Future of forest gardens in the Uvan uplands of Sri Lanka

What is good about Sri Lankan homegardens with regards to food security? A synthesis of the current scientific knowledge of a multifunctional land-use system

“…A revival of traditional practices, such as adding organic matter directly to soils, green manuring and mimicking forest ecosystems through agroforestry, are therefore needed. Nuberg et al (1994) also stress that the development of homegarden systems anywhere must be sensitive to both the domestic and commercial needs of the population and to the degree to which these are met by other land-use types in the landscape. Ranasinghe and Newman (1993) argue that agroforestry should not be regarded as a panacea but rather a tool, which if used carefully is capable of solving many problems created by unsustainable forestry and agricultural practices in Sri Lanka.…”

“…For example, young people often migrate to cities for work (Nuberg et al 1994;Ranasinghe 2010). Most urban properties only have enough space to build a house and leave little room for a garden, causing traditional agroforestry knowledge to disappear.…”

Avifaunal diversity in the peripheral areas of the Maduruoya National Park in Sri Lanka: With conservation and management implications

“…Rivers and streams, semipermanent freshwater marshes, and seasonal waterholes are some of the "natural" aquatic habitats; perennial large tanks and reservoirs, seasonal small tanks, and rice fields serve as the man-made aquatic habitats. Natural terrestrial habitats comprise dry mixed evergreen forests, scrub forests, grasslands, riparian forests, and rock-outcrop (Perera 1975;Gunatilleke and Gunatilleke 1990), whereas man-made terrestrial habitats comprise farmlands, forest gardens, and home gardens (Nuberg et al 1994 We encountered a high abundance of water birds (a total of 91 aquatic inhabitants, 12 exclusively water dwellers) in our study areas, especially during the migration period, indicating that habitats in and around Maduruoya National Park are high-density waterfowl area (see also Warakagoda and Sirivardana 2006). Moreover, our survey emphasized the importance of the Maduruoya National Park and surrounding areas for the conservation of forest birds given the high relative abundance (a total of 156 forest inhabitants, 24 exclusively forest species) of forest species we encountered.…”

“…The local inhabitants of Maduruoya National Park and surrounding areas are constantly interacting with the wildlife and are highly dependent on many forest products and other natural resources (see Nuberg et al 1994). Therefore, conservation measures must be based on participatory management programs such as community forest management, local forest stewardship development, easement-like conservation-driven incentives, and shared governance through stakeholder participation (Klooster and Masera 2000;De Zoysa and Inoue 2008).…”

“…These improvements should target conservation of biological diversity. Furthermore, introduction of economically and environmentally sustainable agroforestry practices, forest gardening, subsistence farming, and delineation of biodiversityintegrated, resilient agricultural landscapes embedded with the Maduruoya National Park, other regional state protected areas, and relatively unaltered private lands may help mitigate some of the anthropogenic disturbances that are detrimental to avifauna and their habitats in our study area (Nuberg et al 1994;Bambaradeniya et al 2004;Harvey et al 2008).…”