MAS opens refurbished Environment Information Centre | Page 2 | Sunday Observer

MAS opens refurbished Environment Information Centre

13 January, 2019
CEO of MAS Fabrics Matrix, Ivan Brown lights the oil lamp at the opening of the facility.
CEO of MAS Fabrics Matrix, Ivan Brown lights the oil lamp at the opening of the facility.

MAS Fabrics, the end-to-end supply chain operation of MAS Holdings, opened the refurbished Badagamuwa Environment Information Centre to the public to create more awareness on the biodiversity of the Badagamuwa Conservation Forest in Kurunegala.

This project was carried out in partnership with the Forest Conservation Department. The ceremony was held under the patronage of Forest Conservator General Anura Sathurusinghe, and CEO of MAS Fabrics Matrix, Ivan Brown.

MAS Fabrics outfitted the Information Centre with a model of the forest along with information boards, leaflets and images to disseminate insightful knowledge on the history, ecosystem services, forest policies and objectives of the forest among schoolchildren as well as local and foreign tourists.

The Centre, considered a vital resource for schoolchildren to expand their knowledge on natural forest habitat and best practices in conservation, now offers an engaging educational program curated by MAS Fabrics along with the provision of all display material, furniture, hand-outs together with water, electricity and sanitary facilities.

The University of Peradeniya also extended its support to the cause by conducting a comprehensive biodiversity survey and providing herbarium sheets of preserved plant specimens to the list of available resources at the Information Centre.

MAS Fabrics partnered with the Forest Department of Sri Lanka in 2017 to address the rapid degradation of the 202-hectare Badagamuwa Conservation Forest, steering an environmental sustainability drive to revive the ecosystem that has suffered decades of pollution, poaching, deforestation and loss of habitat to rapidly expanding human settlements. MAS Fabrics has initiated a five-year plan to restore the forest back to its natural habitat through reforestation of native species, eradication of invading creepers, and dissemination of knowledge.

MAS Holdings aims to replace habitats by 100 times the space they occupy, which is approximately 25,000 acres of land by 2025. 

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