Forestation Programme
Srilanka
is among the world’s most impoverished nations, with a significant young
population (48% under the age of 20) entering into their working life and in
need of employment. Escalating demand for, and pressures on, land and natural
resources from increasing population growth (approximately 1.53%), rapidly
rising unemployment, internal migration, and developments in infrastructure and
other economic sectors, combined with legislation that is not fully formed and
weakly enforced, exposes our forests to unsustainable exploitation and leads to
conflicts over rights of access and use. Nonetheless, Srilanka has succeeded in
maintaining varied and extensive forests covering more than 10.8 thousand hectares,
including plantations and bamboo. They contain biologically unique landscapes
and areas of significant cultural heritage, and are potentially highly productive.
Furthermore, Srilanka forests are intimately linked to agriculture and in-land
fisheries, and to maintaining the sustainability and productivity of both these
sectors. Services provided by forest ecosystems include regulation of local
water-circulation, mitigation of droughts and floods, and reduction of waterway
sedimentation. Forests are, therefore, a key factor in national development,
and their sustainable use could provide considerable benefit to our country and
her people. Opportunities are arising in international markets for processed
and high-value forest products along side potential markets for carbon
sequestration. Novel, innovative forms of financing are emerging through
‘payment for environmental services’ for conservation of forest resources and
biodiversity. The majority of our rural population are subsistence farmers, 75%
of these, as well as landless families, depend on access to natural forest
resources for essential products, energy and food, particularly in times of
hardship. Forests also provide household opportunities for diversification,
supplementary income, and employment created by forest product-based
enterprises. It is a challenging task to achieve a balance between economic
development and broader community benefits from forests and environmental
protection, but one which we cannot afford to ignore. Well managed, equitably
developed renewable forest resources can form the basis for a profitable modern
economic sector while still maintaining or even expanding their ecosystem
functions, biodiversity and ecological variation.
While
the forests have substantially provided the basis for rural livelihoods they
have also been a source of conflict and exploitation. During the 1980s, the
triple-party Government used the forests for cover, and its resources to
finance their activities. This version
of our National Forest Programme (2010-2029) considers changing conditions for
our forests and society and our role in the global context. It provides
strategic directions that place governance at the heart of sustainable forest
management and increasing forest contributions to national development
objectives.
Benefits of
the Afforestation:
Increased
Employment:
In Afforestation work, approximately eighty per cent of the total amount of
expenditure is incurred on account of wages on such works as soil digging,
sowing, weeding etc. which is done mostly by landless and otherwise very poor
laborers. A part of the increased population of the next few decades might well
be absorbed in the fields of employment that will be opened as a result of
availability of vast amounts of raw material. Here against the avenues of
employment will mostly benefit the poor and middle class people.
Creation of
an Economic Capital:
The extensive Afforestation will not only provide
direct employment of lakhs of poor people as indicated above but will create a
permanent capital of immense value. The increased Afforestation envisaged in
the plan when completed is likely to more than double the output of timber.
Increased
Food and Fodder Production:
To the unwary it may appear suppressing how rising of forests will increase
the food production. It will also provide grazing facilities and solve the
problem of fodder for cattle.
Avenues of
Cottage Industry:
The vast amount of raw material that will be available from the increased
forests will open up unlimited scope for a number of cottage industries such as
furniture, sports goods, match industry, wood carryings, basket making, pencil
making, hand-made paper industry, house building etc.
Regulation of
Streams, Rivers and Underground Water:
One of the greatest needs of the time is to control and regulate such forces of
nature as rain and wind to the best advantage of man. The role of forests in
cushioning the beating rain, the intercepting a part of the precipitation and
conserving it and releasing it gradually through the springs, needs no further
elucidation
Increasing
Longevity of Dams and Reservoirs:
The extensive forests that will be raised over the catchment areas of the
rivers on which great dams and reservoirs are being built will prevent the
erosion of the top soil to a great extent and thereby the silting up of the
beds of impounded lakes will be greatly reduced. By reducing the velocity of
rushing rain waters, the wooded lands constitute the best insurance against
denudations, devastating floods, disappearance of springs and silting up of the
beds of reservoirs, canals and rivers. So important is the role of vegetation
over the catchment area of our river systems that their proper afforestation
must precede every irrigation project.
Disadvantages
of Afforestation
1. It comes with real opportunity
costs.
One potentially huge drawback of afforestation is the simple fact that it comes
with real opportunity cost, where the transformed lands can no longer be used
residential developments and agriculture that are highly beneficial to the
society through more supply of food and housing for those who need them.
2. It can affect biodiversity.
Under poor management, this method can result in a reduction of biodiversity in
the local ecosystem; introduction of potentially invasive and non-native
species; modification of particular biomes; reduced stream flow; and loss of
agricultural revenue. As you can see, native grasslands that are converted into
forests might not be able to contain the same habitat for local species. Also,
mismanaged reforestation efforts could result in the production of a
monoculture that lacks plant diversity and lessens the number of available
habitats for inhabitants of the forest.
3. It can bring some problems of
ecotourism.
If the purpose of afforestation is ecotourism, it may be subject to potential
problems that come with ecotourism, such as littering and harm to wildlife.
While you can see the process of
afforestation as a positive one, offering a lot of benefits to both the
environment and society, it is also accompanied by the fact that it can also
bring about some drawbacks. By assessing its advantages and disadvantages, you
will be able to build a well-informed opinion on whether it is good for the
world as a whole, or not.
