The Ministry of Environment says 20 more forests will be declared as forest reserves tomorrow (26), under the national ‘Vanaspathi’ programme.
The programme is scheduled to be held at the Sandathenna Forestry Institute in Nuwara Eliya under the patronage of Minister of Environment Dr. Dammika Patabendi.
Accordingly, 20 forests located in the Nuwara Eliya, Kegalle, Ampara, Badulla, Vavuniya and Anuradhapura districts will be declared as forest reserves through Gazette notifications. The total extent of these forests is said to be nearly 9,538 hectares.
The Ministry of Environment, together with the Department of Forest Conservation, has so far gazetted 93 forests as protected reserves under the current government.
With the addition of the reserves to be gazetted tomorrow, the total extent of land covered by these protected forests will increase to nearly 65,000 hectares.
