Study documents how Sri Lanka’s protected reptiles are traded as pets
A new study has shed light on how rare lizards found only in Sri Lanka are winding up in Europe as part of the illegal trade in exotic wildlife. The…
Articles by Dilrukshi
Dilrukshi Handunnetti is a Colombo based journalist and lawyer. Trained as an investigative journalist, her reporting covers a range of topics. Dilrukshi has won local and international awards for excellence in journalism and collaborates across South Asia.
Sri Lanka calls for increased protection for endemic lizards
Sri Lanka will push for international protection of its endemic lizards threatened by smuggling when it hosts a global biodiversity trade summit next month. When the 18th meeting of the Conference…
A fishy translocation highlights dangers of ‘taxonomic inflation’
A tiny fish described in 2013 from a stream in Sri Lanka was apparently a known species that had been moved there years earlier, according to a study that underscores…
Cloud seeding bears no rain in Sri Lanka
A recent attempt to induce rain amid a prolonged drought in Sri Lanka has fallen short, but that hasn’t stopped the government from embracing the project, to the dismay of…
Putting policy into practice to clean up South Asia’s dirty air (commentary)
If there was a world competition for cities with the worst air quality, South Asian cities would win hands down. In 2018, 18 of the top 20 cities with the…
Sri Lanka’s biodiversity on show: Q & A with tourism and wildlife minister John Amaratunga
Sri Lanka will in May host the 18th Conference of Parties (CoP18) to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, or CITES. While the…
Sri Lanka’s new ‘green tax’ not a hit with drivers or environmentalists
M.K. Vijitha Perera had been looking forward to buying her first car. But now the 26-year-old says she’s had to shelve the idea, following the Sri Lankan government’s introduction of…
Glyphosate’s kidney disease link: More science, less politics (commentary)
Science advances by debate. Unlike in politics, scientific arguments need to be backed by evidence and scientific reasoning. These concerns surfaced again with the recent decision by the American Association…
Sri Lanka to put its biodiversity in the spotlight at global trade summit
Sri Lanka hopes to use a top global biodiversity trade summit it’s hosting in May to shine a global spotlight on the island’s unique biodiversity. The 18th meeting of the…
Sri Lanka scientist blames industry as award for herbicide research is axed
A leading science advocacy group has suspended its decision to award two Sri Lankan scientists for their efforts to link a controversial weed killer to kidney disease, following a public…
Special series
Forest Trackers
- License to Log: Cambodian military facilitates logging on Koh Kong Krao and across the Cardamoms
- Forest behind bars: Logging network operating out of Cambodian prison in the Cardamoms
- Indigenous communities in Argentina’s Chaco fear another heavy fire season in 2023
- As tourism booms in India’s Western Ghats, habitat loss pushes endangered frogs to the edge
Oceans
- A Southeast Asian marine biodiversity hotspot is also a wildlife trafficking hotbed
- Experts, activists unite to blast Indonesia’s U-turn on sea sand exports
- As one Indian Ocean tuna stock faces collapse, nations scramble to save others
- Conservationists aim to save critically endangered European eels on Italy’s Po River
Amazon Conservation
- Boosted with fresh donations, Amazon Fund reboots stalled projects
- Majority of Brazil’s Congress votes to restrict Indigenous land advances
- Protected areas store a year’s worth of CO₂ emissions, study reveals
- Indigenous land rights key to curbing deforestation and restoring lands: Study
Land rights and extractives
- Dams and plantations upend livelihoods in Ethiopia’s Lower Omo River Valley
- Fish deaths near Rio Tinto mine in Madagascar dredge up community grievances
- Award-winning, Indigenous peace park dragged into fierce conflict in Myanmar
- Logging permit threatens Quilombola bioeconomic ‘paradise’ in the Amazon
Endangered Environmentalists
- Indigenous chief shot in head in Brazil’s ‘palm oil war’ region; crisis group launched
- ‘You don’t kill people to protect forests’: New Thai parks chief raises alarm
- Vietnam’s environmental NGOs face uncertain status, shrinking civic space
- ‘We lost the biggest ally’: Nelly Marubo on her friend Bruno Pereira’s legacy
Indonesia's Forest Guardians
- Pioneer agroforester Ermi, 73, rolls back the years in Indonesia’s Gorontalo
- After 20 years and thousands of trees planted, Kalimantan’s veteran forester persists
- Aziil Anwar, Indonesian coral-based mangrove grower, dies at 64
- A utopia of clean air and wet peat amid Sumatra’s forest fire ‘hell’
Conservation Effectiveness
- Africa’s land and forest restoration initiative gathers pace in Malawi
- Study shows Kenyan elephant shrew may be adapting to human disturbance, drought
- Saving forests to protect coastal ecosystems: Japan sets historic example
- From scarcity to abundance: The secret of the ‘peace farmers’ of Colombia
Southeast Asian infrastructure
- Indonesia’s new capital ‘won’t sacrifice the environment’: Q&A with Nusantara’s Myrna Asnawati Safitri
- Small farmers in limbo as Cambodia wavers on Tonle Sap conservation rules
- To build its ‘green’ capital city, Indonesia runs a road through a biodiverse forest
- Robust river governance key to restoring Mekong River vitality in face of dams
