Forest management group – a long weighted requirement in Sri Lanka Forestry Sector has been fulfilled

Although the records are available about Sri Lanka forest management since 161 BC (that was the year which the Great King Dutugemunu came into the thrown) and even before the current forestry sector has been suffered in lack of research. Due to this reason, Dr. Upul Subasinghe, a Senior Lecturer of the Department of Forestry and Environmental Science of the University of Sri Jayewardenepura, thought of forming a “Forest Management Group” in Sri Lanka to cover the need of “multi-disciplinary research in Sri Lanka forestry sector”. Since it has become a trend in the science world to conduct group research to provide more benefits by covering a larger area, than individual research which covered a small scope, it is obvious that group research provide more benefits. In order to cover a vast area in a single research in collaboration with a number of experts in different fields, Dr. Upul Subasinghe thought of having multi-disciplinary research since 2005 at MSc level and brought the concept into the BSc level since 2009. The group members are listed below.

Dr. Upul Subasinghe (Senior Lecturer, Forest and Forest Plantation Management, Natural Resource Modelling, GIS and Remote Sensing), Department of Forestry and Environmental Science, University of Sri Jayewardenepura, Sri Lanka

Mr. Dhanushka Hettiarachchi (Research Associate, Pharmacology), School of Pharmacy, Curtin University of Technology, Western Australia

Dr. K.M.A. Bandara (Research Officer, Silviculture), Forest Research Institute, Badulla, Sri Lanka

Ms. Chandani Edussuriya (Assistant Director, GIS Unit), Central Environmental Authority

It is expected to conduct such collaborative research with the renowned scientists in Australia, India, Indonesia and US in the future to share the knowledge, experience and expertise to enhance mutual benefits. However, The National Research Council already funds a collaborative research conducted by Dr. Upul Subasinghe as the Principal Investigator with the collaboration of Mr. Dhanushka Hettiarachchi and Prof. John Fox of the Curtin University of Technology of Western Australia.