USE OF SINHARAJA FOREST BY PERIPHERAL VILLAGE COMMUNITIES IN THE NELLUWA AREA

Abstract

The Sinharaja forest comes under the category of 'tropical rain forests' andhas been declared as UNESCO World Natural Heritage Reserve in 1989. It islocated between 6° 211 - 6° 261N and 80° 341 E. It encompasses parts of theGalle, Matara and Ratnapura districts. The inhabitants of some 27 peripheralvillages of this primeval forest have interacted with it for a very long time.The present study was carried out in three selected peripheral villages ofSinharaja forest namely; Kosmulla, Thambalagama, Madugata and twovillages situated within the forest; Warukandeniya and Kolonthotuwa. Thestudy focuses on the spatial and temporal aspects as well as the wage of themagnitude of the community uses of this forest. Participatory observationapproach was used for data collection. In this study, forty households thatconsists two hundred and forty nine members were selected within the studyare for data collection. Only eighteen members, out of these villagers wereemployed in secondary sector and the rest involved in agriculture and forestutilization. The interaction between the villagers and the forest can beidentified as, poaching, kitul tapping, gathering of wild resources, gatheringof fuel wood and timber, small scale tea cultivation, mining for gems, treefelling and gathering of medicinal plant products. We study about the recentchanges in the forest utilization such as kitul tapping, gathering of wildrecourses etc. On the other hand there is a gradual increase in hunting,deforestation for timber industry and for tea cultivation that occurs basicallyon commercial purposes. In conclusion, the traditional methods of forestutilization can be regarded as a friendly interaction between the forest and theusers of forest resource. Also, the recent methods of forest utilization such asdeforestation, hunting etc. have become a threat to the Singharaja forest.Further, the rapid population growth in these villages has direct influence onthe deterioration of the forest resource. In order to diminish these adverseimpacts, and for the conservation of the forest resource, there should bestrong as well as practically applicable laws and rules. Moreover, it isimportant to modernize the traditional knowledge of villagers' that are relatedwith the forest and environmental issues. The fact that should be clearlyidentified here is the inability to separate the villagers forms the forest. Yet itis important to motivate the villagers towards a progressive and positiveforest utilization.