Wilpattu National Park (Willu-pattu; Land of Lakes) is a park located on the island of Sri Lanka. The unique feature of this park is the existence of "Willus" (Natural lakes) - Natural, sand-rimmed water basins or depressions that fill with rainwater. Located in the Northwest coast lowland dry zone of Sri Lanka. The park is located 30 km west Anuradhapura and located 26 km north of Puttalam (approximately 180 km north of Colombo). The park is 1,317 square kilometers (131, 693 hectares) and ranges from 0 to 152 meters above sea level. Nearly sixty lakes (Willu) and tanks are found spread throughout Wilpattu. Wilpattu is the largest and one of the oldest National Parks in Sri Lanka. Wilpattu is among the top national parks world-renowned for its leopard (Panthera pardus kotiya) population. In 1905 the area was designated a sanctuary and in 1938 it was upgraded to the National Park status. (Source- Wikipedia)
All of the above being said by the wikipedia about the Wilpattu National Park, it is now being destroyed and deforested for a long time. Illegal settlements are happening deforesting the park at the moment as we speak of it. Powerful and corrupted ministers and politicians are destroying the forest as it is their own property. Wilpattu is a World Heritage and it covers most of the forest percentage of Sri Lanka. Because of the selfishness of these corrupted politicians our forest percentage has dropped to 20%. This caused us a lot of damages. Sri Lanka was a country with no floods, droughts or natural disasters. All of that have been changed now since the heart of our country, the forests are being destroyed.
We the people who love the country are disappointed because the people who govern the country has no affection of it at all. Sri Lankan president who is also the Minister of Environmental Affairs doesn't take any actions against the people who destroy the park because the minister who is in charge of this deforestation of wilpattu is a muslim and he is afraid to lose the votes of the muslims. Their political agendas have made this worse and we are running out of options to save this national park as the first person of the country is also silent.
Look at the below maps of the forest before and after the starting of deforestation. Look how painful it is for the people who love the nature.
Before After
I'm posting this because we need the attention of the world to stop this destruction. We started a petition 6 months ago and we could only get 8000 supporters through a facebook campaign. We could only get the support of locals. We need the support of not only the locals. We need the support of the world. If you love the world, the nature, the wildlife, the environment please spend a few minutes of your valuable time and sign the petition against the deforestation of Wilpattu.
Please refer the detailed article below for further information of the deforestation and illegal settlements of wilpattu.
http://nation.lk/online/2015/06/27/illegal-settlements-around-wilpattu-national-park.html
Here is the link to the change.org petition.
https://www.change.org/p/stop-deforestation-in-wilpattu-forest-complex
Please give us your support to stop this destruction which is happening for a long time now. It is already too late because a lot of damage is already done. Please help us save the rest. Sign the petition, Share the petition, and resteem this post so that more people will be aware of this crisis and we can get more help.
This is very sad! Politicians almost always care more about enriching themselves than the environment or the people who depend on an ecosystem for their livelihood.
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