- Loss of livelihood as devalaya re-acquires chena cultivation land
- Illegal forest clearing using fire
- Large-scale agro biz taking up lands on elephant corridor
A tug-of-war between traditional farmer communities and agro business owners over cultivation land is causing massive environmental damage to the ecosystems in the Monaragala District as swathes of forestland and forest cover in the buffer zones are being cleared to establish boundaries.
In an attempt to allow farmers to contribute towards fulfilling the food security needs of the country, the Ministry of Agriculture had given permission for chena cultivators to use underutilised land for cultivation since 2021 and also permitted dairy farmers to take their buffalo herds into forestlands for grazing to help increase milk production.
Fast forward to the present day, the farmers are facing a fresh challenge, where the Forest Department and officials from the Ruhunu Kataragama Maha Devalaya have forced these farmer communities to vacate the chena cultivation lands and take their cattle elsewhere, citing acts of trespassing.
During a recent field visit to the Thanamalwila Divisional Secretariat administrative region’s Kivul Ara and Bodagama Grama Niladhari divisions, The Sunday Morning spoke to farmer communities, who vented their frustrations as their simple request to continue chena cultivation, raise buffaloes, and milk cows for dairy production in these underutilised lands had fallen on deaf ears.
While the majority of the farmers are male, S. Shanika Prabhashini, a 28-year-old mother of two, shared the struggles she had undergone with the authorities over the past year: “The land which we utilised for chena cultivation over the past eight years was taken from us a year ago. We have apparently been growing crops on the land belonging to the Ruhunu Kataragama Maha Devalaya, or so they say. Although the officials from the devalaya promised that they would allocate land for us to cultivate, they have failed to deliver on that promise.”
Following the relentless attempt to gain access to cultivation land by Prabashini and the rest of the farmers who have been removed from cultivation and grazing lands, the Ruhunu Kataragama Maha Devalaya had directed them to speak to an official who is in charge of the lands section.
“For nearly an year we have been sent from pillar to post within the devalaya premises and have only been able to speak to the official over the phone. Every time we go to the devalaya, he is not at his seat and even today (25) when I called, he said he was on his way to Wellawaya.”
Stealing farmlands for profit?
Prabashini had taken a drastic step to reclaim land from a different area to start her chena cultivation this year. However, she had unknowingly encroached into the forestland, following which the Forest Department had taken her to court and had imposed a fine for encroachment.
“I paid the fine and the Forest Department took the land following the court case. It is now being earmarked along with the rest of the devalaya lands, indicating that the devalaya is the rightful owner of that land patch. We got to know that it has been sold to a businessman from Colombo for cultivating crops such as mangoes and guavas for export. I incurred a loss of Rs. 450,000 spent on purchasing the required crop seeds, fertiliser, and labour fees after I lost access to the new land I cultivated, which was taken away because I had trespassed.”
So how did the forestland turn into devalaya land and how is a businessperson leasing the same land for cultivation if it is within a protected forest area? Prabashini and many other farmers raised this question.
“When we did our chena cultivation, it was an illegal use of land, but now because the devalaya made a business out of that land, the businessperson can cultivate anything. We cultivated food that can be consumed by our families and to supply pulses and fruits for the people in this area and possibly the country, whereas these big businesses only grow crops that are exported. How is that going to ensure food security?” Prabashini questioned.
“We are not asking for cultivation land to set up a big business; we only want to use the land to grow our food and sell a portion of the harvest to attend to our other needs. These businesspersons have also been given permission to build permanent structures which are then turned into hotels, while we only had a temporary hut to keep our tools and rest when we came to work on the fields,” said G.A. Priyantha, another chena cultivation farmer who had lost access to land in Komaligama, bordering the Meegaswewa Reserve.
Investors setting up permanent structures
When we visited Komaligama, the farmers pointed towards their former cultivation lands, which have been cleared and fenced off with an electric fence to keep out marauding elephants. A newly-drawn power supply line runs parallel to the fence, which the farmers claimed that the Electricity Board had installed at a cost of Rs. 7 million to provide electricity for the agro industry.
