Report on

Drivers of Deforestation
and Forest Degradation
in Sri Lanka:
Assessment of Key
Policies and Measures

Sri Lanka UN-REDD Programme

December, 2015

I
Citation

Fernando, S., A. Senaratna, N. Pallewatta, E. Lokupitiya, L., Manawadu L., U. Imbulana, I.

De Silva, and Ranwala, S. 2015. (Co-authors). Assessment of key policies and measures
to address the drivers of deforestation and forest degradation in Sri Lanka. Final report
of a consultancy awarded to the Colombo Science and Technology Cell, Faculty of
Science, University of Colombo, by The United Nations Development Programme for the
Sri Lanka UN-REDD Programme.

Disclaimer

Reproduction of this publication for educational or other non-commercial purposes is

allowed without prior written permission, provided the source is fully acknowledged.

The views expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily
reflect the views of the Sri Lanka UN-REDD Programme or its collaborating partner
organisations.

Acknowledgements

The Programme Management Unit of the Sri Lanka UN-REDD Programme acknowledges
the effort and contribution made by Science & Technology Cell, Faculty of Science,
University of Colombo in developing the content of this report.

Contact

National Programme Manager

Sri Lanka UN-REDD Programme
419/1, Pannipitiya Road
Pelawatte, Battaramulla
Sri Lanka.

Tel: +94 112 787532

Web: www.redd.lk

II
 Executive Summary

Climate change, the overarching threat that affects the planet, has brought forests into the
international attention due to the vital role they could play in mitigation and adaptation. However,
their capacity to play this role is highly affected by rapid deforestation and forest degradation taking
place all over the world. Considering the importance of this fact, United Nations (UN) have initiated a
collaborative effort for reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD) with
several partner organisations. The Sri Lanka UN-REDD programme is the national initiative launched
with the aim “to support the Government of Sri Lanka and key stakeholder agencies to establish
mechanisms and processes necessary to implement broader goals of REDD programmes identified as
REDD+”. As the initial step contributing to this main objective, Sri Lanka UN-REDD programme
prepared the Readiness Preparation Proposal (R-PP) which contains a policy framework and sets of
associated strategies as mechanisms to achieve intended goals and targets. It was identified that
detailed assessment on ‘Key Drivers of Deforestation and Forest Degradation’ is an essential input for
successful achievement of Sri Lanka’s programme outcomes. The expected objectives of the
assessment study are:

• To identify key drivers of deforestation and forest degradation in terms of historical,

current and expected future time horizons considering effects of socio-economic
development and political decisions;

• To recognize inter-relationships between the drivers of deforestation and forest

degradation together with their interactions with other underlying factors;

• To evaluate effectiveness of current forestry and other relevant sector policies laws and
regulations in addressing the drivers of deforestation and forest degradation in Sri Lanka;

• To identify potential policies and measures that could be implemented in the context of
the REDD+ strategy process.

Sri Lanka is divided into three main climatic zones (wet, dry and intermediate) based on average
annual rainfall. The natural vegetation too displays diversity and distribution generally in accordance
with this division, with some variation within each zone. By the dawn of the 19th century, Sri Lanka’s
forest cover was estimated at over 70% of the total land area. Since then, the forest cover has
decreased progressively over time. The estimates by the Forest Department (unpublished, data)
suggest that the total forest cover of Sri Lanka currently amounts to approximately 1.95 million ha
representing 29.7% of the total land area. This study examined the major drivers of deforestation
and forest degradation from the pre-independence era to the current period.

The study is based on a conceptual model that views deforestation and forest degradation as a
resultant outcome of continuous process (deforestation/degradation process) that has driving forces
(drivers and catalysts) and restraining forces (inhibitors). Drivers include underlying drivers and
proximate drivers. Catalysts are factors that accelerate impacts of drivers whereas inhibitors
decelerate the impacts of drivers. Deforestation and forest degradation are outcomes resulting from
interaction of these forces.

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Major data sources of the study included survey of literature and secondary data, spatial assessment
of forest cover changes using GIS, and primary data collected through focus group discussions
(FGDs), key informant interviews (KIIs) and consultation of stakeholders of government and civil
society organizations (CSOs). Policies and Measures (PAMs) that can reduce deforestation and forest
degradation were identified through a force-field analysis of deforestation process constructed using
the data collected from the above sources.
Potential benefits including enhancement of forest carbon stocks were also estimated considering
three selected inhibitory policy measures namely, home gardens, farmers’ wood lots and forest
plantations.

Examination of the literature suggests that since the pre-independence era, a few key drivers have
dominated deforestation in Sri Lanka at different time periods. They are:

• Growth of export plantation economy: This is a major driver of deforestation during the
British colonial period that opened up the wet, intermediate, montane and sub-montane
zone forests for plantation agricultural crops from around early nineteenth century.
• Commercial timber extraction policy: Commercial timber extraction policy of colonial
rulers led to forest degradation throughout the country, especially in lowland dry zone
though selective felling of valuable timber species.
• Land settlement and irrigation development in the dry zone: Establishment of
colonisation schemes associated with irrigation schemes to relocate peasants from the
wet zone and to increase agricultural production resulted in large-scale deforestation.

The study examined current drivers of deforestation for the period extending from 1992 when a
systematic forest cover assessment was done which overlapped with the last major irrigation
resettlement to date. Findings of this study suggest that the current (from 1992 onwards) drivers of
deforestation and forest degradation in Sri Lanka are a result of four major ongoing parallel
processes (proximate drivers):

• Encroachments;
• Infrastructure development projects;
• Large scale of private agriculture ventures, and;
• Localized drivers of deforestation scattered around the country.

There are encroachments for agriculture, settlements and other purposes such as gem mining and
coastal shrimp farming. Commercial rain-fed highland agriculture and the development of small-
holder plantation agriculture in the wet zone have become major drivers of recent deforestation.
Among others, recent rise in infrastructure development activities such as irrigation, resettlement,
roads and highways, harbours and airports, tourism, power generation and transmission. Forest
degradation is also caused by felling (illicit or otherwise) and practices such as cardamom cultivation,
firewood collection, collection of various non-timber forest products (e.g. rattan, medicinal plants,
resin), grazing lands for cattle, forest fires (anthropogenic). Illicit felling, though not in large scale, is
prevalent throughout the country. Gem mining and quarrying are also responsible for forest
degradation.

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Spatial analysis of forest cover change between 1992 and 2010 shows that deforestation has slowed
down in the country. Deforestation appears to be more scattered and widespread all over the
country instead of being concentrated largely into few selected areas, and takes place at a higher
rate in the dry zone compared to the wet zone.

The above mentioned proximate drivers are mobilized by underlying drivers such as demand
generated for land by agricultural activities and infrastructure development projects; demand for
forest products in national and international markets; government policies for ensuring food security
and meeting the rising demand for energy and infrastructure.

Catalysts that have accentuated the drivers include permissive government policies in land sector,
poor coordination among agencies, and political patronage for deforestation, population growth,
new technologies, and commercialization of rural economies.

Encroachment by peripheral communities, catalysed by the population size, rate of growth, age
structure and other demographic parameters, periodic regularization of encroachments and lack of
enforcement of laws against encroachment by all successive governments have encouraged
deforestation.

Some countervailing forces working against deforestation have been identified as protected area
management and policies, environmental laws and regulations, spread of home gardens as a source
of timber and other resources, community dependence and customary rights, public pressure,
migration for employment and off-farm employment opportunities and awareness.

The deforestation and forest degradation of the former conflict-affected areas in the Northern and
Eastern provinces cannot be fully accounted due to lack of access. However, there is evidence of
deforestation by both parties to the conflict. Resettlement and infra-structure development during
the post-conflict era also contributed to deforestation. In some areas, there has been no damage to
the forest due to inaccessibility during the conflict.

Examination of likely future scenarios for deforestation and forest degradation of Sri Lanka indicate
some positive as well as negative signs. Chief among the former is the government policy of
increasing the forest cover up to 35 per cent by 2020 and activities geared towards it. Negative
impacts stem from the proposed National Physical Policy and Plan (2011-2030) which appears to
have conflicts with the existing network of protected areas in the country. Irrigation development
and long-term generation expansion plan of the power sector are potential sources future
deforestation. In addition, development activities in number of other areas and resettlement and
infrastructure development in conflict-affected areas could be expected leading to significant
deforestation and forest degradation.

Policies and Measures (PAMs) that can reduce deforestation and forest degradation, identified
through a force-field analysis of deforestation/degradation process are: removing or controlling
drivers of deforestation, removing or de-linking catalysts from drivers, strengthening inhibitors, and
adding new inhibitors or transforming the existing ones to be more effective.

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Given the scattered nature of current drivers of deforestation and forest degradation, and their
complex interactions, it is unlikely that a uniform set of PAMs which can address the requirements of
all conditions would be developed. Therefore, the most practicable set of PAMs include:

Harmonize the objectives of development projects with their environmental impacts, vis-à-vis
deforestation and forest degradation:
• Enhance the land use planning process;
• Identify and implement appropriate market-based instruments to mitigate harmful effects of
development projects on forest resources;
• Strengthen the existing procedures of EIA;
• Introduce SEA as a mandatory process for large development projects.

Control and reduce deforestation and degradation takes place through:

• Develop a consistence policy towards encroachments;
• Introduce procedures and laws (if necessary) for speedy enforcement against
encroachments;
• Demarcate all existing forest lands and make necessary measures to survey and lay the
boundary demarcations.

Control the effect of localized drivers of deforestation:

• Strengthen the monitoring and enforcement capacity of relevant agencies, i.e. FD and DWC;
• Increase the public awareness;
• Orchestrate the community support through participatory programs.

Improving the coordination among agencies:

• Identification of all key agencies that have stakes in the deforestation and forest degradation
in the country at the levels of national, provincial, district and divisional levels;
• Establish a coordinating body on deforestation and forest degradation at the national level
with participation of key national agencies (e.g. FD, DWC, LUPPD);
• Appoint district level cells of the coordinating body with the participation of local level
officers of national agencies and (e.g. DFOs and RFOS, LUPOs) and relevant provincial and
local government officers;
• Develop an efficient communication channels between the national body and district level
cells for speedy resolution of deforestation/degradation issues.

Strengthen the forest policy and protected area management:

• Review the existing forest policies and protected area management tools;
• Identify the areas that needs improvements and weaknesses/loopholes that need to
covered;
• Introduce essential amendments improve the situation;
• Update existing institutional arrangements to handle the proposed improvements.

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Improve the effectiveness of home gardens as inhibitor of deforestation/degradation:
• Develop home garden models suitable for deforestation hotspots and take necessary
measures to promote them.

Managing hotspots:
• Declaration for special area management;
• Surveying and demarcating boundaries of critical and sensitive areas (SEA);
• Participatory resource governance: co-management;
• Models of conservation oriented land uses.

In quantifying the impact of the activities connected to some of the selected PAMs, potential
benefits including enhancement of forest carbon stocks were estimated considering three selected
inhibitory measures (i.e. home gardens, farmers’ woodlots, and miscellaneous forest plantations).
The findings revealed that all three measures have a positive impact in relation to REDD+
implications, as all three of them have contributed to forest carbon stock enhancement, varying
depending on the climatic zones of the country.

Overall, home gardens and participatory/community forest management activities could play a key
role in achieving REDD+ goals and targets in Sri Lanka. Decentralization of the forest management
activities to provincial levels could enhance good governance and better participation of
communities. The role of the private sector obviously needs greater attention in order to leverage
their contributions in the future to REDD+ relevant activities.

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 List of Abbreviations

ADB- Asian Development Bank

CEA- Central Environmental Authority
CEB- Ceylon Electricity Board
CLEO- Crown Lands Encroachment Ordinance
DWC- Department of Wildlife Conservation
EIA- Environment Impact Assessment
EU- European Union
FAO- Food and Agriculture Organisation of the UN
FD- Forest Department
FGD- Focus Group Discussion
FORLAMP- Forest Land Use Mapping Project
FTM- Forest Transition Model
GEF- Global Environment Facility
GHG- Green House Gases
GoSL- Government of Sri Lanka
IEER- Initial Environmental Impact Report
JICA- Japan International Co-operation Agency
KII- Key Informant Interview
LDO- Land Development Ordinance
LRC- Land Reform Commission
MAB – Man and Biosphere Programme
MASL- Mahaweli Authority of Sri Lanka
MoA- Ministry of Agriculture
MoENR- Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources
MoE&RE- Ministry of Environment and Renewable Energy
MEA- Multi Lateral Environmental Agreement
MVP- Minimum Viable Population Size
NARESA- Natural Resources, Energy and Science Authority of Sri Lanka
NTFP- Non timber forest product
PAMWC- Protected Area Management and Wildlife Conservation Project
PFP- Community Forestry and the Participatory Forest Project
REDD- Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest degradation
RMP- Range Management Plans
SEA- Strategic Environmental Assessment
UNDP- United Nations Development Programme
UNEP- United Nations Environment Programme
UN- United Nations
WB- World Bank

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 Table of Contents

Table of Contents.............................................................................................................. 9
List of Tables ................................................................................................................... 12
List of Figures ................................................................................................................. 12
List of Boxes ................................................................................................................... 12
1 Introduction ............................................................................................................ 13
1.1 Deforestation and Forest Degradation................................................................... 13
1.2 Reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD) ................ 13
1.3 Deforestation and forest degradation in Sri Lanka: An Overview ........................... 14
1.4 Objectives of the Study ......................................................................................... 18
1.5 Organization of the Report .................................................................................... 18
2 Concepts and Definitions......................................................................................... 19
2.1 Drivers of Deforestation ........................................................................................ 20
2.1.1 Proximate drivers ........................................................................................... 20
2.1.2 Underlying drivers .......................................................................................... 20
2.2 Process of Deforestation/Degradation................................................................... 20
2.2.1 Catalysts and Inhibitor ................................................................................... 21
2.2.2 Policies and Measures (PAMs) ........................................................................ 23
3 Methodology .......................................................................................................... 24
3.1 Data sources and methods of collection ................................................................ 24
3.1.1 Primary data .................................................................................................. 24
3.1.2 Secondary data .............................................................................................. 25
3.2 Primary data gathering locations ........................................................................... 26
3.3 Methods of analysis .............................................................................................. 28
3.3.1 Socio-economic analysis of drivers of deforestation/degradation ................... 28
Identification of policies and measures (PAMs): Force-field analysis ................................ 29
3.3.2 Assessment of spatial and land use changes .................................................. 32
3.3.3 Identification of likely future scenarios of deforestation and degradation ...... 32
4 Major Historical Drivers of Deforestation and Degradation ...................................... 35
4.1 Pre-independence Era ........................................................................................... 35
4.1.1 Intense commercial harvesting of timber from natural forests ....................... 36
4.1.2 Conversion of natural forests for export plantation crops in the Wet Zone ..... 38
4.2 Post-independence Era ......................................................................................... 40

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 4.2.1 Land settlement and irrigation development in the dry zone ......................... 40
4.2.2 Socio-political dynamics and underlying drivers…………………………………………….41
4.2.3 Proximate drivers and operational mechanisms ............................................. 42
4.2.4 Catalysts and inhibitors .................................................................................. 45
4.3 Chena cultivation .................................................................................................. 46
4.3.1 Assessment of spatial and land use changes .................................................. 47
4.3.2 A prelude to current drivers: A summary of historical drivers ......................... 48
5. Recent and current drivers of deforestation and forest degradation ............................ 50
5.1 Background, socio-political dynamics and underlying drivers ................................ 50
5.2 Spatial analysis of forest cover changes in the 1992-2010 period .......................... 53
5.3 Proximate drivers and operational mechanism...................................................... 57
5.3.1 Encroachments .............................................................................................. 60
5.3.2 Infrastructure development projects .............................................................. 60
5.3.3 Private agriculture ventures ........................................................................... 61
5.3.4 Proximate drivers of forest degradation ......................................................... 61
5.3.5 Deforestation in the wet zone: The case of Hedigalle in the Palinda Nuwara DS
Division, Kalutara District, Western Province ............................................................... 63
5.3.6 Deforestation in the dry zone: Case of Rambawewa in the Horowpothana DS
Division in the Anuradhapura District, North Central Province ..................................... 64
5.3.7. Degradation of protected forests: Cultivation of Cardamom in Knuckles Forest
Area (A World Heritage site) ...................................................................................... 655
5.4 Catalysts and inhibitors ......................................................................................... 66
5.4.1 Catalysts......................................................................................................... 66
5.4.2 Inhibitors ....................................................................................................... 72
5.5 Deforestation and forest degradation in conflict-affected areas ............................ 79
5.5.1 Deforestation and degradation during the conflict period .............................. 80
5.5.2 Deforestation and forest degradation after the conflict .................................. 81
6. Likely Future Scenarios of Deforestation and forest degradation .............................. 83
6.1 Proposed strategy for increase the forest cover of the country to 35 per cent of the
land area ....................................................................................................................... 833
6.1.1 Protection and conservation of the remaining forest cover .......................... 833
6.1.2 Expansion of forests into new areas and increase the vegetation cover of
degraded lands ............................................................................................................ 84
6.2 National Physical Plan and Policy (2011-2030)..................................................... 843
6.3 Long-term Generation Expansion Plan (2013-2032) ............................................ 854
6.4 Proposed major development projects in irrigation sector .................................... 85
6.5 Future developments in conflict-affected areas..................................................... 86
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7. Towards identification of Policies and Measures (PAMs) .......................................... 88
7.1 Assessing the forces of deforestation and degradation and prioritization of drivers
88
7.2 Selection of PAMs ............................................................................................. 9190
7.2.1 Removing or controlling drivers of deforestation............................................ 92
7.2.2 Removing or de-linking catalysts from drivers .............................................. 943
7.2.3 Strengthening inhibitors ............................................................................... 954
7.2.4 Introducing new inhibitors and transforming the existing ones to be more
effective ....................................................................................................... 965
Bibliography ................................................................................................................. 102
Annex 1 – Forest cover maps 1992 and 2010 ................................................................. 115
Annex 2 - Proposed irrigation development plans and projects ..................................... 117

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 List of Tables

Table 1 - Major ecosystem services provided by forests ....................................................... 19

Table 2 - Logical summary of objectives, methods, data sources and methods of analysis ... 34
Table 3 - Forest cover in Sri Lanka (based on 1956-1961 inventories)................................... 37
Table 4 - Land utilization in Mahaweli Development Project ................................................ 44
Table 5 - Natural high forest cover (1982) ............................................................................ 48
Table 6 - Summary of historical drivers of deforestation ...................................................... 49
Table 7 - Estimated extent of forest cover by administrative districts of Sri Lanka ................ 54
Table 8 - Changes of forest cover by administrative districts (1992-2010) ............................ 55
Table 9 - Summary of current drivers of deforestation ....................................................... 599
Table 10 - Population growth and density in Sri Lanka: 1871-2003 .................................... 709
Table 11 - Extent of forest covers under each category in the Northern Province .............. 865
Table 12 - Identification of PAMs ....................................................................................... 100

List of Figures

Figure 1 - Change in Sri Lanka’s Forest Cover (%) ................................................................. 15

Figure 2 - The Process of Deforestation and Degradation .................................................... 22
Figure 3 - Overview of the Methodology ............................................................................. 27
Figure 4 - Land sales of the Ceylon Government .................................................................. 38
Figure 5 - Expansion of Plantation Crops ............................................................................. 39
Figure 6 - Land use changes (1956-1984) ............................................................................. 47
Figure 8 - Forest cover change 1992-2010 ........................................................................... 56
Figure 9 - Population growth and forest cover change in Sri Lanka ...................................... 71
Figure 10 - Existing Forest Cover Map of the Northern Province ...................................... 8180
Figure 11 - Force-field diagram of deforestation and forest degradation ............................. 90

List of Boxes

Box 1 - Current extent of forest lands and non-forest tree cover ......................................... 14
Box 2 - Composition of Forest Cover in Sri Lanka ................................................................. 17
Box 3 - History of forest cover assessments in Sri Lanka....................................................... 31
Box 4 - Key policies and laws concerning forestry and wildlife Error! Bookmark not defined.3
Box 5 - Carbon and non-carbon benefits of some selected PAMs ........................................ 97

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 1 Introduction

1.1 Deforestation and forest degradation

Forests are multiple use resources that offer a variety of goods and services. They play multi-faceted
roles in the economy, environment, and the culture of a country, and are essential for sustaining
livelihoods and maintenance of ecosystem services. They also serve as repositories of biological,
socio-cultural, and religious knowledge and practices.

Deforestation is the conversion of forest to another land use type (Allen and Barnes, 1985). Often, it
is a result of human activities. Deforestation leads to reduction of forest area and loss of ecosystem
services. In contrast, forest degradation is a process leading to a temporary or permanent
deterioration in the density or/and the structure of the vegetation cover or its species composition
(Grainer, 1993). It may involve opening of the canopy, modification of the vertical structure, habitat
parameters or change of other attributes. Forest degradation does not necessarily involve a
reduction of the forest area, but rather lead to quality decrease in forests (Lanly, 2003). Deforestation
and forest degradation together reduce the area, quality and quantity of vegetation cover and alter
the spatial structure of landscape through the process of fragmentation (Noss, 1999; Fitzsimmons,
2003). Increased fragmentation of forests could lead to rising effects of random changes such as
‘drift’ on the genetic diversity and loss of biodiversity as populations of plants and animals approach
critical thresholds such as minimum viable population (MVP) size. In tropical regions, deforestation
and forest degradation are advancing at an alarming rate, resulting in the conversion of forest area
into a mosaic of forest fragments, pasture, and degraded habitat (Verolme et al., 1999; Rudel and
Roper, 1997; Laurance, 1999).

All currently operative phenomena that lead to significant deforestation and forest degradation are
man-made. More land for food is needed to meet the demands from increasing population and
demand for land is a key driving force in deforestation. Expansion of agriculture, over-grazing,
increase demand for fodder, timber and firewood, and excessive extraction of other non-timber
forest products have led to deforestation and forest degradation and have negatively impacted the
landscape significantly (Negi, 1982; Kissinger et al., 2012; Somanathan, 1991; Sharma et al., 1999;
Awasthi et al., 2003). Moreover, demographic changes, social inequity, gender issues and forest
governance and management issues are among the diverse socio-economic factors that have been
identified as responsible for deforestation/degradation in various ways.

1.2 Reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD)

Climate change, the overarching threat to the planet, has brought forests into international attention
due to the vital role they could play in mitigation and adaptation to climate change. However, the
capacity of forests to play this role is adversely affected by rapid deforestation and forest degradation
which is observed all over the world. Deforestation directly contributes to climate change, leading to
GHG emissions. It is established that deforestation and forest degradation jointly contribute
significantly to GHG emissions (IPCC, 2014). Considering the importance of this fact, United Nations

13
(UN) have initiated a collaborative effort for reducing emissions from deforestation and forest
degradation (REDD) partnered by FAO, UNDP and UNEP.
Sri Lanka UN-REDD programme is the national initiative launched with the aim “to support the
Government of Sri Lanka and key stakeholder agencies to establish mechanisms and processes
necessary to implement broader goals of REDD programmes identified as REDD+”. As an initial step
towards this main objective, Sri Lanka UN-REDD programme prepared the Readiness Preparation
Proposal (R-PP) (UN-REDD Programme, 2012). This document contains a policy framework and
associated strategies as mechanisms to achieve intended objectives and targets. It envisages the
following:

1. Reaching a national consensus on the Sri Lanka REDD+ programme strategy;

2. Defining the management arrangements for the national REDD+ process;
3. Improving the stakeholder awareness and effective engagement;
4. Developing the implementation framework for the national REDD+ strategy, and;
5. Developing a National Forest Monitoring System for REDD+ activities.

It has been identified that a detailed assessment on ‘Key Drivers of Deforestation and forest
degradation’ is an essential input for the successful achievement of the said objectives. The current
report contains the findings of a study carried out from May to November 2014 to assess the key
drivers of deforestation and forest degradation in Sri Lanka. It also includes a detailed methodology
and a review of key literature on deforestation and forest degradation in Sri Lanka.

1.3 Deforestation and forest degradation in Sri Lanka: An Overview

Sri Lanka is divided into three main climatic zones (wet, dry and intermediate) based on the average
annual rainfall. In general, the natural vegetation too displays a diversity and distribution according
to the climatic zones, with a degree of variation within each zone (see Box 1). By the dawn of
nineteenth century, Sri Lanka’s forest cover was estimated at 70% of the total land area. Since then,
the forest cover has decreased progressively over time (Forestry Planning Unit 1995; FAO 2010). A
review of the forest cover over time suggests that the total forest cover of Sri Lanka amounts
approximately to 1.95 million ha, representing 29.7% of the total land area of 6.56 million ha.

