News
Minister says pine forests will be cleared to make way for environment-friendly trees
In Nuwara Eliya district
by Douglas Nanayakkara
Under a program initiated by Forestry and Wildlife Minister C. B. Ratnayake, pine forests in the Nuwara Eliya district are to be replaced with productive indigenous trees beneficial to the eco-system.
“Pine forests serve no useful purpose either to man or animal. These trees impact adversely on the environment as they deplete the water flow in springs”, he noted.
Even animals don’t live in pine forests as there’s no water. It is time to give this matter serious thought as major rivers that provide water to both humans and animals in the country originate from Sri Pada in the Nuwara Eliya district, the Minister told the town development planning meeting at the Nuwara Municipal Council last week.
He said that water resources are becoming increasingly scarce largely due to pine forests, which foreigners of a by-gone era opted for in a big way to derive an income from these plantations.
Conservator of Forests, Mrs. K. A. U. D. I. Kalansooriya, said pine is found largely in Sri Lanka’s districts of Kalutara, Matara, Kandy, Matale, Nuwara Eliya, Badulla, Kegalle, Matara and Galle. They are also found in the Hambantota and Gampaha districts to a lesser degree.
There is a total 16,000 hectares in these districts with the highest 3,500 hectares in Kandy district followed by 2,800 in Badulla district and 2,300 in Nuwara Eliya district, she said.
However, there is a school of thought amongst environmentalists that pine forests are useful as they help quick re-forestation and alleviate landslides in arid territory and abandoned tea estates.
They believe that pine, which is quite common in the hill country, although they are not native trees, play a useful role as they grow fast even on less fertile hills.