By Maheesha Mudugamuwa
The forest cover in Sri Lanka is eroding at a dangerous pace, as it loses approximately 8,000 hectares (ha) per year due to the rising number of unplanned infrastructure and agriculture development activities.
The forest cover has declined to 17% in 2020 from 20% in 2010 mostly with the loss of Dry Zone cover compared to that of the Wet Zone, especially due to the power projects, construction of dams, and encroachment of forest land for agricultural practices affecting the ecology and biodiversity of the region, according to the data revealed by environmentalists.
Alleging that the failure of the Government to practice a sustainable development process during the last decade has posed a huge threat to the ecological balance of the country’s biodiversity, environmentalist Sajeeva Chamikara told The Sunday Morning that 3% of the country’s forest cover had been depleted during the last 10 years.
Chamikara, who is also the Executive Director of the Environmental Conservation Trust (ECT), pointed out that the Dry Zone forest cover had been depleted by over 3% while the Wet Zone cover had been depleted by around 1%.
In 2020, the country’s Wet Zone forest cover is said to be 3% while that of the Dry Zone is said to be 17%.
As highlighted by Chamikara, a number of development activities have caused the depletion of forest cover. On the other hand, he stressed that environmentalists were not against development but against the unsustainable development which has put the country at huge risk.
According to him, the projects inaugurated during the last 10 years, including the Moragahakanda-Kalu Ganga, the Yan Oya Irrigation Project, rehabilitation projects in the North and East, and the Hambantota development activities have caused a loss of 30,000 ha, 15,000 ha, 20,000 ha, and 25,000 ha of forest cover directly, respectively, while some other forest lands were clearing for agricultural purposes. 
In addition, Chamikara highlighted that thousands of hectares have been cleared for commercial cultivation purposes by distributing lands to private companies.
Over 10,000 ha in the Dry Zone have been cleared for commercial cultivation purposes, he stressed.
“We urge the Government to implement sustainable development mechanisms. During the past decade, we have lost 3% of our forest cover. But, what has it done to our economy? If the Government is arguing that they want to clear forests for development, what have they developed? If they have developed, why is the country’s economy in a sorry state at present?” Chamikara stressed.
He also pointed out that whenever development activities were taking place, the Government should consider the environmental aspect as well.
Highlighting the fact that the forest lands under the Land Reform Commission (LRC), the Mahaweli Authority of Sri Lanka (MASL), and the lands governed under the Viharagam and Devala Ordinance are at high risk of losing its forest cover, Chamikara said most of the forest lands under these three categories were facing a high risk, as the authorities could distribute these forest lands for development purposes.
The statistics show that Sri Lanka’s natural forest cover has dwindled from 80% to less than 17% over the last 100 years and that at the end of the 19th Century, more than 80% of the country was covered by forest. At the beginning of the 20th Century, this rate had been reduced to 70% and in 1950, only half of the land area was forested.
By the beginning of the 1990s, forest cover remained at less than a quarter of the country. According to the Government, forest cover has shrunk back a further 5% over the 1990s. After 1970, the Mahaweli Irrigation Project was implemented, with the main objective being to irrigate large areas of the Dry Zone in the Northeast and make these soils more suitable for agriculture, especially for the production of rice. Many development projects accelerated deforestation in Sri Lanka and it reduced forest cover to 20% in 2007.
Meanwhile, according to the Forest Department, the country’s forests are being protected by three legislative tools; the Forest Ordinance, the Fauna and Flora Protection Ordinance, and the National Heritage and Wilderness Areas Act.
The Forest Ordinance is enforced by the Forest Department while the Fauna and Flora Protection Ordinance is enforced by the Department of Wildlife Conservation. The National Heritage and Wilderness Areas Act is also enforced by the Forest Department in order to ensure the protection of designated areas.
The present Forest Ordinance is an ordinance to consolidate and amend the law relating to conservation, protection, and sustainable management of forest resources and have provisions for community involvement in forest management and benefit sharing through forest agreements.
