Land degradation becoming a major problem

The increasing land degradation in the country is now a key problematic area in environment conservation threatening agriculture, says the Ministry of Environment. "Being a country heavily dependent on agriculture losing healthy soil would greatly affect the environment and the society and it is important to take immediate steps to mitigate land degradation," said Sugath Dharmakeerthi, Director (Natural Resource Management) of the Ministry of Environment.

"Sri Lanka became a part of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification in 1998 as it pays high attention to combat land degradation though Sri Lanka faces no threat of desertification," Dharmakeerthi said.

Marking the World day to Combat Desertification and Drought today the Ministry of Environment holds the national event at Pannala Maha Vidyalaya in the Walapane DS Division.

The theme this year is 'Healthy Soil Sustains Your Life: Let's Go Land Degradation Neutral'.

The Ministry of Environment acts as the country's focal point for the Convention. The Natural Resource Management Unit of the Ministry has launched a special program islandwide to mitigate land degradation.

Ministries of Environment, Agriculture and Land and Land Development jointly form national policies on mitigating this problem. Land degradation is a main problem specially in the central hills as soil is prone to get washed away in addition to landslides caused by mismanaged land use.