Box 1 - Current extent of forest lands and non-forest tree cover

The study established the following:

29.7% forest cover 1.95 million ha
• 21.88% dense forest 1.44 million ha
• 6.54% open and sparse forest 0.43 million ha
• 1.03% Savannah 0.068 million ha
• 0.24% Mangroves 0.015 million ha

13% tree crop home gardens 0.85 million ha

8% coconut and rubber 0.52 million ha

Since 1956, attempts have been made to produce forest cover maps of Sri Lanka (Canada-Ceylon
Colombo Plan Resource Survey, 1956; Purey-Crust, 1989; Abayakoon et al., 2002) (See Box 2).

14
According to four forest cover assessments since 1956 to 2010, the rate of deforestation shows a
slightly decreasing trend over time (Figure 1).

Figure 1 - Change in Sri Lanka’s Forest Cover (%)

50
45
40
35
% Forest Cover

30
25
20
15
10
5
0
1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 2020

Source: Forest Department of Sri Lanka

A review of literature suggests that historically a few key drivers have dominated the process of
deforestation and forest degradation in Sri Lanka at different times.

• Deforestation and growth of export plantation economy in the wet zone:

This involved establishing large-scale commercial plantations of coffee, tea, rubber and
coconut clearing wet zone areas that fulfilled critical protective and supportive
ecosystem services. Subsequent development of small-holder plantation agriculture in
the low country wet zone created a constant pressure on the few existing fragmented
patches of montane and sub-montane forests.

• Forest degradation due to colonial policy on commercial timber extraction:

Beginning from early nineteenth century, commercial timber extraction policy of colonial
rulers has led to forest degradation throughout the country, especially in lowland dry
zone through selective felling of valuable timber species.

• Deforestation associated with colonisation schemes and irrigation development in dry

zone areas:
The colonization schemes supported by large-scale irrigation development projects
opened a second wave of deforestation that lasted for about 50 years from the early to
final decades of the twentieth century. As a result, a significant area of forests in the dry
zone was cleared for government-sponsored colonisation schemes and irrigation and
hydropower schemes (GOSL, 1991; NARESA, 1991; Senaratne and Jayasinghe, 1998).
Secondarily, there are land problems of second and subsequent generations of settled
agricultural communities that give rise to encroachments of local forests.

• Deforestation associated with agricultural expansion:

15
 Encroachment of forests for rain-fed highland agriculture (an evolved form of chena) has
become a major driver of deforestation during the recent period. According to some
studies, out of the total forest clearance from 1992 to 1996, 87% was due to rain-fed
agriculture (Mattsson et al., 2012).

From mid-eighties onwards, expansion of large scale irrigated agricultural and resettlement projects
has gradually decreased. However, in the recent times, there have been significant increases in public
investments on infrastructure development in other economic sectors. As a result, while the share of
investments on land settlement and irrigation development has decreased, the share in other
development areas such as roads and highways, harbours, airports, urban settlements and tourism
has increased significantly. Hence, despite the gradual decline of the area being cleared for land
settlement and irrigation development, infrastructure development activities continue to be a major
proximate driver in the country.

These proximate drivers are mobilized by underlying drivers such as demand generated for
agricultural and forest products in national and international markets, government policies for
ensuring food security and meeting the rising demand for energy, and expansion of infrastructure.
Such policies originate from socio-economic and political pressures connected to population growth,
growing demand for food, combating persistent poverty in rural areas, growing scarcity of land, and
increasing demand for power and energy, and materials for human well-being.

Forests in the conflict affected areas in the northern and eastern provinces can be considered as a
special case given that deforestation/degradation in that region cannot be fully accounted by
underlying and proximate drivers that have operated in the rest of the country from 1980s onwards.
During the conflict period, some areas of forests were cleared for security reasons. Forest
degradation has also occurred due to combat related reasons (e.g. felling of trees for bunkers) on
which no reliable data are available. However, a post-conflict assessment of 2010 (ISEA) suggests that
the forest cover has not diminished significantly. After the end of the conflict in 2009, the
government launched resettlement schemes of displaced people and much-needed infrastructure
development such as rehabilitation of roads, buildings, towns and railway network at an accelerated
pace. Some of the lands required for these efforts are being requisitioned from forest areas thereby
contributing to deforestation and forest degradation. These development efforts have also created a
pressure on local forests by way of extraction of sand and quarrying for gravel and stones.

16
 Box 2 - Composition of Forest Cover in Sri Lanka

Types of natural vegetation that make up the forest cover in Sri Lanka have been classified in
various ways by many authors. A survey of the literature revealed seven classifications of
forest in Sri Lanka that included (not sure what this meant) Chapman (1947), De Rosayro
(1950), Holmes (1958), Koelmeyer (1958), Andrews (1961), Perera (1975) and Greller and
Balasubramaniam (1980) covering 3-6 categories of forest types. These classifications used
characteristics of vegetation (e.g. evergreen, deciduous), dominant groups of species (e.g.
dipterocarp), climatic zones (e.g. dry, wet) and elevation (e.g. lowland, montane, sub-
montane) in mixed manner to identify major categories of vegetation.

Classification used in the 1992 forest cover assessment included seven types of dense
forests and sparse forests. Bandaratillake, 1997) used the same classification in the National
Atlas of Sri Lanka-1997, which seemed to be widely used by many. It uses a mixed
categorization based on elevation (e.g. lowland, montane, sub-montane), climate (e.g.
moist, dry) and ecosystem type (e.g. rainforest, riverine, mangrove)

Table B-1: Closed canopy forest types

Type of Forest Characteristic climatic and topographical Climatic Zone
features
Montane Forest Above 1500 m elevation. Temperatures ~ 15 Wet Zone
° C . Rainfall > 1800 mm with no moisture
deficit period
Sub Montane Within elevations of 1000 m to 1500 m. Wet Zone
Forest Temperatures 15 ° – 20 ° C .Rainfall > 1800
mm
Lowland Rain Extending from the Coastal plains to 1000 m. Wet Zone (Lowland)
Forest Temperatures > 20 ° C. Rainfall > 2500 mm,
no moisture deficit period Vegetation
Moist Monsoon Found at < 1000 m. Rainfall 1800 – 2500 mm (Intermediate Zone)
Rain Forest with a peak from October – January with a
dry period of 3 months following.
Dry Monsoon Has a distinct season: a rainfall peak from ( Dry Zone)
Rain Forest mid-October to January (coinciding with
monsoon rains) and a dry period for 3-6
months. Vegetation is semi deciduous. At
elevations of < 600 m often on slopes.
Rainfall 1000 – 1800 mm
Riverine Dry Found along flood plains and river valleys. < Mostly Dry Zone
Forest 600 m Rainfall 1000 – 1800 mm
Mangrove Dry Present along intertidal sheltered coastlines, Coastal area / Lowland/
Forest usually associated with river mouths and Both in wet and Dry
lagoons. Vegetation usually consisting of Zones
Rhizophora spp.
The classification in the National Atlas of Sri Lanka-2007 (2nd Edition) has three additional
natural vegetation categories, namely; grasslands, tropical thorn forests and degraded
forests and sand dunes. There appears to be inconsistencies even in classifications used by
the FD maps prepared between 1992-2010. Therefore, it is necessary to develop a common
classification accepted by all that can be applied in a consistent manner.

17
1.4 Objectives of the study

The broad objective of the study is to understand the key drivers of deforestation and forest
degradation in Sri Lanka with respect to historical, current and future time horizons together with
their implications to the development of a REDD+ strategy for Sri Lanka.

Within this broad aim, the specific objectives of the study can be summarized as:

• To identify key drivers of deforestation and forest degradation in terms of historical,

current and expected future time horizons considering effects of socio-economic
development and political decisions;

• To recognize inter-relationships between the drivers of deforestation and forest

degradation together with their interactions with other underlying factors;

• To evaluate effectiveness of current forestry and other relevant sector policies, laws and
regulations in addressing the drivers of deforestation and forest degradation in different
provinces of Sri Lanka;

• To identify potential policies and measures that could be implemented in the context of
the REDD+ strategy process.

1.5 Organization of the report

The report is organized in the following manner:

• Section 2 begins with a discussion on concepts and definitions that provided overall
guidance to this study;
• Section 3 has detailed methodology of the study;
• Section 4 contains the detailed methodology of the different approaches taken by
multidisciplinary team of experts to examine the problem from multiple perspectives;
• Section 5 examines at length the historical drivers of deforestation and forest degradation;
• Section 6 examines the current drivers where their impacts are examined with catalysts and
inhibitors, deforestation and forest degradation in conflict-affected areas and likely future
drivers of deforestation/degradation as can be conjectured from the existing plans that deal
with various sectors of the economy;
• Section 7 attempts to identify overall implications of the findings for the REDD+ Programme.

18
 2 Concepts and Definitions

Ecosystem Services: Forests are multiple use resources that offer many ecosystem services (Nasi et
al., 2002). A summary of major ecosystem services provided by forests is presented in Table 1.

Table 1 - Major ecosystem services provided by forests

Type Services
Provisioning services (Goods) Timber
Fuel wood
Non-timber forest products
Protection and supportive Regulating quantity and quality of water
services (Ecological services) Climate regulation
Carbon storage
Pollination
Seed dispersal
Natural pest control
Cultural services Tourism
Scenic values
Cultural uses
Religious knowledge
Source: Adapted from Nasi et al. (2002)

Forests and their ecosystem services are renewable subject to the limits of regeneration capacity.
When the ecosystem services of forests are used beyond their regeneration capacity, forest
degradation occurs. While being multiple use resources that offer variety of ecosystem services,
forests also are one out of many uses that the scarce resources of land can be put in to. The lands
occupied by forests have alternative uses such as: for agriculture (commercial and subsistence), for
residential purposes (urban and rural), infrastructure development (irrigation structures, roads,
harbours, airports, power houses), and for other commercial and industrial purposes.

Deforestation occurs when land occupied by forests are converted for alternative uses. The
economic rationale of conversion is that users perceive value generated by alternative uses of land
higher than ecosystem services offered by forest resources. Given that many useful ecosystem
services are long-term and non-market in nature, people often convert forest lands into other uses
for short-term economic gains that lead to deforestation and permanent loss of ecosystem services.

In contrast, forest degradation may not necessarily involve a reduction of the forest area but rather
lead to a temporary or permanent deterioration in the density or/and the structure of the vegetation
cover or its species composition involving opening of the canopy, modification of the vertical
structure, habitat parameters or change of other attributes that decreases the quality of forests
(Grainer, 1993; Lanly, 2003).

19
2.1 Drivers of Deforestation

Both deforestation and forest degradation can be caused by many drivers that are usually of socio-
economic origin. Identification and analysis of such drivers opens up a path for detailed examination
of deforestation and forest degradation. As a result, analysis of drivers of deforestation has become
an emerging area of research.

A number of research and technical documents have adopted various classifications of drivers of
deforestation and forest degradation. Despite multiple definitions, a common terminology has also
been emerging gradually and there are few widely-used concepts shared by many. A recent report by
Kissinger et al. (2012) made an attempt to synthesize the findings of several studies and identify their
implications for REDD+ programs. Two broad classes of drivers appear to be used by many studies
are proximate drivers and underlying drivers.

2.1.1 Proximate drivers

Proximate drivers are human activities and actions which are directly responsible for decrease in
forest cover, species and carbon losses. Some examples are agricultural encroachments, both
commercial and subsistence, infrastructure development, and illicit extraction of wood and other
forest products. Usually such drivers operate at the fringe of the forest where deforestation actually
takes place). It is important to understand their relationships with underlying drivers that influence
the overall direction and outcomes of deforestation/degradation process.

2.1.2 Underlying drivers

Underlying drivers refer to complex economic, political, social, cultural and technological processes
that underpin the deforestation and forest degradation that operate beyond the boundaries of the
forest. They may operate at international, national, regional or local levels (e.g. international
markets; domestic markets, national policies, local plans etc.). While they may not operate within, at
the boundary or periphery of the forests where deforestation/degradation actually takes place, they
influence the overall direction, magnitude and nature of outcomes by acting as underlying forces
controlling the behavior of agents who are involved in the deforestation/degradation process.

2.2 Process of Deforestation/Degradation

While underlying drivers such as national policies on agriculture/land settlement/infrastructure

development and price signals of markets are ultimately responsible for decline of forests and their
resources overall, deforestation/degradation often takes place through proximate drivers confined to
regional/local areas. For instance, deforestation is often a result of demand for land from farmers
and infrastructure developers and agents who are motivated to acquire lands occupied by forests.
Similarly, forest degradation is often a result of high demand for timber or non-timber forest
products (NTFP) in the local areas motivated by signals from national/international markets. Overall,
long-term macro drivers of deforestation/forest degradation resources operates in local areas
through short run economic supply-demand driven mechanisms. Understanding these mechanisms
are essential for addressing issues relating to decline of forest resources.

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2.2.1 Catalysts and Inhibitors

On the one hand, impacts of drivers are enhanced by certain factors (referred to here as catalysts)
whereas on the other hand they are inhibited by others (referred to here as inhibitors). A brief
description of each is given below.

Catalysts
Catalysts are factors that can augment the effects of proximate or underlying drivers of deforestation
and degradation giving rise to greater losses of forest cover or higher degrees of degradation by
accelerating the operating mechanisms of drivers. They may not be actively responsible for
deforestation/degradation themselves but create conditions conducive for acceleration of processes.
Modifying or altering selected drivers may not remove these factors automatically. Examples for
catalysts are rapid increase in population, growing number of poor people, insecure property rights,
inefficiency in resource governance and technological changes. They have sometimes been
categorized as underlying drivers (e.g. population growth) by some authors (Kissinger et al., 2012).

Inhibitors
These are the factors that have the potential to reverse the effects of proximate and underlying
drivers of deforestation/degradation thereby reducing the rate of deforestation and the scale of
damage caused by degradation. The main category of such inhibitors is effective forest and protected
area management policies and practices, policies and measures to enhance biodiversity conservation
(genes, species and ecosystems) and sustainable livelihoods.

It is presumed that catalysts/inhibitors mediate between proximate and underlying drivers either
accelerating or decelerating the process of deforestation/degradation. Hence the factors that
catalyze or inhibit the actions of drivers are of utmost importance in determining the overall rates of
deforestation and forest degradation.

Often, macro level underlying drivers or catalysts that accelerate deforestation/degradation are
unlikely to be addressed through forestry sector policies alone. For instance, agricultural expansion
catalyzed by population pressure has been a major cause of decline of forests everywhere in the
world (Kissinger et al., 2012). It is less practicable (or unlikely) to use population control policies to
address deforestation/degradation (Pearce, 1992). Pragmatically, it may be addressed more
effectively by controlling proximate drivers while making necessary adjustments in agricultural
policies and thereby simultaneously breaking the relationship that exists between drivers and
catalysts.

The process of deforestation described above constitutes the framework of analysis adopted in the
study and a schematic presentation of this conceptual model is given in Figure 2.

21
 Figure 2 - The Process of Deforestation and Degradation

Inhibitors

Underlying Proximate Deforestation

Drivers Drivers /Degradation

Catalysts

22
2.2.2 Policies and Measures (PAMs)

The ultimate aim of examining drivers of deforestation and degradation in the REDD+ framework is
to reduce GHG emissions by managing them within in a country. In the REDD+ framework, actions
taken by countries to reduce emissions through controlling deforestation and forest degradation are
referred to as Policies and Measures (PAMs). PAMs may include a wide range of instruments that
include policies, laws, regulations and institutional actions that are aimed at reducing the emissions
from deforestation and forest degradation. These are country specific sets of actions broadly
determined by the nature of drivers involved in deforestation and forest degradation and may
include legal, regulatory and administrative instruments. The essential feature of PAMs is that they
should have an impact on reducing GHGs.

Forest management policies and strategies usually take an important place as they have direct
impacts on deforestation and forest degradation and thereby on GHG emissions. However, PAMs
are not confined to policies in the forestry sector alone. In many countries, these two processes are
highly influenced by policies/strategies in agriculture, land, water, environment, wildlife and many
others. Therefore, PAMs may be connected to other sectors that have direct or indirect impacts on
deforestations and forest degradation.

23
 3 Methodology

The methodology of this study included two broad components:

Socio-economic and policy analysis: The main aim of this component was to analyze
proximate and underlying drivers of deforestation and forest degradation together with
their interactions with catalysts and inhibitors. The approach used here involved qualitative
analysis of primary and secondary data collected through participatory methods (e.g.
FGDs, KIIs) and desk reviews. The analysis covered historical, present and expected future
drivers taking them on a ‘time slab’-based approach to identify changes in deforestation
and degradation in Sri Lanka. The final aim of the analysis was to identify PAMs that could
reduce or reverse deforestation and forest degradation. Force-field analysis of the
deforestation process was used to identify the most relevant PAMs.

Spatial analysis of the outcomes of major drivers: This component dealt with the spatial
outcomes of deforestation, focusing on changes to the forest cover during 1992-2010, and
attempting to relate them to specific drivers identified in the socio-economic and policy
analysis. The spatial analysis was based on the existing forest cover maps provided by the
Forest Department of Sri Lanka.

These two broad areas of investigation complement each other. Overall scope of the spatial analysis
was determined by the identification of drivers of deforestation and forest degradation from primary
and secondary data in socio-economic and policy analysis. On the other hand, an in-depth analysis of
proximate drivers was conducted in ‘hot spots of deforestation’ identified through the spatial
analysis. Hotspots were identified as those localities that had much higher levels of deforestation
than the surrounding region (such as the climatic zone in which it was situated). The relationship
between the two areas of the methodology is presented in Figure 3.

3.1 Data sources and methods of collection

The study used data from both primary and secondary sources from several sources to cover all
major aspects of deforestation and degradation in Sri Lanka.

3.1.1 Primary data

Four methods of primary data collection were employed in the study to identify underlying and
proximate drivers, catalysts, inhibitors and mechanisms of deforestation and degradation in current
and recent past periods, namely, stakeholder workshops/meetings, focus group discussions (FGDs),
key informant interviews (KIIs) and expert panel discussions.

24
Consultation with key stakeholders

The following stakeholder consultations were undertaken to gather primary information:

• Three consultation workshops with senior and regional level forest officers from the wet,
intermediate and dry zone were conducted in July 2014 at the Forest Training College in
Nuwara Eliya in order to capture their professional experience and knowledge on
deforestation and forest degradation. It proved to be a very useful scoping exercise that
helped to identify the current drivers of deforestation in the three climatic zones;
• Two national level stakeholder workshops were conducted with key government officers
involved in decision-making for validation of the drivers and to help to identify potential
PAMs;
• Two consultations of members of civil society organizations (CSO) were undertaken, one
as a discussion with selected group of key informants and the other in a seminar
conducted for several CSO representatives.

Focus Group Discussions (FGD)

Two focus group discussions were conducted in two deforestation hot spots one each in the wet and
dry zones (Intermediate zone hot spot was excluded as stakeholders suggested that the drivers are
similar to the dry zone), identified through spatial data analysis. The FGD is a well-tested method for
obtaining information from a range of stakeholders on socio-economic and policy issues. The major
aim of conducting FGDs was to identify proximate drivers and associated mechanisms that currently
operate in areas prone to high levels of deforestation. Participants of FGDs were selected from
peripheral communities around the hot spots to cover a broad profile of members. Participants were
encouraged to express their own opinions candidly about factors that affect deforestation, including
issues that they may not express at other fora.

Key informant interviews

Few KIIs were conducted to supplement information from FGDs and socio-economic analysis of
drivers. Interviewees included Forest Department officers (senior and mid-level management and
field level), experts, local officers and selected community members.

3.1.2 Secondary data

Data for socio-economic analysis

Secondary data on underlying and proximate drivers, catalysts and inhibitors of deforestation and
degradation were collected from a variety of sources including:

• Published literature and unpublished articles;

• Statistical reports;
• Administrative reports;
• Monographs;
• Laws, acts, regulations and policy documents;

25
 • Past, present and future development plans/projects etc.

The FD has prepared Range Management Plans (RMPs) for many forest ranges except in the
Northern and Eastern provinces. The information available in the RMPs was used as a secondary
source of data. These plans contained accounts on threats to forests identified by the Regional
Forest Officers (RFOs) in their respective ranges by reviewing the records of forest offences and from
their professional experience.

Data for spatial analysis

The major aims of the spatial data analysis were:

• Identification of forest cover changes associated with major drivers;

• Evaluation of the magnitudes of forest cover changes associated with respective drivers.

This analysis depended on the forest cover maps provided by the FD prepared using remote sensing
techniques. The FD has carried out ground truth verification for their data. Three chronological
forest cover digital layers (shapefile format) of 1992, 1999 and 2012 were used for the analysis.
Processing and analysis of data were completed using ArcGIS (version 10) software package. Map
extents for all three years were the same and the district boundaries were overlaid on forest maps
to extract the district level statistics. The district boundaries had not changed during the period of
study.

3.2 Primary data gathering locations

Primary data were gathered through FGDs with community members in deforestation hot spots from
wet and dry zone1 areas. Locations of hotspots were identified through analysis of spatial data on the
changes of forest cover and deforestation rates at district and divisional levels. The following two
deforestation hotspots were selected for conducting FGDs:
• Rambawewa GN Division in Horowpothana DS Division in the Dry Zone (Anuradhapura
District)
• Hedigalla GN Division in Palinda Nuwara DS Division in the Wet Zone (Kalutara District)

1 Historical data justifies this as major drivers of deforestation were directly or indirectly connected to agriculture and

hence very closely associated with climatic zones. Even current and future policies/plans/projects (e.g. National Physical
Plan) have been organized around concepts connected to agro-climatic zones. Therefore this linkage can be expected to
continue into the future.

26
 Analysis of
Socio-economic & Proximate
Policy Analysis Drivers Identification of
Deforestation Hot Spots

Potential Policies
Assessment of and measures
Analysis of
Underlying Drivers, Forest Cover
Catalysts & Changes
Inhibitors

Spatial Analysis

Assessment of
Land Use
Changes

Figure 3 - Overview of the Methodology

27
3.3 Methods of analysis

As stated in the overview of the methodology, the study focused on two areas of analysis:

• Socio-economic analysis of drivers of deforestation and forest degradation;

• Analysis of spatial data on forest cover changes.

3.3.1 Socio-economic analysis of drivers of deforestation/degradation

The socio-economic analysis identified past and present drivers of deforestation/degradation and
assessed policies and measures that can be applied to mitigate the action of such drivers. Insights
from the analysis were used to make conditional assessments on likely future scenarios of
deforestation and forest degradation also. Qualitative tools of policy analysis were applied mainly to
achieve the results. The socio-economic analysis consisted of the following steps:

• Analysis of socio-economic dynamics and underlying drivers of deforestation and forest

degradation;
• Identification and description of proximate drivers and their associated mechanisms;
• Assessment of the roles of catalysts and inhibitors;
• Identification of relevant policies and measures.

Analysis of socio-political dynamics and underlying drivers

This has been done by reviewing secondary data and by conducting consultations with the officials of
the FD. Secondary data gathered from review of literature was mostly used for initial assessment of
socio-economic dynamics and identification of underlying drivers of deforestation. Insights were also
drawn from opinions expressed by FD officers at consultation workshops. The main set of drivers
were identified, their operational levels and scales were assessed, interactions and relationships
among them were determined and the emergence of new drivers was recognized. Qualitative
analytical tools such as tabular analytical techniques, matrices and descriptive statistical parameters
(depending on the availability of data) were used for this purpose.

Identification of proximate drivers and operational mechanisms

Proximate drivers operating at local levels that in turn are connected to broad underlying drivers
were analyzed using primary data gathered from FGDs in the hot spots identified through spatial
analysis of forest cover change, with the main objective of assessing the role played by key proximate
drivers identified at local levels and to trace their linkages to underlying drivers. An attempt was also
made to assess the relative importance of drivers from the discussions with community members
and other stakeholders in hot spot areas. Based on the analyses of these FGDs, case studies on
proximate drivers of major climatic zones were developed.

28
Assessment of catalysts and inhibitors

Both primary and secondary data were used to assess the importance of catalysts and inhibitors.
They were initially identified through a review of secondary data and information provided by the
key stakeholders. Their relative importance was assessed in the FGDs with inputs from community
members from respective hot spots. The growth of population and its impact on deforestation was
investigated by using the available national and district-wise secondary data. Insights from KIIs and
FGDs were also used to identify different factors that have a bearing on accelerated deforestation.
Policies and institutional arrangements in land alienation and tenure, agriculture development,
forestry, wildlife and environment sectors were assessed for their relative importance as catalysts or
inhibitors of deforestation and forest degradation. The following aspects relating to identified
policies and institutions on deforestation/degradation were analysed.

