Up to a million birds stop at Mannar Island, off the north-west coast of Sri Lanka, to feed during the winter.
Ms Saroor had already left the island to study in Colombo in 1990 when the Tamil Tigers forced her remaining family off Mannar Island, along with all the other Muslim residents.many displaced Mannar Islanders have returned Managing director of Titanium Sands, James Searle, says the company is looking to mine an area of the island that is 2km wide and about 8km long."On an annualised basis that's probably … in the region of between 10 and 16 hectares."
"Our exploration work is only being undertaken on areas where there is no habitation and where there is no active agriculture."It's some of those undeveloped areas of Mannar Island that concern ecologist Sampath Seneviratne, who studies Mannar's birds. But he and his colleague at the Wildlife Protection Society only found out from a friend in Australia about the drilling, and they were surprised that local environmental groups knew nothing of the project.Mannar is world renowned for its bird life.Earlier this year in June, Titanium Sands was accused of illegal conduct in local Sri Lankan media reports.
"I reiterate again that the licenses are held in a fashion which is in total compliance with the legal requirements in Sri Lankathere was no information on the company website about the committee's enquiries into the project."We received enquiries on all manner of things and we don't consider it to be significant.
"How can somebody promote like that, without going through the environmental impact assessment process and getting the government approval?"Locals say they are worried about the impact the mine will have on the environment. Titanium Sands published material online showing the location of their resources including exploratory drill holes near the coast.
"Mining to such a wide extent would dramatically transform the ecosystem. It would also limit the land uses that the community already has for the island," he says. He says the company doesn't intend to mine near beaches on Mannar, and that there is no economic incentive for the company to do this. Professor Franks says the extent to which a sand mine could disturb the groundwater on Mannar depends on how deep Titanium Sands digs into the ground.