Anthropogenic factors and forest management in Sri Lanka

Autor: Anoja Wickramasinghe
Rok vydání: 1997
Předmět:
Zdroj: Applied Geography. 17:87-110
ISSN: 0143-6228
DOI: 10.1016/s0143-6228(97)00003-9
Popis: Isolated islands of forests in Sri Lanka have received the attention of both the state and the people because of their economic importance. Responsibility for forest management has been placed on technically trained officers in the public sector, the objective being to promote state regulation in the efficient management of forest resources. This paper explores anthropogenic factors operating against the full enforcement of legislation formulated to protect the forest. A field investigation conducted between September 1994 and April 1995 in the Ritigala area indicates the factors influencing indigenous peoples' silent and formally unacknowledged engagement in forest management: socially accepted rights to the forest; traditional links that forest fringe communities have maintained with the forest; indigenous knowledge; intra-household factors such as labour availability, needs, gender, and sources of income, as well as extra-household factors like distance to the forest; demand for forest products and access to markets. Among the 11 communities in Ritigala covered in this study, four are discussed in greater detail. Their main features are their continuing engagement in sharing forest resources and their heavy dependence on these resources. For these communities, the forest is an inherited survival base and their rights to the forest are socially accepted. Communities descended from hunter-gatherers have strong and inseparable links with the forest. This implies that what is accepted as legally appropriate is not necessarily accepted socially and culturally. This paper argues that indigenous peoples' rights to resources need to be incorporated into management strategies.
Databáze: OpenAIRE
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