{"id":100215,"date":"2020-03-21T15:52:41","date_gmt":"2020-03-21T22:52:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=100215"},"modified":"2020-03-21T15:52:41","modified_gmt":"2020-03-21T22:52:41","slug":"tomorrow-march-21-is-international-day-of-forests-sinharaja-mother-natures-precious-gift","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2020\/03\/21\/tomorrow-march-21-is-international-day-of-forests-sinharaja-mother-natures-precious-gift\/","title":{"rendered":"Tomorrow (march 21) is International day of Forests: Sinharaja: Mother Nature\u2019s precious gift"},"content":{"rendered":"

H.P. Gunawardena and H.M.P.R Wijebandara <\/a><\/em>Courtesy The Daily News<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n
\"\"\/<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Forests cover one third of the Earth’s land\nmass, performing vital functions around the world. Around 1.6 billion\npeople\u2014including more than 2,000 indigenous cultures\u2014depend on forests for\ntheir livelihoods, medicines, fuel, food and shelter.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nfact that Sinharaja forest reserve is a precious gift to us from the nature is\nnothing new. It is an evergreen tropical forest located in the Wet Zone of the\ncountry, stretching across the Districts of Galle, Matara and Ratnapura with an\nextent of approximately 1,185 hectares.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Considering\nits importance as a catchment area, its biodiversity, socio economic importance\nand the immense contribution made to the environmental system of the country,\nas per the recommendations of the Department of Forest Conservation, it was\ndeclared as an International Man and Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO in 1978 and\nsubsequently, considering its significance to the nation and its importance as\na scarce natural resource, it was proclaimed as a National Heritage in 1988. It\nwas also declared as a Forest Reserve.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"\/<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Taking all of the aforesaid\nfactors into account, a special management staff has been appointed for its\nproper management and safety. However, during the recent past, an incident\nwhich led to controversy was the circulation of a news item revealing the\nconstruction of a roadway dividing the Sinharaja forest reserve.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What\nreally transpired was the reconstruction of a roadway which was in existence\nfor over 50 years. How did it happen, what is its history? When probing the\nhistory of Sinharaja forest reserve, it is revealed that an entrance has been\nbuilt only in 1963. This entrance is from Waddagala to Kudawa. Thereafter, the\npotential of the reserve to manufacture wood was examined and according to the\ninformation gathered from such study and through the recommendations made by\nUNDP\/FAO in 1968, the capacity for selective felling was recognized and wood\ncutting was permitted by the Government at the time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

H.P. Gunawardena and H.M.P.R Wijebandara Courtesy The Daily News Forests cover one third of the Earth’s land mass, performing vital functions around the world. Around 1.6 billion people\u2014including more than 2,000 indigenous cultures\u2014depend on forests for their livelihoods, medicines, fuel, food and shelter. The fact that Sinharaja forest reserve is a precious gift to us […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-100215","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100215","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=100215"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100215\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=100215"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=100215"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=100215"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}