The National Heritage and Wilderness Areas Act No. 3 was passed in 1988 to provide special protection to the forest areas that harbour unique ecosystems, genetic resources, or outstanding natural features. The Sinharaja Forest, which is a World Heritage Site at present, was the first forest area declared under this Act. This Act is also administered by the Forest Department.
The Fauna and Flora Protection Ordinance No. 2 of 1937, and subsequent amendments, most recently in 2009, make provisions for the protection of fauna and flora in national reserves and sanctuaries, in certain cases including private lands.
In addition, this Ordinance provides provisions for the protection of certain species of fauna outside reserves and prohibition and control of export of some wild animals. This law also provides provisions for protection of some identified protected trees. This Ordinance is administered by the Department of Wildlife Conservation.
In addition, to ensure the protection of forests and the effective enforcement of the Forest Ordinance, a flying squad has been employed at the headquarters of the Forest Department under the Conservator of Forests – Forest Protection and Law Enforcement. The flying squad consists of forest officers representing Range Forest Officers, Beat Forest Officers, and Forest Field Assistants, and the squad is led by either an Assistant Conservator of Forests or a Special Forester. The flying squad operates all over the island based on the reliable information received through a well-developed mechanism, according to the Forest Department.
When contacted by The Sunday Morning, senior environmental lawyer Dr. Jagath Gunawardena said the protected forest areas have been declared in Sri Lanka under three legislative tools including the Forest Ordinance, the Fauna and Flora Protection Ordinance, and the National Heritage and Wilderness Areas Act. But certain forest areas which should be declared under the Forest Ordinance, and yet could not be due to financial difficulties, have been named by the Department as “proposed reserves”. The forest lands which were not declared under the Forest Ordinance are identified as “other state forests” (OSF). “Therefore, in Sri Lanka, all forests are governed by some kind of a legislative tool,” he stressed, adding that there are no forests that are not governed by a state institution.
“What is stated in the 20/2001 Circular is completely wrong,” he stressed.
The forests declared under the Forest Ordinance and National Heritage Act are governed by the Forest Department while the forests declared under the Flora and Fauna Ordinance are governed by the Department of Wildlife. Furthermore, the areas that have not yet been declared are also governed by the Forest Ordinance, as those have already been named as forests under Section 78, Dr. Gunawardena added.
Meanwhile, the Government has decided to deploy the Air Force to crackdown on deforestation. Defence Secretary Maj. Gen. (Retd.) Kamal Gunaratne said that President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has advised the military and Police to curb deforestation. As a result, the Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) will be deployed to monitor deforestation using their air assets.
The Defence Secretary has requested district secretaries/government agents to be vigilant and stand against the destruction of the environment. He also said that a special unit has been established to arrest suspects involved in land grabbing.
However, environmentalists lashed out at the Government for using drone technology to curb the deforestation, as they alleged that it was yet another waste of public money.
“There are policy decisions that should be taken to curb the deforestation and strict legal action should be taken against the culprits irrespective of their political affiliations,” Chamikara stressed.
Furthermore, Centre for Environmental Justice (CEJ) Executive Director Hemantha Withanage noted that the main reason for the deforestation was the political involvement and going ahead with development activities without following proper environmental assessments.
Highlighting the wetlands, he stressed that there were only around 2,000 ha of wetland cover remaining at present in Colombo.
Over 75% of the land in Colombo was covered with wetlands many years ago and with the development activities, the wetland cover gradually decreased and now, there is around 2,000 ha of wetland cover remaining, he said.
According to him, from Muthurajawela via Kotte up to Bolgoda, the land was covered with wetlands several decades ago.
“Most of these refilling activities had been done by the Government,” he alleged. “Even the Central Environment Authority (CEA) is situated in a wetland and the Parliament is also situated in a wetland,” he continued.
As highlighted by Withanage, one of the main reasons for the unregulated refilling was due to the lack of co-ordination between the relevant authorities that approve the refilling activities.
