Mannar Trip (2025 March 15) part 3/8 – The Future of Flamingos

 Seeing Flamingos was the main target during our Mannr 2025 trip.  Yet it also left us with some doubts about the future of these beautiful birds, which migrate annually to our country seeking warmth and protection.

Just a few decades ago thousands of Flamingos flew directly to the wetlands in Bundala, the most southern wetland they could find coming down the shores of the Indian subcontinent, escaping the northern winter each year. It was why Bundala was named the first Ramsar wetland in Sri Lanka in 1991. But now they hardly ever come to Bundala. The reason for it is not exactly clear. Some say it could be because of that their path was disturbed due to the development of the Hambanthota port, which was a lagoon they used to land temporarily on their way to Bundala. Others doubt it could be due to the change in salinity levels of the Bundala wetlands as a result of the Lunugamvehera reservoir project.

Unfortunately, no Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) study report done on these projects had been able to predict such an ill-effect could happen. Since the Flamingos stopped coming to Bundala, Mannar and Jaffna have been the only places birders in Sri Lanka are able to see them. If they get disturbed by the developments in Mannar such as erecting more windmills, then there would be a danger of them not visiting Sri Lanka at all. The question is whether it would be worth the few megawatts of additional energy added to the national grid by risking the possibility of such a disaster to happen?