Forest Management in Sri Lanka

1. Forest plantations in Sri Lanka

The area of natural forests has declined drastically during the last 100 years. With the decline of the natural forest, the main alternatives for meeting the present and future needs for wood are trees grown on non-forest land, and forest plantations. With the expanding population and economy, the demand for industrial forest products, logs, and fuelwood will continue to grow. At present, Sri Lanka is almost self-sufficient in most wood-based forest products, but imports appear to be increasing. Also, some of the wood supplies are being met from illicit fellings. Also the gap between demand and sustainable supply of roundwood will continue, which means that action needs to be taken now to meet future needs. If the supply of wood from home gardens and other non-forest lands will decline in the future, there is an even greater need for intensively managed forest plantations.

Forest plantations were established for the first time in the 1870s, although most of the planting has taken place since the 1950s. Within that period, about 89,000 ha of forest plantations of varying quality have been established. This area comprises some 5000 ha of mainly fuelwood plantations, which are under the control of tea estates and a tobacco company.

Forest plantations in Sri Lanka were mainly established using exotic species due to their faster growth rates over the indigenous species. Although the history of introducing exotic timber species goes back to 1870s, most of the planting has taken place since the 1950s. The idea of this exercise was to have an alternative timber resource to protect the existing natural forest and to rehabilitate the environmentally damaged areas within a short period of time.