“Approval should be taken from several institutions. There’s no single institution to control and monitor wetlands in Colombo and part of it is under the Department of Wildlife, part is with the CEA, and part is with the Irrigations Department, Sri Lanka Land Development Corporation (SLLDC). As a result, there was no proper co-ordination between these departments,” he stressed.
"When an application to refill a land is made to one institution, they look into what is relevant to them and they approve the application if the specifications that they wanted are fulfilled and generally, when one institution approves one application, the other institutions also approve it,” Withanage noted, adding that the biggest issue was when the government institutions started to refill these lands for development activities.
Meanwhile, the CEJ also urged the Government to stop massive forest destruction for the proposed Agriculture and Livestock Development Project at Pollebadda – Rambakan Oya in the Maha Oya area.
In a letter of demand sent to the CEA Director General, the Mahaweli Authority, the Ministry of Environment, and others, the CEJ stated that it had learnt that the CEA Director General, under the Ref. No. 08/EIA/AGR/01/2020 dated 15 October 2020, has provided the guidelines to the Director General of the Sri Lanka Mahaweli Authority for the proposed project without adhering to the provisions of the National Environmental Act.
“Around 5,828 acres (2,359 ha) are to be cultivated for maize under this project and land parts of around 500 ha are to be divided and handed over to a few people,” according to Withanage.
“We have learnt that around 500 ha have already been cleared and the CEA has issued the aforementioned letter, saying that if the development activities within the land areas belong to the Mahaweli Authority, there is no need to consider those for issuing an EIA (Environmental Impact Assessment) approval,” Withanage stated.
Meanwhile, Wildlife and Forest Conservation Minister C.B. Rathnayake denied the allegation made by environmentalists and said the country at present has a forest cover of nearly 29% and the Government is taking the necessary steps to increase it up to 30% within the next few years.
He also said there was a forest cover of around 1.2 million acres under the Department of Wildlife but there were only around 1,000 officials working at the department and therefore, steps have been taken to get the support of the Ministry of Defence to deploy the tri-forces, the Special Task Force (STF), and the Police to protect the forest reserves and to apprehend those who engage in illegal activities.
Furthermore, the Ministry together with the Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) is using drone technology to monitor forest reserves and to identify any illegal activities being carried out.
In addition, commenting on the controversial proposed road, the Minister stressed that he would take the necessary steps according to the Flora and Fauna Protection Ordinance.
Alleging that the failure of the Government to practice a sustainable development process during the last decade has posed a huge threat to the ecological balance of the country’s biodiversity, environmentalist Sajeeva Chamikara told The Sunday Morning that 3% of the country’s forest cover had been depleted during the last 10 years.
Chamikara, who is also the Executive Director of the Environmental Conservation Trust (ECT), pointed out that the Dry Zone forest cover had been depleted by over 3% while the Wet Zone cover had been depleted by around 1%.
In 2020, the country’s Wet Zone forest cover is said to be 3% while that of the Dry Zone is said to be 17%.
As highlighted by Chamikara, a number of development activities have caused the depletion of forest cover. On the other hand, he stressed that environmentalists were not against development but against the unsustainable development which has put the country at huge risk.
According to him, the projects inaugurated during the last 10 years, including the Moragahakanda-Kalu Ganga, the Yan Oya Irrigation Project, rehabilitation projects in the North and East, and the Hambantota development activities have caused a loss of 30,000 ha, 15,000 ha, 20,000 ha, and 25,000 ha of forest cover directly, respectively, while some other forest lands were clearing for agricultural purposes.
In addition, Chamikara highlighted that thousands of hectares have been cleared for commercial cultivation purposes by distributing lands to private companies.
Over 10,000 ha in the Dry Zone have been cleared for commercial cultivation purposes, he stressed.
“We urge the Government to implement sustainable development mechanisms. During the past decade, we have lost 3% of our forest cover. But, what has it done to our economy? If the Government is arguing that they want to clear forests for development, what have they developed? If they have developed, why is the country’s economy in a sorry state at present?” Chamikara stressed.
He also pointed out that whenever development activities were taking place, the Government should consider the environmental aspect as well.