• Role of policies/institutions in relation to tenure (in the sense of the types of usages and
associated patterns of ownership) of forest resources;
• Nature of the influence of policies/institutions on identified major drivers of deforestation;
• Scale of impacts of the policies/institutions on deforestation and forest degradation;
• Effectiveness of policies/institutions in protection of forests, wildlife and the environment
and prevention of illegal extraction of forest resources.

Identification of policies and measures (PAMs): Force-field analysis

Conceptual definition of ‘deforestation’ as a process provided the opportunity to undertake force-

field type of analysis. Force-field analysis offers a framework for systematic analysis of processes by
looking at the forces that are either driving (drivers) or restraining (inhibitors) the process from
reaching towards a desired direction or goal. The principle was originally proposed by Kurt Lewin
(1951) and subsequently found many applications in the social sciences, social psychology,
organizational development, process management, and change management. It can be used in the
analysis of complex problems and involves a step-wise approach

Force-field analysis structures the problem in terms of forces that support the status quo (drivers of
deforestation and forest degradation)2 and forces that support moving towards desired direction of
reduction or prevention of deforestation and degradation (inhibitors). A force could represent
agents, policies, trends, regulations, needs, institutions etc.

The key steps of the force-filed analysis were applied in the following manner:

Defining the problem

Deforestation and forest degradation are undesirable processes that increase GHG emissions while
leading to loss of biodiversity and other useful ecosystem services of forests.

2 In many problems, the forces that support the status quo are defined as restraining forces whereas forces that help to
improve the situation are driving forces. However, deforestation is a negative process and drivers have widely been
defined as forces mobilizing this negative process. Hence, to avoid any confusion, a reverse terminology is used here.

29
Defining the change objective
To achieve the objective of GHG emissions reduction, the processes of deforestation and forest
degradation should be controlled or reversed. In addition to reduced emissions, it would help to
conserve biodiversity while ensuring many other ecosystem services as co-benefits.

Identification of driving forces

What are the key drivers of deforestation and forest degradation? What are the catalysts of the
drivers of deforestation and forest degradation? What are the relative strengths of these forces?
What are the inter-relationships among drivers and catalysts?

Identification of restraining forces

What are the inhibitors of deforestation? What are the inter-relationships among inhibitors?

Developing the strategy for controlling or reversing deforestation and degradation and
identification of PAMs

The desired change, i.e. control or reversal of deforestation, can be achieved by changing the forces
currently contributing to deforestation and degradation. This requires altering the current balance of
forces in the following manner:
• Strengthening inhibitors and transforming existing ones to be more effective;
• Adding new inhibitors;
• Removing or controlling drivers of deforestation and degradation;
• Removing or de-linking catalysts from drivers.

PAMs are the tools for changing the existing balance in the above-listed directions. Hence, the force-
field analysis provides a systematic and logical path to the identification of PAMs.

30
 Box 3 - History of forest cover assessments in Sri Lanka

Despite some widely quoted forest cover figures from the late 19th century, the first
systematic forest cover assessment based on spatial data in Sri Lanka was carried out
in 1956. The first forest cover map was prepared in 1956 by Hunting Survey Inc. of
Canada which conducted an island-wide reconnaissance mapping of land use and
forest cover using aerial photographs. Maps produced by this exercise were
published in the early 1960s, at the scale of 1:31,680 (two inches to one mile).

The Centre for Remote Sensing (CRS) of the Survey Department produced a series of
land use maps for the whole island at a scale of 1; 100,000 from the late 1970s and
early 1980s based on satellite imagery. Landsat images were used as a base on to
which land-use information derived from the interpretation of aerial photographs of
various dates was transferred. The technical support for this project was provided by
the Swiss CRS.

A national forest inventory was carried out between 1983 and 1986 by the FD with
the assistance of FAO. This project was based mainly on interpretation of 1983 aerial
photographs. It used data from successive inventories to assess general changes in
forest areas. Even though it planned for a detailed appraisal of deforestation based
on aerial photographs of 1:20,000 scale, it was not conducted for the whole country
due to delays in photograph flying. This effort used the forestry and land use
classification in the CRS maps.

The Mahaweli Authority of Sri Lanka (MASL) produced land-use maps at a scale of
1:10,000 since 1989 under the Forest/Land Use Mapping Project (FORLUMP). Unlike
previous projects which covered the entire island, these maps only covered the
Upper Mahaweli Catchment (UMC) area. They were based on 1987 aerial photos
(1:15,000) using 1:10,000 scale topographic bases prepared by the Survey
Department. Detailed and extensive field checking of the sample areas were carried
out.

The British Overseas Development Administration (ODA) provided funding

channelled through FORLUMP and Forest Management and Plantation Project
(FORMP) enabling the establishment of a remote sensing unit in the FD. The aim of
this unit was to prepare new maps on forest cover using satellite remote sensing
techniques, building up the national forest geographic information system (NFGIS). A
generalized map of the forest cover was prepared in 1992 and it was compared with
the national forest inventory (1983) supported by the FAO to assess the forest cover
changes that have taken place between 1983 and 1992. It revealed that closed
canopy forest cover had decreased by about 10% during this period. A majority of
this loss came from dry zone, mainly due to large scale irrigation projects
implemented during this period. The FD has produced subsequent forest cover
assessments in 1999 and 2010. The three maps produced by the FD in 1992, 1999
and 2010 provided the basis for spatial analysis of this study.

31
3.3.2 Assessment of spatial and land use changes

Assessment of spatial and land use changes associated with major drivers of deforestation helped to
identify the hotspots of deforestation in different climatic zones between 1992-2010. Before
extraction of statistics from the data layers, some initial processing was required. It included
assigning of Everest Coordinate System for three data layers, removing scrubs, grasslands and marshy
categories from the 2010 layer of data for maintenance of consistency and compatibility among the
three data layers. By overlaying the district boundary map on forest cover maps, the extent of forest
cover by administrative districts was extracted for years 1992, 1999 and 2010.

Identification of hotspots was a two-step process:

• In step one, the administrative district with the highest forest cover loss was identified for
each of the three different climatic zones;
• In the second step, from each selected district, the DS divisions with the highest loss of
forest cover were identified.

3.3.3 Identification of likely future scenarios of deforestation and degradation

This was achieved by:

• Making conjectures on future outcomes of current development polices and measures;
• Drawing insights from the forest transition model (FTM); and
• Insights from expected socio-economic development trends based on the socio-economic
and policy analysis.

Conjecturing through current development plans to the future by using expert judgments

Secondary information from the following major national plans and strategies in sectors relevant to
forest and land resources was the major source of data used to conjecture future deforestation and
forest degradation scenarios implied by their operation.

• National Physical Plan and Policy (2011-2030)

• Forestry Sector Master Plan (1995-2020)
• Long-term Generation Expansion Plan (2013-2032)
• Tourism Development Strategy (2011-2016)
• National Road Master Plan (2007-2017)
• Proposed major development projects in the irrigation sector

It was also supplemented by the professional expertise on areas such as demographic changes,
climate change impacts, biological and ecological aspects of deforestation such as fragmentation,
isolation and of forest degradation, impacts of invasive species, exploitation of forest resources,
development of water resources and physical planning and technological change of the team of
Consultants that developed this study.

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Carbon and non-carbon benefits

Following the analysis of drivers, inhibitory and catalytic policies and measures, potential benefits
including enhancement of forest carbon stocks were estimated considering three selected inhibitory
policy measures considered as a key driver. The details on the methodology and data used for
calculation of the carbon stock changes under the selected measures are provided in Box 5 (i.e.
Implications for REDD+ program: Carbon and non-carbon benefits through conservation and
enhancement of forest carbon stocks).

33
 Table 2 - Logical summary of objectives, methods, data sources and methods of analysis

Objectives Methods Data Methods of analysis

To identify key drivers of • Socio-economic & policy • Literature survey • Tabular analysis
deforestation and forest degradation analysis • Secondary data • Descriptive statistical
in terms of historical, current and • KIIs analysis
expected future time horizons • Expert consultation
considering effects of socio-economic meeting
development and political decisions
To recognize inter-relationships • Socio-economic & policy • Literature survey • Tabular analysis
between drivers of deforestation and analysis • Secondary data • Descriptive statistical
degradation with their interactions • FGDs analysis
with other underlying factors • KIIs • Qualitative data analysis
To evaluate the effectiveness of • Socio-economic & policy • Secondary data • Tabular analysis
current forestry and other sector analysis • FGDs • Descriptive statistical
policies, laws and regulations in • Spatial analysis • KIIs analysis
addressing the drivers of • Forest cover
deforestation and forest degradation assessments
in different provinces of Sri Lanka
To identify potential policies and • Force-field analysis • Secondary data • Assessment of land use
measures (PAMs) that could be • Forest cover changes
implemented in the context of the assessments • Tabular analysis
REDD+ strategy process • Land use data • Descriptive statistical
• Survey of scientific analysis
literature

34
 4 Major Historical Drivers of Deforestation and Degradation

Deforestation and forest degradation are ongoing processes. The current drivers of deforestation and
forest degradation in Sri Lanka have historical roots dating back to the advent of colonial rule. Of the
three colonial powers that occupied Sri Lanka, the role played by the British was critical since they
put in much effort to transform the economy of Sri Lanka, thereby affecting the forest cover of the
country. In this chapter, a brief assessment of the historical drivers of deforestation and forest
degradation is presented to understand the evolution of the current drivers.

A time-slab approach is used to present historical drivers of deforestation and forest degradation and
their evolution into current drivers. The time-slabs were determined according to the milestones
involving major drivers and on the availability of data. The current period in this study is taken from
1992 to date, which represents the final stage of major hydro development projects in Sri Lanka. In
addition, a country-wide mapping of forest cover of Sri Lanka was undertaken in 1992. Accordingly,
the time-slabs used to present historical and current drivers are as follows.

• Historical drivers
- Pre-independence era (since early nineteenth century to the independence in
1948)
- Post-independence era (1948 to 1992)
• Current drivers (from 1992 to date)

This chapter covers the historical drivers. An in-depth assessment of current drivers is presented in
the next chapter.

4.1 Pre-independence era

The historical roots of deforestation and forest degradation in Sri Lanka date back at least to the early
part of the nineteenth century, when British colonial rulers introduced an export oriented plantation
economy to Sri Lanka3. This was a landmark move that altered the prevailing structure of the
economy. It transformed Sri Lanka into a part of the global trade of agricultural commodities which
constituted a major pillar of the British Empire’s global economic presence. This transformation
spelled doom for the island’s forest resources as they became a target of the British rulers strategy;
firstly as a source of industrial timber and subsequently as a source of land for establishing
commercial plantation crops. Review of secondary information from sources listed in this report
suggests that there were two major underlying drivers of deforestation and forest degradation that
were associated with the British policy. They were:

• Export demand for industrial timber: This has led to a policy of intense commercial
harvesting of timber from natural forests in Sri Lanka (Nanayakkara 1987; NARESA 1991;
Sahajananthan 1987). With the gradual establishment of plantation-based trade economy in

3 There is evidence that heavy felling and export of calamander took place in areas under Dutch control before the arrival

of British (FSMP, 1996). Besides, during the Portuguese and Dutch eras, cultivation of cinnamon was widespread in wet
zone low country areas. This must have led to conversion of substantial area of natural forests.

35
 Sri Lanka, a local demand for industrial timber also developed from plantation sector (e.g.
tea chests) and associated development of infrastructure facilities (e.g. railway line sleepers).

• Demand for land resources required for establishment of plantation crops to sustain the
global agricultural commodity trade: The trade of agricultural commodities was a key pillar
of the global economic strategy of the British Empire. This led to large scale conversion of
natural forests in the low-, mid- and up-country regions of the wet zone for expansion of
plantation crops (see Figure 5).

These two major underlying drivers have given rise to the following proximate drivers of
deforestation and forest degradation that affected the forest cover in many areas of the country.

4.1.1 Intense commercial harvesting of timber from natural forests

Information on British policy on timber felling is found in administrative reports and official records
of the colonial era. The British appointed a Superintendent of Forests early as 1811 with the primary
task of organizing the felling operations of timber for export and clearing of some forests areas for
security purposes. Official records suggest that timber was exported to the United Kingdom and the
literature indicates that timber from tropics was used as a raw material for ship building and other
industries (Knowles 1924; Nanayakkara 1987; NARESA 1991; Sahajananthan 1987). By 1835, felling
was regularized and timber trade became a lucrative business.

Even though timber extraction took place in the entire country, it was more intense in the dry zone
areas where valuable timber species were located. A license system for timber felling, administered
by the Government Agents (GAs) allowed contractors to extract specified volumes of timber under
each license. However, due to lack of monitoring and supervision, there was indiscriminate
extraction and over felling of timber by the licensees.

Growing industrial economies in the northern hemisphere and expanding global trade increased the
demand for industrial timber, pushing local timber extractors to intensify their operations. Export
demand was high for valuable species such as satinwood and ebony. The demand for industrial wood
was further exacerbated by the growing local demand from the plantation industries and
infrastructure development activities. Heavy felling fuelled by growing export and local demand was
so intense that the British rulers themselves feared the long-term sustainability of the system. It is
hard to imagine any inhibitors to this process except self-assessments by the colonial administration
about the level of over exploitation and doubts about the sustainability of this system (Nanayakkara
1987). As a result some controls were brought into operation around the 1850s that would lead to
more systematic changes later. These included:

• Introduction of yield controls in 1882;

• Introduction and gradual expansion of forest plantations;
• Establishment of the Forest Department in 1887 under a professional forester;
• Declaration of some areas as reserves under the Forest Ordinance of 1885.

36
Notwithstanding these measures, there is anecdotal evidence which demonstrates over-exploitation
(Nanayakkara 1987).

• 1871: Twynar reported that more than three to four times the specified quantity of timber
was removed under each licence.
• 1887: Morris reported illicit timber over the limits of licence was ‘hidden in the jungles
closer to sea ports for illegal shipment out of the country’.

Even though specific evidence about the catalysts that had accelerated this process is meagre,
historical accounts on economic growth of Sri Lanka suggest that the following factors could have
acted as catalysts, even temporarily (Silva 2005).

• Development of infrastructure and transport facilities that included roads, harbours and
rails;
• Periodical surge of demand due to British Empire’s engagement in warfare and conflicts;
• Expansion of public facilities such as schools and hospitals.

Overall, despite occasional efforts to bring some restrictions, the British policy of production
oriented forestry had led to severe degradation of natural forests all over the country that were
subjected to intense felling (Nanayakkara 1987; Wijesinghe 2001). State-sponsored selective logging
and illicit felling had always gone hand-in-hand causing heavy degradation of natural forests starting
from early nineteenth century to the late twentieth century, a period of well over 150 years.
According to Ainsley, a British forester in 1920, even though the declared forest cover in the country
was still high, a very little of it was merchantable (Nanayakkara 1987). This evidence suggest that
widely quoted forest cover estimates in 1881 (84%) and 1900 (70%) actually refers to a heavily
degraded stock devoid of many valuable species.

This process of degradation driven by timber felling continued until 1980s, even three decades after
independence. There is no statistical data to assess the scale of degradation caused by this process to
Sri Lanka’s forest resources except anecdotal evidence. One indication is provided by the Forest
Inventory carried out in 1956-1961 (Table 4).

Table 3 - Forest cover in Sri Lanka (based on 1956-1961 inventories)

Climatic zone Forest cover Yield class distribution ( % of total)
(ha) High Medium Low Un-productive
Dry zone 2,507,926 - 6.1 50.5 43.4
Wet zone 227,850 5.2 20.9 46 28
Source: NARESA (1991)

According to this inventory, there were no high yield class forests remaining in the entire dry zone
and 94 % of the remaining forests were under either low or un-productive categories. Only 5% of wet
zone forest was categorized under high yield class and 74 % was under low and unproductive
categories. This data can be compared with the assessment made by a British Forester published in

37
Sessional Paper XLII of 1882 where he quoted ‘It is probable that the whole island must have been
covered with good timber forests on the arrival of British in 1796’ (Vincent 1882).

4.1.2 Conversion of natural forests for export plantation crops in the Wet Zone

Establishment of plantation crops in the second quarter of the nineteenth century led to large scale
deforestation in the Wet Zone. This is a proximate driver of deforestation mobilized by growing
demand in global trade of agricultural commodities4. Even though initial experiments of commercial
plantations dates back to 1820s (e.g. coffee), plantation crops assumed a greater role in the economy
after the declaration of the Crown Lands Encroachment Ordinance (CLEO) in 1840 with the aim of
releasing lands for plantation agriculture (Abeysinghe 1978; GOSL 1990). CLEO enabled the colonial
government to claim the possession of large swathes of land in the former Sinhala Kingdom which
were hitherto controlled by usufruct systems of rights held by local communities under the King’s
decree. It was apparently ‘an exercise in display of right to conquest’ (GOSL 1990). It led to the
creation of a vast crown estate, a part of which was subsequently distributed to investors on
commercial plantations (Corea 1975). Figure 4 shows the scale of land redistribution associated with
CLEO within a short period of time since its enactment through sales.

Figure 4 - Land sales of the Ceylon Government

35,000

30,000

25,000
Extent (ha)

20,000

15,000

10,000

5,000

-
1834

1835

1836

1837

1838

1839

1840

1841

1842

1843

1844

1845

Source: Corea (1975)

Subsequent deforestation created by the expansion of plantation crops was rapid and alarming. At
the beginning, coffee was the dominant crop. It was abandoned after a half century in 1878 due to
coffee rust disease. By that time, coconut and tea plantations had already been started and rubber
was about to make its entry. Since abandoning coffee, both tea and rubber expanded rapidly and
many investors on coffee converted their lands either to tea or rubber. The area cultivated of tea,
rubber and coconut grew steadily, supported by growing demand in global commodity markets. The

4 Prior to the advent of commercial plantations during the British era, Sri Lanka was involved in the global trade of

agricultural commodities as a major producer of cinnamon. The Dutch controlled this trade in Sri Lanka and even the
Sinhala Kingdom participated in it.

38
areas that were given over for plantations were either primary forests or secondary forests at various
stages of succession after slash-and-burn agriculture (chena) by the peasantry in the upcountry
areas.

Figure 5 - Expansion of Plantation Crops

394,836 ha 221,969 ha 128,700
2012 ha

2002 394,836 ha 212,716 ha 116,477 ha

1982 416,250 ha 207,145 ha 171,150 ha

1962 466,380 ha 231,050 ha 229,315 ha

1948 433,400 ha 214,750 ha 232,500 ha

Rubber
Tea

1878 140,000

1876

1867
Coconut

Coffee

1840s

1830s

39
Figure 5 provides an overview of the expansion of plantation crops in Sri Lanka and gives an
indication of the resultant scale of deforestation. Nearly 900,000ha had been converted to plantation
crops by the time of gaining independence in 1948. This area had peaked in 1962 at 926,745ha. Since
then a decline of the area under plantation crops is observed.

In addition to conversion of large extents of primary and secondary forests, expansion of plantation
crops had the following indirect socio-economic impacts that extended beyond estate boundaries
(Abeysinghe 1997; GOSL 1990).

• Establishment of plantations restricted the space avilable for village expansion in wet and
intremediate zone areas, depriving subsequent generations of traditional rights to land;
• Created a landless class of peasantry;
• Change in land-tenure practices, increasing the tenure under shared ownership
arrangements (e.g. Thattu maru, Katti maru).

These indirect impacts have acted as underlying drivers for the next major wave of deforestation that
took place in dry zone areas, beginning from the second quarter of the 20th century, and will be
discussed in the following section.

4.2 Post-independence Era

During this era, land settlement and irrigation development acted as major driving forces of
deforestation lasting until the early 1990s. Henegedara (2002) cites five main objectives of land
settlements:

• Provision of land as a means of livelihood for marginalized communities;

• Dispersal of population from the highly congested wet zone areas to the sparsely populated
dry zone;
• Development of areas with a potential for agricultural production by restoration of already
existing irrigation schemes or by creation of new ones;
• Development of domestic agriculture by expanding the extent under paddy and other field
crops;
• Reduction of regional disparities in economic conditions in rural areas.

4.2.1 Land settlement and irrigation development in the dry zone

Land settlement and irrigation development were complex processes resulting in large-scale
deforestation. The process of land settlement and irrigation development had actually begun in the
pre-independence era with the introduction of the Land Development Ordinance (LDO) in 1935.
Lands for settlement and irrigation development came mainly from primary and secondary forests in
dry zone areas. The socio-political background and associated underlying drivers that led to this
complex process is discussed in the next section.

40
4.2.2 Socio-political dynamics and underlying drivers

Poverty among peasants, social inequity, population pressure especially from landless peasants in
the wet zone and increasing demand for food and rising costs of food imports had led the British
colonial government to rethink its policies in the non-plantation agriculture sector by the dawn of
the twentieth century. While stagnating paddy production resulted in increasing dependence on
food imports, adverse changes in the trade environment experienced during the war periods made it
difficult for the government to import the country’s food grain requirements. This situation coincided
with the revival of a national movement for independence in early part of the twentieth century.
Problems of landless peasants, food insecurity and general situation of poverty and backwardness in
rural areas naturally assumed importance in the agenda of the emerging national leadership that
aspired to take governing powers from the British to their hands. This was facilitated by
recommendations of the Donough-more Commission of 1931 that introduced the system of
universal franchise.

As a result, these problems had begun to enter the political arena through demands of a rural
electorate that could not be ignored by the emerging national leadership. In other words, the period
marked the transition of political power from the ‘age of conquest’ to the ‘age of politics’ that
culminated in gaining independence in 1948 (GOSL 1991). The overlapping of political will of the
emerging national leadership with the demands of an empowered rural electorate provided a solid
foundation to seek new solutions to problems experienced by the peasant population.

Even though British rulers had already done some restoration of ancient irrigation systems from the
latter part of the nineteenth century onwards, the above-referred situation required macro level
solutions. The obvious solution available was the utilization of vast expanses of ‘underdeveloped
crown land’ in the dry zone for food production by development of irrigation facilities and settlement
of landless peasants from the wet zone in colonization schemes (GOSL 1990). This solution was
recommended by the first land commission of 1927 and introduced as a law under the Land
Development Ordinance (LDO) of 1935 (Abeysinghe 1978; GOSL 1990). Land settlement and
irrigation development under LDO opened a process which ran opposite to the CLEO where lands
acquired by the state have been redistributed to peasant community back through legislative means
(GOSL 1991; Moore 1985). Building upon the initial foundation laid in the late nineteenth century by
the British, elected national leadership revived the irrigated colonization schemes in the twilight
years of the colonial rule. It took greater momentum after the independence.

Since independence, land settlement and irrigation development became major pillars of the
national development strategy of all governments despite ideological differences that existed among
them. The social, economic and political factors which influenced land settlement and irrigation
development remained more or less the same during the period between pre-1948 to 1977. The
overall direction of economic policy of the country during this period represented an inward looking
import-substitution strategy. Significant changes of economic policy took place in 1977 due to
adoption of liberal, open economic policies by the government elected in that year. It paid greater
attention to export-oriented industrial and service sector development as means of increasing
national income and creation of employment opportunities. Despite the major changes in policy

41
direction however, the aim of food self-sufficiency remained unchanged and the largest of the
irrigated settlement schemes was implemented by the government elected in 1977.

During a five decade period from 1935-1985, 830,832 ha of land were alienated under LDO5 (GOSL
1987). Large extents of these lands came through the conversion of the existing forest cover which
usually was termed ‘underdeveloped crown land’. In summary, land settlement and irrigation
development gave rise to the next large-scale wave of deforestation that took place from mid-1930s
to mid-1980s.

Hydropower generation was a major objective associated with land settlement and irrigation
development from the early 1950s. The main aim of hydro-power development was to cater to the
rising demand for electricity from domestic and industrial sectors and need for rural electrification.
Hence, the rising demand for power from the growing economy became another underlying driver of
deforestation from the early 1950s onwards.

Overall, the following can be summarized as the major underlying drivers involved in deforestation
and forest degradation that took place during the above mentioned period.

Pressure from landless persons in wet zone areas;

Poverty of the dry zone peasants;
Demand for food from an increasing population;
Rising cost of food imports;
Rising demand for power from a growing economy.

4.2.3 Proximate drivers and operational mechanisms

Although irrigation development started with the restoration of the ancient tank system by the
Irrigation Department, large-scale river diversion schemes such as Gal Oya, Uda Walawe and
Mahaweli which had dual goals of irrigation and hydro-power generation were implemented later
on. The first six year programme (from 1948) for irrigation development planned to develop
33,150ha of agriculture lands. Of this, the Eastern Province accounted for 20,000ha (or 60%) that
included Gal Oya, Kantale extension and Allai extension schemes. The Gal Oya scheme alone opened
16,600ha of new agricultural lands. The second largest contributor was the Polonnaruwa District
where Parakrama Samudra, Elehera, Minneriya and Giritale schemes accounted for 9,062ha
(Arumugam, 1969).

