Central Highlands, a Natural World Heritage

by Shirajiv Sirimane

The Central Highlands of Sri Lanka, including the Knuckles Forest Reserve have been designated as a Natural World Heritage site, at the World Heritage Committee meeting in Brazil.

Deputy Minister of Environment, Faiszer Musthapha who led the Sri Lankan delegation to Brazil for the 34th Session of the World Heritage Conference said that all 21-member nations voted unanimously and it was a great achievement for Sri Lanka.

The Minister told the Sunday Observer from Brazil that the country received a world accolade of this nature after 22 years. Sinharaja was designated as a world heritage site in 1988.

He said that for the past one month he was in touch with the 21 countries that had voting rights and they were educated on the rich bio diversity in the Central Highlands.

The Minister said that with this nomination Sri Lanka could get international assistance to develop and sustain bio diversity in the Central Highlands.

He said that this designation would also help to promote tourism in a more aggressive manner.