculture Sri Lanka has and to make these places popular in their travel itineraries in future.
A few days after Dr Pilapitiya’s resignation officials of the Department of Wildlife had said that every Director General of Wildlife and even wildlife officials were subject to immense political pressure.
Most of the conservationists contacted were of the view that Sri Lanka’s wildlife could be conserved even at this late stage President Gotabaya Rajapaksa should take up the challenge
Elephant at Yala National Park (Endangered)
The Wildlife Department was established in October 1949 but the first attempt to stop the destruction of Sri
Lanka’s wildlife resources was made in 1889, by the Conservator of Forests and the biggest challenge the Department of Wildlife Conservation has been facing from 1960 onwards was to ensure the protection of wildlife resources against the large scale multipurpose development projects implemented in the country.