Sri Lanka was blessed with vast stretches of lush green forests which were subsequently cleared on a massive scale throughout the British Colonial Era, primarily for cultivation of cash crops such as Tea, Coffee, Rubber and Cardamom. As a result, wet zone forests were fragmented leaving little of the original cover in viable continuous forest spans out of which Kanneliya-Dediyagala-Nakiyadeniya (KDN) forest complex is considered the most significant.
Although it has been 63 years since independence, we have failed to ensure the security of our wet zone forest ecosystems burdening the Red List of Threatened Fauna and Flora compiled once in three years by the IUCN. Regrettably, information rendered by the red list and other records have not been incorporated in the process of policy making. Demeaned to mere records, these vital sources of information stand detached from the policy statements.
Sinharaja forest provides a prime example to this plight. Since late 80s the Forest Department, which has been entitled with the custody of the Sinharaja forest has been too preoccupied with the struggle to promote tourism in order to boost the treasury that protecting biodiversity has been allowed to drift into oblivion.
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