The Madu Ganga is a river with a very important ecosystem in Sri Lanka. Madu Ganga, which is part of Sri Lanka’s most valuable mangrove ecosystem, is surrounded by a group of islands. In the Madu River, which is said to be an ecological creation consisting of sixty-four islands, sixty-four islands cannot be seen today. Various factors have contributed to it. About 18 species of mammals have been found living in the vicinity of the Madu River. Also, about 100 bird species can be seen in the Madu Ganga ecosystem, which is considered a bird’s paradise. The biggest cleaning project ever done in Madu Ganga, which is of great importance like this, was done on Saturday 08th October 2022 by Zero Plastic organization. It should be said that about 120 volunteers from the island and nearly 25 government officials and 15 sponsor representatives joined them for this great work.
It was organized under Rotary International’s seven focus areas, protecting our environment. This project was done for World Wildlife Week and it can be said that it was very successful. Zero Plastic volunteers and members of the Colombo Rotary club worked hard to clean the Madu River, which was polluted due to people’s various stupid actions, after a cleaning time of about 4 hours. Under that, they managed to collect about 800 kg of waste. The waste included alcohol bottles, beer cans, and shopping bags. All the waste was handed over to the municipality for recycling by the personnel involved in the project.
The people who participated as resource contributors for this project should be remembered here. Rotary Club of Colombo is special there. They are the main contributors of resources. They provided the necessary transportation facilities, food and drinks, etc. to the volunteers. Apart from that, the navy southern province team, and life-saving teams also participated in this project. From every boat carrying volunteers, spontaneously came forward to celebrate their safety. And Mrs. Pubudu de Soysa, the district governor, should also be remembered here. With the help of all these people, the “Madu Ganga” project can be mentioned as another very successful project carried out by the Zero Plastic national movement.
Subodha Charuni Chithrananda
Department Of Sociology
University Of Peradeniya
