Addressing the challenge of deforestation in Sri Lanka: Potentials of sustainable forest governance through policy and institutional integration
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As one of the world’s 35 biodiversity hotspots, Sri Lanka indicates a high level of endemicity in most taxonomic groups and a considerable number of threatened species (Voluntary National Review, 2018). However, the forest cover in Sri Lanka has decreased from 40% to 29.7% during the period from 1940 to 2017 (UN-REDD, 2017). Deforestation has become a challenge due to increased population, high demand for land and major development projects. Although there are several policies to improve sustainable forest governance in Sri Lanka, certain fragmentations and clashes can be identified when they reach their implementation stage. The national level institutions such as the Forest Department and the Department of Wildlife Conservation face several accountability clashes with other government institutions that consider large scale development as a top policy priority. The result is the rapid deforestation and forest degradation. This study focuses on why the forest governance in Sri Lanka experiences certain difficulties in addressing the challenge of deforestation and explores the potentials of sustainable forest governance through policy and institutional integration. The research was based on qualitative data gathered conducting semi-structured interviews with officials and representatives of the forest- related national level institutions, provincial and local government bodies, environmental non- governmental organizations and community-based organizations. Additional data were collected observing deforestation in lowland, montane, dry zone, monsoon and mangrove forests in Sri Lanka during the year 2019/2020. The findings suggest that the major barrier against sustainable forest governance in Sri Lanka is politically-influenced arbitrary implementation of sudden ‘development’ policies by the government that encourage deforestation. The forest governance policies and the forest-related institutionsneed to be integrated towards addressing the challenge of deforestation.
Keywords: deforestation, sustainable forest governance, policy integration, Sri Lanka
ID: 3486425