The major river basins where irrigation development was carried out included Gal Oya, Walawe
Ganga, Kirindi Oya, Deduru Oya, Maduru Oya, Yan Oya, Ma Oya and Mahaweli Ganga. Except for very
few schemes (e.g. Uggalkaltota in Ratnapura district), nearly all irrigated colonization schemes were
confined to the dry zone. Although irrigation schemes were launched in all dry zone districts, over 50

5At the time, settlement under major irrigated colonization schemes was still ongoing under accelerated Mahaweli

Development Project (AMDP)—the largest of such projects in Sri Lanka. Therefore, total extent alienated should be higher
than this. The National Atlas published in 2007 reported total land extent of 297,926ha under major irrigation settlement
schemes other than Mahaweli scheme. These lands were alienated under 113 schemes. In Mahaweli scheme alone, there
were 97,100ha under five systems.

42
per cent of the lands coming under these schemes were concentrated in six major districts, namely;
Ampara, Polonnaruwa, Anuradhapura, Trincomalee, Batticaloa and Moneragala (Karunanayake,
2007).

Many schemes were established during the period 1949-1969; however, there was a decline
thereafter. This trend appears to be connected to the fact that from the 1970s onwards the
government directed its attention primarily to the Mahaweli Development Master Plan—a mega
project in its scale (Karunanayake 2007). The Accelerated Mahaweli Development Project (AMDP)
where the original 30 year plan was telescoped into a six-year project, faced three major challenges;
unemployment, burden of agricultural imports and demand for (electrical) power. The plan
envisaged providing irrigation facilities to 364,230ha (including new lands) and installation of 507
MW of hydropower (Cooke 1982).

Despite the decline of foreign investment in water resources development after the AMDP, several
less intensive water resources development projects have been implemented during the past 15
years. These projects, although small in comparison to the earlier large scale irrigation development
and colonization projects such as Mahaweli, Uda Walawe, Parakarama Samudra; have signalled a
change in the irrigation development strategy. The Mau Ara Diversion Project envisaged diversion of
Mau Ara to Malala Oya basin benefiting 30 village tanks and their command areas. The Weli Oya
Project was planned to augment more than 25 village tanks. Since 2005, the government adopted a
clear policy of focussing on people in water-scarce areas. Among the projects planned included
Moragahakanda, Kaluganga, Uma Oya, North Central Province Canal, Deduru Oya, Menik Ganga,
Rambukkan Oya, Yan Oya, Heda Oya, Kirama Oya and Urawa. The policy framework published in
2010 (NPD, 2010) further reinforced this changed policy direction. By 2010, several of the above-
mentioned projects including Moragahakanda and Kaluganga projects were under implementation.

Impact on forest cover

Unlike village expansion and other residential settlement schemes, irrigation-based colonization
schemes involved infrastructure development activities that extended far beyond the lands alienated
to settlers for agricultural and residential purposes. They include construction of reservoirs for
irrigation and hydropower, distribution networks for inter- and intra-basin water transfers and
transmission facilities of hydropower to rural areas. Large schemes required developing other
facilities such as schools, hospitals, roads and new townships. As a result, more areas of forest were
cleared than the extent alienated to settlers. Contribution of irrigation-based colonization schemes
to deforestation included the following major components.

• Inundation of extensive areas of forests due to irrigation and hydro-power structures;

• Conversion of large areas of natural forests into agricultural lands;
• Opening up forest cover for settlements and associated infrastructure such as roads,
townships etc.;
• Encroachments of surrounding forest areas by subsequent generations of land grantees due
to rising scarcity of land.

In many schemes, available statistics usually account only for irrigable and the alienated highland
agricultural lands. This is an underestimation of the scale of deforestation due to establishment of

43
irrigation-based colonisation schemes. Table 6 presents an estimate of the land occupied by the
Mahaweli Development Project. It shows that the command area accounts for only for 38% of total
land occupied by the project. Hence, the deforestation caused by land settlement and irrigation
development schemes should exceed the command area supported by these schemes.

Table 4 - Land utilization in The Mahaweli Development Project

Land Development and Utilization in Mahaweli Areas (ha )

Command Area
Farm Area (excluding net irrigable lowlands) 17711
Net irrigable area (lowland) 146835
Net irrigable area (upland) 39112
SUB TOTAL 203658
Above Command area
Infrastructure, tanks, reservoirs & other extent 39908
Settlement area 69010
Area reserved for town development 3132
Area for Pasture, forest & fuelwood 91941
Horticulture area 14725
Livestock & draught animals 12123
Cashew / coconut plantation 3008
Other areas (Archaeological, Res., Rocks & Erosional 84627
Remnants etc.
Homestead - Commercial farms 1224
SUB TOTAL 319698
GRAND TOTAL 523356

Source: Mahweli Authority of Sri Lanka

Tolisano et al. (1993) observes that the development of agricultural lands, particularly in the lower
areas of Systems A (Mahaweli Basin) and H (Kala Oya Basin) vastly reduced the total forest cover in
those basins. Several large reservoirs including Victoria, Randenigala, Rantambe and Kothmale
reservoirs were constructed in the upper Mahaweli and tributary basins. More than 50 % of the
Mahaweli basin had been covered with mature tropical humid, sub-humid, or dry forests before
large scale developments took place (Tolisano et al. 1993). Hydropower reservoirs and high voltage
transmission lines also have contributed to deforestation although reliable data on associated losses
in forest cover are not available.

44
4.2.4 Catalysts and inhibitors

Few catalysts that provided forward thrusts to the process of land settlement and irrigation
development are identified as below.

• In the case of irrigation-based settlement schemes, high population density and landlessness
in the wet zone catalysed migrations to the dry zone despite difficult living conditions. The
sparseness of population in the dry zone complemented this factor.

• Limited economic opportunities outside agriculture, abject poverty and high rural
unemployment are persistent catalysts of deforestation and forest degradation in settlement
schemes. The settlers are forced to encroach forest lands to expand the cultivated area.

• Hydropower development was catalysed by its comparatively low cost of generation and
high oil prices since 1970s. Even though the contribution of hydropower to national
electricity generation has reduced over the years, it still remains the largest, renewable
source of electrical energy. Its generation cost is comparatively small and this has helped to
provide electricity at an affordable price to lower and middle income classes.

• There is an unmet potential in small hydropower and it may continue to be a catalyst of

deforestation in the near future.

The following factors inhibited expansion of land settlements and irrigation development schemes to
a certain degree. Therefore, they acted as inhibitors to deforestation caused by land settlements and
irrigation development.

• Increased cost of construction has become a constraint for further expansion of land
settlement and irrigation schemes. Aluwihare and Kikuchi (1991) estimated that the
irrigation construction cost increased more than five-fold from Rs. 70,000/ha to Rs
360,000/ha (1986 prices) during 1950’s to 1980’s.

• Decrease of foreign assistance for irrigation development has discouraged investments on

new irrigation and land settlement projects (Gunawardena and Somaratne 2000). The
increased investment during 1980s was due to the AMDP.

• The growth of non-agricultural sectors and their ability to provide more employment
opportunities compared to agriculture was another factor slowing the expansion of
agriculture. Industrial GDP and service sector GDP grew at average annual rates of 6.2% and
5.5% respectively, in 1996-2000. In comparison, the growth of agriculture sector was only 3%
during the same periods. While employment outside agriculture grew by 4.2%, the
corresponding figure for the agriculture sector was only 0.3% during the last decade of the
twentieth century (World Bank, 2003).

45
 • Some river basins and major hydropower options are approaching potential development
limits. Most of the economically viable hydropower potential has already been developed by
the end of the twentieth century (ADB, 2007).

• In recent times, strengthening of environmental policies and legislation, demarcation of

environmentally sensitive areas as protected areas, policies and measures on biodiversity
conservation, multi-lateral environmental agreements (MEAs), mandatory environmental
impact assessments for development projects functioned as inhibitors. It is noted that
further exploitation of hydro resources is becoming increasingly difficult owing to social and
environmental impacts associated with large-scale development (CEB, 2013) which makes
obtaining environmental clearance through the EIA process difficult.

4.3 Chena cultivation

It is useful here to make an assessment about the role of shifting cultivation (chena) in deforestation
and forest degradation. Chena cultivation used to be the predominant form of highland agriculture in
Sri Lanka from the pre-modern times and still being continued in few areas in its basic form.
However, its characteristics have largely transformed and highland commercial rain-fed agriculture
currently practiced in many dry zone areas can be considered as an evolution of traditional chena
cultivation practices. It seems there are competing views about the contribution of chena cultivation
to deforestation and forest degradation. Some authors have suggested that its contribution to
deforestation could have even exceeded that of land settlement and irrigation development (Peiris
2006). However, this is debatable and others suggest its role in the deforestation should be
considered in the light of livelihood contribution it offered to the rural masses (GOSL 1990; Yalman
1974).

The Hunting survey of 1956, the first systematic assessment of land uses in Sri Lanka has reported
that area under shifting cultivation was around one million ha of which over 90 percent was in dry
and intermediate zones. According to that, extent under chena was even higher than the extent
under paddy. However, GOSL (1990) suggests that this area seem to have included abandoned
chenas of different stages of natural succession also and therefore the area actually under the
practice at the time should be far less. Ulluwishewa (1997) has reported traditional terms used for
different stages of natural succession that are degraded types of forests.

It seems that various policies adopted to discourage the practice from the time of colonial era have
failed and the system has adapted to changing conditions. Studies have reported that extent of
chena under minor irrigation is higher than the extent of chena under major irrigation due to higher
dependence of farmers on local rainfall. It has been observed that in irrigated schemes, tail-enders
resort to chena cultivation more than head-enders due to disadvantage in water supply. Further, in
pure rain-fed systems, the plot size is larger and fallow is shorter (ARTI 1986).

Currently, the word ‘chena’ is used for wide range of agricultural practices that share two major
common characteristics, namely; they are practiced under rain-fed conditions and occupy highlands
in the local landscape. In the process of evolution, many traditional subsistent characteristics of the
system have changed and it has transformed into a commercial system. In many occasions, they

46
involve continuous intensive cultivation of few crops in high demand instead of extensive periodic
cultivation of diverse crop mix for household subsistence under fallow as practiced in the past. This
modern variant of ‘chena farming’ continues to be a major cause of encroachment even today, acting
as a key driver of deforestation, especially in the dry zone. Again this takes place as illegal
encroachments but the motivation has become fully commercial (not subsistence).

4.3.1 Assessment of spatial and land use changes

There is limited information to assess the spatial and land use changes that have taken place due to
incompatibility of available data. Figure 66, based on forest cover assessments, provides gross
evidence that forests are the major land use type lost between 1956-1984. It also suggests that the
combined increase in area under paddy, settlements and other crops, which can be considered as
the major outcome of land settlement and irrigation development, is a compatible gross match with
the loss of forest cover.

Figure 6 - Land use changes (1956-1984)

Wetland
Forest
Other crops
Coconut
Rubber 1984

Tea 1956

Paddy
Settlement

0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000 3500

Extent 000' ha

According to information available in the 1956-1961 forest inventory and subsequent assessments in
the 1980s, the forest cover in the country has depleted at the rate of 42,200 ha/year. Of this,
deforestation rate in the dry zone (38,100 ha/year) is 11 times higher than the combined
deforestation rate of wet and intermediate zones (3,400 ha/year). Overall, forest cover has dropped
from 2.9 million ha in 1956 to 2.3 million ha in 1983. Table 6 shows the zonal distribution of natural
high forest cover in 1983. Accordingly, despite severe loss of forest cover in the dry zone in the half
century from mid-1930s to mid-1980s, in terms of overall forest cover, the dry and arid zones still
had a higher share of forests than the wet zone

6 There is a discrepancy on changes in coconut and rubber areas in Figures 5 and 6. The reason for this discrepancy is

connected to sources of data. Information on figure 5 largely represents records from plantation sources whereas figure 6
is based on spatial land use data. This can be explained by increasing share of small-holders in rubber and coconut which
may not well be covered in plantation industry sources during the time period concerned.

47
 Table 5 - Natural high forest cover (1982)

Climatic Zone Distribution of natural Zonal land use: Zonal land use:
high forests (% of total Forest (%) Non-Forest (%)
forest cover)
Dry and arid zones 84.1 34.3 65.7
Wet, intermediate and 15.1 12.4 87.6
montane zones
Source NARESA (1991)

4.3.2 A prelude to current drivers: A summary of historical drivers

Even though somewhat arbitrarily demarcated of time slabs based on the operation of the dominant
drivers of deforestation and forest degradation were used in this study, both underlying and
proximate drivers as well as catalysts and inhibitors have shown continuity across these time
boundaries. Therefore, deforestation and forest degradation is an evolutionary process and past
episodes of deforestation have clear implications on current drivers. These implications are discussed
in the next section and a summary of the historical drivers of deforestation is given in Table 7.

48
 Table 6 - Summary of historical drivers of deforestation

Time period Proximate drivers Underlying drivers Catalysts Inhibitors

Pre- Conversion of Global export demand for Favourable prices in global markets Coffee Leaf Rust Disease
independence forests for agricultural commodities Development of infrastructure facilities Difficulties of supplying labour
era plantation crops (coffee, tea, rubber, coconut) Policy support for colonial government: Limitations for further expansion due to rising
colonial land policy scarcity of land in suitable climatic zones
Controlled food prices
State-sponsored Global demand for tropical Industrial growth in western economies Concern about overexploitation and future
commercial logging timber Development of infrastructure facilities for scarcity of timber
operations Local demand for timber plantation economy Establishment of the Forest Department
Growth of urban centres Introduction of scientific forest management
practices
Encroachment for Subsistence demand for food Temporary permits for chena cultivation Acquisition of traditional chena land by the
chena cultivation Absence of state support for food state
production Loss of traditional land rights
Post- Village expansion Landlessness and poverty of Low cost of operation Marginal conditions of available land
independence schemes peasant communities High political popularity Progressive decline of plot sizes
era Less social disruption Non-viability of agriculture
Poor livelihood opportunities
Poor accessibility
Irrigated Landlessness and poverty of Unoccupied land in the dry zone Increasing cost of settlement schemes
colonization peasant communities Existing ancient irrigation network Decreasing potential for expansion of major
schemes Rising food demand and high High political commitment of successive irrigation projects
import cost of food governments Approaching limits of hydropower potential
Rising demand for energy Congruency of objectives: irrigation and Strengthening of environmental policies and
hydropower regulations
Low generation cost of hydropower
Encroachment for Subsistence demand for food Temporary permits for chena cultivation Acquisition of land by the state
chena cultivation Absence of state support for food Loss of traditional land rights
production

49
 5. Recent and current drivers of deforestation and forest degradation

Deforestation and forest degradation that occurred during the past two decades are examined in this
section. They include recent and current drivers. The approximate time period considered is 1992 to
the present (2014). There are two major reasons for this. Firstly, the beginning of this time period
overlaps generally with the final stage of land settlement and irrigation development, the third major
wave of deforestation in the recent history. Secondly, a new forest cover map was prepared in 1992
that continued in 1999 and 2010. This offers a solid basis for spatial analysis of forest cover change
during the recent period.

5.1 Background, socio-political dynamics and underlying drivers

Drivers of deforestation and forest degradation have evolved over time and changes undergone by
underlying drivers are significant. Therefore, examining the current situation of underlying drivers
that were responsible for deforestation in the past offers a logical starting point for understanding
the role of current drivers. A brief assessment of how the underlying drivers discussed in the
previous section have changed with time is given below.

Export demand for timber: Sri Lanka discontinued exporting timber from natural forests in
1960s onwards (NARESA, 1991). The rising local demand as well as the shift in national
forest policy towards conservation objectives played a major role in this decision (FSMP
1995). In essence, Sri Lanka’s role as an exporter in global timber trade ended and export
demand for timber from natural forests is no longer an underlying driver of forest
degradation in Sri Lanka.

Local demand for timber: According to FSMP (1995), even though local demand for timber
and other wood products has increased continuously, the share of supply from natural
forests has decreased. This is a result of the government policy to abandon state- sponsored
commercial logging in natural forests. Over the years, the share of supply from non-forest
sources has increased (FSMP, 1995). FSMP has projected to meet the rising demand from
forest plantations, non-forest sources and from imports. However, there is evidence that
timber from illicit felling from natural forests is still happening. Hence, the local demand for
timber still continues to act as an underlying driver of forest degradation despite absence of
state patronage to the practice. The available evidence suggests that the effect of this
underlying driver has become more localized, subject to the factors such as poor
enforcement, political patronage and in more remote locations (undetected removal of
trees).

Global demand for plantation crops: Major export crops - tea, rubber and coconut -
continue to play a significant role in the national economy even though country’s relative
dependence on them has decreased significantly over time. The demand for export
commodities, especially for tea, has shifted from European countries to Russia and the
Middle-East (Ministry of Plantation Industries, 2013). The role of large plantations (estates)
has diminished and small holders have become the major players in cultivation (Sivaram

50
 2000). A significant share of Sri Lanka’s exports in tea, rubber and coconut now comes from
small holding sector and the share of large estates is continuously declining. There are some
attempts to expand area under rubber and coconut in non-traditional areas in the dry zone.
Overall, global demand for major plantation crops still continues to act as an underlying
driver of deforestation. However, its scale and importance as a driver of deforestation has
greatly reduced since there is no policy support for large scale conversion of natural forests
into plantations. Their present contribution to deforestation, especially of tea, comes mainly
through slow encroachments by small-holders at the forest fringe. Nature of deforestation
associated with export crops has drastically changed from large scale conversions facilitated
by the state policies to scattered illicit encroachments carried out by small-holders in the
periphery of forests.

Underlying drivers connected to land settlement and irrigation development: The large
scale deforestation associated with land settlement and irrigation development projects has
decreased since early 1990s. In addition to the role of inhibitors discussed in Section 4.2.4,
the change in policy priorities assigned to the underlying drivers, namely - landlessness and
poverty of peasant community, rising cost of food imports and demand for hydropower - also
appear to be responsible for this situation. Local production of rice has increased
significantly and imports of rice have dropped drastically. Landlessness, although it continues
to exist in some sections of the farming community, especially with subsequent generations
of settlers in settlement schemes, its severity has decreased significantly through land
alienation schemes and land reform policies of the government (Moore 1985). Poverty in
rural areas also has declined steadily during the last two decades (Department of Census and
Statistics 2015).

Even though demand for energy has increased rapidly, Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) and
other energy planners have shifted their faith to non-hydro sources such as coal and thermal
energy on the presumption that hydro-power potential has reached its limits in Sri Lanka.
The latest Long-term Generation Expansion Plan has proposed only marginal addition to the
existing hydro-power capacity (CE, 2014).

The evolution undergone by the key underlying drivers has given rise to the following scenario of
deforestation and forest degradation, which is currently in operation.

• Local demand for timber still acts as an underlying driver that give rise to felling of timber.
However, there is no state involvement in logging from natural forests anymore. Therefore,
felling takes place entirely as an illicit activity depending on the level of monitoring and
enforcement in local areas, political patronage and remoteness (ability to remove trees
without detection).
• Global demand for export crops still act as a valid underlying driver for deforestation
especially in low-grown tea areas. However, as in the case of logging, the state patronage
has been lifted and it takes place entirely as small-scale encroachments.
• Situation of peasant communities have changed significantly. Even the remote areas have
been connected to markets. As a result, peasant farming has transformed from its
subsistence status and many farmers entered the market as commercial producers. This

51
 has created a class of small-scale commercial farmers, especially in dry zone areas where
large-scale land settlements and irrigation development were undertaken. Their activities
have given rise to significant deforestation in the form of encroachments for commercial
highland crops. The key underlying driver that mobilizes these encroachments is growing
local demand for crops such as maize, vegetables and other field crops such as chillies and
onions.

All the above underlying drivers give rise to proximate drivers of deforestation and forest
degradation that takes place as illegal activities.

As far as state sponsored projects responsible for deforestation are concerned, few relatively large-
scale irrigated development projects have been commissioned recently or under construction in
certain water scarce regions in the dry zone. They have led to open up some areas under natural
forests though not in the same scale as in the past. Despite these developments, however, the
priority assigned to land settlement and irrigation development has apparently declined from its
previous position of being the backbone of national development of agenda. Instead it has become a
component of the major national drive for infrastructure development that has become the
backbone of current national development agenda, especially after the conclusion of war in 2009. It
involves infrastructure developments in areas such as urban development, roads and highways,
expansion of energy generation capacity, harbours and airports, tourism development in addition to
irrigation development. Resettlement, rehabilitation and infrastructure development projects
undertaken in of formerly war-affected areas also add up to this.

Hence, despite the reduced impacts of former drivers the new nation-wide drive for infrastructure
development has the potential to create similar or even greater deforestation in the near future. As a
potential underlying driver, it appears to originate from political and bureaucratic decision-making
process of the government. It is mainly funded by commercial loan facilities offered by international
banks, especially from the Asian region.

Therefore, the current mix of underlying drivers of deforestation also has policy-induced as well as
non-policy induced components. It can be considered as a transformed set of underlying drivers
continued from the past though some of them have lost the state patronage. In spite of that they
continue as non-policy induced drivers giving rise to proximate drivers that operate as illicit activities.

On the other hand policy-induced drivers have expanded into wider portfolio of economic sectors
from its earlier focus on land, agriculture and irrigation sectors. Given the government’s stated policy
of private sector being the engine of economic growth; the state intervention is mostly confined to
infrastructure development in these new sectors. This opens the possibility for private sector
involvement in deforestation through the ventures connected to sectors where large public
investments are being made to develop infrastructure facilities. This could lead to a situation like
plantation development during the colonial period where deforestation came as a result of actions
taken by the nexus between private business and government bureaucracy.

Another distinguishing feature of current underlying drivers is scattered and localized nature of their
effects. In the case of local demand for food crops as well as global demand for export crops, key

52
proximate driver mobilized by them is scattered encroachments of state lands for purposes such as
expansion of family-owned tea/rubber plots in wet zone and cultivation of rain-fed commercial
highland crops in dry zone.

Similarly, in the case of public sector infrastructure development also, associated proximate drivers
are projects scattered over several sectors which are physically distributed all over the country. They
are not concentrated in dry zone irrigation development activities alone, any more. As a result, a
notable feature that distinguishes the current period from the past episodes of deforestation is the
absence of a dominant set of driver(s) that give rise to large scale deforestation concentrated in
particular geographic area or a climatic zone. The activities are more distributed and they remain
localised to more restricted areas of operation. This renders the situation particularly difficult to
control.

5.2 Spatial analysis of forest cover changes in the 1992-2010 period

It is useful to observe the nature of deforestation that has taken place during the period of 1992-
2010 before discussing the proximate drivers which have given rise to it. It should be noted that
given many infrastructure development activities have been launched after 2010, their effect is not
shown in the maps. The map given in Annex 1 shows the situation of forest cover in 1992 and Table 8
presents extent of forest in each district. They show that even by 1992 forest cover in wet zone was
restricted to a limited area. It was confined to few lowland rainforest patches in Galle, Matara,
Kalutara and Ratnapura districts and few isolated patches of montane and sub-montane forests in
Nuwara Eliya, Kandy and Matale districts and in north-eastern boundary of Ratnapura district.
Comparatively, larger extents of dry and intermediate zones were still under forest cover by 1992.

Figure 8 presents the results of GIS analysis based on forest cover maps prepared in 1992 and 2010.
According to that, deforestation has taken place at a rate of 7,147 ha/year during this period.
Deforestation took place mainly in dry zone districts. Deforestation in wet zone is quite low given the
low initial forest cover there. Except Matale district, deforestation rate is relatively low in
intermediate zone also. Details of forest cover in respective assessment years and changes that have
taken place in different districts are presented in Tables 8 and 9 respectively.

According to Table 9, the highest forest cover change (in absolute terms) was recorded in
Anuradhapura district followed by Moneragala, Hambantota, Ampara and Puttlam. While the top five
districts were reported from dry zone, Matale and Kalutara reports the highest forest cover changes
in intermediate and wet zone, respectively. The deforestation rate of the respective districts also
follows the same order with Anuradahpura reporting the highest rate of 2293 ha/year. These figures
give an overall idea about the nature of deforestation occurring in the country.

