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by V. R. Nanayakkara, Retired Conservator of Forests, Vice President, International Society of Tropical Foresters, USA

The ADB has provided financial assistance to four forestry sector projects in Sri Lanka, two of which have been completed. The completed projects are the Community Forestry Project CFP 1982-1991 and the Participatory Forestry Project PFP 1992-2000. The other two projects, the Upper Watershed Management Project UWMP 1998 and the Forest Resources Management Project FRMP 2000 are ongoing.

The CFPs objectives were to supply fuelwood and timber through reforestation, to mobilise communities for reforestation, protection and production purposes and to strengthen institutional capacity within the Forest Department (FD) to support community forestry. The ADB was satisfied that the project was successfully concluded in 1991 with impacts demonstrating the need to address the problem of declining forest resources by conventional reforestation in a block plantation programme and a small social forestry component involving tree planting by rural communities.

8,100 ha of block forest fuelwood plantations and 1,200 ha. of farmers' woodlots were established. This project led to the Participatory Forestry Project PFP.

Flexibility in project implementation and innovativeness on the part of the FD helped in the success of the CFP despite teething problems like staff availability and continuity and lack of past experience. However, the project created a wave of participatory awareness on farmers' woodlots although the small community forestry component failed. The name of the project was a calculated misnomer, but it created an enormous awareness among stakeholders on participatory action and the FD/ADB went on to prepare for the PFP in 1990, which eventually was launched in 1992.

The ADB acknowledged that the CFP was well developed by combining a sizeable low risk plantation component with a small experimental social forestry component.

Although the CFP was mainly intended to augment the supply of fuelwood, most of the trees are now being harvested for valuable timber and poles, and farmer participants have got richer as a result.

Another impact was that it changed the landscape and improved climatic conditions on barren grassy slopes of hillsides, for example in the Badulla district. The CFP was rated generally successful by the ADB in its Project Performance Audit Report (PPAR).

The PFP's impacts were to increase the production of forest and tree products. It created more employment opportunities, enhanced income, and rehabilitated environmentally degraded areas in the country through beneficiary stakeholder participation. AusAid cofinanced the project in the form of food aid paid to farmers as compensation for time spent in tree planting and maintenance work.

The ADB has rated the project above all other projects in Developing Member Countries (DMCs) in the region after many on site inspections and local studies.

The development objectives of the PFP were the institution of a programme of social forestry that includes local communities in developing private woodlots and forestry farms by involving rural households and village groups in a wide range of tree planting activities. The project according to ADB findings "faced no major issues or risks and the intended development objectives have been fully achieved".

The following long-term impacts of the project have been recognised: (i) a project impact assessment carried out showed an increase of participatory household income for about 130,000 beneficiary farmers who participated in reforestation activities. (ii) About 4,100 ha. have been reforested through protective woodlots which contributes to environmental protection. (iii) Institutional capacity of the FD has been adequately strengthened and staff trained. (iv) Dissemination has been adequately carried out and agroforestry models have been popular among participatory beneficiaries. (v) Employment in nurseries: more than 1,100 farmers have been provided employment for operating village nurseries.

Project outputs: all project targets had been exceeded by 8 per cent to 23 per cent depending on the component, namely Homestead gardens, Protective woodlots, Farmers' woodlots, and Miscellaneous planting.

Environment: The EIA conducted indicated that the project impact on the environment was positive.

Training: The large training component was a success. This included leadership training, forestry skills, horticulture, agriculture, tree seed production, refresher courses, extension methods for about 3,500 persons and staff training for forestry staff at all levels.

The monitoring of project activities had been correctly carried out, and the impact of the training will greatly benefit the FD in the long run.

Planting results: Homestead gardens - 36,263 ha, Farmers' woodlots - 9,807 ha, Protective woodlots - 4,535 ha, and Miscellaneous planting - 2468 ha.

The EIA findings at the end of the PFP determined that "the extent of man-made forest cover in the case of farmers woodlots had increased by 10% and a further 2% through protective woodlots thereby making a distinct contribution to the achievement of its principal long term objective".

It also found that importantly apart from a high degree of interest shown by poor stakeholders, one distinct benefit resulting from the project has been a contribution to poverty alleviation.

It has done so by (i) targeting mostly poor farmers and also rural dwellers without steady incomes, (ii) by harnessing their time and labour for agroforestry and (iii) by implementing a system of financial and material incentives through a food-for-work strategy.

This multisectoral project is ongoing with three major project components, (1) participatory rehabilitation and protection of highland watershed forests (ii) promotion of conservation oriented farming systems, and (iii) capacity building and institutional strengthening.

The direct beneficiaries are the rural poor farmers, smallholders, and other vulnerable groups such as landless workers, unemployed youth and women of rural communities in watersheds. The project encouraged the participation of these groups in project implementation. An impact assessment done early in the project has found that their participation in planning and implementation of project components at field level has been successful.

A special feature of this multisectoral project involving both the FD and the Agriculture Department (AD) is the employment of social mobilizers to encourage and ensure participation of the local communities in project implementation and benefit sharing.

As a multisectoral project it has innumerable activities. Fair progress has been achieved. An important feature is the buffer zone planting in addition to timber farms, stream reservation plantings, roadside planting, planting in public places, home garden development, boundary marking, on and off farm conservation plantings, on farm physical measures and livestock development. Poverty reduction is an impact that could be achieved through buffer zone planting, which is a vital factor for forest conservation.

The FD adopted many innovative approaches to overcome problems of implementation and facilitate participation.

With close dialogue with the ADB, the FD made the CFP and PFP project designs flexible for corrective action during the life of the projects. The ADB should therefore build in flexibility measures into any new project.

This could be brought in by a flexibility approach for which the FD has already been complimented by an ADB study thus - Sri Lanka foresters have been admirably flexible in their execution of ADB financed projects, "both institutionally and operationally".

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