Colombo (News 1st); Multiple groups have started to rally around Bhagya Abeyratne, who spoke out against the destruction taking place to the Sinharaja Forest Reserve, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Centre. The Wildlife Conservation Department has decided to acquire privately-owned lands with forest cover, surrounding the Sinharaja Forest Reserve to the government. According to Edirisinghe, despite the forest cover in these lands, the Wildlife Conservation Department has NO provisions to prevent deforestation under the Forest Conservation Ordinance, given the lands are privately owned property. He said a large expanse of close to 35,000 hectares of forest cover in state-owned surrounding the Sinharaja Forest Reserve was gazetted as part of the reserve, last year. Speaking to News 1st, Nishantha Edirisinghe said by acquiring these privately owned lands with forest cover surrounding the Sinharaja Forest Reserve, its safety will be further ensured as a World Heritage site.

Source: The Nation March 17, 2021 15:00 UTC