SRI LANKA COUNTRY PROFILE

CHAPTER 11: COMBATING DEFORESTATION
30
CP2002-SRI LANKA PAGE 30 Of 106
Decision-Making: Forests of Sri Lanka are administered by two institutions namely Forest Department (FD) and
Department of Wildlife Conservation (DWLC) and all the activities pertaining to the areas covered under this
chapter are handled by these two Departments. They are responsible for planning, implementation, monitoring and
evaluation of all the activities undertaken in this context. There are some activities undertaken by both FD and
DWLC with the participation of communities adjacent to identified forest areas. Community participation is
envisaged both in the planning as well as in the implementation stages of these activities. The Ministry of
Environment and Natural Resources which is responsible for both Forest Conservation and Wildlife Conservation
deals with the development policies and getting necessary government approval for the same. The policy
development is undertaken on a participatory basis with wide participation of all the relevant stakeholders.
Programmes and Projects: Three types of programmes were implemented during last ten years. These are:
Forestry Development Programmes; Eco-system management and conservation programmes including Wildlife
Conservation; and, Programmes with people’s participation on forestry development (tree planting). Some of the
most significant programmes/projects undertaken were: Community Forestry Project and Participatory Forestry
Project with funding from Asian Development Bank; Forest Resources Development Project funded by World
Bank and FINNIDA; and Forestry Sector Development Project jointly funded by World Bank, FINNIDA, British
ODA and UNDP. The main activities carried out under Community Forestry Project and Participatory Forestry
Project were tree planting with the participation of people (Farmers’ Woodlots Programme, Community Woodlots
Programme and Development of home gardens). Although there were some drawbacks and constraints encountered
during the implementation of these projects, in general terms they may be considered to be a success, where a real
enthusiasm was created among general public which resulted in mobilization of the community in the conservation
and development activities of forest resources.
The first Forestry Master Plan (1986) developed under the Forest Resources Development Project resulted in the
mobilization of both government and non government sector, in the conservation of forests for the conservation of
bio-diversity, water and soil conservation. The National Conservation Review undertaken during this project
resulted in a logging ban in natural forests in 1990 which is still enforce and is indicated to be a success as per the
FAO study on the impact of logging ban of Sri Lanka. In addition an environmental Management Division was
created in FD which was mainly responsible for the implementation of some of the conservation projects such as
Sinharaja and Knuckles and Mangrove Conservation Projects funded by NORAD. Forestry Sector Development
Project was instrumental in the revision of the original Forestry Master Plan (1986) and development of Forestry
Sector Master Plan which was approved in 1995. During this process the existing Forestry Policy was reviewed and
a new forest policy was developed. As a sequence to Forestry Sector Master Plan, a Five Year Investment
Programme was prepared and Asian Development Bank agreed to fund a project namely Forestry Sector
Management Project in 2000 based on this. In addition a project called the Protected Area Management and
Wildlife Conservation Project is being funded by GEF and implemented by DWLC. Although it does not have
significant impact on the forestry situation it is also important to mention the project on the Conservation of
Medicinal Plants of Sri Lanka with funding from World Bank and GEF and being implemented by Ministry of
Health and Indigenous Medicine with the collaboration of FD and District Administration.
Status The present forest cover is consisting of 22.4 % of Dense Forest with a total forest area of 30.54 of the land
area which includes sparse forest and forest plantations. Changes in forest cover from 1992 to 1999 are given in
Table 1.
Table 1: Changes in forest cover 1992 – 1999
Category
In 1992 In 1999
Dense Forest
Sparse Forests
Extent (ha) Percentage Extent (ha) Percentage
1579220
464076
23.88
7.01
1462887.0
460634.0
22.40
6.97