Taken as a percentage of the overall forest cover of Sri Lanka, the extent of forest land located in the Northern and Eastern Provinces is 41 %. Owing to the war situation prevailing in the past period, field activities of the Forest Conservation Department in these provinces had remained totally defunct and there had been no possibility of deploying any officer of the Forest Conservation Department for forest conservation activities in the area. 

 

 

With the end of the war and the return of the general administration activities in the two provinces to normal, a dire need had arisen to start conservation and development activities in forests in these areas. Especially deploying the practitioners of this Department in these areas is an essential factor in order to fulfill the official responsibility of the Forest Conservation Department for the purpose of maintaining the environmental equilibrium while supporting the rapid development activities that are conducted within the Northern and the Eastern Provinces . 

 

 

In addition, it is essential to deploy an adequate number of officers in field work in these areas in order to enforce the law for minimizing the strain exerted on forests by the community in the area and in order to secure the participation of people for managing forests through community participation. There exists no possibility to obtain houses even on rent basis as these areas are located in forest settings. (ST/KH)