Illicit felling and unauthorised ‘development’ activities around the Sinharaja Forest Reserve, following the expansion of the Lankagama Road last year were now widespread, Sajeewa Chamikara of Movement for Land and Agricultural Reform (MONLAR) said yesterday.

Chamikara said that 85 acres in the Rosemary area at Pannila Forest situated at 231- C Rakwana – South Grama Niladari Division of the Godakawela Divisional Secretariat were being cleared and a group of individuals were clearing up 143 acres of forest land, adjoining the Delgoda Reserve situated at Suduwelipatha Village, in the Kalawana Divisional Secretariat area.

Chamikara said that those who were clearing up 143 acres of forest land were using false deeds to carry out illegal activities.

“We revealed earlier that two businessmen were clearing the Botiyatenna Elephant Corridor at Manikkawatta to construct hotels. Now, the residents of Rambuka, Thanawela, Ellagama, Handiyekade, Kajugaswatte, Pothupitiya, Kopikella and Cypresswatte villages will come under jumbo attacks as the two remaining Sinharaja elephants maraud these villages. They are likely to lose their properties and even their lives due to the hotels constructed by obstructing the elephant corridors.”

Chamikra said those were only a few incidents of clearing forest land adjoining the Sinharaja Forest Reserve by those with political power and financial might.

Most of the forest areas surrounding the Sinharaja had been earmarked to be amalgamated with the forest reserve because they were an important part of the forest network. The unscrupulous businessmen and politicians were attempting to carve out as much land as possible before those areas received the protected status, the environmentalist said.

“One of the main reasons for the increase in illegal activities in forest areas adjoining Sinharaja can be traced to President Gotabaya Rajapaksa encouraging ‘farmers’ to expand their farms into protected forest areas during his ‘Gama Samaga Pilisandara’ (Discussion with villagers) programme. During this programme he also instructed officials to change the borders of these reserves and allow farming to take place inside protected areas.”

The environmentalist also said that another reason for the spike in deforestation and illegal development initiatives was the non-implementation of a Cabinet decision on Sinharaja in 2004.

“Cabinet Paper (PS/CS/26/2004 of 22 July 2004) proposed to allow the Forest Department to acquire forests, most of which belonged to the Land Reform Commission (LRC), within the radius of 500 metres from the Sinharaja boundary. The Cabinet Paper also proposed that those lands should be acquired under Section 22 (1) F and 44 A of the Land Reform Law of 1972 after paying compensation. The Cabinet approved the proposals, but the relevant documents have been at the Ministry of Environment for decades without any action being taken on them. If these proposals had been implemented, businessmen and politicians would not have been able to grab large swathes of ecologically sensitive land adjoining the Sinharaja Forest.”