Highlighting the fact that the forest lands under the Land Reform Commission (LRC), the Mahaweli Authority of Sri Lanka (MASL), and the lands governed under the Viharagam and Devala Ordinance are at high risk of losing its forest cover, Chamikara said most of the forest lands under these three categories were facing a high risk, as the authorities could distribute these forest lands for development purposes.
The statistics show that Sri Lanka’s natural forest cover has dwindled from 80% to less than 17% over the last 100 years and that at the end of the 19th Century, more than 80% of the country was covered by forest. At the beginning of the 20th Century, this rate had been reduced to 70% and in 1950, only half of the land area was forested.
By the beginning of the 1990s, forest cover remained at less than a quarter of the country. According to the Government, forest cover has shrunk back a further 5% over the 1990s. After 1970, the Mahaweli Irrigation Project was implemented, with the main objective being to irrigate large areas of the Dry Zone in the Northeast and make these soils more suitable for agriculture, especially for the production of rice. Many development projects accelerated deforestation in Sri Lanka and it reduced forest cover to 20% in 2007.
Meanwhile, according to the Forest Department, the country’s forests are being protected by three legislative tools; the Forest Ordinance, the Fauna and Flora Protection Ordinance, and the National Heritage and Wilderness Areas Act.
The Forest Ordinance is enforced by the Forest Department while the Fauna and Flora Protection Ordinance is enforced by the Department of Wildlife Conservation. The National Heritage and Wilderness Areas Act is also enforced by the Forest Department in order to ensure the protection of designated areas.
The present Forest Ordinance is an ordinance to consolidate and amend the law relating to conservation, protection, and sustainable management of forest resources and have provisions for community involvement in forest management and benefit sharing through forest agreements.
The National Heritage and Wilderness Areas Act No. 3 was passed in 1988 to provide special protection to the forest areas that harbour unique ecosystems, genetic resources, or outstanding natural features. The Sinharaja Forest, which is a World Heritage Site at present, was the first forest area declared under this Act. This Act is also administered by the Forest Department.
The Fauna and Flora Protection Ordinance No. 2 of 1937, and subsequent amendments, most recently in 2009, make provisions for the protection of fauna and flora in national reserves and sanctuaries, in certain cases including private lands.
In addition, this Ordinance provides provisions for the protection of certain species of fauna outside reserves and prohibition and control of export of some wild animals. This law also provides provisions for protection of some identified protected trees. This Ordinance is administered by the Department of Wildlife Conservation.
In addition, to ensure the protection of forests and the effective enforcement of the Forest Ordinance, a flying squad has been employed at the headquarters of the Forest Department under the Conservator of Forests – Forest Protection and Law Enforcement. The flying squad consists of forest officers representing Range Forest Officers, Beat Forest Officers, and Forest Field Assistants, and the squad is led by either an Assistant Conservator of Forests or a Special Forester. The flying squad operates all over the island based on the reliable information received through a well-developed mechanism, according to the Forest Department.
When contacted by The Sunday Morning, senior environmental lawyer Dr. Jagath Gunawardena said the protected forest areas have been declared in Sri Lanka under three legislative tools including the Forest Ordinance, the Fauna and Flora Protection Ordinance, and the National Heritage and Wilderness Areas Act. But certain forest areas which should be declared under the Forest Ordinance, and yet could not be due to financial difficulties, have been named by the Department as “proposed reserves”. The forest lands which were not declared under the Forest Ordinance are identified as “other state forests” (OSF). “Therefore, in Sri Lanka, all forests are governed by some kind of a legislative tool,” he stressed, adding that there are no forests that are not governed by a state institution.
“What is stated in the 20/2001 Circular is completely wrong,” he stressed.
The forests declared under the Forest Ordinance and National Heritage Act are governed by the Forest Department while the forests declared under the Flora and Fauna Ordinance are governed by the Department of Wildlife. Furthermore, the areas that have not yet been declared are also governed by the Forest Ordinance, as those have already been named as forests under Section 78, Dr. Gunawardena added.