“When we requested power supply for the chenas so we could set up an emergency light to warn when elephants approached and ward them off, we were denied access to electricity as the Divisional Secretary and the Electricity Board said that we were in the buffer zone of the forest and that such infrastructure would not be permitted. How did they decide that it was good enough to draw a power line to this area after the devalaya sold the lands to businesspersons from Colombo?” K.K. Nishantha, another chena farmer who had lost access to cultivation land, questioned.
Nishantha had lost access to five acres of cultivation land, where he had grown pulses such as green gram, peanuts, sesame, and cowpea. Three other farmers had lost access to farm lands adjacent to his farming plot.
When asked what the businessperson was going to cultivate in the freshly-cleared lands, Nishantha claimed that a 16-acre parcel of land had been allocated to grow hemp under the new permits that will be issued by the Government in 2024.
“We were told that a team of surveyors would be arriving in October to take measurements and demarcate the land for the businessperson. We are also eager to see a copy of the deed. As far as we know, these lands – whether they belong to the Forest Department or to the devalaya – do not have title deeds that can be issued, indicating outright ownership and permanent structures cannot be built because they function as an elephant corridor and a buffer zone for the forest reserve,” Nishantha added.
No entry for grazing
While chena cultivators are being denied access to lands and the lands that they have utilised for two decades have been reclaimed by the devalaya, dairy farmers are facing a different issue altogether.
Speaking to The Sunday Morning, W. Jayantha, a dairy farmer from Kivul Ara who oversees a herd of 100 milk cows and buffalo cows, said that they had been taken to court because they would cross over to the forest for the animals to graze.
“We are baffled by the ignorance of the local authorities, as the Minister of Agriculture had permitted us to take our animals into the forest for fodder to increase milk production. Suddenly we are imposed fines by the Forest Department itself for trespassing.
“We cultivate grass for our animals to eat, but when the dry spell sets in we do not have enough grass to feed them, which is why we requested access and entry to the forest reserve. Once our animals are fed, we take the herds out of the forest. But now we are seeing increasing land clearance using machinery and we are barred from entering the forestlands; they are being earmarked for eco-tourism businesses that are setting up around this area,” Jayantha elaborated.
Elephant corridor linking national parks
With no visible demarcation on-site, The Sunday Morning contacted the Thanamalwila Divisional Secretariat to clarify the locality in which this environmental destruction was taking place.
“The Meegaswewa Reserve functions as an elephant corridor that links the Udawalawe and Lunugamwehera National Parks. The forest reserve falls under the jurisdiction of the Forest Department and the lands closer to the national parks are under the Department of Wildlife Conservation (DWC). The Ruhunu Kataragama Maha Devalaya has custodianship over 70% of the lands in the Kivul Ara and Bodagama Grama Niladhari divisions,” the Divisional Secretariat responded.
When asked whether the devalaya could reacquire the cultivation lands and lease it to businesses, the Divisional Secretariat stated that since the devalaya was an independent entity, it could do what it pleased with such lands.
“However, we also requested the devalaya to be considerate of the livelihoods of these traditional farmer communities when they reallocate land. In the meantime, we received information on the illegal clearing using fire and felling of trees in the reserve land and an investigation is underway into this,” the Divisional Secretariat said.
Bending the laws to rezone protected land
Environmental Activist Sajeewa Chamikara, turning the spotlight on the probable incidents of politically-influenced land grabs taking place in the vicinities of forest reserves in the Uva, Eastern, Northern, and North Central Provinces, revealed that circulars had been issued on the requests of the Ministry of Wildlife through the former Land Commissioner in 2020.
“Many officials and politicians fail to realise that without this network of protected forests declared under the Forest Conservation Ordinance and the Fauna and Flora Protection Ordinance, agriculture, water security, climate change, Human-Elephant Conflict, and crop damage from wild animals would be much worse than they are today. It’s a sad fact. However, every government that has come to power in recent times has tried to quickly release lands belonging to reserved forests for various development purposes for political gain,” Chamikara noted.
Explaining how the Government has used the legal framework to turn protected forest lands into lands rezoned for commercial purposes for investors, Chamikara stated that the first plan towards this end had been prepared by the Land Commissioner General’s Department, under Circular No. 2020/16 dated 9 September 2020 issued by former Land Commissioner General R.M.C.M. Herath.
