Ruk Rakaganno

Protectors of Trees

Trees I think that I shall never see
A poem lovely as a tree.
A tree whose hungry mouth is prest
Against the earth's sweet flowing breast;
A tree that looks at God all day,
And lifts her leafy arms to pray;
A tree that may in summer wear
A nest of robins in her hair;
Upon whose bosom snow has lain;
Who intimately lives with rain.
Poems are made by fools like me,
But only God can make a tree.

- Alfred Joyce Kilmer (1886 - 1918)

Last Updated January 19,2009

Some of Our Past Achievements

• April 2005 – Ruk Rakaganno commenced a weekly column “Tree Watch” in the Sunday Times (a national newspaper in English).
• July 2005 – Trees in the Cathedral grounds in Colombo were labeled in all three national languages by Ruk Rakaganno.
• February 2004 – June 2005 – A tree care and maintenance survey in conjunction with the Colombo Municipal Council involving an inventory of the street trees, advice on pruning requirements and on areas suitable for planting.
• April 2004 – June 2005 – “Tree of Life”- A Schools Awareness Program through which plants, books and posters were donated to, and lectures conducted at, less privileged schools.
• April 2002 – October 2003 – A networking project amongst 45 community based organizations active in conservation under the UNDP/GEF Small Grants Project. The network created continues as “Nature Forum”.
• June 2001 – Organized World Environment Day celebrations for the UNDP/GEF Small Grants Project. Activities included a seminar and an exhibition of work of the participating community organizations.
• July 2000 – A one- year program funded by the IUCN for school children in the Balangoda District to measure and monitor the bio-diversity of surrounding forest. This included workshops, the development of dramas, workbooks by the children.
• Replanting programs in the heavily denuded Deniyaya District in Minipe.
• 1996 – 1998 – Raising environmental awareness and related activities among women was funded by NORAD.
• 1992 – Establishment of the Women’s Environment Center, creating environmental awareness among women and providing a network for women’s groups to work on environmental issues.
• Urban tree planting in selected areas with the support of the private sector – for Upali Newspapers and for the department store ODEL Unlimited.
• Publications in all three languages – “What Tree is That? A Layperson’s Guide to Some of the Trees of Sri Lanka” published in English and Sinhala. The Tamil translation is in hand. “Kanthavanata Paarisarika Ath Valak” and the Sinhala translation of “Bio-diversity and the Culture of Bio-dependence” were published in 1997.