Diyasaru Park
In their own words
Diyasaru Park is the main urban wetland center in Colombo Sri Lanka, which is the first wetland capital city accredited by Ramsar in 2016. It is located in a prime location at the administrative capital, Sri Jayawardenapura Kotte (SJK) in close proximity to the Parliament of Sri Lanka. Diyasaru Park and its associated wetlands were active paddy fields during15th century and the beauty of wetlands has been described in historic literature due to archaeological significance of being predecessor of last kingdom. By 1980s’ paddy fields were abandoned and used todispose dredge material duringthe construction of ParliamentLake. Afterwards Diyasaru wetland went through natural succession to become a freshwater marsh. ‘Diyasaru’ means ‘rich inwater’ in the native language. It provides many ecosystem services while homes to about 300 plant and 250 animal species including both aquaticand terrestrial. Sri Lanka Land Development Corporation(SLLDC) initiated to restore this wetland as a wetland park in2013 and opened to the public in 2015. Diyasaru Park has been recognized as the central park by master plan for SJK in 2019.Reed ponds, shallow ponds, butterfly garden, wetland arboretum, wetland farm, boardwalks and paths, study huts, resting huts boating area are among the main features of the park. Apart from the wetland CEPA activities ranging from for kids to researches, the park is popular for wildlife photography, life event photography and cinematography.
The judges loved
Good at CEPA and monitoring programmes. Indoor wetland center resources – still at the designing and planning stage. Interesting history of the site and the reclamation authority. Focus on the transformation of the wetlands. Setting looks impressive too.