Sinharaja in danger

Saturday 20th March, 2021

Rain forests, known as such due to high precipitation they receive, are believed to be the planet’s oldest eco systems, some which are thought to be more than 70 million years old. They are critically important for maintaining the balance of global climate, which is becoming increasingly erratic. Hence the pressing need to protect these ecological treasure troves at any cost. Unfortunately, Sri Lankan politicians are no respecters of the environment. They seem to think forests are there for their supporters to encroach on; they consider environmentalists who are striving to prevent the destruction of precious forest reserves an impediment to their development projects.

The construction of a hotel in the Sinharaja reserve has given the lie to the government’s claim that the UNESCO World Heritage Site forest is safe. Trees have been felled in an area encompassing seven acres for the illegal construction, according to media reports. But for vehement protests by environmental activists and the media, the government would have continued to turn a blind eye to the forest destruction. The knee-jerk reaction of Environment Minister Mahinda Amaraweera has been to blame the environmental crime on some state officials. He has also expressed doubts about the authenticity of the deeds the owners of the construction site have furnished in support of their claim that they own the land where the hotel is coming up. An investigation is underway, he has said, stressing that the state would take over the land. Such action is long overdue.

Minister Amaraweera would have the public believe that neither the Central Environmental Authority nor the Ratnapura District Secretariat has granted permission for felling trees for the construction of the hotel. He blames the Grama Niladharis of the area and the Divisional Secretary concerned for the environmental destruction. These officials may be made to explain why they have allowed the forest clearance and construction, and action taken against them, but their superiors and the government cannot wash their hands of the offence. Nobody would have invested in a hotel project in a forest reserve without a guarantee from some government higher-ups that his investment would be safe.

Now that the Environment Minister has blamed a Divisional Secretary, among others, for allowing the destruction of a part of Sinharaja, described by UNECO as the country’s ‘last viable area of primary tropical rainforest’, it is not difficult to imagine what will happen if the task of managing sections of forest lands is entrusted to District and Divisional Secretaries.

The management of all forest resources must be the preserve of the Forest Department. The areas that the government has declared as ‘other forests’ and placed under District and Divisional Secretariats must be brought within the purview of the Forest Department. When the government issued a gazette removing some peripheral forests from the purview of the Forest Department and tasking the District and Divisional Secretariats with handling them, environmentalists protested. We pointed out in this space that the government had done so because administrators were easy to manipulate. It is not being argued that the Forest Department is perfect; it has its share of crooks, who are colluding with the logging industry and land grabbers, but, overall, its personnel have the necessary expertise and motivation to protect the forest resources.

Some politically-backed persons are reportedly encroaching on the Sinharaja forest on the pretext of expanding their tea plantations. Protests against these illegal activities have gone unheeded.

In 2019, the then President Maithripala Sirisena ordered that the size of the Sinharaja rainforest (currently 8,864 hectares or 21,903 acres) be increased by annexing the surrounding forests to it so that the protected area would consist of 36,000 ha or about 89,000 acres. Perhaps, this was about the only sensible thing Sirisena did as the President. It is now up to the incumbent government to ensure that the proposed expansion of the forest area will be effected immediately. If the boundaries of Sinharaja are redrawn with more forest lands added thereto it may be possible to ward off encroachers, loggers and gem miners in a far more effective manner. Sadly, the present-day leaders are busy bashing environmentalists and tilting at windmills; the need to protect forests does not seem to figure high on their agenda.