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SCIENTISTS , ACADEMICS, ECOLOGISTS
AND RELIGIOUS LEADERS CONVERGE ON LONDON TODAY TO STOP SETHU SAMUDRAM
By Walter Jayawardhana
Ecologists, academics and scientists and religious leaders around the
world organized by the US based living Planet Foundation are meeting
today (November 25) at London’s historic Linnean Society, Burlington
House in Piccadilly to ask Indian and Sri Lankan governments to persuade
UNESCO to designate the Gulf of Mannar a World Heritage site and stop
the imminent devastation that could cause to the environment by the
controversial Sethu Samudram project. The seminar will last two days
continuously.
The organizers said, “The aim is to prevent the destruction of
the Gulf of Mannar , one of the last remaining intact eco-systems of
the world and home to the famous Ram Sethu or Adam’s Bridge , a
site sacred to one billion Hindus worldwide.”
“The gathering is set to provide enough multi-disciplinary evidence
to persuade” the two countries to ask UNESCO to grant World Heritage
designation to the Gulf , the Living Planet Foundation said.
Interviewed in a London Hotel, one of the participating scientists of
the seminar Dr. Ranil Senanayake told this correspondent, “Sethu
Samudram canal project is a 140 years old idea proposed by the British
imperialists not compatible with the thinking of the 21st century. Today,
much better things could be thought about for better results. Dredging
through this geological formation would cause innumerable damages that
cannot be reversed.”
Asked to pinpoint one, Dr. Senanayake said that the present waves in
the gulf bring the mineral sands from which Thorium could be processed.
The sea currents deposit tons of mineral sands on the South Indian and
North Sri Lankan beaches .He said Thorium processed from these mineral
sands is believed to be the source of energy of the future, from which
atomic power could be produced without allowing any chance of producing
nuclear weapons. Once, the bridge is destroyed such sand deposits would
stop by the gulf basin currents, the scientist warned India and Sri
Lanka.
Many scientists have assessed the Gulf of Mannar is a shallow stretch
of water separating India and Sri Lanka. Despite its important ecological
and cultural significance as one of South Asia’s largest biosphere
reserves, the Indian government, under pressure from Tamil Nadu state
politicians, is pressing ahead with plans to build a shipping channel
called Sethusamudram , right across it, threatening the numerous endangered
plant and animal species that live there as well as livelihood of local
fishermen.
The proposal has been met with a chorus of international disapproval.
It has also become the subject of a case in the Indian Supreme Court,
which has temporarily delayed the devastating dredging.
Scientists have said the Gulf , free from oceanic currents , provides
the calving grounds for a substantial part of the diverse whale population
of the bay of Bengal. It is also identified as the habitat for rare
and endangered plant and animal species including the threatened green
turtle and dugong. The sea grass meadows of the gulf are the largest
remaining feeding grounds for the globally endangered dugong. The centuries
old pearl and conch shell fishing still exists there.
“The dredging will destroy this fragile eco-system. What we need
is not an industry that will benefit only few shipping companies and
dredgers. When, ships starts sailing along the canal even the limestone
wells of Jaffna could become salty. What we need there is a sustainable
development project,” scientist Ranil Senanayake said. (EOM)
Photos: endagered dugong or Moodu Uura in mannar basin
Nasa photo of Rama Sethu
India's plan to build a shipping channel-Sethu Samudram
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