Participatory Forestry in Sri Lanka: Success or Failure?

Presentation Abstract

Dinuka Senevirathne

Department of Forestry and Environmental Science

University of Sri Jayewardenepura, Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka was once a heavily forested island, but over the present century its forest cover has declined markedly to about 29%. Historically, much of the loss may be attributed to the creation during colonial times of plantations of tea, rubber, coconut and other crops. In the last decade the greatest single cause of deforestation has been the accelerated Mahaweli Development Program, a major irrigation scheme fed by a series of dams across Sri Lanka's largest river. Although not always publicly acknowledged, this resulted in the clearance of substantial areas of natural forests. However, in the 1980s there was a widespread recognition of a need for reforestation and forest conservation measures in both government and donor circles. Although there had been attempts to launch social forestry practices in Sri Lanka, forest management on a truly participatory basis was not taken place, because local people have not actively involved in tree or forest management in partnership with the Forest Department. The program have been run in many ways namely Taunga, reforestation, community forestry, participatory forestry, natural resource development. All those programs were implemented based on different aspects. Mainly the success of a program depends on the social factors, dependency on forest and awareness of the outcome. As per Sri Lanka socially now there are no much of tribes but people live as individuals and question the procedures in their own manner. Therefore it is actually hard to continue such community programs. On the other hand, the dependency on the forests or forest products declined at major level in Sri Lanka. Therefore it was hard to convince the people to work in such programs. However, different incentives were given to encourage the participation. Recent studies conducted on social forestry programs identified the need of institutional support to conduct such programs in successful manner.

Tree Selection for the Enrichment of Lower Areas of Kalu Ganga River Basin

Presentation Abstract

Chathuri Liyanage

Department of Forestry and Environmental Science

University of Sri Jayewardenepura, Sri Lanka

Kalu Ganga which is also known as the “Black River” is the second largest river in Sri Lanka. It originates from the central hills of mountain Sri Pada and falls to the sea in Kalutara after travelling for 129 km. Kalu Ganga river basin in Sri Lanka has an extent of 2,766 km². Its river basin is situated entirely in the wet zone of Sri Lanka. The average annual rainfall in this area is 4,000 mm and it varies from 2,800 mm which is for the lower reaches to about 5,300 mm for the upper reaches of the basin. The average slope of the basin is steep in the upper catchment from about 30-70 degrees and it becomes gentle to very gentle from the middle catchment(0-30 degrees) to the lower catchment(0-10 degrees). As a result, runoff abruptly changes from very fast in the upper catchment to very slow in the lower catchment corresponding to the slope angle. Due to the change of slope angle, bottleneck at Ellagawa and due to illegal sand mining activities, the lower basin area suffers from floods. It also causes for the erosion at river banks. Therefore the river basin should be enriched with suitable native trees like Hora (Dipterocarpus zeylanicus), Walla-Patta (Gyrinops walla), Gon-kanduru (Cerbera odollam), Asoka (Saraca asoca) and Goda-Midella (Barringtonia racemosa (L.) Spreng) which are the native trees growing in wet-lowland forests. Dry zone trees such as Kumbuk (Terminalia arjuna) and Mee (Madhuca longifolia) can also be used as they grow successfully near waterways. Tree selection for the enrichment should be done considering many factors such as tree characteristics (height, growth rate etc.), use (medicinal and aesthetic value etc.). Developing a system for the regular monitoring of the river basin and to take remedial actions to correct negative trends are recommended to ensure the conservation of riverine areas. Further, illegal sand mining activities should be controlled by imposing laws and higher penalties.

Tree Selection for the Enrichment of Mahaweli River Basin in the Dry Zone, Sri Lanka

Presentation Abstract

Hirusha Randimal

Department of Forestry and Environmental Science

University of Sri Jayewardenepura, Sri Lanka

Mahaweli is the longest river in Sri Lanka the Mahaweli Development Project has been established by taking this river as the central component. Due to the topography, it carries a large sediment load and the lateral part of the River consists with large alluvium deposits. Mahaweli river basin in the dry zone divided Mahaweli plain, Bintanne plain, Nuwarakalawiya plain and Flood plain consist with Villus ecosystems The major land use around the Mahaweli river in the Dry Zone is paddy cultivation. The water management schemes established under the above project have changed the natural flow regimes, resulting in sometimes higher flood flows, lower dry season flows and degradation of riparian and wetland habitats in the lower catchment. River banks erode along with onset northeast monsoon and inter-monsoonal rains due to lack of riverine vegetation. In order to enrich the river banks of those areas, tree species should be selected which suit for riverine ecosystems as well as intermediate and dry agro-ecological zones. Terminalia arjuna (Kumbuk), Madhuca longifolia (Mee), Barringtonia acutangiila (Ela midella) and Diospyrous malabaria (Thimbiri) are some of the species which can use for enrichment. Further, eradication and management of invasive species such as Mimosa pigra  and also proper enrichment model should be implemented and continuous monitoring should done for such kind of degrading ecosystem. Through a proper management of the riverine vegetation, sustainable extraction of timber and other forest products from such ecosystems should be the longer-term goal.