"Other" Forests of Sri Lanka Threatened with Development

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — The government's response to the coronavirus crisis threaten to destroy previously protected forests which support local communities and are important for wildlife.

With no additional opportunity for public comment, Sri Lankan authorities have transferred supervision of huge forest areas to local politicians (Divisional secretariats).

It is known that 70 percent of elephants live outside of national parks, and reside in both official and unofficial forest areas. The unofficial forest areas are designated as "Other."

These "Other" forest areas are often wildlife corridors, as well as essential habitat for elephants during dry season. "Other" forests range between 500,000 and 700,000 hectares (1.2 to 1.7 million acres). This forest area is used by all wildlife, especially elephants, as migratory corridors. We are sure to see an increase in elephant-human conflict as a result, and instead of improving the economy and quality of life (via clean air and water), it will do the opposite.

The World Food and Health Organization ranked Sri Lanka as the 4th country with the highest rate of deforestation by 2010. Sri Lanka had a forest density of 82% in 1882, now forest density stands at 16.5%, with an annual deforestation rate of 1.5 percent. For comparison, Myanmar which is considered to have one of the world’s highest deforestation rates is deforesting at .5 percent! 43% of Myanmar was forested in 2017, down from 51% in 2000. Thus, the world community should be alarmed by the environmental practices of Sri Lanka, which is deforesting at 3x the rate of Myanmar!

Recent trends of deforestation: between 1990 and 2000, Sri Lanka lost an average of 26,800 ha of forests per year. This amounted to an average annual deforestation rate of 1.14 percent . Between 2000 and 2005 this accelerated to 1.43% per annum.(Wiki)

We often witness the favoritism of local Divisional Secretariats toward local police and the political hacks as they often feign (fake) control over these lands. These pristine lands are often illegally cleared for tourist amenities, monoculture, and other industrial developments. The new Rajapaksa administration gave lip service to the idea of reclaiming these stolen lands (where legal ownership couldn't be proven). Unfortunately, these lands will now systematically lose their existing protections. Downgrading their protections is a handout to political friends.

Here's more information from Mongabay (excerpted from attached article):

"Sri Lankan government earlier this year transferred the administration of non-protected forests, known as “other state forests” (OSF), to regional authorities, with a view to releasing them for agriculture and development."

"The move is part of government efforts to boost domestic food production, but has been blasted by environmental activists who say many of these forests are rich in biodiversity and serve important ecosystem functions."

"Many of the highland OSF serve as the watershed for rivers, while lowland OSF harbor newly described species found nowhere else on Earth."

"Seventy percent of Sri Lanka’s elephants live outside protected areas, which means that allowing OSF to be cleared for agriculture would exacerbate what’s already one of the world’s worst problems of human-elephant conflict."