“The Bolgoda Ecosystem – A Selected Bibliography” is a platform that connects both published and unpublished scholarly work related to the Bolgoda region until the end of the year 2022. It presents a variety of selected references available via search engines, electronic databases, institutional repositories, catalogues with online public access, shadow libraries, etc. organized under 12 categories. This delicately groomed compilation also consists of an Author Index, Corporate Author Index, Subject Index and Title Index for the convenience of referencing.
Bolgoda is the largest natural freshwater lake embedded to a widespread wetland system in the Western Province of Sri Lanka. It is considered as “one of the first wetland cities in the world by Ramsar Convention Secretariat” in 2018 and also been listed in the “1001 Natural Wonders of the World: you must see before you die”, published in 2017 by Michael Bright (Ed.) due to its ecological, social, and economic significance. Unfortunately, Bolgoda has also been included in the “Threatened Lakes of the Year 2018” by Global Nature Fund (2022). Undoubtedly being a natural laboratory with unlimited access and opportunities for those with a scholarly interest, Bolgoda is a welcome prospect for neighbouring academic entities to explore and develop an awareness of much of the unseen, untouched or continuously neglected elements. Therefore, this bibliographic compilation is a timely product to facilitate the continuation of scholarly developments with accountable links to the past, for an environmentally sensitive region which has been diversely utilized.
The Bolgoda Ecosystem is a compilation by Dr. Chulantha Jayawardena, a Senior Lecturer from the Department of Earth Resources Engineering and Ms. Thushari Seneviratne, Senior Assistant Librarian from the University of Moratuwa Library. The bibliography is an outcome of the attempts made by them to find information on Bolgoda and its associations to construct an article for the Bolgoda Plains Research Magazine published by the Faculty of Graduate Studies of the University of Moratuwa. Hence, on 24 July 2023, the first copy of the book was presented to Prof. Ajith de Alwis the Dean, the Faculty of Graduate Studies, who initiated the Bolgoda Plains Research Magazine and also motivated the compilers towards publishing the book.
