Let Us Colour The Beach Green - Green Beach - Zooxanthellae
As said by
Rtr. Shenali Welikala,
Green Beach is an environmental project done as a milestone of an ongoing environmental project, Zooxanthellae. This project was initiated following the 14th Sustainable Development Goal of United Nations, which is to conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources. The pollution done to the beach is directly affecting the ocean and its living creatures. Therefore cleaning a beach is a crucial need to guarantee the safety of the ocean and its life.
Therefore it was decided to clean the Panadura beach which was subjected to a massive environmental pollution. Apart from beach cleaning the aim was also to educate the locals and the students about environmental pollution. Therefore it was not only a beach cleaning program but also an awareness project.
After carefully observing the site it was decided to establish 4 large garbage bins in the beach since there were no adequate garbage disposal facilities in the beach. Apart from the garbage bins, posters about environmental protection and awareness posters about the correct methods of disposing garbage were designed.
On the day of the project, 24th December 2016; the project was carried out with the participation of many non-Rotaractors as well as Rotaractors including Rtr. Chamal Kuruppu President of Rotaract Club University of Moratuwa. First there was a session of games to enforce team building among the participants and then the beach was divided into 3 sections where three groups cleaned the relevant areas. The first garbage bin was placed by the president of the Rotaract Club of university of Moratuwa and the rest of the bins and the posters were placed by the relevant cleaning groups in their respected areas. After the cleaning session an awareness speech on beach pollution was given to the participants. It was a fruitful day; all the participants actively involved in cleaning and the project ended successfully.
This project catered two categories of beneficiaries. The first category was the participants and the students. The awareness program and speech guaranteed that they were given the knowledge about the need of protecting and cleaning the beach and its direct impact on the ocean at large. The second category is the locals and the users of the Panadura beach. This aspect was accomplished by awareness posters and banners which can make an impact on the locals.
The project was chaired by Rtr. Shenali Welikala and Rtr. Dulaj Dilshan with the help and guidance of Rtr. Sahan Jayawardane, Director Environment of the club. The participants were also very supportive during the whole course of the project.
Apart from the Panadura beach there are several other beautiful beaches situated in Sri Lanka which are massively subjected to pollution. Therefore maintaining and cleaning these beaches are of high importance. The Green Beach project at the Panadura Beach was only the first step of the project. The well spent day reminded everyone that it is our duty to lend a hand even in the smallest way possible to protect our mother nature.
