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"To
waste, to destroy our natural resources,
to skin and exhaust the land instead
of using it so as to increase its
usefulness, will result in undermining
in the days of our children the very
prosperity which we ought by right
to hand down to them amplified and
developed".
US
President Theodore Roosevelt
Seventh Annual Message
3rd December 1907
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Gulf of Mannar
- the Last Pristine Refuge in the South
The studies
of human impact on global oceans have just been
released. They suggest that the current patterns
of development have produced areas, which have
in effect become 'dead zones' where life just
persists. In other cases the condition of coral
reefs, sea grass ecosystems and coastal mangroves
provide the indicators of the level of degradation.
Studies by the University of California and
Stanford University have demonstrated the rate
of loss and mapped this loss globally.
The map above
also indicates other concerns with the loss
of ocean ecosystem quality; these are, increasing
industrial and urban pollution. These follow
zones considered areas of high development.
In South Asia the toxic ring that encircles
the southern part of India and Sri Lanka is
clearly seen. In area renown for its unique
biodiversity, this is a matter of urgent concern.
Serendipitously, within this ring, lies an ocean
zone unimpacted due to a variety of reasons,
cultural, political, and economic. The area
called the Gulf of Mannar (GOM) is the last
pristine refuge in the South.
By Dr. Ranil Senanayake, Sri Lanka
Systems Ecologist, Marine Archeologist
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