53
 Table 7 - Estimated extent of forest cover by administrative districts of Sri Lanka

District Total Forest cover - 1992 Forest cover - 1999 Forest cover - 2010
land area Area % Area (ha.) % Area (ha.) %
(Ha.) (ha.)
Ampara 441,500 171586 8.06 166573 8.26 153257 7.66
Anuradhapura 717,900 302932 14.23 269354 13.35 261667 13.08
Badulla 286,100 62332 2.93 56844 2.82 74997 3.75
Batticaloa 285,400 56154 2.64 56056 2.78 52046 2.60
Colombo 69,900 2049 0.10 2209 0.11 2226 0.11
Galle 165,200 21287 1.00 21567 1.07 21541 1.08
Gampaha 138,700 737 0.03 1142 0.06 2615 0.13
Hambantota 260,900 81404 3.82 86878 4.31 58815 2.94
Jaffna 102,500 1406 0.07 1415 0.07 4882 0.24
Kalutara 159,800 22611 1.06 19266 0.96 17879 0.89
Kandy 194,000 37272 1.75 38233 1.90 42837 2.14
Kegalle 169,300 16505 0.78 16352 0.81 16600 0.83
Kilinochchi 127,900 38743 1.82 37674 1.87 38048 1.90
Kurunegala 481,600 31609 1.48 28195 1.40 29603 1.48
Mannar 199,600 124893 5.86 123315 6.11 125898 6.29
Matale 199,300 87620 4.11 73680 3.65 75847 3.79
Matara 128,300 22825 1.07 21715 1.08 20280 1.01
Moneragala 563,900 250962 11.78 225774 11.19 222990 11.14
Mullaitivu 261,700 174429 8.19 171294 8.49 172320 8.61
Nuwara Eliya 174,100 52335 2.46 49052 2.43 53436 2.67
Polonnaruwa 329,300 142360 6.69 139471 6.91 138840 6.94
Puttalam 307,200 105493 4.95 93938 4.66 87806 4.39
Rathnapura 327,500 70324 3.30 72917 3.61 76988 3.85
Trincomalee 272,700 132172 6.21 127372 6.31 127121 6.35
Vavuniya 196,700 119463 5.61 116821 5.79 122325 6.11

54
Table 8 - Changes of forest cover by administrative districts (1992-2010)

District Changes of forest cover (Ha.)

1992 - 1999 1999 - 2010 1992 - 2010
Anuradhapura -33579 -7686 -41265
Monaragala -25188 -2784 -27972
Hambantota 5475 -28064 -22589
Ampara -5013 -13316 -18329
Puttalam -11555 -6132 -17687
Matale -13940 2167 -11773
Trincomale -4800 -251 -5051
Kalutara -3345 -1387 -4732
Batticaloa -98 -4010 -4108
Polonnaruwa -2889 -632 -3521
Matara -1110 -1436 -2546
Mulaitivu -3134 1026 -2108
Kurunegala -3415 1408 -2006
Kilinochchi -1070 375 -695
Kegalle -154 249 95
Colombo 161 16 177
Galle 280 -26 255
Mannar -1577 2583 1005
NuwaraEliya -3284 4385 1101
Gampaha 405 1473 1879
Vavuniya -2642 5504 2862
Jafna 9 3467 3476
Kandy 961 4604 5565
Ratnapura 2594 4071 6665

55
Figure 8 - Forest cover change 1992-2010

56
Figure 8 gives important insights into the nature of current deforestation. It confirms that
deforestation is scattered all over the country in comparison with the previous episodes of
deforestation which were concentrated in specific geographical areas/zones. The general picture
presented in Figure 8 can be summarized as follows.

• Loss of forest cover is generally scattered around the country;

• The loss of forest cover and rate of deforestation appears to be overall high in dry zone than
in wet zone;
• In the district of Anuradhapura where the forest cover change and the rate of deforestation
is highest, the loss of forest cover is spread more or less uniformly over the district;
• In other districts, there are some concentrated patches or hot spots of deforestation;
• A few such hot spots are found in Moneragala, the district with the second highest forest
cover change and deforestation rate. These hot spots are located around joint borders of
Badulla, Moneragala, Ampara districts and around the border between Moneragala and
Hambantota districts;
• Two other hot spots can be found in Puttalam district and in the border of Matale and
Anuradhapura districts;
• The only hotspot in the wet zone, though relatively minor in scale, can be found in the
border between Kalutara and Ratnapura districts.

Combining this general picture with information gathered from the consultative workshops, the
following key conclusions can be made on deforestation:

• The rate of deforestation from 1992-2010 (7,147 ha/year) has dropped significantly
compared with the earlier rate reported in the period 1956-1984 (42,200 ha/year) indicating
that the process of deforestation has slowed down all over the country;
• Deforestation has taken place at a relatively higher rate in the dry zone than in the wet zone
even though the rate has dropped significantly in all districts.

5.3 Proximate drivers and operational mechanisms

In this section, proximate drivers associated with the profile of underlying drivers described in
Section 5.1 are examined. This section is mainly based on stakeholder consultations conducted with
regional officers of the FD and the representatives from the CSOs, FGDs carried out in selected hot
spots of deforestation and few key informant discussions. The initial consultation with the officials of
the FD helped to identify several proximate causes that resulted in deforestation and forest
degradation. Encroachments and infrastructure development projects emerged as widespread
proximate drivers common to many areas. The specific activities connected to these major drivers
could vary from place to place, and their effects are localized to some degree operating at the
boundary of forest either as private encroachments or forest clearances related to development
activities, especially in large scale development projects of the government. Representatives of CSOs
have highlighted that large-scale private agricultural ventures have been responsible for
deforestation in several areas. They provided evidence about some major projects where the state

57
has provided forest lands for those projects. A summary of the information gathered about these
drivers is presented in Table 10.

In addition, both FD officials and CSO representatives identified several causes that lead to forest
degradation. It appears that the effects of many are confined to local areas and together they cause
significant forest degradation around the country.

58
 Table 9 - Summary of current drivers of deforestation
Type of Proximate drivers Underlying drivers Catalysts Inhibitors
damage
Encroachments Demand for residential lands; Permissive land laws and policies; Forest policies and protected area
Global demand for export crops (e.g. tea); Political interference; management;
Global demand for aquaculture products (e.g. Limitations in monitoring capacity; Internal and external migration of the rural
shrimp); Poor coordination among agencies; labour force;
Local demand for other field crops (e.g. maize, Population growth; Home gardens;
vegetable); Commercialization of rural economies; Off-farm employment;
Other purposes (e.g. gem mining) Mechanization of agricultural technologies; Community dependence and customary rights;
Development Demand for land in projects in following Population growth; Environmental laws and regulations;
projects areas/sectors: Poor coordination among agencies; Forest policies and protected area
Irrigation development; Political interference; management;
Urban development; Energy (e.g. Public pressure and awareness;
hydropower);Resettlement; Tourism;
Livelihood development;
Deforestation Roads and highway’s Airports, harbours; High
voltage transmission lines
Private agriculture Export and local demand for agricultural Political patronage; Environmental laws and regulations;
ventures products (e.g. cashew, banana); Poor coordination; among agencies; Forest policies and protected area
Policy objective of reducing import costs by Population growth; management;
substituting sugar imports Mechanization of agricultural technologies; Public pressure and awareness

Local demand for timber and wood products; Limitations of monitoring capacity; Forest policies and protected area
Illicit felling Households needs; Political interference; management;
Industrial Population growth Home gardens;
Forest Infrastructure Migration;
degradation Community dependence and customary rights;

59
5.3.1 Encroachments

Encroachments of forests occur mainly due to the following major reasons:

Agriculture

Agriculture is the dominant cause of encroachments of forest lands in many areas. Stakeholders
identified evolved form of chena7 as one dominant activity. Areas where it dominates include
Anuradhapura, Monergala and Hambantota districts. Maize cultivation has become the dominant
activity of chena in Anuradhapura and it was confirmed by the FGD conducted in the hot spot at
Horowpothana DS division. Maize, pulses and vegetables are the main crops cultivated in chena and
rising prices in the local market have encouraged encroachments in many areas of the dry zone.

Encroachment of forest lands in wet zone districts of Kalutara and Ratnapura are connected mainly
to tea, rubber and cinnamon cultivation and cardamom to a limited degree. The encroachments have
continued as a result of high international market prices for tea, rubber, cinnamon and cardamom.
The nature of deforestation that had taken place in wet zone districts is examined in Section 5.3.5
based on the FGD conducted in Palinada Nuwara DS division of Kalutara district.

Settlements

In addition to agriculture, people encroach forest lands for residential settlements in all parts of the
country. Sometimes agriculture and residential purposes are connected and encroachers occupy
forest lands and cultivate perennial trees (fruit trees, coconut) and dig wells to claim the ownership
of such lands. Often they claim such lands without any legal ownership. To some extent, the increase
in population has also contributed to encroachments for dwellings.

Other purposes

It was reported in FGDs that people have encroached lands for gem mining in Ratnapura, Kandy and
Matale districts. Another common encroachment in Kalpitiya, Chillaw and Puttalam areas was for
shrimp farms that led to widespread destruction of mangrove habitats.

5.3.2 Infrastructure development projects

Another major proximate driver responsible for widespread deforestation is the infrastructure
development which involved acquisition of lands, removal of trees, building of structures and
sometimes inundation. The FD has released around 40,000ha of forests for various development
projects during the past few years. Major types of projects that were reported by the stakeholders
include the following:
• Irrigation development projects;
• Major hydro-power generation projects;

7 Even though the term chena is still widely being used by farmers the stakeholders agreed that it does not necessarily

imply traditional type of slash-and-burning agriculture for subsistence

60
 • Mini hydro power projects;
• Road development projects including highways;
• Agricultural and livelihood projects;
• Resettlement projects;
• Tourism projects;
• Airports and harbours.

In addition, high voltage electricity transmission lines require periodic removal of trees within a
transmission corridor over long distances. Electric fencing, although helping to reduce human
elephant conflict also results in removal of many trees.

According to officers of the FD, sometimes applications for release land for projects are received at
very short notice, leading to inter-agency conflicts. Some large-scale irrigation projects led to
inundation of forest areas and such plans have been made without formal communication with the
FD. The true extent inundated or used for such land transformations is also not revealed to the FD.

5.3.3 Private agriculture ventures

Stakeholders, especially CSOs, have pointed out that large private agriculture ventures are
responsible for significant deforestation. Among the major crops involved in such ventures are sugar
cane, cashew and banana.

A few years ago, deforestation associated with a large-scale banana plantation near a major national
park caused strong protests from conservationists. This subsequently led to abandonment of this
project by the developer but not before it caused significant forest damage. Similarly, instances of
large-scale forest clearances for private sugar cane plantations and sugar production facilities have
been recorded. Despite high expectations about reducing the sugar import bill, these projects failed
to achieve a substantial progress and the sugar industry remains a crisis-ridden industry for the past
several years. The recent takeover of underperforming private sugar ventures by the government and
subsequent plans to expand the sugar cultivation to around 130,000 ha in eight districts with private
sector participation could lead to significant deforestation.

While achieving such ambitious plans have their own challenges, experience shows that
deforestation usually takes place at the initial stage of the projects at a quick pace despite
subsequent failures and abandonment of projects. A report released by the Sri Lanka Nature Group
and People’s Alliance for Right to Land (PARL), provide details about twenty projects and
development activities that involve appropriations of land over 36,000ha of which 47% (17,273ha)
came under agriculture ventures.

5.3.4 Proximate drivers of forest degradation

In addition to the above major proximate drivers of deforestation, stakeholders identified several
other proximate drivers of forest degradation with more localized impacts. Major ones include the
following:

61
• Illicit felling: Even though large-scale felling operations are rare, incidents of illegal timber
extraction take place in some areas. Reported numbers are usually lower than actual
numbers.

• Illegal extraction of NTFPs: Incidents of illegal extraction of NTFPs (e.g. wallapatta

(Agarwood), medicinal plants, sandal wood, rattan) take place in. People sometimes use
harmful methods of extraction. The damage to trees could exceed the income generated
from such resources.

• Firewood collection: Harmful practices are done by some users. For instance, trees are
peeled and barks are heavily damaged to suppress the growth. The trees will gradually die
and will be then used for fuel wood. When permits are issued, illegal extractions are done
above the amounts permitted in the fuel wood permit. This happens in places such as Sri
Pada during the annual pilgrimage season.

• Grazing lands: This refers to creation new grazing areas by converting forests. On occasion
large herds of cattle move from one area to other, damaging vegetation. Cattle grazing
problem is specially noted in Pattipola and Nuwara Eliya areas.

• Cultivation of narcotic crops: Stakeholders pointed out that cultivation of Cannabis as a

narcotic has increased and has caused significant damage to forests. These activities are
carried out in a surreptitious manner deep inside the forests often involving underworld
elements. Despite news media reports on raids of illegal cannabis plantations by the Police,
cannabis plantations appears to be widespread than perceived.

• Regular forest fires: Increased incidence of forest fires has become a major concern.
Marginal lands are mostly affected by fires. Authorities pay selective attention to forest fires.
For example, when forest fires occur in remote areas such as Moneragala, Siyabalanduwa,
very limited or no attention is paid by the authorities. Hence in many instances, the fire is
not controlled and spreads into a larger area. However, when forest fires occur close to
urban centres, railways and road networks, more attention is paid.

• Spread of invasive species: Spread of invasive species is a cause of degradation especially

when forests are located adjacent to agricultural lands. It affects the places like even
protected areas such as Sinharaja in the wet zone. Among significant invasive species are
Lantana, Myroxylon, Miconia, and Alstonia.

• Occurrence of natural disasters: The high risk of earth slips and damage by high winds is
reported from Kandy, Nuwara Eliya and Ratnapura districts.

• Pest and disease attacks on forest trees: Incidents of diseases and pest attacks area also
reported as causing degradation.

62
 • Extraction of gravel, soil, metals and others products: Quarrying for gravel, sand and metal
from marginal areas of forests leads to degradation.

• Over exploitation of plant species: Persons who enter forests either as visitors or
researchers collect plant species. E.g. Knuckles - Visitors enter from many points other than
known paths and nature trails and collect flora and fauna. The forest officers cannot control
this as the area is large.

Examining the operational mechanisms of proximate drivers could provide useful insights to
understand micro-level situations. Therefore, primary data was collected from deforestation hot
spots (identified through spatial analysis of forest cover data) in the wet and dry zones by conducting
FGDs with local communities. Findings of the FGDs conducted in the two hotspots, Palinda Nuwara
DS division of Kalutara district in wet zone, Horowpothana DS division of Anurdhapaura district in dry
zone and Dambulla DS division of Matale district in intermediate zone are presented in the following
sections. In addition, another case study is presented on the widely publicised issue of cardamom
cultivation in Knuckles wilderness heritage in Kandy and Matale districts.

5.3.5 Deforestation in the wet zone: The case of Hedigalle in the Palinda Nuwara DS Division,
Kalutara District, Western Province

Hedigalle village is in the Palinda Nuwara DS division of Kalutara district. It is located close to the
district border between Kalutara and Ratnapura districts. Maguru Oya, a tributary of Kalu Ganga
originating from the Ratnapura district flows near the village and the area shares the same lowland
rainforest vegetation found in the Sinharaja World Heritage and associated patches of rain forests.
The village presents a scenario typical to wet zone deforestation that is associated with expansion of
plantation crops, contract logging of wet zone forests, encroachment of state lands for chena
cultivation and conversion to small-holder tea cultivation. Historically, it was a small village
surrounded by forests and inhabitants used to cultivate chena and paddy. Subsequently, rubber
plantations were introduced to the area and large rubber estates were established. Hedigalle estate
is a one such estate located close to the village. Villagers started cultivation of rubber as it provided a
regular income.

According to villagers, large-scale deforestation and forest degradation in the area dates back to the
selective felling operations commencing from the 1950s. Felling operations were carried out by
private contractors. According to the villagers, contractors removed all types of valuable timber from
surrounding forests and only a few types of soft woods were handed over to the State Timber
Corporation for plywood. Contractors by and large abused contract terms and over-exploited timber
resources over the specified amounts, felling even in places outside the permitted areas. This
process heavily degraded the forest in surrounding areas that were subsequently encroached by
villagers and outsiders. Encroached lands provided residential settlements and lands for chena
cultivation. Encroachers were granted lands initially under LDO permits and ES (encroachment
survey: regularization of encroachments) permits. Subsequently deeds to those lands were offered
by the governments under the Swarnabhoomi scheme.

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A major wave of encroachments and deforestation began with the spread of low-country tea in the
area in the 1980s. Attracted by high prices for low-grown tea in the export markets, people
converted to tea planting at a rapid pace. Even lands under chena, home gardens and rubber
plantations were also converted to tea rapidly. Tea was cultivated in all degraded forest lands
including stream reservations which were hitherto left untouched. It was mentioned that even a
small plot of tea can provide an income compatible with a much larger area under rubber and that
tea cultivation has improved the economic conditions of the villagers significantly. Even the large
rubber estates have converted some areas into tea. While tea has brought economic prosperity into
the area, it has its share of environmental and social problems. People observe social cohesion
formerly prevailed in the village was largely lost due to fulltime occupation in tea lands by all family
members. They also identified loss of soil fertility, irregularity of stream flow and loss of useful
species with the changes brought about by tea plantations.

5.3.6 Deforestation in the dry zone: Case of Rambawewa in the Horowpothana DS Division in
the Anuradhapura District, North Central Province

Rambawewa is a Purana gama8 supported by the village tank known as Rambawa wewa, located in
the Horowpothana DS division of the Anuradhapura district. It is a typical village with a small
population supported by a small village tank. According to villagers, many people deserted the village
around late 1950s and only three families were left. According to villagers this took place over some
time due to various reasons which in some way were connected to livelihoods. Such migrations were
not unfamiliar in village tank systems in the past and remaining families started to rebuild the
community from 1962 onwards. Some relatives of the remaining families also settled in the village
and currently the village has 40 families; all are descendants of the three original families.

In 1962, they had 4.5 ha of paddy fields being cultivated by water from the village tank. Except the
residential area, paddy fields and the tank, the whole area was surrounded by forests then. Families
managed with paddy and chena cultivation in Maha9 season and gingelly and chilli in Yala10 season.
In the chena, kurakkan (finger millet) was the main crop. Chena cultivation was practised as
traditional slash-and-burn agriculture in the surrounding forest areas. Meanwhile, the paddy areas
have also increased by converting the forests in the area adjacent to the paddy tract to lowland
paddy fields. Villagers practised chena cultivation in the forests immediately surroundings the paddy
tract which helped them to protect the paddy and chena crops together from wild animals during
harvesting time. In the earlier days they had a practice of undertaking paddy cultivation by mixing
chilly and eggplant seeds. After harvest of the paddy, other seeds started growing, giving them
another harvest later.

Initially, expansion of paddy and chena areas through encroachment of state forest land was the
major driver of deforestation. The more recent major wave of deforestation started in the early
1990s with the introduction of commercial cultivation of maize. Maize has become the main

8 A traditional village; not recently established by an irrigated settlement scheme.

9 Rainy season; main cultivation season
10 Dry season; minor cultivation season

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component of chena in the Maha season. They have started maize cultivation with the extension
support of the provincial council that governs the province.

Farmers have been mainly motivated by the high prices of maize and the demand. Small-scale buyers
are well organised and visit the villages for collection of harvest. There are a few companies and
government agencies that offer forward contracts. The maize boom in the Anuradhapura district was
facilitated also by the introduction of imported hybrid seeds that gave a significantly higher yield
than the local varieties. All factors combined, maize gave a significant income that motivated villagers
to open up more and more lands for maize cultivation, by conversion of forests. The only limiting
factor that stopped their conversion is the exhaustion of all forest lands. Farmers’ effort was greatly
facilitated by the adoption of farm machinery for land preparation. Hence, the hybrid seeds, farm
mechanization and market opportunities played a significant role in rapid deforestation of that area.
Machinery helped to open up more and more lands quickly for farming. Now, there are no more
accessible lands for deforestation.

5.3.7. Degradation of protected forests: Cultivation of Cardamom in Knuckles Forest Area (A

World Heritage site)

The Knuckles mountain range is in the eastern part of the central highlands spreading over the
Matale and Kandy Districts. A study undertaken by IUCN, Sri Lanka Country Programme revealed that
that this area contains 1,033 flowering plant species belonging to 141 families, out of which 160
species are endemic to Sri Lanka. In addition, out of 338 vertebrates species found in this area, 99
are endemic and 28 are globally threatened species. The Knuckles range covers around 30% of the
water shed of the Mahaweli River. Not only the water supply of Victoria, Randenigala and Rantembe
reservoirs but also the Moragahakanda and Kalu Ganga irrigation projects depend heavily on the
Knuckles forest area. Even the British colonial regime had realized the importance of Knuckles
mountain range and declared cloud forests above 5000 feet elevation as climatic reserves in 1873.

In 1967, the Forest Department issued several 20-year leases to identified private individuals to
undertake cardamom cultivation in the Knuckles forest area. The demand for lands had been
motivated purely by high international market prices that prevailed for cardamom. The main factor
for selecting this area was agronomic suitability for under planting cardamom in the forest as it is a
shade loving crop. However it was revealed that following practices adopted by cardamom
cultivators have resulted in some irreversible environmental damages to forest biodiversity:

• Annual clearing of under growth for land preparation;

• Removing some trees in the upper strata of the forests or cutting or lopping of branches of the
trees in order to obtain required light regime to the crop;
• Killing wild animals by shooting or using traps and snares to prevent crop damage by wild
animals;
• Use of pesticides in cardamom culture;
• Extraction of trees, soil and rocks to be used in the curing of cardamom;
• Construction of permanent buildings inside the forests and settling their labour force.

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These activities have changed the plant vegetation of the forest, reduced the fertility and water-
holding capacity of the soil thereby affecting the flow of water (due to low percolation and increased
runoff caused by reduction of vegetation cover and high soil erosion to the streams in this area.
Recognizing the environmental damage and also due to lobbying by various environmentally
conscious individuals and organizations, the Forest Department did not extend the agreements
beyond 1987 after their validity expired. Subsequently in 1996 FD resettled 20 families who were
residing in the forests by building houses for them in an area outside the forests and helped them to
engage in alternative sources of income. Another 22 families residing in the forests moved away
voluntarily.

Later on, some others entered these cardamom areas illegally and harvested the available crop,
damaging the forest in the process. Although the FD took legal action against these encroachers,
slow progress of the cases filed in courts has not helped in reducing cardamom cultivation. In 1999, a
Parliamentary Consultative Committee took a policy decision to declare all areas above 3,500 feet as
a Conservation Zone. However, a subsequent study has shown that there are some environmentally
sensitive forest areas even below this elevation and a comprehensive plan of action was initiated to
incorporate these areas into the Conservation Zone. All state lands in this conservation zone were
declared as the Knuckles Conservation Forest by the Gazette no.1130/22 on 05.05.2000. In 2010
together with Horton Plains National Park, Adams Peak Forest Reserve, the Knuckles Conservation
Area was declared as a World Heritage site by UNESCO.

Despite these developments, encroachers’ activities continued, defying all efforts of the FD officers.
The powerful lobby continued with local political backing and the support of some district officials to
harvest the existing cardamom crop. It needed a Presidential Directive to stop them, which came into
the effect in August 2014.

5.4 Catalysts and inhibitors

Information from consultations and FGDs on operational mechanisms of proximate drivers helps to
understand catalysts and inhibitors associated with ongoing processes of deforestation and
degradation. A good understanding of the catalysts is essential to identify suitable PAMs to overcome
them. Therefore, in this section, a review of the current catalysts and inhibitors are presented.

5.4.1 Catalysts

Forces involved in ongoing deforestation and degradation process are many and complex. Among
others, the following factors appear to act as major catalyst of the ongoing process of deforestation
and degradation.

Permissive and weak land use policies

A multitude of policies and legislations concerning land resources management exists in the country.
Among others, laws and regulations connected to alienation and management of state land has had
a significant catalytic effect on deforestation and degradation processes in Sri Lanka. These have

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significant implications on major proximate drivers in operation, namely, encroachments, infra-
structure development projects and private agriculture ventures.

Regularization of encroachments

All successive governments have followed a policy of periodic regularization of encroachments. The
encroached lands were usually unutilized state land, often forested. The permissive policy of
regularization of encroachments is therefore a catalyst, and has provided a clear encouragement to
encroachers to continue with the expectation that one day the encroached property would be theirs
legally.

Unclear ownership of forest lands

According to FD officials, absence of proper evidence about the ownership of forests is a major issue
that allows encroachments. A large majority of existing forests come under the ownership of either
FD or the Department of Wildlife Conservation (DWC). A portion of these lands has been surveyed,
boundaries demarcated and declared under different categories of protected areas. Some of these
protected areas have management plans developed by the agency in charge. Aside from these
relatively ‘safe’ categories of forests, there is a significant extent of forest land where the boundaries
and ownership titles are uncertain. Even though FD and DWC are the ‘owners’, even their officials
are unaware of the exact boundaries of some forested areas and their extents. The situation is
worse in instances where forest areas have recently been transferred under the jurisdiction of the
FD from the previous authority of district secretaries11. This has always provided the opportunity for
encroachers to take the resulting confusion to their advantage. The survey and boundary
demarcation exercise undertaken in the past few years have helped to address this problem to a
certain extent.

