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The Wet Zone rainforests harbour nearly all the country's woody endemic flora, about 75 per cent of the endemicfauna, and all the endemic genera (MOFE, 1999). They also provide refuge for the relict Gondwana-Deccan biota(Ashton and Gunatilleke, 1987). The level of endemism in Wet Zone forests ranges from 37 - 64 % for woody plants and14 - 52 % for animals, compared with 10-16% for species in the Dry Zone forests (MOFE, 1999).The NCR also revealed that 79 per cent of the woody plant diversity (including 88 per cent of endemic woody plantspecies) and 83 per cent of faunal diversity (including 85 per cent of endemic faunal species) are represented in justeight units of contiguous forests (IUCN/FAO/FD 1997). Six of these complexes are in the Wet Zone, while theIntermediate and Dry Zones contain one complex each (MoFE, 1999). The fact that the biologically diverse lowland rainforests amount to less than 2% of the island’s total land area, with wet sub-montane and montane forests adding only afurther 1.01 % and 0.05% respectively (Forest Department data for 1999). This issue is compounded by the fact thatalthough 9,462 sq km of natural forest and scrubland, amounting to about 14% of the island are declared as Protected Areas(National Environmental Outlook, 2006), and only about 18% of this system falls within the Wet Zone (MoENR, 2002).As a result of considerable anthropogenic factors, of which the main cause is deforestation on a massive scale forestablishment of plantation agriculture under colonial rule, Sri Lanka’s rainforest biome is now represented mainly byisolated and very fragmented forest patches scattered over the Wet Zone. Most individual forests amount to less than10,000 ha (IUCN/WCMC/FAO 1997), and many are suspected to be too small to sustain functional ecosystems in thelong-term, or provide viable habitats for the mammalian macro-fauna of the Wet Zone. Consequently, forests thatcontinue to harbour most of the endemic species are severely fragmented forest patches that are surrounded by a highhuman population density.Sri Lanka’s dipterocarp-dominated lowland forests are characterised bya dense canopy of trees reaching 30-40 m in height, with emergentsrising through the canopy to about 45 m. Due to the height of thecanopy trees and the straightness of their boles, these forests wereconsidered to be a viable source of timber around the 1940s, and thistrend continued until 1989, resulting in their selective logging.Source: MoFE, 1999Due to intense public concern with regard to the loggingof the Sinharaja Forest Reserve, an AcceleratedConservation Review (ACR) of 31 Wet Zone forests wascarried out in the 1990s by the Forest Department. Thefindings of this survey resulted in a moratorium onlogging in all natural forests of Sri Lanka from 1990.Illegal timber felling has also been reduced, particularlyin Wet Zone forests, as permits are now required fortransportation of most species of timber value. However, illegal timber felling in forests is still a problem in someforests of the Dry Zone, and more marginally in the Wet Zone forests. The latter is mainly for personal use for housingconstruction. Surveys such as the ACR, the NCR, and the recent Baseline Biodiversity Surveys in seven Protected Areasunder the Department of Wildlife Conservation, have shown that the remaining rainforests have a rich biota, althoughfurther forest loss may well lead to species extinctions on a massive scale. Already 33 Wet Zone forests have beenidentified for strict conservation.During the period 1956-1983, nearly 12 percent of the Sinharaja wasdeforested almost entirely on the periphery, so that only 66 percentof the World Heritage site remains as primary forest (Barnyard andFernando, 1988).‘moderate’ or ‘poor’ (Gap Analysis final report, 2006).Despite these valuable conservation initiatives,assessment of the viability of natural vegetation in SriLanka through the recently concluded ‘GAP analysis’ ofthe existing Protected Area system using GIS technology(Figure 1.9) showed that a considerable percentage offorests in the island are of the condition categories ofDespite a slow regeneration of logged forests, as demonstrated by poor representation of endemic woody species inselectively logged areas in the Sinharaja eight years after logging was halted (de Zoysa et. al., 1990), a remarkableimprovement in ecosystem quality and forest regeneration is now apparent in some of the larger Wet Zone forests thatwere selectively logged in the 1970s (IUCN, 1993; Dela, 2003). This has been attributed to the ban on official logging ofnatural forests in the country, and the veering away of the Forest Department’s focus from production to forestconservation. The conservation value of Wet Zone forests as the only refuge of some of the rarest faunal and floralspecies in the world is also now recognised, and there is a positive move by many Protected Area managers to engagelocal communities in forest conservation to preclude anthropogenic disturbances to forest ecosystems in all climaticzones.Much of the remaining large tracts of forests in the country (Figure 1.3) as well as the larger Protected Areas (Figure10 a & b) consist of Dry Zone forests. These forests, though less diverse than Wet Zone forests, are nonetheless themain habitats for large mammals including the elephant; and carnivores, ungulates and primates show their highestspecies diversity in the Dry Zone (MoFE, 1999). The Ruhuna National Park in the Dry Zone is exceptional in terms ofFourth National Report to the CBD: Sri Lanka 22