“The circular, addressed to all divisional secretaries, provincial land commissioners, land commissioners, and assistant land commissioners, states ‘expediting issuance of formal documents to persons who have developed Government land without formal documents,’ but the circular is about the release of lands under the Forest Conservation Department and the Wildlife Conservation Department for various purposes,” Chamikara elaborated.
In addition to that circular, the former Land Commissioner General is said to have issued circular No. 2192 dated 10 September 2020 to expedite the provision of legal documents to people who have resided or developed on State lands without any documents, mainly to expand investment opportunities according to the then Government’s Vistas of Prosperity’ policy statement.
“Special Gazette Notification No. 36 was also published and its main objective was to reserve the land within the reserved forests and acquire it for development purposes. As a result of our intense lobbying in this regard, the gazette notification issued by the former Land Commissioner General herself was cancelled within 12 days by Extraordinary Gazette Notification No. 2194/28 dated 22 September 2020,” Chamikara elaborated.
Cabinet fooled?
Chamikara stated that when the present Government came to power, a former land commissioner general had taken over as the secretary of the Ministry of Wildlife and Forest Resources Conservation.
“After Pavithradevi Wanniarachchi assumed office as the Minister of this ministry, the first task was to present the Cabinet paper titled ‘Resolving the existing problems related to the forests under the control of the Department of Forest Conservation and the Department of Wildlife Conservation,’ prepared by the Secretary of the Ministry. Cabinet approval for that was given on 23 January 2023.”
The Cabinet paper mentions solving the problems of the people who have lived and engaged in agriculture for a long time in these forests under the control of the Department of Forest Conservation and the Department of Wildlife Conservation.
In its first phase, the Cabinet approved the release of reserved forest lands in Jaffna, Vavuniya, Mullaitivu, Kilinochchi, Mannar, Trincomalee, Batticaloa, Ampara, Anuradhapura, Polonnaruwa, and Monaragala Districts.
Chamikara explained: “The Government at the time settled the people in the reserved forests of the districts belonging to the Northern and Eastern Provinces. After the war, instead of returning the land where the people lived, the security forces forcibly acquired and set aside land belonging to the people to implement the National Physical Plan. Otherwise, there is no credible evidence that people were living in the reserved forests of the Northern and Eastern Provinces. The present Government is concealing the real situation from the people and is working systematically to get the lands located in the reserved forests for various development purposes by trapping the displaced people.”
Land allocations and rezoning
Meanwhile, 150 acres of the reserve declared as the Madu Road Forest Reserve in Mannar District under Gazette Notification No. 1779/15 dated 10 October 2012 was declassified from its Forest Reserve status by Minister of Wildlife and Forest Resources Pavithradevi Wanniarachchi through Gazette Notification No. 2344/16 dated 8 August 2023.
In addition, 29,000 acres from the Mullaitivu forest reserve, 25,000 acres belonging to the Wattegama-Kabilitta forest reserve in the Monaragala District, and more than 1,000 acres from Rajawaka forest have been taken by the State.
“In this way, Cabinet approvals were obtained to transfer the land to various companies on a large scale while taking over the land within the reserved forests very carefully for development purposes,” Chamikara reiterated.
Accordingly, a 600-acre land expanse belonging to the Forest Conservation Department in the Vavuniya District had been released for an investment project of $ 400 million by Sutech Engineering Company of Thailand to set up Sutech Sugar Industries Ltd., while another 70,000 acres for sugarcane cultivation had been released in a similar manner for the Greenfield Sugar Development Project on 26 June 2023. Cabinet approval had been obtained for a Cabinet paper presented by the President in his capacity as Minister of Investment Promotion.
Meanwhile, the plan to provide 62,500 acres in Monaragala, Badulla, and Ampara Districts for the Bibila Sugarcane Cultivation Project implemented by I.M.S. Holdings has been completed as of now, for which Cabinet approval had been obtained on 14 February 2017.
In addition, after leasing the Magam Ruhunupura Port Zone to China Merchants Port Holdings Company Ltd. on a long-term lease basis, surveys have been completed to provide 15,000 acres of land from Hambantota and Monaragala Districts to establish a Chinese factory.
