The Hon. Dammika Patabendi

¶ 01 Hon. Speaker, the answer is as follows:

¶ 02 (a) (i) The Sinharaja Forest was declared a World Heritage Site on 1988.12.02. (ii) The extent belonging to the Sinharaja Forest is 36,474.93 hectares. (iii) Yes.

¶ 03 Under the National Heritage Wilderness Areas Act No. 3 of 1988, the Sinharaja Forest has been declared a National Heritage Wilderness Area. Further, in 1978, Sinharaja was also declared a Man and the Biosphere Reserve. Considering its unique biodiversity and ecological value, UNESCO declared Sinharaja a World Heritage Site in 1988.

¶ 04 Previously, the Sinharaja World Heritage area was roughly 11,000 hectares. Subsequently, for conservation purposes, a new boundary for Sinharaja—approximately 35,000 hectares—was gazetted in 2019 as conservation lands.

¶ 05 Under the Ecosystem Conservation and Management Project (ESCAMP), a landscape management plan has been prepared for Sinharaja and the surrounding area, taking into account both internal and external conservation needs. Also under ESCAMP, a Nature-Based Tourism Plan has been prepared to regulate ecotourism activities in the Sinharaja Forest and actions are being implemented accordingly.

¶ 06 For 2025, allocations have been made to regulate ecotourism: Rs. 3,368,440 for the Ratnapura Kudawa entrance and Rs. 15,710,000 for the Pitadeniya entrance in Matara. Further, to facilitate access for visitors with special needs entering via the Ratnapura Kudawa entrance, a proposal to deploy a buggy cart has been approved as a Clean Sri Lanka Project, and preliminary work is underway.

¶ 07 Under the new boundaries of the Sinharaja World Heritage area, steps have been taken to vest lands of the Land Reforms Commission and private parties within Sinharaja with the Forest Department for conservation. Similarly, for reserved forests, protected forests and other State forests surrounding the Sinharaja boundary, steps are being taken to vest Land Reforms Commission lands and private lands characterized by forest features with the Forest Department for conservation.

¶ 08 Future measures include declaring surrounding buffer forests as reserved or protected forests, demarcating stable boundaries where possible, and completing demarcations where not yet marked. Additionally, lands with forest characteristics belonging to the Land Reforms Commission and private parties will continue to be vested with the Forest Department for conservation.

¶ 09 (b) Not applicable.