Environmentalists inform UNESCO about illegal road construction inside Sinharaja

 01:44 PM JAN 02 2019

National Coordinator of the Centre for Environmental and Nature Studies (CENS), Ravindra Kariaywasam said they have complained to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) against the road construction that is being carried out inside the Sinharaja world heritage site in the Kudawa area.

The illegal road construction project in the Sinharaja is funded by the Ecosystem Conservation and Management Project and the World Bank and has ineffectively been planned by the local policymakers both in the Government and in the non-Governmental organizations, the CENS claimed.

“The road construction began in 20 December, 2018, and immediately a group of environmentalists informed to the Forest Conservation Department but they alleged that the Department being the owner of this project did not take action regarding it. According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Conservation Outlook Assessment (2017), the conservation status of the Sinharaja Forest Reserve is of significant concern.”

They urged the UNESCO to take action against the illegal road construction and help protect this virgin forest land.