Long delays in legal proceedings

According to administrative reports of FD, during the last 25 years, it has filed court actions against
encroachers of 12,385ha of encroached forest lands. However, long delays in court proceedings have
resulted in continuous denudation of forest cover in the encroached areas. One of the major
problems faced by the FD is the non-availability of survey plans to prove the actual boundaries of the
forests. Even when courts decide to eject encroachers, often the lands have become so degraded
with little value to the FD as forests. This situation makes the forest lands easily vulnerable to
encroachments.

Weak implementation and planning

Poor implementation of existing land use policies has created catalytic conditions for deforestation
and forest degradation. This is particularly important in the cases of large government projects for
infrastructure development, private sector agriculture and tourism ventures. The country has a
number of agencies with some mandate connected to the land use planning. The major institutions

11 This category had previously been known as ‘other state forests’.

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are Land Use Policy Planning Department (LUPPD), National Physical Planning Department (NPPD),
Urban Development Authority (UDA) and Mahaweli Development Authority (MDA). It seems their
activities are not fully coordinated or connected through an overall planning framework. As a result,
agencies with different sectoral mandates (e.g. forestry, agriculture, infrastructure development) do
not have a common guide or framework of reference concerning decisions on land use. For instance,
agriculture policy of government promotes expansion of agricultural lands. Given the growing
scarcity of land, such expansions could only come at the expense of existing natural forests. Role of
land use planning and policy is to harmonize such competing claims so that sustainable solutions can
be found.

One example is the policy on use of forest for other purposes. The National Forest Policy envisages
‘Planned conversion of forests into other land uses can take place only in accordance with procedure
defined in the legislation and with accepted conservation and scientific norms’. While there are no
provisions for regulating such actions in the forest ordinance, only procedure to follow is the
Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) process as provided in the National Environment Act of
1980, overseen by the CEA. This procedure is not a deterrent to the conversion but only a procedure
to find some strategies to mitigate the impacts. Another drawback is that the CEA is unable to
monitor and assess implementation of the proposed mitigation measures in EIA reports.

Political patronage and interference

Political interferences that emanate from all levels of the political structure appear to have a
significant catalytic effect on deforestation and forest degradation. Notwithstanding rumours, news
items in the press, and public complaints about politicians and their allies engaging in illicit forest
extraction activities for personal economic gains, general influence by politicians on matters
pertaining to lands and forests appear to encourage parties whose interests are inimical to
conservation of forest resources in the country. These effects seem to be motivated more by
competition for political gains rather than economic gains in the highly charged, competitive political
system of the country. This has been invigorated by the patron-client relationships developed along
political party lines that drive the system as a whole.

The decisions to regularize the encroachments periodically have sent wrong signals to people,
encouraging the encroachment of forests. Regularization of encroachments has been carried out in
1983, 1987 and 1996. Experience of the FD officials indicated that during the election years, the
tendency for people to encroach forest lands increases. The areas encroached during the election
years had increased around 60 to 100 % as per the annual forest offences records of the FD.

Poor coordination among agencies

Many stakeholders have identified poor coordination among agencies as a major catalyst of
deforestation and forest degradation. This applies to all major proximate drivers, encroachments,
infrastructure development projects, agriculture ventures, and localized drivers of deforestation. In
the case of encroachments, decisions by administrators of land and agriculture often contradict the
decisions of forest and wildlife administrators. At the district level meetings, some forest officials
have experienced regular conflicts of interests in matters pertaining to forest lands. In case of

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infrastructure development activities, decisions that affect significant areas of forest cover have been
taken without consulting the FD. This situation seems to exist even at the national level. For instance,
the National Physical Plan and Policy 2013-2030 published by the National Planning Department of
Sri Lanka has proposed extensive changes to the existing protected area network. It is not clear if
consultations had been undertaken with the FD and the DWC when such plans of national
importance were prepared.

Population growth

Population growth has a complex relationship with deforestation. Population growth has often been
considered as a major underlying driver (Kissinger et al. 2012), and acts as a fundamental factor that
increases the scarcity of land resources through land fragmentation and land degradation. Farmers,
in the absence of other viable non-farm alternatives, are compelled to encroach surrounding forest
lands for farming.

Sri Lanka’s population has grown almost eight times since the first national census of 1871, which
recorded only 2.4 million people (Table 10). Even though the present rate of population growth is
low, Sri Lanka still adds more than 250,000 people to its population annually. The country covering a
land area of 65,610 square kilometres ranks as one of the most densely populated countries in Asia
with more than 300 persons per square kilometre by the turn of the century (Table 10). The
population of Sri Lanka is not evenly distributed. Some parts within the country are very densely
populated while others are less populous. As noted in the last population census of 2001, about 57
per cent of the population was located in the wet zone that constitutes only about 21 per cent of the
total land area of the country. The population density of Colombo, which is the smallest district in Sri
Lanka, is about 11 times the national average.
Demographic trends particularly the growth of the population and its uneven distribution has made
a strong influence on the forest cover of the country. Figure 9 shows the relationship between forest
cover and population growth in the country. It shows a clear inverse relationship. For instance by
1881, the forest cover was estimated at 84 per cent of the land area, and by 2012 it has declined to
30 per cent.

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Table 10 - Population growth and density in Sri Lanka: 1871-2003
Population Average annual Density
Year
(000’) growth rate (%) (Per sq km.)
1871 2.4 million 2,400 - 37
1881 2,760 1.4 43
1891 3,008 0.9 47
1901 3,566 1.7 55
1911 4,106 1.4 63
1921 4,498 0.9 70
1925 4.8 million
1931 5,307 1.7 82
1946 6,657 1.5 103
1953 8,098 2.8 125
1960 9.6 million
1963 10,582 2.7 165
1971 12,690 2.2 196
1981 14,847 1.7 230
2001 18,735 1.2 300
2003 19.2 million 19,252 - 307

Note: Except 1925, 1960 and 2003 the rest are census years.
Source: Department of Census and Statistics, statistical Abstracts & Census Reports

However, at the micro level this relationship is complex and indirect. As described in the previous
sections, deforestation and forest degradation in Sri Lanka have largely been underwritten by the
government. Except in the case of chena cultivation where a clear relationship between population
growth and deforestation exists, in all other cases, population growth seems to have acted as a
catalyst for major policy-induced drivers rather than being a driver of its own. For instance, state-
sponsored expansion of plantation crops led to increased landlessness among the growing
upcountry peasant population that catalyzed the subsequent policies for land settlement and
irrigation development in the dry zone. On the other hand, areas where the highest deforestation
took place in Sri Lanka are not the regions with the highest density of the population. Hence,
population growth can be considered more as a catalyst rather than a driver of deforestation in Sri
Lanka, which had a complex interrelationship with policy-induced deforestation process in the
country.

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 Figure 9 - Population growth and forest cover change in Sri Lanka

1860 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

6000 25000

5000
20000
Forest Cover (ha)

4000
Thousands

Population
Thousands
15000
3000
10000
2000

5000
1000

0 0
1871
1881
1891
1900
1901
1911
1921
1931
1946
1953
1956
1963
1971
1981
1983
1992
1999
2001
2010
2012
Forest cover Population
Expon. (Forest cover) Expon. (Population )

Commercialization of rural economies

Liberal economic reforms introduced since 1977 have progressively connected rural economies to
the global and domestic markets. The process of commercialization was accelerated recently due to:

• Growing market opportunities for local agricultural products such as offering forward
contract arrangements for maize;
• Development of marketing facilities (e.g. the Economic Centre in Dambulla) for channeling
rural agricultural products to urban markets.

Such developments enhanced the market access for agricultural products that had earlier been
produced for household consumption. According to farmers in dry zone villages, supply side
facilitation for entry to the commercial stream brought several changes to traditional farming
systems. One major change occurred the 1990s is the rapid spread of rain-fed commercial farming of
maize in the Maha season. This accelerated deforestation in dry zone villages significantly, as
surrounding forest lands were encroached for commercial cultivation of maize. This process is
described in detail in the case study on dry zone deforestation in Section 5.3.6.

Improved agricultural technology

Adoption of technological innovations significantly increased the farmers’ capacity to expand the
area of cultivation within a short period of time. Use of hybrid seeds and adoption of land
preparation machinery have played a significant role here. These factors seem to have had a
cumulative impact on transforming the traditional farming system in the dry zone to a commercial
system. Commercialization and adoption of technological innovations has provided a clear direction
for farmers to face resource scarcities by intensifying the production of cash crops to meet the
market demand. Overall, the net effect of all key factors has pushed the traditional farming system

71
towards a commercially oriented direction. This has invariably accelerated the deforestation process
as described in Section 5.3.6.

5.4.2 Inhibitors

While the above factors accelerated the process of deforestation and forest degradation, there were
also factors that helped to reduce the rate of deforestation and degradation to some degree by
acting as inhibitors. Among the factors that act as key inhibitors are:

Forest policy and protected area management

Forest related regulations and protected areas under the purview of the Forest Department and the
Department of Wildlife Conservation are the most potent inhibitors of deforestation and forest
degradation. With respect to its land area, Sri Lanka’s protected areas system is among one of the
most extensive in tropical Asian countries. The protected areas cover around 11.6% of the land area.
There are three major legislations that facilitate the enactment of these inhibitors.

Forest Ordinance: The Forest Ordinance is implemented by the FD. It has provisions for the
declaration of reserved forests. It has been amended several times and the last amendment
was in 2009.

Fauna and Flora Protection Ordinance: This ordinance is implemented by the DWC. It has
provisions for the protection of fauna and flora in the national reserves and sanctuaries and
even in private lands.

National Heritage and Wilderness Areas Act: This act is implemented by the FD. The main
focus of this legislation is protection of forest areas that harbour unique ecosystems, genetic
resources, or outstanding natural features.

The role of protected areas has evolved over time from the British period to the present. The
emphasis of the colonial government from the 1800s (The Timber ordinance of 1848 and the Forest
Ordinance of 1885) was on commercial timber extraction from natural forests to meet the export
demand. In addition, game reserves had been established in some forests. These objectives of forest
management have gradually shifted from extractive uses to conservation of resources. Two key
changes are the establishment of the DWC and handing over significant area of forest to them, and
the setting up of protected areas to protect catchments of the reservoirs and to accommodate
displaced fauna, especially elephants and other large mammals, in major irrigation and water
resource development programs (e.g. the Mahaweli Development Project). Declaration of such
protected areas has acted as counterbalancing forces against deforestation and forest degradation.
The FD has an extensive network of facilities and trained officers throughout the country to manage
the forests and administer the Forest Ordinance. According to administrative reports of the FD (1988-
2013), during the last 25 years, the department has instituted 84,323 court cases on forest offenses
and the estimated damage by these offenses has been valued around Rs. 1,600 million.

The FD has consolidated its protected areas by adding more areas in the recent past. With funding
from the ADB under the Forest Resources Management Project (FRMP), the department undertook
survey and demarcation of forest boundaries. Since 2000, 364 forests with an extent of 566,589ha

72
were declared as forest reserves while another 98 forests with an extent of 114,052ha were declared
as conservation forests. In addition, another 62 forests with a total extent of 28,173ha and 16 forest
areas with an extent of 13,289ha will be soon declared as forest reserves and conservation forests,
respectively. Furthermore, the FD is currently surveying and demarcating boundaries of the
remaining forest areas.

In the wildlife sector, the network of protected areas has grown progressively since the enactment of
the Fauna and Flora protection ordinance in 1937. The network expanded considerably during 1980’s
mostly in the Mahaweli basin and adjacent areas. A major project, The Protected Area Management
and Wildlife Conservation Project (2001-2008) with funding from the ADB, GEF, the Government of
the Netherlands, and the Sri Lanka Government has helped to build capacity and management
capabilities of the DWC. Overall, measures and strategies adopted by the FD and the DWC can be
identified as the most important inhibitors that act against the deforestation and forest degradation
in Sri Lanka.

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 Box 4 - Key policies and laws concerning forestry and wildlife

Year Policy/Law Major provisions

1848 Timber Ordinance No.24
1873 Adoption of climate Reserves
1885 Forest Ordinance No.10 and its
subsequent amendments
1907 Forest Ordinance No. 16
(Amended by Act No.13 of
1966)
1929 The first forest policy statement
1938 Addendum
1937 Fauna and flora protection
ordinance No.2
• Amended act No. 44 of 1964
• Amended act No. 1 of 1970
1953 National Forest Policy
• Re-stated in 1972 and 1980
1969 UNESCO Biological Programme
and 1975 UNESCO Man and
Biosphere (MAB) Programme
1988 National Heritage Wilderness
Areas act No.3
1990 National policy for wild life
conservation
Reservation of forests largely for
timber production
Protection of forests above 5,000
ft. as climate reserves
Protection of forests and their
products including wildlife
Protection of forests primarily for
controlled timber production
Preservation of indigenous fauna
and flora
Clearing of forests above 5000 ft.
prohibited
Protection of wild life in natural
reserves and sanctuaries
• Nature reserves and jungle
corridors incorporated into
national reserves
• Removal of controlled
hunting provision from the
ordinance
Emphasis on conserving forests
to preserve and ameliorate
environment and to protect flora
and fauna for aesthetic, scientific,
historical and socio-economic
reasons
Arboreta representative of the
main bio-climatic zones
established in forests
Protection of state lands having
unique ecosystems, genetic
resources or outstanding natural
features
Objectives include the
maintenance of ecological
processes and preservation of
genetic diversity, ex-situ
conservation

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Environmental laws and regulations
The National Environment Act of 1980 is the core legislation for environmental protection in the
country. It provides for environmental perspectives into development activities, and is implemented
by the Central Environmental Authority (CEA). As far as deforestation and forest degradation are
concerned, the most significant regulation is the enactment of environmental impact assessment
(EIA) procedures. According to that, all the prescribed projects12 have to be provided with an Initial
Environmental Examination Report (IEE) or an Environmental Impact Assessment Report (EIA), as
required by the Project Approving Agency. Development projects that undergo EIA have to analyze
and report impacts on threatened species and their habitats potentially affected by the projects.
Avoidance and/or minimizing of impacts on threatened species and their habitats are important
components of EIA.
The EIA process deserves a special mention in its role as an inhibitor of deforestation and forest
degradation. The EIA has evolved from its nascent stages in the 1990s, of being not very effective to
being more effective. Effective monitoring, reporting and feedback mechanisms to improve the
proposed mitigation measures in EIAs yet remain the weakest link in the EIA process. The increased
pace of development since 2009 saw Sri Lanka launching a large number of development projects
with impacts on forests, ecosystems, habitats and species. In the absence of the EIA process,
deforestation and degradation from these efforts would have been much greater. This should be
compared with the situation in the past when the projects with far reaching consequences on the
forest cover in the country had been implemented without any acceptable procedure for assessing
their impacts.

Donor-funded large scale projects invariably require meeting environmental safeguards and
standards set by such agencies. They tend to be more stringent in their requirements to avoid,
mitigate and compensate for negative environmental impacts, while strongly advocating against
impacting protected areas, threatened species, critical habitats and key ecosystem processes.
International donors also require adopting mitigation measures to offset and compensate
biodiversity losses as much as possible. This invariably includes reforestation and enrichment of
areas of similar size and importance as those lost/reduced by a project.

It became apparent that cumulative impacts of projects cannot be addressed through the EIA
conducted on individual projects and therefore the CEA has initiated preliminary steps for moving
towards Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA). While SEA is yet to become a mandatory
requirement, the implementation of SEA for policies, programs and plans has been approved by the
Cabinet of Ministers. The SEA conducted in eight conflict affected districts in the Northern Province
soon after the end of the conflict in 2009 can be considered as an important positive step towards
this direction.

Home gardens
A home garden is a piece of land around a dwelling which has economic, biophysical and social
relationships with the occupants (Weerakoon 1987). It is a farming practice widely popular all over
the country. Since the most developed forms of the system are found in Kandy area, they are called

12 A selected list of large scale development projects that are likely to have significant impacts on environment has been

listed as prescribed projects. The prescribed projects are listed in the gazette No 772/22 of 24th June 1993, 859/14 of 23rd
February 1995, 1104/22 of 5th November 1999 and 1108/1 of 29th November 1999.

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‘Kandyan forest (home) gardens (KFGs)’ (Perera and Rajapakse 1991; Nanayakkare 1992). Home
gardens covered around 850,000ha of land throughout the country. This exceeded the amount of
land extent coming under any single crop other than paddy. Although the plot size could vary widely,
a majority are found within the range of 0.1-0.4 ha (Perera and Rajapakse 1991; Fernandes and Nair
1986). Home gardens are multiple use systems and fulfill a variety of household needs including
timber and wood requirements while conserving biodiversity. According to FSMP, around 70% of
total supply of construction and industrial wood come from non-forest sources and home gardens
play the major role here (Forestry Planning Unit, 1995).

Some types of home gardens have a multi layered, multi-storied structure and high levels of species
diversity. It is evident however, that species diversity in home gardens in the dry zone is usually
lower than in wet zone home gardens (Perera and Rajapakse 1991; Weerakoon, Seneviratne and
Gunawardena 1987). Due to their forest like structure they have been valued for their ecosystem
services.

As far as deforestation and forest degradation are concerned home gardens act as a buffer zone
located around the household—a substitute forest—that reduce the dependency on natural forests.
They minimize peoples’ need to visit forests by providing an easy access source of timber, non-wood
products and firewood.

Moreover, home gardens are an important source of household food security that use land space in
highly efficient manner like a multi-layered forest thereby reducing the necessity for converting
forestland for food production. A less appreciated aspect of home gardens is their adaptability for
cash earning commercial activities. This is best exemplified by the role that home gardens played in
the low country-tea boom, where small-scale tea plots became the main agricultural income source
and foreign exchange of the country within a short-period of time. Apparently, home gardens have
reduced the pressure to some extent for conversion of the limited area of existing wet zone forests
into tea planting, under steadily rising international market prices. Therefore, home gardens can be
considered as an important inhibitor that acts against both deforestation and forest degradation in
Sri Lanka.

Community dependence and customary rights

Community dependence and customary rights are important elements of conservation in countries
with large indigenous and forest-dwelling communities (e.g. Latin America, India). Nevertheless,
significance of the role of local communities has been demonstrated in Sri Lanka on a number of
occasions. Historical and recent evidence suggests that communities play a significant role as
inhibitors when they depend on forest resources for their livelihoods.

Communities used to play an important role in protecting forests in watersheds of reservoir

catchments. Recent studies conducted in village tank systems provide evidence on community
involvement of the governance of local resources including catchment forests of reservoir networks
(i.e. tank cascades) in the past (Dharmasena 2004; Panabokke 2001; Senaratne and Wickramasinghe
2012). These indicate that communities had developed extensive strategies for governance of local
resources sustainably and their efforts were supported effectively by local knowledge systems. It
appears that depriving local communities of their customary rights—a process initiated by the CLEO

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in 1840—and transformation of traditional farming systems into commercial economies led to
subsequent decline of local systems of governance. Despite this, certain practices had continued
until recently as de-facto community governance arrangements even under the state ownership of
resources in some parts of the country, before the ongoing wave of commercialization of agriculture
started 2-3 decades ago (Senaratne and Wickramasinghe 2012).

In the recent past, positive responses by local communities have been observed in participatory
forest management programs initiated by the FD. Moreover, CSOs have reported encouraging
experiences with local people in community-based resource governance initiatives. They advocate
that enhancing community dependence and rights of local people, and that it can still play an
important role in countering deforestation and forest degradation in Sri Lanka.

Public pressure and awareness about environment and forests

Rising public awareness about environmental issues and the need to protect biodiversity including
forests has had a definite inhibitory effect on deforestation and degradation. Public outcries in the
national press on deforestation and forest degradation are not uncommon in Sri Lanka and
sometimes they have helped to reverse the process. Individual conservationists and environmental
NGOs have and continue to play a leading role in this regard. The recent controversy over illegal
cardamom cultivation in the Knuckles that ultimately led to the Presidential Directive that banned
harmful activities in that region is a fine example for this. This is one out of many such incidents and
public outcries often act as a counterbalance against political interferences too. In the 1980s this
type of environmental activism contributed to pressure exerted on the then government to stop
logging in the Sinharaja rainforest and subsequently to raise its status to that of a World Heritage
Site. This situation was made possible by raising public awareness about among all strata in the
society. Factors contributing to this situation include:

• Formal education in Sri Lanka that now incorporates environmental education in the
curricula from secondary to tertiary levels;
• Environmental education programmes of the CEA and its widely practised environmental
programmes in the school system of Sri Lanka;
• Many university level postgraduate programmes on environmental conservation;
• Widely spread informal education and awareness on nature conservation;
• Increased environmental consciousness among members of civil society;
• Proliferation of NGOs that work to protect and to raise awareness about environmental
degradation;
• Private sector supported environmental initiatives (often as corporate social responsibility
projects).

Cheaper modes of mobile communication have enabled making information on deforestation and
illegal removal of trees widely available. While the impacts have not yet been fully assessed, these
modes of public communication and information exchange are of great significance.

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Migration for employment
Migration, both internal and foreign, act as an inhibitor on deforestation and forest degradation.
Migration for employment, especially for foreign employment, has become a major driving force of
the economy during the last 2-3 decades. Currently, remittances by migrant employees are the main
source of foreign exchange in the economy. Over one million Sri Lankans have migrated for
employment and a majority of them are of rural origin. Impact of migration on deforestation is not a
well-studied area in Sri Lanka but it appears to have a strong indirect effect on inhibiting (or
retarding) the tendency for deforestation in rural areas. Its key impacts on deforestation can be
identified as follows:

• Migration reduces the population density in rural areas that would otherwise have increased
the pressure on forests due to increased demand for food and other forest products;
• Migration absorbs a significant section of rural youth from agricultural livelihoods that would
otherwise have augmented the demand for lands occupied by forests. This applies not only
for migrants to foreign countries but also for internal migrants from rural to urban areas; and
• Remittances from migrants have become a major source of income for rural households that
would reduce the dependency on subsistence agriculture thereby decreasing the demand on
forest resources indirectly.
•
Despite the unavailability of focussed research and quantitative data about the role of migration on
deforestation, the above facts seem to justify the selection of migration as an inhibitor of
deforestation and forest degradation in Sri Lanka.

Off-farm employment opportunities

Encroachment for agriculture is currently a major driver of deforestation and degradation. Hence,
opportunities for off-farm employment can logically be considered as an inhibitor of deforestation.
Such opportunities could arise in the areas where deforestation takes place as well as areas where it
does not occur. When opportunities arise outside the local areas, migration occurs and its impact has
been discussed above. Therefore, only off-farm employment opportunities in peripheral areas of
forests are considered here.

Expansion of commercial activities in rural areas increases off-farm employment opportunities for
rural youth. The government as well as NGOs have undertaken various livelihood and skills
development programmes in many parts of the country, sometimes even offering support for new
livelihoods. On occasion, the private sector has also been involved. For instance, the government
policy of promoting the establishment of apparel (garment) factories in rural areas since early 1990s
has helped to absorb significant amount of rural labour. Otherwise, number of youth employed in
those factories might have to resort to agricultural livelihoods, catalysing deforestation directly or
indirectly. Various government programmes have been initiated by the Economic Development
Ministry, the Industrial Development Board, the Ministry of Traditional Industries and Small
Enterprise Development to promote small and medium enterprises (SMEs), self-employment
programmes, industrial estates and industrial production villages etc. throughout the country.
Several donor-funded projects have also been implemented time-to-time that aimed at promoting
off-farm livelihoods in rural areas. Studies on the impacts of such programmes on local environment
and deforestation and degradation are rare. Nonetheless, it is safe to assert that such programmes

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play a role in inhibiting deforestation and degradation as far as they do not create excessive demands
for land occupied by forests or for forest products.

5.5 Deforestation and forest degradation in conflict-affected areas

This section presents a brief review of deforestation and forest degradation in conflict-affected areas.
It covers the Northern and Eastern provinces, which were under an armed conflict for nearly three
decades from early 1980s. Hence, the drivers of deforestation and forest degradation in this region
were fundamentally different from the drivers that operated in the rest of the country.

Forests in these districts used to be combat zones where intense guerrilla warfare took place during
the period concerned. While this situation has led to curtail encroachments and infrastructure
development activities - the major drivers of deforestation in other parts of the country - to a large
extent, defence-related clearings and degradation caused by combat-related activities have been
widespread in the region. Since the conclusion of the war in 2009, forests in these areas have come
under pressure due to extensive resettlement and rehabilitation programmes and infrastructure
development activities. The current situation in this region appears to be somewhat similar to the
conditions experienced in the dry zone after the independence from the British when major
settlement and irrigation development schemes were implemented.

Broadly, two major episodes can be identified in deforestation and forest degradation in the conflict-
affected areas.