woody species and faunal diversity with regard to large herbivores and carnivores and the floodplains of the Mahaweliriver in the Dry Zone are the most important habitats in the country with regard to wildlife biomass (ibid).Figure 1.8 Status of viability for natural vegetationSourse: Gap Analysis Report, MoENR, 2006Figure 1.10a: Protected Areas under the ForestFigure 1.10b: Protected Areas under the Department ofDepartmentWildlife ConservationSourse: Gap Analysis Report, MoENR, 2006Fourth National Report to the CBD: Sri Lanka 23
Page 1 and 2: Fourth Country Report from Sri Lank
Page 3: Cover photo credits•••• Gra
Page 6 and 7: Chapter 22.1 Introduction ……392
Page 8: List of figuresFigure 1.1 Map of Sr
Page 11 and 12: Baseline Biodiversity Survey (BBS)
Page 13 and 14: through skills building for reporti
Page 15: Chapter 11.1 IntroductionThis chapt
Page 19 and 20: Figure 1.2: Major climatic zones ba
Page 21 and 22: Evolutionary significance of Sri La
Page 23 and 24: 1.3 Species diversity1.3.1 StatusSr
Page 25 and 26: .11 Coastal and marine ecosystemsTA
Page 27 and 28: wetland habitats (MALF, 1995; IUCN
Page 29: Dry monsoon forests (Figure 1.3) lo
Page 33 and 34: TABLE 1.7: Trends in detection of i
Page 35 and 36: Bank, 2008), and are distributed th
Page 37 and 38: salt marshes occur along the coast
Page 39 and 40: Sri Lanka also has a range of cerea
Page 41 and 42: TABLE 1.8: Germplasm Collection Sta
Page 43 and 44: Soil erosion is extremely high in t
Page 45 and 46: 1.8.5 Impact of changes in biodiver
Page 47 and 48: Chapter 22.1 IntroductionSri Lanka
Page 49: • The importance of Communication
Page 53 and 54: 2.2.5 Institutional arrangements fo
Page 55 and 56: problem for non-implementation of t
Page 57 and 58: Key threats Specific issue Statusco
Page 59 and 60: Key threats Specific issue StatusSp
Page 61 and 62: TABLE 2.2: Major donor funded proje
Page 63 and 64: Chapter 33.1 IntroductionThe Confer
Page 65 and 66: Primary Stakeholders*Secondary stak
Page 67 and 68: laws concerning access to genetic r
Page 69 and 70: TABLE 3.3: Integration of biodivers
Page 71 and 72: Area of purviewPolicies / plans/ la
Page 73 and 74: Overall, biodiversity consideration
Page 75 and 76: SectorInstitutions, mandates and na
Page 77 and 78: Planning and policydevelopmentMonit
Page 79 and 80: oth western and traditional (i.e. A
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the need for a mechanism to impleme
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Stockholm Convention</stron
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Chapter 44.1 Introduction4.1.1 The
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4.2.4. Evaluation of achieving targ
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for declaration of PAs, and adoptio
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• Programmes for ex-situ conserva
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The crop wild relatives projectThe
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WetlandsUnder the Wetland Conservat
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active in detecting such illegal ex
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ecause of anthropogenic factors suc
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• Systematic gathering of atmosph
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egion for over a week (Arulpragrasa
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FOCAL AREA: MAINTAIN GOODS AND SERV
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FisheriesThe national marine fisher
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• Health and well being of rural
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• The MoENR has formulated a nati
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4.3 Impact of NBSAPs and related se
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Strategic goalsScale ofagreementSri
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Strategic goalsScale ofagreementSri
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Ministry of Environment & Natural R
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Appendix II - Further sources of in
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62. Fernando, N. (1997) A Personnal
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133. MoENR, 2007b. The Thematic Ass
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Appendix IIIProgress towards Target
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.2.1 Protected Areas under the DWLC
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National Target (NCSA 3 5.7, 2007)I
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disturbance by over-visitation and
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PoWPA Target: By 2008, sufficient f
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Project (2001-2008)Other Policies,
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There is no overall policy to guide
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The ADB funded Forest Resources Man
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Status of actions taken/in progress
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The Community Participation Project
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B.4.8 PoWPA Goal 3.2 - To build cap
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B.5 Overview of obstacles for imple
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English - Convention on Biological Diversity

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