Event Title
Lightning Round: Biodiversity Conservation in the Changing World: Challenges and Opportunities in Tropical World
Location
Moakley Auditorium
Start Time
9-5-2018 10:50 AM
End Time
9-5-2018 12:00 PM
Description
Sri Lanka is rich in biodiversity and endemism and considered a global biodiversity hotspot and contains many key biodiversity areas. Sri Lanka has lost most of the primary forests; only 1.5% remains intact with total vegetation cover diminished below 20%. Yet, only <10% of natural landscapes are under state-legislated protection. Over 20% of Sri Lanka’s vegetation cover occurs outside the protected area network that are subjected to multiple land tenureship. Our recent surveys revealed that such unprotected lands provide habitat for threatened species, highly-exploited species, and locally-rare species. Additionally, >100 species of avifauna and butterflies have been recorded from rural home gardens and traditional farms. These landscapes provide suitable habitats for much of Sri Lanka’s biodiversity while establishing landscape-scale connectivity across multiple ecosystems. Therefore, exploring biodiversity outside Sri Lanka's protected area network and planning conservation amongst multi-use anthropocentric habitats are foremost in importance.
Lightning Round: Biodiversity Conservation in the Changing World: Challenges and Opportunities in Tropical World
Moakley Auditorium
Sri Lanka is rich in biodiversity and endemism and considered a global biodiversity hotspot and contains many key biodiversity areas. Sri Lanka has lost most of the primary forests; only 1.5% remains intact with total vegetation cover diminished below 20%. Yet, only <10% of natural landscapes are under state-legislated protection. Over 20% of Sri Lanka’s vegetation cover occurs outside the protected area network that are subjected to multiple land tenureship. Our recent surveys revealed that such unprotected lands provide habitat for threatened species, highly-exploited species, and locally-rare species. Additionally, >100 species of avifauna and butterflies have been recorded from rural home gardens and traditional farms. These landscapes provide suitable habitats for much of Sri Lanka’s biodiversity while establishing landscape-scale connectivity across multiple ecosystems. Therefore, exploring biodiversity outside Sri Lanka's protected area network and planning conservation amongst multi-use anthropocentric habitats are foremost in importance.