English - Convention on Biological Diversity

.11 GrasslandsSri Lanka’s forests are associated with several different types of grasslands. These include: the savannas that occur asa distinct community around Bibile, the extensive dry patanas that are generally devoid of tree flora (except in thevalley bottoms) are found in the Uva basin, and the wet pathana grasslands that occur at very high elevations around2000 m in association with upper montane forests. The damana grasslands of the Dry Zone found mainly in the EasternProvince and the talawa grasslands of the lowland Wet Zone are believed to be the result of forest clearing andrepeated firing. The wet villu grasslands in the flood plains of rivers flowing through the Dry Zone are particularly richin biodiversity among the large grazing and browsing herbivores such as deer and elephant.1.4.2 Issues and threats for forests and grasslandsFigure 1.11a: Sri Lanka’s forest cover by district in 1983 and 1992Source: Legg and Jewel, 1995Deforestation has been the most serious threat toterrestrial biodiversity in Sri Lanka with the islandloosing approximately 50% of its forest coverwithin about 50 years. The area under closedcanopydense natural forests shows a markeddecline from 44% (2.9 million ha), to 26.6% (1.76million ha) and 23.88.2% (1.33 million ha) of theland area respectively in 1956, 1983 and 1992(Legg and Jewel, 1995; FD, 1999) and to 22.5 in1999 (Forest Department data. 1999). The rate ofdeforestation also increased from 42,000 habetween 1956 and 1983 to 54,000 ha between1983 and 1992, Consequently the per capita figureof 0.12 ha of forests in 1983 dropped to 0.09 ha by1993 (Bandaratillke, 2000). Table 1.6 shows thatall categories of closed canopy natural forest inthe island had decreased between 1992 and 1999.Figure 1.11 a & b compares Sri Lanka’s forestcover by district in 1983 and 1992 (Legg andJewel, 1995) and 1999 (Forest Department data,1999). Although a drop to 17 % by 2020 waspredicted if no preventive action is taken MALF,1995), various conservation measures have been adopted to reduce deforestation. The rate of deforestation haddropped to 20,000 ha per year between 1994-1999 (National Biodiversity Outlook, 2006), showing that the trend forforest loss has now considerably slowed down, though continuing. While some of the forest loss (per district) isattributed to redefining of district boundaries, 2the acceleration of deforestation from 1983 to1992 was partly due to extensive land clearing inthe Dry Zone for irrigation schemes establishedthrough the Mahaweli Development Project. Muchof the post colonial forest loss has been directly asa result of expansion of irrigation, humansettlements, agricultural development, and othernon-forest development activities such as hydroelectric generation (Bogahawatte, N.D).Figure 1.11b: Sri Lanka’s forest cover by district in 1992 and 1999Source: Forest Department, 19992 A decrease in land area within the district results in a reduced forest cover for the district.Fourth National Report to the CBD: Sri Lanka 24