Green Diary

Land Conservation Strategies…

Land conservation is the process of protecting natural land and returning developed land to its natural state. A variety of techniques are needed to carry out land conservation. Some of the most common techniques include preservation, restoration, remediation, and mitigation.

Land cover is commonly defined as the vegetation or manmade constructions which occur on the earth surface. Land is the basis for most biological and human activities on earth. Agriculture, forestry, industry, transport, housing and other services use land as a natural or an economic resource. Land is also an integral part of ecosystems and indispensable for biodiversity and the carbon cycle. Land conservation is the process of protecting natural land and returning developed land to its natural state. There are good reasons for this in the world such as the climate change, cities are growing and also population changing.

Land can be divided into two interlinked concepts:

· Land cover refers to the bio-physical coverage of land. Ex: crops, grass, broad-leaved forest, or built up area.

· Land use indicates the socioeconomic use of land. Ex: agriculture, forestry, recreation or residential use.

The University of Moratuwa is situated in the urban area. Because of that we can see mainly land covered with manmade structures. As well as little amount of areas covered with natural land cover. That area mainly thicken with grass lands, few numbers of trees, soil and gravel.

The “bolgoda oya”, front of examination division, front of old gym, and the behind of the lagan, provide natural beauty using the grass covering. Behind the lagan there are some new trees planted and also grown trees also put up along the “Sumanadasa building” and “Goda canteen” these areas mainly provide greenery to the university. As well as grass lands are put up and protected as in the figure.

Walking paths are mainly made by use concrete blocks. Concrete areas in the university as manmade capital or impervious cover. These impervious coverings are available limited areas. There are bushes planted near the buildings to provide some natural aesthetic appearance to buildings.