Chamikara noted: “In order to release these lands for development purposes, the Government would have to declassify the lands from reserved forests. As an easy method for that, the Government is working on the basis of providing long-term land use to the people to exclude land from reserved forests, which later get reclaimed by the Government for allocation to investors.”
Violating the Constitution
Article 27(14) of the Principles and Basic Duties section of the Constitution under Chapter 6 states that the government shall protect, secure, and improve the environment for the benefit of the people.
According to the basic interpretation of the Forest Conservation Ordinance as last amended by Act No.65 of 2009, this act has been passed by Parliament to make provisions for the conservation and protection of forest resources and their sustainable management. The ministry secretary and the minister do not have the power to make decisions about the forest reserve in violation of this basic objective.
According to Section 3 of the Forest Conservation Ordinance, after declaring a forest reserve or a conservation forest, the director general of forests should prepare a management plan for the same and the administration and management of the reserve forest should take place on that basis.
According to this section, the secretary of the ministry and the minister have no ability to change the reserved areas as required and the approval of the general Cabinet cannot be obtained for changing the boundaries of the reserved areas and distributing the land. This is a violation of the Forest Conservation Ordinance and the Constitution.
According to the Fauna and Flora Protection Ordinance as last amended by Act No.7 of 2022, the secretary of the ministry and the minister do not have the power to make discretionary decisions about the protected areas belonging to the sanctuary, elephant management reserves, or national reserves. Moreover, the Cabinet does not have the power to take decisions about the reserves.
According to the basic interpretation of this act, this has been passed by the Parliament to protect, conserve, and prevent the commercial exploitation of wildlife habitats. Apart from this basic interpretation, land distribution in reserved forests cannot be done and no such policy decision can be taken.
According to Section 2 of this act, an environmental impact assessment should be carried out for any change in wildlife sanctuaries. Based on that, the rules prepared by the minister should be approved by Parliament and published in the gazette.
Chamikara concluded: “Government officials and ministers are defying the rule of law and the democratic governance structure of the country, with forests and agriculture falling into a huge abyss. As citizens who think about the future of the country, we cannot allow this to happen. All people who care about the country should unite to act against this.”
When The Sunday Morning attempted to reach Minister Wanniarachchi, we were informed that she was currently overseas.
Attempts to obtain clarifications from the Ruhunu Kataragama Maha Devalaya were directed to its Chief Custodian, the Basnayake Nilame. Although a member of the staff said the Basnayake Nilame would be informed, no effort to coordinate the conversation had been made by the staff at the time of going to print.
DWC can intervene to protect animal welfare
Given that lands are cleared and fenced off on lands belonging to the Forest Department and the Department of Wildlife Conservation, The Sunday Morning reached out to officials from both departments for comment.
While the Forest Department was unreachable through telephone for comment, the Department of Wildlife Conservation promptly responded to the queries presented.
DWC Director Operations and Planning Ranjan Marasinghe explained the complexity of the DWC having to intervene in these matters, as the Meegaswewa Forest predominantly comes under the jurisdiction of the Forest Department, with the DWC only having jurisdiction over the buffer zones of the two national parks.
“The conservation efforts taken by the DWC to protect wildlife are interrupted by the national physical plans and the various suggestions made by privately-led animal welfare organisations. Although it was decided two years ago to set up high-voltage electric fences around the national parks to deter wildlife from entering human habitats, we have been instructed to disregard the decision due to this causing movement restrictions for wild animals. At present, the Government is permitting private landowners/lease holders to set up a periphery fence around their lands to protect the crops or people,” Marasinghe explained.
When asked whether people or businesses were permitted to block off the natural watering holes accessed by animals during dry spells, Marasinghe said: “If the well, pond, or water body is within private land, they have the authority to set up a fence around the land which would naturally block the water body. However, if these structures are causing grave movement restrictions and are affecting the well-being of wild animals, we will have to intervene.”
According to Marasinghe, if the DWC finds that natural habitats of wildlife are being curtailed, it is able to take legal action against anyone zoning the cultivation lands or against development projects in the area.