Prolonged, life sucking, desiccating drought, is broken by continuous, devastating rainstorms that fill and burst the banks of reservoirs and waterways, flooding all of the lands around them. In the mountains, hillsides collapse onto roads and houses, as highland slopes, once solid in their permanence, knitted together by the roots of trees and grasses and now denuded, give way to the deluge from above. As forests continue to be cut, protected areas encroached on and many still deny that the Earth is warming, and the climate changing, we drift from certainty to insecurity.
For those who still doubt the importance of forests, apart from the wealth of biodiversity they host, they store carbon dioxide thereby reducing greenhouse emissions, prevent soil degradation, improve air quality, control water flow, and benefit human health. In other words, the human race desperately needs them for its survival. They are irreplaceable.
All is not lost. It will take time but this can be reversed, with infinite patience, knowledge and commitment; most importantly driven by a hope for the future, one that wishes to bequeath a Planet to our children that nourished and sustained us through the few hundred thousand years of our species existence, and three billion years of life on Earth. However, we must understand that while it takes just a few minutes to fell a tree that was a hundred years in growing, it will take that time to replace; in the words of Nelson Henderson, “The true meaning of life is to plant trees, under whose shade you do not expect to sit”.
Sunela Jayewardene is someone who has long envisioned the need for this, not just today when the crisis seems insurmountable, but for the last quarter of a century. She has long been a messenger of the fact that the Earth’s resources are finite and unless replenished, or allowed the time to restock itself, that we are condemning ourselves to doom. Not content with just preaching, Ms Jayewardene has committed herself to putting her words into action; an example to all.
Ms Jayewardene lives at Dunvila, on the border of the Wasgamuwa National Park, straddling the Matale and Polonnaruwa Districts. An area of outstanding beauty, at the foot of the mighty Dumbara Hills and bordered by the Mahaweli and Kalu Gangas, rather than intrude into this Eden, she has decided to weld her land to be a part of it, as it once was. This lecture is her personal story of converting chena lands to Dry Zone forests, to imagine native forests on a heavily distressed landscape — unpacking the common practice of landscaping as an exercise in land restoration. With time, this practice has been identified as, ‘rewilding’ or re-growing of native forests.
Sunela Jayewardene is recognized as ‘Sri Lanka’s leading environmental architect’ (Time, March 2007; India Today, 2008). Her award-winning projects include Jetwing Vil Uyana, Colombo Court, Rainforest Ecolodge, Jetwing Kaduruketha, Camellia Hills and several private homes in Sri Lanka and India. Inspired by Sri Lanka’s precolonial cultural traditions, her primary design impulse has been serious concern for the ecology of sites and sustainability of human habitats. Her work has been recognized internationally and Echelon listed her amongst the ‘50 Most Powerful Women in Sri Lanka‘, in 2013 & 2014.
Ms Jayewardene’s list of credits extend beyond the realms of architecture. A Founder Trustee, and first Chairperson, of the Federation of Environmental Organizations (FEOSL), she is currently an Advisor to the Government of Sri Lanka on environmental/conservation issues. She is the author of The Line of Lanka – Myths and Legends of an Island and is in the process of writing another, ‘Ravana’s Lanka’, for Penguin India.
For Ms Jayewardene is not only fiercely proud of the rich traditions and history of this Nation, but also firmly believes that much can be achieved in working together, as one. Stopping the further destruction, and engaging in the restoration of our Natural Heritage is a cause that demands our unified action…or else?
As forests continue to be cut, protected areas encroached on and many still deny that the Earth is warming, and the climate changing, we drift from certainty to insecurity.
“If there are no mangroves, then the sea will have no meaning. It’s like a tree with no roots, for the mangroves are the roots of the sea!”
They roam the jungles in search of food and water. They cross from one forest to another when food is scarce and few. Some return back to their habitat alive,
