Lankan environmentalist amongst the runners-up at Whitley Awards 2002
[March 21, 2002 - 11.00 GMT] 

Sri Lankan environmentalist, Kanchana Weerakoon Ranasinghe was one of the two runners-up and won the £10,000 as prize money at the ‘Whitley Awards 2002’ - the world's biggest conservation awards ceremony - held in London, March 14. She was awarded for her dedicated work in conserving the Peak Wilderness Sanctuary near Adam's Peak, Sri Lanka.

The Peak Wilderness Sanctuary is an area of extremely high biodiversity. It is the only area in Sri Lanka where all its 23 endemic birds may be found, and is also home to populations of elephants, leopards and other species.

Yet it is also one of the holiest places, attracting nearly 2 million pilgrims annually, which inevitably results in a problem of waste disposal, with much non-biodegradable material such as polythene being brought into the area.

In 2001, Kanchana and her team of fifteen launched a new charity - ECO-Friendly Volunteers –to work with schoolchildren and the Peak Wilderness pilgrims. They carry out education programmes aimed at pilgrims, stressing the importance of the area in terms of biodiversity as well as its religious significance, and monitor the impact of this campaign on rubbish levels.

This year’s Whitley Awards’ finalists, come from Brazil, Cuba, Guatemala, Liberia, Mauritius and Sri Lanka.

Prior to her current project, Kanchana - a graduate from the University of Colombo - has worked as a volunteer at the Colombo’s Zoological Garden, helping to improve the environment.  

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Last Updated Date: March 21, 2002  - 11.00 GMT.