Meanwhile, the Government has decided to deploy the Air Force to crackdown on deforestation. Defence Secretary Maj. Gen. (Retd.) Kamal Gunaratne said that President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has advised the military and Police to curb deforestation. As a result, the Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) will be deployed to monitor deforestation using their air assets.
The Defence Secretary has requested district secretaries/government agents to be vigilant and stand against the destruction of the environment. He also said that a special unit has been established to arrest suspects involved in land grabbing.
However, environmentalists lashed out at the Government for using drone technology to curb the deforestation, as they alleged that it was yet another waste of public money.
“There are policy decisions that should be taken to curb the deforestation and strict legal action should be taken against the culprits irrespective of their political affiliations,” Chamikara stressed.
Furthermore, Centre for Environmental Justice (CEJ) Executive Director Hemantha Withanage noted that the main reason for the deforestation was the political involvement and going ahead with development activities without following proper environmental assessments.
Highlighting the wetlands, he stressed that there were only around 2,000 ha of wetland cover remaining at present in Colombo.
Over 75% of the land in Colombo was covered with wetlands many years ago and with the development activities, the wetland cover gradually decreased and now, there is around 2,000 ha of wetland cover remaining, he said.
According to him, from Muthurajawela via Kotte up to Bolgoda, the land was covered with wetlands several decades ago.
“Most of these refilling activities had been done by the Government,” he alleged. “Even the Central Environment Authority (CEA) is situated in a wetland and the Parliament is also situated in a wetland,” he continued.
As highlighted by Withanage, one of the main reasons for the unregulated refilling was due to the lack of co-ordination between the relevant authorities that approve the refilling activities.
“Approval should be taken from several institutions. There’s no single institution to control and monitor wetlands in Colombo and part of it is under the Department of Wildlife, part is with the CEA, and part is with the Irrigations Department, Sri Lanka Land Development Corporation (SLLDC). As a result, there was no proper co-ordination between these departments,” he stressed.
"When an application to refill a land is made to one institution, they look into what is relevant to them and they approve the application if the specifications that they wanted are fulfilled and generally, when one institution approves one application, the other institutions also approve it,” Withanage noted, adding that the biggest issue was when the government institutions started to refill these lands for development activities.
Meanwhile, the CEJ also urged the Government to stop massive forest destruction for the proposed Agriculture and Livestock Development Project at Pollebadda – Rambakan Oya in the Maha Oya area.
In a letter of demand sent to the CEA Director General, the Mahaweli Authority, the Ministry of Environment, and others, the CEJ stated that it had learnt that the CEA Director General, under the Ref. No. 08/EIA/AGR/01/2020 dated 15 October 2020, has provided the guidelines to the Director General of the Sri Lanka Mahaweli Authority for the proposed project without adhering to the provisions of the National Environmental Act.
“Around 5,828 acres (2,359 ha) are to be cultivated for maize under this project and land parts of around 500 ha are to be divided and handed over to a few people,” according to Withanage.
“We have learnt that around 500 ha have already been cleared and the CEA has issued the aforementioned letter, saying that if the development activities within the land areas belong to the Mahaweli Authority, there is no need to consider those for issuing an EIA (Environmental Impact Assessment) approval,” Withanage stated.
Meanwhile, Wildlife and Forest Conservation Minister C.B. Rathnayake denied the allegation made by environmentalists and said the country at present has a forest cover of nearly 29% and the Government is taking the necessary steps to increase it up to 30% within the next few years.
He also said there was a forest cover of around 1.2 million acres under the Department of Wildlife but there were only around 1,000 officials working at the department and therefore, steps have been taken to get the support of the Ministry of Defence to deploy the tri-forces, the Special Task Force (STF), and the Police to protect the forest reserves and to apprehend those who engage in illegal activities.
Furthermore, the Ministry together with the Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) is using drone technology to monitor forest reserves and to identify any illegal activities being carried out.
In addition, commenting on the controversial proposed road, the Minister stressed that he would take the necessary steps according to the Flora and Fauna Protection Ordinance.