WOULD IT BE A PROMISING STRATEGY TO SOLVE FOREST MANAGEMENT PROBLEMS IN SRI LANKA?
Anoja Wicramasinghe University of Peradeniya This paper presents how non-forest scenarios affect the systems of community management of local forests. The field investigations reveal that human-forests interfaces exist in almost all the areas, irrespective of the state ownership, their status and regulations. Examples regarding local management systems, drawn from the fringe communities of Adam’s Peak Wilderness, Ritigala Strict National Reserve and the Knuckles Range of forest, show that the systems are diverse. In some areas there are well formed social regulations governing the people-forest interface, while in other areas either no systems exist or are weak and related to market driven factors. The situations tends to vary even among the communications living along one fringe. In Ritigala, the community management system and social regulations are extremely strong among indigenous communities. The cohesiveness of the communities influence their group gathering and systems of sharin
