A Model Reforestation Initiative by the Rotaract Club of Colombo Mid Town.
Climate change has become a pressing issue globally that is being sailed into our present and future tremendously affecting weather patterns, global temperature, heat waves, rising sea levels & catastrophic flooding at an unprecedented scale.
Taking a small step towards fighting the climate change, the Rotaract Club of Colombo Mid Town initiated ‘Haritha Arana’, a model reforestation project in Kiriyankalli, a dry zone in Sri Lanka in the north western province. The project ‘Haritha Arana’ was launched in the year 2019, focussed for a period of 10 years. Under this ten-year project, the Reforestation Process will be carried out for over a period of 6 years, followed by the 2nd phase of the project, which will bring economic benefits to the local communities hence by complying with the Economic and Community Development aspect of Rotary Focus Area.
The main objective of the project being contributing towards reversing climate change, extended objectives of project Haritha Arana would be contributing towards local and global fauna & flora population, creating a model for Reforestation that could be replicated in other regions with similar environmental conditions, improving the livelihood of the surrounding local community, providing and sharing knowledge and information on the process of reforestation and carrying out sustainable environmental projects.
This model reforestation program, which was kicked off in the year 2019, consists of three main phases, whereas the first phase was successfully executed by planting the initial layer of trees in the allocated land, provided with thorough monitoring and maintenance for a period of two years. Thereafter, larger trees that will overgrow the trees planted in the first stage will be planted in the second phase of the project and the third phase will be to introduce multiple layers of plants such as shrubs, creepers, etc. subsequently.
The 2nd annual tree planting ceremony for the multiple award winning project ‘Haritha Arana’ was completed on the 3rd of April and is into it’s second consecutive year as a model reforestation project in the intermediate zone of the wet country in Chilaw.
This year 50 more trees were planted as per the 10 year model which was initiated last year.
The project’s blueprint is a successful one as the growth of the plants from last year is clearly evident. Monthly visits take place to ensure the sustainability of the project.
