English - Convention on Biological Diversity

Baseline Biodiversity Survey (BBS) of seven Protected Areas under the Department of Wildlife Conservation, haveshown a rich biota in the remaining contiguous blocks of rainforests, although further forest loss may well lead tospecies extinctions on a massive scale. The Forest and Wildlife Departments that are the custodians of forestbiodiversity have also invested heavily on institutional capacity building for better management and conservationof forests under their purview. This augers well for conservation of forest biodiversity.Systematic coastal resource management in Sri Lanka commenced in the early 1980s with the setting up of theCoast Conservation Department (CCD) and the enactment of the Coast Conservation Act of 1981. This has led tothe periodic preparation of Coastal Zone Management Plans (CZMP) and the formulation and implementation ofSpecial Area Management (SAM) Plans that promote a participatory approach to the management of coastalresources. The current CZMP has incorporated all relevant recommendations from the BCAP. The NationalWetlands Policy of 2006 and the establishment of a unit to oversee wetland conservation are positive measures forbiodiversity conservation. The latter came about as a recommendation during preparation of the Addendum to theBCAP. However, threats to coastal and marine and wetland biodiversity have not been addressed effectively.There is cross-sectoral integration of biodiversity concerns into the laws, policies and plans of the agricultural andfisheries sectors. There are also close links between the Biodiversity Secretariat and the agricultural sector withregard to conservation of ago-biodiversity and preventive measures for entry and establishment of Invasive AlienSpecies (IAS). Likewise, the institutions concerned with ex-situ conservation also participate in implementingArticle 9 of the CBD, and have incorporated activities that promote biodiversity conservation into theirprogrammes. Similar integration is lacking with the development sector--such as the mining, tourism, andindustrial sectors—and the urban and road development agencies, due to insufficient understanding of biodiversityconsiderations.While considerable measures that benefits biodiversity conservation have been initiated in Sri Lanka, much moreremains to be done. One constraint is that the national BCAP (and Addendum) have not been implemented in aholistic manner. The special mechanisms required have been identified, but are in abeyance due to the need forfunds and other support to be made operational. The coordination required for implementing the BCAP is alsomade difficult due to the complexity of the vast number of institutions and laws that govern and have an impacton biodiversity. Even so, the wide stakeholder processes for preparation of the BCAP and Addendum, the NCSAAction Plan, and the National GEF Strategy, as well as other fora to prepare biodiversity related policies, plans andprojects, have provided opportunities for inter-institutional interaction among sectoral agencies and some of thecross-sectoral agencies that are mandated to manage bio-resources. Further, despite the lack of a coordinatedmechanism to implement the BCAP, much of its recommendations with regard to in-situ and ex-situ conservation,as well as some cross-cutting areas, have been implemented by the institutions with a mandate to conserve wildand agro-biodiversity.Overall, a review carried out of 87 recommendations in the BCAP pertaining to in-situ conservation (in forests,wetlands, coastal and marine systems and agricultural systems) and ex-situ conservation during preparation of theAddendum showed that implementation of 26 recommendations were critically hampered due to inadequateinstitutional capacity or mandate for the required actions, and nine had not commenced at all for the samereason. The balance 52 reconditions (60%) were being implemented at the time of review to some degree.While the preparation of the BCAP and establishment of the Biodiversity Division in the MoENR have definitelyhelped to promote biodiversity conservation and to highlight the CBD goals and objectives, the need forsystematically implementing the BCAP is required to and bring about better cross-sectoral involvement inbiodiversity conservation. In this regard, there is also a clear need for assistance from the CBD for biodiversityfocal points for capacity building in Communication, Education and Public Awareness (CEPA) to promote sectoraland cross-sectoral integration of biodiversity concerns.Funding for biodiversity conservation has been largely for in-situ or ex-situ conservation rather than the otheraspects of the CBD, such as Article 15. Funds from domestic sources have been sufficient to maintain theprotective and management related functions of the Forest Department (FD), Department of Wildlife Conservation(DWLC), the Coast Conservation Department (CCD), and the Central Environmental Authority (CEA), but funds forthe CBD focal point has not been sufficient to deal with BCAP implementation or to promote an ABS regime.Funding patterns for Sri Lanka have also changed with most funds being accessed from multi-lateral sources ratherthan from bilateral sources as seen in the mid 1990s.With regard to action planning for biodiversity,• the BCAP and Addendum recommends a course of action to “ensure that the biological diversity within thecountry is conserved and used sustainably, and that development programmes pursued by the differentFourth National Report to the CBD: Sri Lanka 3