Protect Last Viable Sri Lanka Rainforest With Jobs

Dear Friends & Supporters

Thank you for your generous donation in support of our Sri Lanka Plant a Rainforest Project.

Rainforest Rescue has been working in partnership with Rainforest Rescue International based in Galle, Sri Lanka, since 2008 to combat the effects of deforestation by employing local people to plant trees to create a rainforest corridor between the two largest remaining rainforest areas in south-west Sri Lanka; the Sinharaja Forest Reserve and the nearby Kanneliya Forest.

The Sinharaja Reserve is regarded as one of the world’s 25 biodiversity hot spots with very high levels of endemism. Sadly it is also one of the last remaining forest patches and one of the most threatened ecosystems in Southeast Asia. 

Funding provided by generous Rainforest Rescue supporters over the past five years has contributed to

• The creation of a rainforest corridor between the two largest remaining rainforests in Sri Lanka, the Sinharaja Forest Reserve and the Kanneliya Forest;
• The purchase of rainforest and buffer zone lands at risk of clearing for agriculture;
• Restoration of over 1,000 acres of degraded forest  patches and riparian habitat which has seen nearly one million trees planted including many endemic and threatened rainforest trees;
• The establishment of seven plant nurseries to supply seedlings for restoration projects;
• Educating over 4,000 local children in environmental by conducting school education programs to support local forest stewardship;
• The training of over 1,000 farmers in organic agriculture to assist them in developing sustainable livelihoods thereby removing pressures on the rainforest;
• Supporting almost 8 percent of the population which relies on the rainforest for their livelihood.

Recently we undertook a review of our conservation projects and have decided to concentrate our conservation efforts within Australian and the Asia-Pacific Region. As such we will no longer be continuing with our Sri Lanka Plant a Rainforest Project.

Thank you so much for supporting this worthwhile project. For further information on our projects please visit our website at www.rainforestrescue.org.au.