The Government is taking steps to declare the Diyagama forest in Homagama, Colombo District, a forest reserve, Deputy Environment Minister Anton Jayakody told Parliament on Friday.
He said the area, once abandoned land, has regenerated naturally over about two decades into a habitat with rainforest characteristics. Field research by a team of University of Colombo academics identified nearly 120 species of flora and fauna there, he said, including species endemic to Sri Lanka and the red slender loris.
Jayakody said animals displaced by urbanisation elsewhere in the Colombo District have moved into the forest. He said it also serves as a catchment for the Bolgoda water basin and supports Sri Lanka’s goal of net-zero emissions by 2050 under the Paris Agreement.
For residents of the Colombo suburbs, the move would give legal protection to one of the few remaining green areas near the city.
Jayakody said that once the Colombo District Coordinating Committee gives its approval, a Cabinet paper will be submitted to formally declare the area a forest reserve.