• Deforestation and degradation during the conflict period;

• Deforestation and degradation after the conflict.

After conclusion of the war, the government carried out an Integrated Strategic Environmental
Assessment (ISEA) for Northern Province in 2010 (CEA, 2012). This has covered environmentally
sensitive and disaster prone areas including a component of forestry. The objectives of this
component were:

• To assess the forest cover and spatial distribution of forests in northern Sri Lanka; and
• To identify important forest areas, other environmental sensitive areas and catchments of rivers,
streams and reservoirs to be conserved in northern Sri Lanka.

Maps prepared for the ISEA forest cover assessment consisted of the following types: dense forests
(canopy cover more than 80%), moderately dense forest (canopy cover more than 40 - 80%) and
open and sparse forests (canopy cover between 10-40%). In addition, it also mapped forests coming
under the categories of mangrove forests, riverine forests, coastal vegetation, wetlands and lagoons,
forest plantations, wild life habitats and water catchment areas. Even though its mandate was
restricted to the Northern Province, certain observations can be considered as being relevant to the
entire war zone including Eastern Province. Hence, in the following section, observations made by
ISEA also are taken in to consideration.

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5.5.1 Deforestation and degradation during the conflict period

During the conflict, a main driver of deforestation was clearance of forest areas for security reasons.
The ISEA observes that this includes some dense natural forests in roadsides and in close proximity to
camps. Sometimes up to a width of 500 meters on either side of the main roads were cleared. Some
areas were cleared to establish camps for the armed forces. The approval of the Forest Department
had been sought only on a few occasions. In many instances this was not the case. Not only the
armed forces, the LTTE also had their camps and bunkers in forest areas, sometimes deep inside
dense forests. In addition, large number of trees was felled to build bunkers as well as peripheral log
fences of the camps. This also was carried out by both parties to the conflict. These actions have
resulted in degradation in some parts of the forests in conflict areas. As forest officers were not
allowed to enter forest areas due to security reasons, no proper records are available.

Despite the operation of above mentioned drivers of deforestation and degradation over a
considerable period of time, the assessment carried out in the ISEA suggests that forest cover has
not diminished significantly. According to estimates of the ISEA, the dense natural forest cover of the
Northern Province was around 49 per cent of land area. There were also open and sparse forest
types which when added to the dense forest cover increase the total forest cover up to 54.5 per cent.
The highest forest cover (% land cover) was recorded in Mullativu, Mannar and Vavunia districts.
Figure 10 shows the map of existing forest cover prepared for the ISEA.

According to the ISEA, the extent of dense natural forest reported in the Northern Province has
increased slightly due to regeneration, gaining of species diversity and continuous succession. This
appears to be a result of limited human activities in the forest environment in some parts. In the
periphery, the natural forests have extended to adjoining paddy lands, homesteads, open areas and
private lands in some parts. Even though some catchment areas of reservoirs had earlier been
cleared for cultivation of paddy and agricultural crops, they were abandoned. Areas of mangroves,
wetlands, coastal vegetation, sand dunes and other important wild life habitats have been neglected
and extents of some types have increased (e.g. mangroves). Extents under dry monsoon forests,
riverine forests and mangroves have increased in other districts except in Jaffna. Taken as a whole, it
appears that the security situation in the area had reduced human disturbance on forests in general
except in areas where the camps of armed forces and LTTE were located.

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 Figure 10 - Existing Forest Cover Map of the Northern Province

Source: ISEA 2010, GIS Unit/FD

The ISEA also observed that the boundaries of many forest reserves in the Northern Province have
been demarcated in an arbitrary manner without considering natural boundaries. In the demarcation
of reserves, aspects such as continuity, biodiversity, density of vegetation, or water and soil
conservation services have not been taken in to consideration in adequate manner.

5.5.2 Deforestation and forest degradation after the conflict

In the post-conflict period, a different set of drivers of deforestation and degradation is in operation.
The government has already identified large number of infrastructure projects in the Northern and
Eastern Provinces that includes development of urban and commercial centres, industrial zones,
housing schemes, resettlement programmes, roads and highways, ecotourism, agriculture, irrigation,
water supply and other infrastructure facilities. With the rapid deployment of projects, the demand
for land and timber has increased dramatically.

The rising demand for land creates pressure on natural forests. After the conflict some areas were
released by the FD for resettlement and other state purposes and requests for additional lands of
forests have also been made. The actual extent to be released will be determined after careful
examination of the requirements, the locations and conditions of forests and the environmental
importance of the areas. Release of land, especially for resettlement of displaced people due to the
conflict is a major issue. By the end of 2014, the Forest Department has released 1,716ha to resettle
people in Mannar, Vavuniya and Mulaitivu districts. Although land for resettlement is a genuine
requirement, lack of proper data and documentation has resulted in much confusion. As there is no
proper documentation, some people have resorted to illicit claims of land with fabricated documents
to capture areas currently under natural forests in Mannar, Vauniya and Ampara districts. Evidence

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suggests that sometimes they get the support of government officials and local political authorities
also.

A large number of projects, especially for infrastructure development, has resulted in significant
forest degradation in the area due to extraction of rocks, gravel, sand and soil from forest areas. The
following observations have been made in the ISEA regarding the deforestation in some parts of the
Northern Province in the post-war period.

• Large-scale forest clearing is taking place in some areas due to unplanned post-conflict
development activities (e.g. resettlement in Wilpattu forest)13;
• Some areas of dense forest in Kulamurippu, Chamalkulam and Nagacholai forest reserves
have recently been cleared for development activities;
• Encroachers have already settled in dense natural forests in either sides of Paranthan to
Mankulam and Mankulam to Mullaithivu roads.

As far as the demand for timber is concerned, privately-owned timber plots and homesteads with
timber species are grossly inadequate to meet the rising demand in this region. According to ISEA,
present timber demand is partly fulfilled by timber produced from Palmyra plantations in the coastal
belt either through legal or illegal channels. Timber plantations established by the FD in the Northern
Province is around 1.2 per cent of the forest area. It has been observed that forest plantations
established for timber production have been neglected and over-matured in some areas (e.g. Teak
plantations in Oddusudan-Mullaitivu road).

The ISEA reported conflicts between key stakeholders that included the FD, resource users and
developers. Hence, allocation of forest resources for conservation and development purposes needs
better planning. The recommendations made by the ISEA for future allocation of forest resources for
development activities in this region will be discussed in the next section.

13The CSOs provided evidence about clearings of forest taking place in Wilpattu area in large-scale based on Google map
images.

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 6. Likely Future Scenarios of Deforestation and forest degradation
There are several plans and proposals by various government agencies that could have implications
over future deforestation and forest degradation in Sri Lanka. In this section, few selected plans are
reviewed briefly to identify the likely future scenario of the forest cover. The following major plans
and strategies were examined and an attempt was made to conjecture future deforestation and
forest degradation scenarios implied by them.

• The proposed strategy of the Forest Department for increasing the forest cover to 35 % of
the land;
• National Physical Plan and Policy (2011-2030);
• Long-term Generation Expansion Plan (2013-2032);
• Proposed major developments in irrigation sector;
• Future developments in former conflict-affected areas.

6.1 Proposed strategy for increase the forest cover of the country to 35 per cent of the land area

The government—envisions increasing the forest cover to 35 % of the land area by 2020. The FD has
formulated a proposal to increase the forest cover to attain this target. Two main strategies proposed
are:
• Protection and conservation of the remaining forest cover;
• Expansion of forest cover in to new areas.

6.1.1 Protection and conservation of the remaining forest cover

Actions proposed to achieve this objective include:

• Surveying and demarcation of boundaries of around 700,000ha of forests under the
jurisdiction of the FD;
• Prevention of encroachments by:
- Strict enforcement of the law;
- Introduction of alternative livelihood development strategies for poor and low
income farmers;
- Strengthening the continuous monitoring of forest boundaries;
- Reforestation of degraded lands due to encroachments.
• Implementation of an integrated plan for prevention of forest fires with the participation of
all stakeholders;
• Introduction of improved cattle management practices in order to prevent free range cattle
grazing in forests, in collaboration with the Department of Animal Production and Health;
• Integrated planning to avoid deforestation and forest degradation due to future
development projects;
• Making necessary arrangements to protect non-state forests vested with the Land Reforms
Commission (LRC) and private individuals. Following measures have been proposed to
achieve this:
- LRC lands with forests to be vested with the Forest Department;
- Provide incentives to private individuals to preserve forest in their lands.

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6.1.2 Expansion of forests into new areas and increase the vegetation cover of degraded lands

• Plans to reforest 80,000ha by the FD. This will be achieved through assisted natural
regeneration (ANR), direct seeding, scattered planting, and block planting with local species;
• The Department of Rubber Development has initiated a programme to plant 40,000ha of
rubber plantations by 2019 and the FD will facilitate this programme by providing degraded
forest lands;
• About 20,000ha of underutilized private lands will be converted to forests by providing free
technical advice and free seedlings;
• Estate sector will be encouraged to raise 25,000ha of forest plantations utilizing a part of the
60,000ha of marginal tea lands; and
• Urban forests of 10,000ha will be established in collaboration with the Urban Development
Authority by utilizing road sides, stream banks, school premises, religious places and other
government lands.

Some of the activities identified above, especially the protection and maintenance of the existing
forest cover, are already a part of the mandate of the FD. A major challenge faced by the FD in
fulfilling them is resource limitation.
The FD needs to develop a comprehensive plan to achieve this target with means for securing
additional resources. The FD also needs the cooperation of other agencies also for achieving their
targets and they too may need extra resources and technical and other forms of support from the
FD. Hence, the success of achieving this target will be dependent on availability of sufficient
resources for the implementation not only for the FD but for other stakeholders as well.

6.2 National Physical Plan and Policy (2011-2030)

The National Physical Planning Department has proposed the National Physical Plan and Policy
(NPPP) for the period of 2011-2030. This plan has been gazetted by the Ministry of Construction,
Engineering, Housing and Common Amenities as a legal document in October 2011. This plan does
not provide any quantitative data about forest cover changes. However it provides spatial plans for
different land uses including a protected area network. Major suggestions included in the proposal
that may affect the forest cover can be summarized as follows:

• The plan proposes drastic changes to existing protected areas. Proposed changes include
bringing the entire central highland under protected areas and removing a large extent of
existing protected areas in the north central and northern districts. If implemented, this
would alter the protected area distribution, the biodiversity and many conservation
objectives of the government and of the people of this country significantly.
• The plan also presents spatial proposals for agriculture development which show the areas
to be removed from the existing protected areas as areas earmarked for paddy cultivation
and commercial agricultural activities.
• The most far reaching proposal in the plan is to develop several metro regions in the dry
zone areas with high population densities. It proposes to develop a metro region connecting
Trincomalee, Anuradhapura, Dambulla and Polonnaruwa with a total population of 4 million
by 2030.

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Taken into consideration the proposals made by FD for increasing the forest cover of the country to
35 per cent of the land area the above-mentioned proposals of the NPPP are contradictory. It is not
clear whether consultations were done with the FD and DWC, the two major agencies that have
protected areas as their mandate when this physical plan was prepared. On the other hand, the
areas where the NPPP proposes to expand the protected areas are already highly populated areas,
where a major part is under plantation agricultural crops. Hence, despite the legal status of the NPPP
as a national plan, the practicality of these proposals is highly questionable. No background data or
supportive strategies to reach the goals were identified.

6.3 Long-term Generation Expansion Plan (2013-2032)

The Long-term Generation Expansion Plan (LGEP) of the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) provides a
picture of the future energy scenario. The plan presents the proposal for future development of
power generation facilities until 2032. According to it, CEB plans to expand the total generation
capacity by 5,949 MW of which 4,600 MW (77 %) will be coal power generation. The rest will come
from a combination of major hydro, gas turbines, medium-term diesel and non-conventional
renewable energy (NCRE) generation facilities. As shown previously, major hydro facilities, in
combination with irrigation development schemes, contributed to significant deforestation in this
country. The LGEP asserts that as the potential for further development of major hydro option in Sri
Lanka is limited, only three hydro power plants to generate 231 MW will be commissioned in 2016,
2018 and 2029, respectively. Hence, deforestation due to major hydro options can be expected to be
somewhat limited than in the past.

Nevertheless, LGEP envisages increasing the share of non-conventional renewable energy by

doubling the generation from mini-hydro plants along with substantial increase in dendro and wind
power generation. Mini-hydro plants have been identified as a type of proximate driver of
deforestation under infrastructure development projects. On the other hand, expansion of dendro
power will create significant demand for biomass. This could create pressure on forest lands unless
the supply chain will be organized properly to manage the demand from within the existing lands. On
the whole, these options could possibly lead to significant deforestation despite limited expansion of
major hydro facilities, unless carefully planned.

6.4 Proposed major development projects in irrigation sector

Another major area that could possibly lead to significant deforestation and forest degradation is
future developments in the irrigation sector. Irrigation development has been a major driver of
deforestation in Sri Lanka during the post-independence era. The irrigation sector has three major
agencies, namely, the Irrigation Department (ID), Mahaweli Authority of Sri Lanka (MASL) and the
Department of Agrarian Development. Both the ID and the MASL have a number of projects which
are either ongoing or are in the pipeline for future development. Despite the fact that large multi-
sector projects similar to the AMDP are not among the proposed projects, a multitude of projects
scattered all over the country, even at a smaller scale, can cause significant loss of forest cover. A
summary of available information from the ID and MDA sources is provided in the Annex 2.
Information about the scale of projects is not available for some projects.

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6.5 Future developments in conflict-affected areas

Some of the large multi-sector projects identified for the Northern and Eastern provinces are already
underway. Nearly 56% of the land area under natural forest cover in the Northern Province comes
under the purview of Forest Department. The FD will have to sacrifice some areas of forest for
resettlement, rehabilitation and infrastructure development which are current priority needs of the
conflict-affected areas.

Considering this situation, ISEA has developed a criterion for allocating lands among conservation
and development purposes. This criterion is based on three categories of forest cover, depending on
their importance, for conservation purposes, namely; high priority, priority and low priority. High
priority and priority areas include the most environmentally sensitive forest areas and ecosystems
identified based on spatial multi-criteria analysis (SMCA) for protection. Factors considered in SMCA
include: biodiversity, endemicity, rareness and uniqueness, protective functions, environmental
services, contribution to hydrological cycle, soil and water conservation and wildlife habitats, and
feeding and roosting grounds. Low priority areas include lands which have miscellaneous land use
practices where environmental sensitiveness, biodiversity and conservation values are minimal.
Therefore, these areas can be recommended for development activities. Table 11 presents extents
identified under respective categories.

Table 11 - Extent of forest covers under each category in the Northern Province

Category Extent (ha) Percentage (%)

High Priority 361,088 40.6
Priority 77,608 8.7
Low Priority 449,764 50.7
Total 888,460 100
Source: ISEA 2010, GIS Unit/FD

According to Table 4, the said criterion of allocation of lands implies the reduction of the forest cover
from current 55 % to at least to 49 % (high priority and priority areas together). In practice, it could
go below that level.

Considering the current socio-economic needs of the conflict-affected areas, the above criterion of
allocation of lands can be considered as being practical and sensible. When identifying lands under
respective categories, an attempt has been made to strike a balance between protection and
development needs. Nevertheless, the ISEA observes that conflicts can arise between conservation
of forests and mineral extraction as most of the sites which have mineral resources lie within forest
areas. This is an issue which has to be resolved between the FD and the Geological Survey and Mines
Bureau (GSMB) through institutional coordination when issuing licenses for mineral extraction.

Besides the plans discussed above, there is a rapid drive for infrastructure development in the
country involving multiple sectors. Even though there is no detailed information to long-term
development plans, development of tourism facilities, roads and highways, airports and harbours,

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expansion of urban settlements and facilities all have high potential for acting as major drivers of
deforestation in the future. Moreover, they create demand for forest-based products such as timber,
industrial wood products and other raw materials that could lead to forest degradation too. An
objective assessment of the potential contribution to deforestation and forest degradation in the
future is not possible due to lack of sufficient information. Some of these may come in private sector
development ventures facilitated by government agencies. Overall, it appears that as in the past,
state-sponsored development activities would act as the most potent drivers of deforestation and
forest degradation in the foreseeable future as well.

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 7. Towards identification of Policies and Measures (PAMs)

In this section, identification of PAMs that can address major drivers and catalysts is made. Given the
scattered nature of current drivers of deforestation and forest degradation, it is not possible to
develop a uniform set of PAMs which can address all drivers and catalysts with the same level of
efficiency effectiveness. Therefore, identifying PAMs to control deforestation and forest degradation
requires a strategy with multiple interventions.

7.1 Assessing the forces of deforestation and degradation and prioritization of drivers

The method of force-field analysis was used to identify PAMs. The objective of analysis was
controlling or reversing the deforestation and forest degradation. Figure 11 presents a force-field
diagram developed to show the current balance of forces that determine the dynamics of
deforestation and degradation processes in Sri Lanka. This diagram is an outcome of the qualitative
analysis made by the members of the consultancy team to assess the balance of forces exerted by
enhancing (i.e. inhibitors) and restraining (i.e. drivers, catalysts) forces. It was developed using the
value judgements derived from information gathered in this study as a joint exercise.

In the diagram, the deforestation/ degradation is shown as a bi-directional process in the middle
with arrows heading towards both top and bottom directions.
• The top arrow is pointed towards ‘controlling and reversing of deforestation and
degradation’ which is the desired direction of change to be achieved through PAMs;
• The bottom arrow is directed towards ‘acceleration of deforestation and degradation’ which
is the direction that the process can move into unless curtailed by an appropriate mix of
PAMs.

The force-field diagram implies that deforestation process can go in either direction depending on
the overall balance of forces. The purpose of all PAMs is to change the balance of forces so that the
process would move along the desired direction, i.e. controlling and reversing deforestation and
forest degradation.

In the left side of the diagram, driving forces of deforestation are presented. They include proximate
drivers and catalysts of deforestation and forest degradation. Proximate drivers are shown in solid
arrows and their size represents the strength of force they exert on the process. Four proximate
drivers are shown according to the relative strength of their force in the following order of
importance:

• Infrastructure development projects;

• Encroachments;
• Agriculture ventures;
• Localized drivers of degradation.

Catalysts are shown in striped arrows. Level of their influence is shown by how close they are to the
process. To the top side of the proximate drivers are shown the policy related catalysts, namely:

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 • Land policy;
• Political interference;
• Poor coordination among agencies.

To the bottom side of the proximate drivers are broad socio-economic catalysts, namely:
• Commercialization of rural economies;
• Agricultural technology and mechanization;
• Population growth.

The relative strengths of force of drivers and influence of catalysts were assigned based on value
judgments supported by qualitative analysis undertaken in the preceding sections.

In a similar fashion, the right side of the diagram shows inhibitors, which represent the restraining
forces of the process. The size of the arrows represents the relative strength of force of respective
inhibitors. The policy related inhibitors are shown at the center and includes forest policy/protected
area management and environmental policies and laws. Towards the top are socially operative
inhibitors, namely, public pressure and awareness and community dependence (and customary
rights). To the bottom side, individually operating inhibitors, namely; home gardens, migration and
off-farm employments are shown.

This analysis offers the opportunity of making an overall assessment on the current lineup of driving
and restraining forces of deforestation and forest degradation. According to the diagram, the overall
strength of driving forces of deforestation/degradation (the left side) appears to be higher than the
overall force of inhibitors (the right side). The difference is made by the key proximate driver of
infrastructure development projects. Even though spatial analysis shows a decline of deforestation
rate for the period 1992-2010, this period did not cover the major episode of infrastructure
development activities launched after 2010. On the other hand, taking the historical experience that
policy-induced drivers used to be the major contributors to deforestation and forest degradation in
Sri Lanka and the fact that many development plans, programs and projects are in the pipeline since
the end of the conflict, identifying infrastructure development as the key proximate driver appears
to be realistic.

It is reasonable to expect that the effect of infrastructure development on deforestation and forest
degradation might have already overtaken the effect of encroachments or would do so in near
future. The other proximate drivers can be lined up in the following order in terms of relative
strengths of their forces:
• Encroachments;
• Private agriculture ventures;
• Localized drivers of forest degradation.

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 Figure 11 - Force-field diagram of deforestation and forest degradation

Controlling/Reversing Deforestation and degradation

Public pressure & awareness

Land policy
Political interference
Community dependence
Poor coordination

Environmental policy & laws

Encroachments

Infrastructure development Forest- policy and protected

area management
projects
Deforestation Process
Localized degradation Home gardens

Agriculture ventures Migration for employment

Population growth
Off-farm employment
Agricultural mechanization
Commercialization

Acceleration of Deforestation and degradation

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On the balance, the key inhibitor of deforestation is forest policy and protected area management.
This is supported to a certain degree by environmental regulations, especially the EIA procedures.
From a socio-economic perspective, home gardens, off-farm employment and migration of labor
appear to make a significant contribution towards reduction of the rate of deforestation and levels
of degradation. A more favorable balance could be expected by strengthening community
dependence and their rights and increasing public awareness also.

Overall, it seems that the current balance of forces, unless countered by appropriate PAMs to
strengthen the inhibitors and weaken the drivers and catalysts, would likely to push the
deforestation process towards the downward direction, i.e. acceleration of deforestation.

This general assessment provided by the force-field diagram helps to identify the major direction of
PAMs so that the process is moved towards the desired direction of controlling and reversing
deforestation/degradation. This is described in the following section.

7.2 Selection of PAMs

Among others, there are four major areas to be addressed by the proposed interventions, namely:

• Removing or controlling drivers of deforestation;

• Removing or de-linking catalysts from drivers;
• Strengthening inhibitors;
• Adding new inhibitors or transforming the existing ones to be more effective.

Hence, these can be considered as the background for broad policy rationale in identifying PAMs in a
general sense. Nevertheless, within this, some criteria are necessary for identification of specific
interventions. Key criteria used in the identification process are:

Targeting proximate drivers: Since the underlying drivers of deforestation and forest degradation
processes are broad socio-economic factors such as demand for food products, demand for export
products etc., it is not possible to remove or manipulate them through PAMs. Hence, PAMs could be
expected to remove or control the proximate drivers only.

Policy relevance: Certain drivers, catalysts and inhibitors of deforestation cannot be targeted by
PAMs for reducing deforestation and forest degradation. Examples are political interference,
commercialization of rural economies, agricultural mechanization, population growth (catalysts) and
migration for employment (inhibitor). They are generally out of the practical range of applicability of
PAMs for reducing deforestation and forest degradation and therefore not considered.

Focusing on strengthening existing interventions: Some inhibitors are already in operation.

Strengthening them can be considered as a more cost effective approach. Hence, priority should be
given to interventions that can strengthen the existing inhibitors.

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Feasibility and effectiveness: This implies the practical ability of a given driver or catalyst to be
controlled effectively by PAMs in respective areas of interest.

7.2.1 Removing or controlling drivers of deforestation

As explained above, the current major driver of deforestation in Sri Lanka is infrastructure
development. This is a priority national development need backed by all policy statements of the
government and has won significant public support as well. Hence, this broad national development
need cannot be expected to be controlled or manipulated by a set of PAMs aimed at controlling
deforestation and forest degradation alone. Realistically, what can be expected is harmonization of
objectives of the infrastructure development project with their environmental impacts, vis-à-vis on
deforestation and forest degradation. The most sensible PAMs to achieve this can be summarized as
follows.

Land use planning

• Enhance the land use planning process by:

- improving the current system through capacity building measures
integrating land use planning into all levels of development planning by
means of policy tools
- strengthening the coordination between existing LUP agencies

The land use planning involves systematic assessment of different land uses in order to make
optimal allocation of resources among competing uses based on their ecological compatibility and
socio-economic importance. Given that the forest cover of the country is gradually reaching critical
threshold limits, proper land use planning is essential for rational use and conservation of country’s
scarce forest resources. Given the nature of drivers involved, if used effectively, land use planning
could potentially be the most important inhibitor of deforestation and forest degradation in the
country. Despite its enormous relevance, land use planning is still an underutilized tool in decision-
making in many sectors and the forestry sector is no exception.

Currently land use planning tools are used by several agencies in the country for planning and
research purposes. Of them, the following are the most important in terms of their mandatory
connection to national development.

