Sri Lanka To Gazette 20 New Forest Reserves

COLOMBO (News 1st); The Ministry of Environment states that 20 forests will be gazetted as reserves today.

The Ministry mentioned that this will take place under the auspices of Environment Minister Dr. Dhammika Patabendi at the Sri Lanka Forestry Institute in Sandathenna, Nuwara Eliya, in line with the "Vanaspathi" national program aimed at reserving and protecting the island's forest system for future generations.

Accordingly, 20 forests located in the Nuwara Eliya, Kegalle, Ampara, Badulla, Vavuniya, and Anuradhapura districts will be declared as reserves via gazette, covering an area of nearly 9,538 hectares.

To date, the Ministry of Environment has gazetted 93 forests as reserves and with the reserves being gazetted today, their total land area will reach nearly 65,000 hectares.

The Ministry of Environment noted that through this national program, which commenced on World Environment Day 2025, it has been possible to protect 86 forests as reserves within a year.

Among these are tropical wet evergreen forests, montane and sub-montane forests, tropical dry mixed evergreen forests, intermediate zone semi-evergreen forests, and coastal and mangrove forests.