Protected areas of Sri Lanka

Protected areas of Sri Lanka are administrated by Department of Forest Conservation and Department of Wildlife Conservation of Sri Lanka.There are 501 protected areas in Sri Lanka. The protected areas falls under supervision Department of Forest Conservation include forests defined in National Heritage Wilderness Area Act in 1988, forest reservations and forests manage for sustainability.World heritage site, Sinharaja Forest Reserve is an example for a National Heritage forest. There are 32 forests categorized as conservation forests including Knuckles Mountain Range. Strict nature reserves, national parks, nature reserves, forest corridors and sanctuaries recognized under the Flora and Fauna Protection Ordinance are managed by Department of Wildlife Conservation. Total of all categories of areas protected is 1,767,000 ha. Protected areas in Sri Lanka accounts for 26.5 percent of total area. This is a higher percentage of protected areas than in all of Asia and much of the World.

Plant diversity and endemism in Sri Lanka are quite high. Of 3,210 flowering plants belonging to 1,052 genera, 916 species and 18 genera are endemic. All but one of Sri Lanka's more than 55 dipterocarp (Sinhalese "Hora") are found nowhere else in the world. Sri Lanka's amphibian diversity is only becoming known now. Sri Lanka may be home to as many as 140 species of amphibians. More than 50 known freshwater crabs are confined to Sri Lanka.

Between 1990 and 2000, Sri Lanka lost an average of 26,800 ha of forests per year. This amounted to an average annual deforestation rate of 1.14 percent . Between 2000 and 2005 this accelerated to 1.43% per annum.

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