• National Physical Planning Department (NPPD)

• Land Use Policy Planning Department (LUPPD)
• Urban Development Authority (UDA)
• Mahaweli Authority of Sri Lanka (MASL)

The UDA‘s role is mainly connected to planning activities in urban areas and therefore have little
practical connection to deforestation and forest degradation. The NPPD as a national planner deals
with forest resources at the macro level planning. However, regional and micro-level applications of

92
land use planning are critical for controlling deforestation and forest degradation at the current level
of forest cover with its high degree of fragmentation. In this connection, work on land use planning
undertaken by LUPPD and MASL is very important. The MASL has a restricted mandate confined to
Mahaweli areas whereas LUPPD has a national mandate. The LUPPD has over 600 staff covering up
to DS division level with a strong presence at the district level. It has the best ground level capacity
for spatially monitoring and mapping deforestation and forest degradation taking place at the local
level. Currently, LUPPD is preparing DS division level land use plans based on updated land use maps.
Market-based instruments (MBIs)

• Identify and implement appropriate market-based instruments to mitigate harmful effects of

development projects on forest resources
- Forest certification
- Payment for ecosystem services
At the moment, it is difficult to call market-based instruments (MBIs) as significant inhibitors of
deforestation and forest degradation in Sri Lanka. However, it’s potential for achieving biodiversity
conservation is being explored to some extent by academics and researchers in Sri Lanka. A project
already launched by the Biodiversity Secretariat of the Ministry of Environment and Renewable
Resources for ‘Pricing the biodiversity of the island’ of which the major focus is on developing MBIs
for biodiversity conservation. Some international NGOs have undertaken pilot studies on using MBIs
for conservation of critical habitats. All these suggest the potential and enthusiasm that exist for
using MBIs as a tool for controlling and reversing deforestation. This could be of significant
importance in the future for controlling deforestation associated with private sector-driven projects.
Hence, MBIs are identified as a potential inhibitor of deforestation and forest degradation, which is
still at a very early stage of development in Sri Lanka but with promise for the future.

Environmental Impact Assessment and Strategic Environmental Assessment

• Strengthen the existing procedures of EIA by
- Developing monitoring, reporting and enforcement capacity of the CEA and other
project approving agencies
- Introducing SEA as a mandatory process for sectoral, inter sectoral and large
development projects

The EIA process has been in operation in Sri Lanka for nearly thirty years. While it has been helpful in
curtailing to some degree potentially harmful impacts on forests by projects, it has its limitations as
stated previously. Mandatory SEA can be useful in large scale and multiple projects within and
between sectors.

Controlling encroachments
The second major proximate driver is encroachment. This should be reduced and controlled through
following PAMs.

• Develop a consistence policy towards encroachments by

- discontinuing the current practice of regularization of encroachments
- introducing measures for discouraging the practice of encroachments

93
 • Introduce procedures and laws (if necessary) for speedy enforcement against
encroachments;
• Demarcate all existing forest lands and take necessary measures to survey and establish
boundary demarcations.

Limitations in current policies and laws that encourage encroachments were examined in the section
5.4.1. The above PAMs are proposed to overcoming those limitations.

Monitoring and enforcement

Localized drivers of forest degradation are the third major category of proximate drivers. Following
PAMs can be used to overcome them.

• Strengthen the monitoring and enforcement capacity of relevant agencies, i.e. FD and DWC
• Increase public awareness
• Orchestrate the community support through participatory programs

GPS and GIS applications available now make monitoring somewhat easy. They can be considered as
‘low hanging fruits’ that improve the effectiveness of the existing system. The FD and DWC should
improve GIS capacities to improve monitoring and enforcement of areas under their jurisdiction. The
FD already has a GIS unit, which can be strengthened by training staff on the necessary skills,
providing necessary facilities and improving communication channels for coordination with field
officers.

7.2.2 Removing or de-linking catalysts from drivers

Six catalysts are identified influencing the drivers of deforestation, namely; land policy, political
interference, poor coordination among agencies, commercialization of rural economies, agricultural
technology and mechanization, and population growth. Of them, two socio economic catalysts,
commercialization and agriculture technology represent broad development trends which are
usually recognized at both national and international levels as being desirable and essential for the
welfare of poor agrarian communities. Population growth is another broad social process that
cannot be controlled by PAMs. Similarly, political interference also appears to be a hard truth that
cannot be addressed through PAMs given the highly charged, competitive political environment and
deep-rooted patron-client relationships that drive the current political system of the country. Hence,
PAMs should be developed considering them as realities, and the fact that they cannot be expected
to be controlled or reduced through measures focusing on deforestation and forest degradation
alone. Instead, they should be countered through strategic designing of interventions in other areas
(e.g. policy changes on encroachments, strengthening environmental procedures, demarcation of
forest boundaries etc.) to minimize their effect on deforestation and forest degradation to the
extent possible.

This leaves two other catalysts, namely; land polices and poor coordination among agencies. Out of
them, PAMs on land policies have been addressed in the previous section. Lack of coordination

94
among government stakeholders is an important catalyst that pushes the drivers of deforestation
and forest degradation forward. Hence, the following PAMs are proposed for improving the
coordination among agencies.

Strategies for coordination among agencies

• Identify all key agencies that have stakes in the deforestation and degradation in the country
at national, provincial, district, and divisional levels;
• Establish a coordinating body under the leadership of FD on deforestation and degradation
at the national level with the participation of key national agencies (e.g. FD, DWC, LUPPD);
• Appoint district level cells of the coordinating body with the participation of local level
officers of national agencies and (e.g. DFOs and RFOS, LUPOs) and relevant provincial and
local government officers; and
• Develop an efficient communication channel between the national body and district level
cells for speedy resolution of deforestation/degradation issues.

The nature of problems of coordination among relevant agencies was discussed in Section 5.4.1 in
detail. Above mentioned coordination arrangements can be expected to provide a useful mechanism
for overcoming these problems.

7.2.3 Strengthening inhibitors

There are seven factors that have been identified that act as inhibitors, either directly or indirectly:
forest policy and protected area management, environmental policies and laws, community
dependence and customary rights, home gardens, migration, off-farm employment and public
awareness.
Out of them, PAMs to address environmental policies and laws, land use planning, market-based
instruments and public awareness have been proposed in previous sections. Migration is a broad
social process which inhibits the deforestation and degradation through indirect ways. It cannot be
addressed through PAMs and the current government policy of promoting foreign employment can
be expected to strengthen this inhibitor further. Hence, the two inhibitors that need strengthening
are forest policy and protected area management, and home gardens.

Forest policy and protected area management

Forest policy and protected area management is the key inhibitor of deforestation and forest
degradation of all inhibitors. A list of key policies and legislation on forest conservation is given in
Box 4. However, ongoing deforestation and forest degradation suggests that there are weaknesses
and loopholes in the current system of protected area management. The following PAMs are
proposed to strengthen the forest policy and protected area management.

• Review the existing forest policies and protected area management tools with respect to the
handling of:
- infrastructure development projects
- encroachments
- localized drivers of forest degradation

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 • Identify the areas that require improvements and weaknesses as well as loopholes that need
to be rectified and covered;
• Introduce essential amendments to existing policies to improve the current situation
• Update existing institutional arrangements to include the proposed improvements

Home gardens
Home gardens have been identified as being an inhibitor of deforestation and degradation and
discussed in Section 5.4.2 in detail. The following PAMs are proposed to improve the effectiveness of
home gardens as an inhibitor of deforestation and degradation.

• Develop home garden models suitable for hotspots of deforestation and take necessary
measures to promote them through:
- community participation programs
- coordination with existing livelihood development programs

7.2.4 Introducing new inhibitors and transforming the existing ones to be more effective

Strengthening and enhancing existing inhibitors offer the most cost-effective way of controlling
deforestation and forest degradation. However, it is deemed that new inhibitors may be necessary
for managing deforestation hot spots. Hence, the following list of PAMs is proposed for managing the
deforestation hot spots.

Managing deforestation hot spots

• A mixed set of strategies such as :

- Declaration of areas as special area management sites
- Surveying and demarcating boundaries of critical and sensitive areas :
• E.g. critical watershed areas (tank catchments)
- Participatory resource governance : co-management
• Participatory land use planning and zoning
• Strengthening the capacity of local communities
• Alternative livelihoods
- Models of conservation oriented land uses
• Home (forest) garden models
• Conservation farming models

A mixed bundle of interventions are proposed since hot spots are areas where intense deforestation
occurs due to simultaneous operation of several drivers and catalysts. Hence, managing them needs
multi-faceted approaches. The mix of interventions includes command and control methods,
community-based approaches and promotion of innovative land use applications.

96
 Box 5 - Carbon and non-carbon benefits of some selected PAMs

Sri Lanka has experienced significant rates of forest loss over time, and the country is on the verge
of reversing the damage by adopting various policies and measures, focusing on environmental
conservation and sustainability. However, currently there are no solid criteria for evaluating the
contribution of the existing policies towards environmental sustainability including the protection
and sustainable use of natural resources within the country. Although the country’s rating of
environmental sustainability has slightly downgraded from 3.5 in 2009 to 2.5 in 2013 according to
the Policy and Institutions for environmental Sustainability index (World Bank, 2014), the Sri
Lanka’s Millennium Development Goals country report 2008/2009 (IPS, 2010) has further
highlighted the country’s plans for expanding forest cover under the Millennium Development Goal
7 for ensuring environmental sustainability. This is also articulated in the existing policy framework,
and is currently being implemented as described within this report.

Forests could be important as both carbon sinks and sources of greenhouse gases (GHG), and they
play a vital role in addressing climate change. The forest cover in the country, mostly in the Dry
Zone, is already vulnerable to various impacts, especially those associated with climate change,
including severe droughts. Deforestation activities by the people have aggravated human-induced
anthropogenic climate change. The drivers of deforestation and forest degradation can significantly
influence any impact from forest carbon (Kissinger et al., 2012). Similarly the policies and measures
adopted to reverse such impacts can minimize the influence of those drivers.

The following exemplifies how forest carbon stocks could be enhanced by certain important policy
interventions and measures Sri Lanka has taken so far in remedying the forest loss and
degradation, considering one key driver. Based on the findings of this report, agriculture, including
the shifting cultivation, has been a major driver of deforestation and forest degradation in Sri
Lanka. Establishment of home gardens, Farmers Woodlots, and forest plantations are some key
inhibitory policy measures taken against deforestation and forest degradation caused by unplanned
agricultural activities. The following details the above measures and the corresponding
policies/policy statements relevant to their implementation, and addresses their importance and
implications (i.e. carbon and non-carbon benefits) to REDD+.

In terms of the policies that address the issues of deforestation and forest degradation while
enhancing the forest cover, the National Forest Policy (NFP) of Sri Lanka plays an important role.
Amendments made to the Forest Policy over time have enhanced the forest cover. One such
important amendment is the amendment/s made to enhance the community participation on
forest conservation. Many of the forestry initiatives since 1980s have had community participation
in forest cover management. Expansion of the National Forest Policy in 1980, described such
potential community involvement under Social Forestry: "To involve the local community in the
development of private woodlots and forestry farms through a programme of Social Forestry" (De
Zoysa, 2001).

Community or social forestry measures taken by the Forest Department (FD) so far include the
farmers’ woodlots, home gardens, and miscellaneous planting, which come under the Participatory
Forestry Programme (PFP); all three of these could be considered as policy measures adopted for
reversing the trend of deforestation and land degradation. The establishment of such community
forestry approaches has mostly helped restore the land degraded due to shifting cultivation
(Balooni et al., 2001) that had been established on deforested land. Therefore, the above social or
community forest approaches address both deforestation and land degradation. The PFP was
implemented throughout the country between 1992 and 1999, and it was preceded by the
Community Forestry Project (CFP) which was started in 1982 in Badulla, Nuwara Eliya, Kandy,

97
This analysis has considered carbon benefits from three different measures taken against
deforestation and forest degradation, considering agriculture as the main driver in deforestation and
forest degradation. The measures considered mostly represent social/community forestry and
include home gardens, farmers’ woodlots, and establishment of forest plantations, as described
above. The carbon benefits achievable through implementing the above three important policy
measures in hotspot areas of deforestation and degradation identified within the main climatic
zones of the country (i.e. wet zone, dry zone, and intermediate zone) are provided below. The
feasibility, social and environmental benefits, and the other aspects related to implementation of
those measures have also been discussed along with it.

The carbon benefit estimation under Farmers’ woodlots, home gardens, and forest plantations
considered their extents extracted from the FD reports. For estimating the change in living biomass
carbon stocks, Tier 2, gain-loss method (IPCC, 2003, 2006) was used. The fraction of carbon in
biomass was assumed to be 0.47, based on the past studies and new IPCC (2006) guidelines.
Country-specific mean annual increment rates (solid volume over bark; m3 s.o.b. ha-1) corresponding
to a range of age classes of different plant types were extracted from the yield tables based on site-
level measurements. Country-specific wood densities and root: shoot ratios were used based on the
data availability. In cases where country-specific wood densities, biomass expansion factors, and
root: shoot ratios were not available, appropriate values given by IPCC (2003; 2006) were used.
Home gardens are a well-developed agroforestry system in Sri Lanka, mostly serving as a mixed
cropping system with a variety of species of trees providing valuable benefits including food, fruits,
timber, medicine, and spices, yielding a sustainable source of income to the farmer. A home garden
could be defined in several ways (Silva, 2001; Galhena, 2013). According to the Census of Agriculture
of 1982, a home garden is a piece of land of 20 or less than 20 perches with a house and some form
of cultivation mainly for home consumption (Silva, 2001). However, as described above and under
Section 5.4.2, a home garden has economic, biophysical and social relationships with the occupants
(Weerakoon, 1987). The Forestry Sector Master Plan (FSMP; MALF, 1995) has identified home
gardens as the main source of timber and fuelwood, in its strategies for developing the forestry
sector until 2020. The national forest policy of Sri Lanka provides policy guidelines for both state-
and privately- owned forest resources. One of the policy guidelines for privately owned forests and
trees states “Tree growing on homesteads, and other agroforestry, will be promoted as a main
strategy to supply wood and other forest products for meeting household and market needs”.

The estimated area of home gardens was about 858, 000 ha in 1992, and their extent has been
increasing at an annual rate of about 1 percent (Ariyadasa, 2002). Home gardens in Upper Mahaweli
Catchment area was about 17 percent of the total area under different land use patterns in 1993,
and the area of home gardens was 53,766 ha (USAID, 1993, as cited in Badaratillake, 1999). A
significant extent of home gardens had been also established under the Participatory Forestry
Project of the Forest Department (FD, 1998). In the current study, we have considered the carbon
sequestration rate in home gardens in the country, considering both live biomass (i.e. carbon gain in
annual growth- carbon loss in biomass removal) and soil carbon sequestration. The estimated
average rate for the whole country is 1.33 tonnes C ha-1 year-1; the rate in dry and intermediate
zones are slightly lower (1.12 tonnes C ha-1 year-1), compared to the wet zone (1.55 tonnes C ha-1
year-1).

Farmer’s woodlots (FWL) are small blocks of state land that were given on a 25-year lease to the
local farmers for planting both forest trees and cash crops. The FWL programme was considered as
an important agroforestry programme adopted for rehabilitating the degraded lands under shifting
cultivation (De Zoysa and Inoue, 2009). In establishing FWLs, shifting cultivation lands were planted
with predominant wood tree species. The tree species in the dry zone was teak (Tectona grandis)
Only, or a mixed stand of teak and margosa (Azadirachta indica). In the Intermediate zone, the teak
only stands were established, while in the wet zone, eucalyptus or teak were planted (ADB, 2003).
This programme helped restore the degraded land due to chena cultivation (De Zoysa and Inoue,
2009). The Forest Department has provided planting materials and technical knowhow to the
farmers, free of charge. The farmers benefit by harvesting timber at the end of the 25-year period.
98
The District wise total extent of home gardens and farmers’ woodlots established by the end of
1998 was 31390.3 ha and 7166 ha, and the extents added since 1999 are 9585 ha and 15367 ha,
respectively. The largest extent (~ 52 per cent) of the FWLs is found in the Dry zone (mean annual
With regard to carbon benefits of FWLs, on the average 2.38 tonnes C ha-1 yr-1 of net carbon
accumulation has occurred in the live biomass (i.e. annual carbon gain in biomass- carbon loss in
biomass removal) and soils in Farmers’ woodlots in the dry and intermediate zones; carbon has been
sequestered at a rate of 2.68 tonnes C ha-1 yr-1 in the live biomass and soils in the wet zone.

Forest plantations have been established by the Forest Department since mid-1950’s to meet the
increased timber and fuelwood demand in the country. Plantations of pine (e.g. Pinus caribaea,
Pinus patula), Eucalyptus (Eucalyptus grandis, Eucalyptus camuldulensis, Eucalyptus microcorys),
teak (Tectona grandis), acacias (e.g. Acacia auriculiformis, Acacia mangium), Mahogany (Swietenia
macrophylla), and other species have been established, and these plantations occupy close to two
percent of the land area (Lokupitiya, 2008). Sustainable timber harvesting in forest plantations could
Summary of the above mentioned PAMs are presented in Table 12.
avoid the need for deforestation in natural forests, while supporting meet the increasing timber
demand in the country.

The carbon benefits evaluated for the forest plantations, considering the carbon sequestration in
both soils and live biomass, are as follows: There is a net loss in the woody biomass, when both
annual carbon gain and removal as timber and fuelwood are concerned; however, the overall carbon
accumulation is positive when the soil carbon sequestration is included. The carbon accumulation in
the plantations in dry and intermediate zones is thus ~1.72 tonnes C ha-1 yr-1 and the carbon
accumulation rate for the wet zone is 2.3 tonnes C ha-1 yr-1.

99

Desired direction of change
Harmonize the objectives of
development projects with
their environmental impacts,
vis-à-vis deforestation and
degradation
Control and reduce
deforestation and
degradation through
encroachments
Control the effect of
localized drivers of
deforestation
Improving the coordination
among agencies
Strengthen forest policy and
protected area management
Table 12 - Identification of PAMs
Policies and measures (PAMs)
• Enhance the land use planning process by:
- improving the current system through necessary capacity
building measures
- integrating land use planning into all levels of
development planning by means of policy tools
- strengthening the coordination between existing LUP
agencies
• Identify and implement appropriate market-based instruments to
mitigate harmful effects of development projects on forest
resources
- Forest certification
- Payment for ecosystem services
• Strengthen the existing procedures of EIA by;
- Developing the monitoring and reporting capacity
• Introduce SEA as a mandatory process for sectoral and large
development projects
• Develop a consistence policy towards encroachments by;
- discontinuing the current practice of regularization of
encroachments
- introducing measures for discouraging the practice
• Introduce procedures and laws (if necessary) for speedy
enforcement against encroachments
• Demarcate all existing forest lands and take necessary measures to
survey and establish boundary demarcations
• Strengthen the monitoring and enforcement capacity of relevant
agencies, i.e. FD and DWC
• Increase public awareness
• Orchestrate the community support through participatory
programs
• Identification of all key agencies that have stakes in the
deforestation and degradation of in the country at the levels of
national, provincial, district and divisional levels
• Establish a coordinating body on deforestation and forest
degradation at the national level with participation of key national
agencies (e.g. FD, DWC, LUPPD)
• Appoint district level cells of the coordinating body with the
participation of local level officers of national agencies and (e.g.
DFOs and RFOS, LUPOs) and relevant provincial and local
government officers
• Develop an efficient communication channels between the
national body and district level cells for speedy resolution of
deforestation and degradation issues
• Review existing forest policies and protected area management
tools with respect to the handling of:
100

Improve the effectiveness of
home gardens as inhibitor of
deforestation/degradation
Managing deforestation ‘hot
spots’
- infrastructure development projects
- encroachments
- localized drivers of forest degradation
• Identify areas that needs improvements and
weaknesses/loopholes that need to covered
• Introduce essential amendments improve the situation
• Update existing institutional arrangements to include proposed
improvements
• Develop home garden models suitable for deforestation hotspots
and take necessary measures to promote them through:
- community participation programs
- coordination with existing livelihood development
programs
• A mixed bundle of strategies :
- Declaration of special area management sites
- Surveying and demarcating boundaries of critical and sensitive
areas :
• E.g. critical watershed areas (tank catchments)
- Participatory resource governance : co-management
• Participatory land use planning and zoning
• Strengthening the capacity of local communities
• Alternative livelihoods
- Models of conservation oriented land uses
• Home (forest) garden models
• Conservation farming models
101
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Annex 1 – Forest cover maps 1992 and 2010

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116
 Annex 2 - Proposed irrigation development plans and projects

Project/Plan Organizatio Period Current Status Area Remarks

n
Welioya Integrated Devt. MASL 2012-2016 Ongoing Anuradhapura Resettle 6788 farmer families within 11
Project Vaunia villages.
Mullativ Devt. of 4187 ha. Of agricultural land.
Devt. Of market road (150 km), hamlet
road (132 km) and infrastructure
facilities.
Extension of Mahaweli MASL 2007-2015 Ongoing Polonnaruwa Increase in command area from 16,866
Consolidation Project Batticaloa ha. (In 2007) to 19,216 ha.
(System B) Devt. Of socio physical infrastructure.
Rideemaliyadda MASL 2012- Proposal Rideemaliyadda 1,200 ha. Of commercial crop
Integrated Devt. Project 2016 forwarded to NPD DSD, Badulla cultivation.
District, Uva Improve 70 km of agricultural road
Province network & socio infrastructure
facilities.
Rambakan Oya MASL 2012- Proposed Maha Oya DSD, Open up 1400 ha. Of new lands for
Integrated devt. Project 2016 forwarded to NPD Ampara District, irrigated agriculture.
Eastern Province Settlement of 3550 new families with
socio economic infrastructure facilities.
Development of 3 tourism zone

117
Kivul Oya Reservoir Devt. MASL 2012- Ongoing Anuradhapura, Irrigation of 1700 ha. Of new lands on
Project 2016 Vauniya & left bank of Maha Oya & right bank of
Mullativ Districts Weli Oya.
Augment of 700 ha. Of existiong lands.
Devt. Of socio infrastructure facilities.
North Central Province MIWRM/M 2014- Pre-feasibility Anuradhapura, Augmenting 73,000 ha of existing land
Canal Project incl. NWP ASL/ID 2020 completed, Polonnaruwa, Provision of drinking water
Canal Feasibility/detail Matale, Vavuniya,
designs ongoing Kurunegala
Maduru Oya Right bank MASL NA Feasibility Batticaloa 10,000 ha benefited
Devt. completed
Allai Kantale Devt. MASL NA Pre-feasibility on NA NA
(System A) going
Minipe Trans Basin Canal MASL NA Pre-feasibility in NA NA
Rehabilitation 2014
System C – Main & MASL NA Pre-feasibility in NA NA
Branch Canal 2014
Rehabilitation
System H – Rehabilitation MASL NA Pre-feasibility in NA NA
of Small Tanks 2014
Huruluwewa Canal MASL NA Pre-feasibility in NA NA
Improvements 2014
Upper Mahaweli MASL NA Pre-feasibility in NA NA
Watershed Management 2014
System B – Left Bank MASL NA Pre-feasibility NA NA
(Balance Work) completed

118
Walsapugala Dairy Devt. MASL NA NA NA NA
Dedaru Oya ID 2005- Ongoing Wariyapola DSD, 11000 ha. of new command area in a
2017 Kurunegala total of 11,115 ha
District, North
Western Province
Digili Oya ID 2012- NA Matara NA
2014
Ella Pothana ID 2007-15 Ongoing Anuradhapura NA
Ella Wewa ID 2012-17 NA NA NA
Kalugal Oya ID 2012-14 Ongoing Batticaloa NA
Lower Uva ID 2008-16 NA NA NA
Mahagona Wewa ID 2008-14 ongoing Anuradhapura NA
Morana ID 2012-16 Ongoing Moneragala NA
Rambukkan Oya ID 2006-15 ongoing Maha Oya DSD, 2002 Acres of water spread area
Ampara District,
Eastern Province
Yan Oya ID NA Ongoing Anuradhapura- 4,190 ha on the LB and 1812 ha on the
Trincomalee RB to be benefitted

Moragahakanda- MASL 2007-17 Ongoing Matale 81,400 ha to be benefitted. Two

Kaluganga reservoirs at Moragahakanda and
Pellegama
Uma Oya Multi-purpose MIWRM 2008-17 Ongoing Badulla Two reservoirs at Puhulpola and Dyraaba.
Development Project Trans-basin diversion to Kirindi Oya
Lower Uma Oya Water MIWRM 2017- - NA NA
Resources and 2020
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Hydropower Project
Gin-Nilwala Diversion to MIWRM 2015- - Galle, Matara, Diversion of excess water Gin Nilwala to
SE Dry Zone 2020 Hambantota Ratnapura, Matara and Hambantota
Districts including power generation
Dam Safety and Water MI&WRM 2008- Ongoing National Dam safett, hydro-meteorological
Resources Planning 2017 information system improvement and
Project water resources planning
Mundeni Aru River Basin ID 2016- Ampara NA
Development 2019
Ma Oya water diversion MIWRM 2016- Kegalle, NA
to Mi Oya basin 2020 Kurunegala
Lower Malwathuoya MIWRM NA NA Vavuniya, NA
Multi Sector Mannar
Development Project

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