Sri Lanka not to Privatize Forest Resources: Minister

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Friday, November 08, 2002

Sri Lanka not to Privatize Forest Resources: Minister

Sri Lanka's forest resources will not be handed over to private sector, a Sri lankan minister said on Friday.

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Sri Lanka's forest resources will not be handed over to private sector, a Sri lankan minister said on Friday.

Sri Lankan Minister of Environment and Natural Resources Rukman Senanayake said that the forest resources of the country will not be privatized, instead the government will encourage the private sector to invest in commercial agriculture to expand the tree coverage through economically viable projects.

He noted that conservation laws will be tightened to prevent commercial use of the protected species found in natural forests. At the same time, some present laws restricting reasonable use of home grown trees are to be liberalized.

Sri Lanka's jungle forests which accounted for 70 percent of the total land area at the dawn of the 20th century has dwindled to 23.9 percent at the present, while open forests and plantation forests account for 7 and 1 percent respectively, according to Forest Department figures.

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