Relief in Sri Lanka as key threat to nonprotected forests is repealed

COLOMBO — Environmental activists in Sri Lanka are celebrating the end of a 2020 decree that left the island’s nonprotected forests more vulnerable to agriculture and development projects. “This is a landmark victory for the protection of these important forests, securing their long-term conservation,” said Eric Wikramanayake, chair of the Environmental Foundation Limited (EFL). The EFL and its former director, Rukshan Jayawardene, were the plaintiffs in the lawsuit challenging the decree at the Supreme Court. The case ended in their favor in early September, two weeks before the presidential election; after the election, the newly inaugurated government formalized the repeal of the decree. The controversial decree on “other state forests,” or OSFs, was issued in 2020 by then-president Gotabaya Rajapaksa (who would resign two years later amid overwhelming protests after leading the country into its worst economic crisis in history). The decree transferred the management of OSFs to local authorities, making it easier for these lands to be released for development projects, primarily agriculture. Before then, OSFs, also known as “residual forests,” could only be developed after review by relevant government ministries and an environmental assessment. Rajapaksa’s 2020 decree was meant to ease these restrictions and boost agricultural activity by devolving authority over these forests to local councils. But the move was widely criticized for jeopardizing these forests and their high biodiversity and carbon potential. A camera-trap image shows a leopard roaming in the Agra forest, classified as “other state forest” and therefore not considered a formally protected area. Image…This article was originally published on Mongabay