NE environmental management workshop begins in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 03 December 2003, 18:23 GMT]
A four-day international workshop on Environmental Management in the NorthEast of Sri Lanka began Monday at the Kailasapathy auditorium of Jaffna University. The University of Jaffna, Eastern University of Sri Lanka and The Economic Consultancy House (TECH) have jointly organized the workshop. The concluding session of the workshop is to be held on Thursday with Dr.Jay Maheswaran in the chair.

About two hundred representatives participated at the inaugural session. Thirty-two research papers have been read in the workshop, sources said.

Professor S.K.Sitrampalam, Dean, Faculty of Graduate Studies of Jaffna University, made the welcome address from the chair. The chief guest was Professor Nishashi Nakamas and the guest of honour was Sri Lanka’s United Nations Resident Co-ordinator Mr Wuria. Dr.Jay Maheswaran made the inaugural address. The Vice Chancellor of Jaffna University, Professor C.Mohanadas, also spoke.

The second session of the first day was held under the topic “Natural Resource Inventory” with East University Vice Chancellor Professor V.S.Mookiah in the chair.

Research papers submitted on the following topics:

• Natural resources of North-East Sri Lanka
• Diversity of amphibian fauna of Jaffna peninsula
• Preliminary investigation of abundance of sea grasses at the Konesapuri in Trincomalee
• Study of mangrove ecosystem of the lagoon Batticaloa district
• Ocean thermal energy potential in the eastern coast of Sri Lanka
• Exploitation of the fishery resources from the Batticaloa lagoon
• Indigenous and underutilized tropical fruits of eastern region of Sri Lanka-their conservation and utilization
• Environmentally friendly botanical fungicides from locally available plant materials in the Batticaloa region.

The second day proceedings were conducted on the topic of “ Resource Management and Conservation. Professor R.Kumaravadivel, Dean, Faculty of Science in Jaffna University presided. Research papers were tabled on the following topics:

• North east aquatic resources management and conservation
• Conservation and maintenance of plant genetic resources in the North-East of Sri Lanka
• Conserving elephants in the North from lessons learnt in the South
• Bio-diversity conservation of medical plants in northern and eastern provinces
• Floral diversity of home garden in Vavuniya, Sri Lanka
• Sustainable human population capacity-an approach to the natural resources protection and sustainable development.

The Deputy Vice Chancellor of the Ruhuna University in Sri Lanka, Dr.Rohan Rajapakse, presided over the third day proceedings. The morning session of the day was held on the topic of “Pollution control and public health.” The afternoon session was held on the topic on “ Modern tools for environmental management.