Interact Club - Contribution to Wildlife & Nature Protection Society

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March 31st 2023

In the Spotlight

The environment, as we know, is a sacred place with diverse varieties of nature; From Shallow Springs to the wide ocean; from the city to the depth of the trees and mountain peaks, Nature being the home to a manifold of creatures and Endemic species. With 71% of our beautiful Earth covered in water, 21% of Land, with many wings conquering the vast skies, together is an ecosystem of habitats to many organisms, including us mammals. Each habitat is a unique form of shelter, to different species, like the tiny in size water meal ﬂower found in nutrient rich ponds and the enormous and rare, rafﬂesia ﬂower found in rainforests of Southeast Asia.

Sri Lanka is life and a kingdom to many distinct, unique and epidemic creatures. Sri Lanka is known to be the only country in the world to have the Largest mammal on land, the Eliphas maximus maximus, and the largest aquatic animal, the blue whale. We learn from the WNPS that Sri Lanka has one of the highest rates of biological endemism (16% of the Fauna and 23% of ﬂowering plants are endemic) in the world. It is essential that these endemic species are preserved and looked after by us humans. As humans we are the main cause for a high percentage of these creatures to lose their habitats, and become extinct.

The WNPS states that within the past two years, the death rate of Sri Lankan elephants have increased to a great extent due to human activities. Wildlife conservation is the practice of protecting wild animal and plant species and their habitats. Conservation of Wildlife is important because wildlife plays an important role in balancing the ecosystem, thereby providing ecosystem services that are essential for human survival as well. For over 21 years the Wildlife and Nature Protection Society (WNPS) of Sri Lanka has worked to ﬁnd solutions to human-elephant conﬂict. By working directly with communities, they established Project Orange Elephant which encourages farmers to cultivate oranges, a crop that elephants are not attracted to. At the same time, growing oranges helps rural Sri Lankan farmers to create a new, sustainable income while keeping both their families and wild elephants safe. Through their efforts, WNPS is striving to help elephants and people coexist.

The Interact of BSC pointed out the urgent need to raise funds for the conservation. The idea was then shared with Ms Christina Kanagaperumal the head teacher of Interact who

enthusiastically took up the challenge. Ms Christina was motivated by the ﬁnancial difﬁculties that were borne by the Wildlife and Nature Protection Society (WNPS) therefore, felt that a new fundraising initiative would help the WNPS. During the course of Christmas last year, the interact of BSC had opened a stall - selling plants, at the Christmas carnival held at the British School in Colombo.

Successfully, with the help of many contributors and buyers we accomplished a total of 41, 520

Sri Lankan Rupees. And one of our many contributors, was a 4th grader, who didn’t have the amount required to buy a plant, had donated the 20 Rupees left in her pocket. These sorts of acts are truly and highly appreciated by us.

We are delighted to say, being a part of this project, we visited the WNPS on March 15, 2023, and were able to hand over the collected money. The WNPS shared with us an educational presentation on the Importance of Wildlife and Nature, and what measures are needed to be taken in order to conserve and protect our nature. We are so grateful to the WNPS for sharing with us, their time and effort; Ms Christina - Head teacher of the Interact Club of BSC, Ms Cini Jins - Head of Geography, all the Interactors and contributors who spent an abundant lot of energy and effort on making this project a success! We will continue to contribute and aspire many in order to keep our mother nature safe and protected.

- Interact Club of BSC

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